The Challenge
Dex is a high-growth, seed-stage startup revolutionalizing recruitment. As with many venture-backed companies, treasury discipline became critical immediately after fundraising.
Dex initially diversified using Revolut Business and Wise for speed at incorporation stage. Later, they added HSBC for a more traditional corporate setup, but onboarding friction and tech limitations made it clear this was not scalable.
The bank operational problem:
Before Round, Dex used a combination of Revolut Business and Wise to diversify cash quickly during incorporation. As the business grew, they explored opening a traditional corporate bank account. However, many traditional providers were unable or unwilling to work with them as a seed-stage business, and HSBC was the only bank that was actually able to proceed with onboarding.
The experience highlighted the friction of traditional banking:
- HSBC onboarding took close to a month
- 3 - 4 hours of manual setup just to initiate the process
- Ongoing dissatisfaction with the bank’s technology
- Each new banking relationship meant more admin and operational overhead
Opening additional bank accounts to diversify risk would have required repeating this process multiple times.
As Lucy, CFO at Dex, explained:
“Our HSBC account probably took 3 - 4 hours to set up, and then close to a month to open. To repeat that process across multiple banks just wasn’t realistic.”
The cash diversification problem:
After raising capital, Dex needed to ensure funds were not concentrated in one institution.
Their priorities were clear:
- Avoid concentration risk
- Keep funds immediately accessible
- Avoid locking money into long notice products
- Maintain operational simplicity
Without an intermediary layer, diversification would have meant manually opening and managing multiple bank accounts.
The treasury problem
Dex did not want idle capital sitting in low-yield accounts. They were already using Revolut and Wise treasury products, but:
- Interest-bearing balances had limits
- Diversification still required managing separate providers
- Monitoring balances across platforms required manual effort
The ideal solution would allow capital to remain liquid, safe, and yield-generating without operational complexity.
Alternatives Considered
Before fully implementing Round, Dex operated across multiple providers:
Revolut Business
- Used for day-to-day operations and BillPay for AP
- Limited interest-bearing capacity
- Not a complete treasury diversification solution
Wise
- Used for diversification and money market exposure
- Helpful but still required managing separate platforms
HSBC Corporate
- Lengthy onboarding process (close to one month)
- 3-4 hours of setup time
- Friction-heavy technology experience
The core issue: Diversification required manually opening, maintaining, and monitoring multiple banking relationships. Each additional account meant more operational overhead and more time spent verifying balances across platforms.
The Solution
Dex adopted Round primarily for its Savings product.
Round enabled:
- Diversification of cash holdings across multiple underlying banks
- Capital kept liquid and ready for operations
- Yield generation without locking funds
- No need to manually open and manage multiple banking relationships
In addition, Dex recently connected all bank feeds to Round, creating a unified treasury view across accounts.
The Results
Time saved
- Avoided opening and managing multiple bank accounts manually
- Eliminated repeated corporate onboarding processes
- Centralised visibility into treasury instead of logging into multiple platforms
"If I had to open every single underlying bank account manually, it would have been hundreds of hours. I wouldn’t have done it. But the risk reduction we get from Round is massive."
Money earned
- Cash now earning approximately 3.55% via Round Savings
- Previously earning 3.3% in legacy accounts
- Full liquidity maintained
- Diversified savings without operational trade-offs
Risk eliminated
- Significantly reduced concentration risk
- No reliance on a single banking partner
- Stronger treasury posture without increasing admin workload
- The majority of Dex’s treasury is now held with Round, which acts as their primary treasury provider
“For me, the biggest benefit is that our risk profile massively decreased. I get diversification without having to open and manage a web of bank accounts. And if I had tried to do that manually, it would have been hideous.”
— Lucy, Fractional CFO at Dex
Key Features They Love
Simple onboarding
“Compared to traditional banks, the onboarding was super simple. The initial setup was slick, and the team was incredibly responsive throughout.”
Slack support
“The Slack support is brilliant. Any time we’ve had questions, the team responds quickly and clearly.”
Risk diversification without friction
“I wouldn’t have opened all those bank accounts manually. Round gives us the diversification benefit without the operational headache.”
Unified treasury visibility
“Being able to see our cash in one place made it much easier to oversee everything and double-check reporting.”
The Setup
- Initial treasury setup completed quickly after signup.
- Money market and savings setup required no additional operational burden from Dex
- All major bank feeds recently connected into Round
- Ongoing support handled directly via Slack
Traditional corporate banking onboarding time: ~1 month. vs. Round onboarding experience: 24 hours
Looking Ahead
Dex plans to continue using Round as its treasury infrastructure layer while scaling.
As the company grows, having diversified, yield-generating, and centrally visible cash management reduces operational risk without increasing finance workload.
About Dex
Dex is an AI-powered talent matchmaking platform that helps software engineers and top tech companies find their best career fits. Using conversational intelligence and deep candidate profiling and data-driven insights into companies’ culture and fit, Dex connects teams with motivated candidates, making recruitment smarter, faster and more human.
About Round
Round builds AI-powered financial infrastructure that automates treasury, AP, and payroll operations for European companies and VC funds. Backed by Alstin Capital, Round helps finance teams earn more on idle cash while spending less time on operational busywork.
Want to see how Round can help your finance team? Book a demo or get in touch
