The Challenge
Passion Capital is a UK-based venture capital firm managing multiple funds and operating across complex legal and financial structures.
As with many VC firms, treasury management wasn’t just about yield, it needed to work across multiple entities, support unpredictable capital flows, and remain operationally simple.
However, their existing setup fell short.
The structural complexity problem
Managing treasury across multiple funds and a management company introduced inherent complexity.
As Paul Walker, Head of Finance at Passion Capital, explains:
“Like most investors, we have complex structures, and other platforms just couldn’t handle them.”
Most treasury solutions were not designed for:
- Multi-entity fund structures
- Centralised visibility across funds
- Scalable onboarding for new vehicles
This created friction both in setup and in ongoing management.
The yield and flexibility trade-off
Traditional banking partners provided limited returns on cash.
At the same time, alternative solutions often forced a compromise:
- Higher returns came with locked capital
- Flexible access came with lower yield
For a VC firm managing unpredictable investment timing, this trade-off didn’t work.
They needed both.
The operational friction problem
Before Round, onboarding new treasury solutions was:
- Slow and tedious
- Repetitive across each fund
- Not scalable as new funds were launched
The team needed a system that could scale with them, not slow them down.
Alternatives Considered
Passion Capital evaluated existing treasury approaches across both traditional and newer providers.
Traditional banking partners
- Reliable but low yield
- Limited flexibility in how funds could be deployed
- No unified view across entities
Other treasury platforms
- Complex onboarding processes
- Rigid structures not suited to VC fund operations
- Inability to handle multi-entity setups cleanly
Core issue: The alternative solutions either lacked flexibility, couldn’t handle structural complexity, or introduced operational overhead.
The Solution
Passion Capital adopted Round as a flexible treasury layer across its funds and management company.
This allowed them to consolidate treasury operations into a single system while maintaining full flexibility over capital.
All active funds were onboarded quickly, with the ability to add future funds seamlessly.
As Paul described:
“We onboarded all our active funds and our management company. It was super quick. I can manage it all from one dashboard and it will be simple to onboard all our future funds.”
Unified treasury across entities
Round provided a single interface to manage treasury across:
- Multiple funds
- The management company
- Future fund structures
This removed the need to manage each entity separately.
On-demand treasury management
Instead of choosing between yield and access, Passion Capital could now:
- Earn competitive returns on idle cash
- Maintain immediate access when capital was needed
- Avoid locking funds into rigid instruments
“With Round, we get great returns while keeping funds accessible.”
Modern, intuitive experience
The platform replaced legacy banking interfaces with a more usable system:
- Clear, intuitive navigation
- Real-time visibility of balances and interest
- Seamless integration with existing tools such as Xero
“It’s all exactly where you’d expect it to be. No clunky interfaces—just smooth, logical navigation.”
The Results
Significantly higher returns on treasury
Passion Capital effectively doubled the interest rate earned on its cash.
“We’ve effectively doubled our interest rate. It’s more than just incremental gains.”
This transformed treasury from a passive function into a meaningful contributor to returns.
Simplified treasury operations
Managing cash across multiple funds is now centralised within a single platform.
There is no longer a need to:
- Navigate multiple systems
- Manually track balances across entities
- Recreate onboarding processes for each fund
Improved LP reporting and credibility
Greater transparency and stronger returns have improved how Passion Capital communicates with Limited Partners.
Treasury is now:
- More transparent
- More defensible
- Clearly optimised
“Round makes us look more polished and more professional.”
Faster, more responsive support
Support shifted from slow, email-based systems to real-time communication.
“I can send a Slack or WhatsApp message and get a helpful response almost immediately.”
The Setup
- All active funds and the management company onboarded quickly
- No complex restructuring required
- Centralised treasury set up within a single dashboard
- Future funds can be added seamlessly
Compared to traditional treasury setups, onboarding was fast and repeatable across entities.
Looking Ahead
Passion Capital plans to onboard all future funds onto Round from day one.
As the firm grows, having a treasury system that can scale across entities while maintaining flexibility and strong returns will remain critical.
Treasury is no longer a background function. It is now part of how the firm demonstrates operational excellence to its investors.
About Passion Capital
Passion Capital is a UK-based venture capital firm managing multiple funds and operating across complex legal and financial structures.
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.
