How Starship Reduced Financial Process Costs by 40% with Payhawk

Andrew Rudchuk, Head of Financial Systems and Data at Starship Technologies, speaks candidly about how rapid global growth led to many manual processes in the finance department—and how the Payhawk platform transformed the team’s role from administrative workers into strategic partners.

Starship Technologies is the world’s leading company in autonomous delivery robots—with over 8 million deliveries completed and 17 million kilometers traveled. Yet, although the robots moved autonomously on the streets, the company’s finance department was until recently stuck in manual work: five banks, several card systems, Google Sheets for expense management, and endless manual reconciliations in Excel.

What made you decide to transform the finance systems?

When I joined Starship four years ago, I quickly discovered that our financial environment was fragmented by country. Each market had different tools, card solutions, banks, and even ERP systems. Nothing was standardized, and most of the work was manual. The finance team was moving data around instead of actually understanding the business.

Was there a moment when you thought, “This must change right now”?

Yes! The end of one particularly fast growth cycle was the clear turning point. Five banks, three card systems, Google Sheets for per diems, manual CSV uploads, and endless reconciliations created a situation that was no longer sustainable for a global business.

What did a typical month-end look like before the change?

In short: 100% manual work. Per diems and mileage tracked in Google Sheets, card transactions exported manually, CSV files cleaned and uploaded one by one, reconciliations done in Excel, and missing receipts chased down one employee at a time. This fragmentation caused constant delays and recurring errors.

How much time did that take?

Somewhere between 20–40 hours a month, involving two or three people. It was frustrating because data discrepancies existed between countries—meaning constant corrections, re-uploads, and delays, since nothing was integrated.

It felt like we were fixing the same problems every month. A classic case of the finance team doing heroic but low-value work.

How did that affect the company’s ability to scale?

The more we grew, the more manual work piled up. That’s the danger of fragmented tools—the workload grows linearly with the number of employees and markets.
The impact was clear: slower month-end closings, delayed visibility for leadership, higher error rates, and operational risk because every country processed data differently. Manual processes simply cannot support a fast-moving global business.

You chose Payhawk. How did that decision and implementation process go?

We based our decision on three criteria:

1. Global standardization—a unified way of working in all markets.
2. Strong integrations with our ERP and iPaaS (Workato).
3. Scalability—a platform that could grow with us.

Payhawk met all three: unified card management, expenses, reimbursements, and per diems all in one standardized global system. Another key factor was that the platform includes AI capabilities, automating many formerly manual processes.

Implementation happened in stages: we began in Finland to test the system, then expanded to the EU, and finally to the U.S.

What worked well, and what was challenging?

The rollout went smoothly. Payhawk’s intuitive interface meant minimal training was needed. The platform’s AI-driven receipt capture and categorization instantly eliminated much manual work.

The challenges were predictable: varying banking requirements by country, change management for employees used to spreadsheets, and master data alignment with the ERP to avoid exceptions. These were not unique to Payhawk—typical issues in any global finance transformation.

A 40% cost reduction in payment processing, 30% for reimbursements, and 25% for card transactions—what does that mean in practice?

It means the time we previously spent on manual admin work is now recovered for meaningful, strategic tasks.

Payhawk’s automation means no more manual payment uploads, one-by-one card reconciliations, chasing missing receipts, cleaning up and reformatting expense sheets, manually processing reimbursements, or managing country-specific card workflows.

How did your daily work change?

Fundamentally. Before: 80% manual operations, 20% analysis.
Now: 20% operations, 80% analysis, accuracy, and performance management.

Instead of copying data, the team now ensures data quality, supports business partners, and focuses on insights.

Can you give a concrete example of how the finance role evolved?

Before, someone could spend hours compiling card transactions, fixing coding errors, reconciling receipts, and adjusting VAT. Now Payhawk automatically matches receipts, categorizes expenses, and syncs with the ERP.

The accountant’s job is now to review anomalies, analyze spending patterns, and advise teams. The same person went from process executor to performance enabler.

How has cooperation with Payhawk been since implementation?

It’s been very strong. Payhawk didn’t disappear after the contract was signed—they’ve remained proactive and committed to our success. We get quick feedback and support whenever we need it.

Importantly, Payhawk continuously improves the platform. For example, their newly deployed AI capabilities are helping us automate even more processes. It’s not a static tool; it evolves with our needs.

You seem optimistic about AI. How does Payhawk’s AI support your work?

Payhawk’s AI already supports us in three key areas:

1. Data enrichment and classification – automatically assigning expenses to the right accounts, categorizing merchants, and detecting anomalies.
2. Reconciliations and exception handling – AI excels at pattern matching and highlighting deviations.
3. Predictive financial management – supporting cash flow forecasting and explaining budget variances.

AI eliminates the concept of the “stressful month-end.” We’re moving toward continuous accounting and real-time insights.

What advice would you give another finance leader considering a similar transformation?

Start with measurement, not automation. Most finance teams don’t know their true operating costs per invoice, purchase order, or reimbursement. Without a baseline, you can’t design a meaningful transformation.

Then standardize processes, unify systems, improve data accuracy, implement an iPaaS, automate—and only then leverage AI.

What pitfalls should be avoided?
Don’t automate broken processes.
Don’t underestimate data quality issues.
Don’t skip change management.
Don’t start with AI—build your foundation first.
And don’t over-customize—standardization is your best friend.

The goal isn’t faster admin—it’s a finance function that leads through performance, insight, and control.

Interested in how Payhawk helped another globally operating Estonian company enhance its financial efficiency? Read this interview with Roman Khlibun, COO of Civitta.