Heaps Normal tap a global “Command Centre for Cash” with Airwallex

When Andy Miller shared the first batch of Heaps Normal pale ale with his mates who were bartenders, he didn’t tell them it was non-alcoholic. Nine out of ten of them thought it was a mid-strength beer, and ten out of ten of them loved the taste. That’s when Andy and his co-founders knew they were onto something. 

“Non-alcoholic beer is nothing new,” he says. “But it’s always felt like an afterthought. We wanted to put a little bit more care and thought into, producing something that tastes great.”

Within the year of that first batch, Heaps Normal was stocked in pubs and restaurants around Australia. Six years later, Heaps Normal is enjoyed across the UK, Japan, South Korea, Fiji, Thailand, and New Zealand. 

As a brand that constantly bucks convention, traditional solutions for their back office were never going to cut it. To support their astounding growth, they needed solutions like the Airwallex Business Account. 

The challenge

Heaps Normal’s expansion was mind blowing. “It was much faster and bigger than we could have expected,” says Andy. “Some of the feedback from pubs and restaurants in the early days was that Heaps Normal was already outselling some of their alcoholic beers in the fridge.”

As the demand grew rapidly, so did the team. This hyper growth started to put pressure on the efficiency of the finance function.

“We had to find systems to manage administration, expenses, and entering a lot of new international markets, which is what we did in our first two years.”

Banks that couldn’t keep up, and fintechs that sold the dream

In those first couple of years, Andy and his team swapped banking providers a few times, looking for a solution that could work for them. They were also approached by several fintechs that made big claims about their solutions. 

“We had so many fintech startups presenting products that were designed to solve all of our problems,” says Andy. “Unfortunately, a lot of the time it didn't live up to the promise.”

When current CFO Damian Williams joined the business, he could see that their tools’ capabilities weren’t matching their rate of global growth. 

“We had sufficient systems to deal with the business, but they weren’t capable of carrying us forward on the trajectory that we were experiencing,” he says. “Things were going to break.”

Having spent his career supporting high-growth, disruptive businesses like Heaps Normal, he knew there were better options out there. 

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

We needed modern digital partners to accelerate and automate some of the requirements and governance and regulation.

The solution

Damian knew that in order to scale Heaps Normal without scaling their costs, they needed to become more efficient. That formula for efficiency included finding the right people, putting in the right processes, and implementing the right technology. 

“We really needed to move from traditional business systems to new, modern approaches,” Damian says. “Technology was the key driver.” 

Enter the Airwallex Business Account. 

"It just seemed really easy to use, straight off the bat,” reflects Andy. “ And there were really practical ways that it was impacting our business.” 

Unlike the other tech startups that had approached them, Airwallex was able to support their operations in a meaningful way from the outset.

“It was great to have a tool that just delivered what it said on the box.” 

Activating a global “Command Centre for Cash” with the Airwallex Business Account

“One of the key growth pillars of the business has been expanding beyond Australia into international markets,” remarks Damian. Southeast Asian markets were the first focus. 

With the Airwallex Business Account, Damian could open Global Accounts with local details to collect, hold and pay with Yen, Baht, and Won. No local banking relationship was required, each account could be created from the Airwallex Business Account dashboard within minutes. “It was almost instantaneous,” says Damian.

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

It's incredibly powerful to have a global view of our cash and still operate it at a local level.

As they expanded into more markets, Damian and his team were able to move currencies fast to engage with their stockists, suppliers, and vendors. Airwallex is built on a network of local banking partners and payment rails in key markets, so instead of routing a payment through multiple banks like the SWIFT model, it can settle funds locally within each country. 

Damian explains, “When I move my cash from my UK account it does not go through Swift, it does not delay two days and I don’t cop the Swift fee.” 

Airwallex’s centralised dashboard has given Damian what he describes as his global “Command Centre for Cash”. 

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

Airwallex has enabled us to keep control of the most fundamental part of a growth business, and that's cash flow. We can do the things we need to do when we need to do them, wherever we are in the world, in real time. And that is the flexibility and speed that allows us to grow as fast as we are.

Corporate cards for fully flexible spending

Another key aspect of Damian’s financial command centre with Airwallex is his hub for Corporate Cards.

“We’ve got at least 50, if not 80, virtual cards spun up with Airwallex,” he says. “We deploy them in a way that aligns to each major subscription and service we have.” 

Using cards in this way gives Damian critical oversight over money moving out of the business. If one particular cost needs to be challenged or cancelled, the issue is contained while other mission critical spending keeps moving. 

“If any one subscription or service fails or the card is exposed or breached, its impact is isolated to only that service,” explains Damian. “If we need to cancel the card, it doesn’t have a cascading effect across the whole business where everything stops.”

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

The digital corporate cards in Airwallex have been able to actually transform how finance functions.

Employee expenses, simplified with AI

Reflecting on the earlier days of the business, Andy recalls walking around town with a “pocket full of receipts.” 

“Sometimes the ink would fade off before I even got a chance to lodge it,” he laughs. 

Damian says that Airwallex Spend has changed how Heaps Normal approaches employee expenditure completely. 

“There's no reason for employees to be out of pocket and submit paper forms to ask for their money back,” he says. “You can deploy in real time digital cards, and create the governance around who you're giving it to and their purpose.”

Airwallex’s intelligent card controls include setting daily, weekly or monthly transaction limits, controlling where the card can be spent with merchant category codes (MCC) and currency restrictions, plus many more.

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

It really ensures that you can open up the bank account to everyone in the business, but in a limited way that's meaningful for the job that they're doing.

Heaps Normal employees can access their virtual card in their Airwallex app, which is also where they can upload receipts. Say they buy a round of coffees for a supplier meeting, they can snap the receipt and AI automatically pulls out the information from the image for review. If the receipt is emailed to them, Airwallex can automatically match it to their expense. 

This self-serve model has not only made operations smoother for their employees, but also takes the pressure off Damian’s small finance team.

Damian Williams

CFO, Heaps Normal

We rely on our employees to operate in a self-serve way. Expenses are captured through the Airwallex app digitally, with AI extracting the data and pre-populating so employees can simply review, confirm and get on with their job.

Cheers to the next chapter

Heaps Normal is an incredible example of an Australian business creating a product with real impact.

“We get emails every week from people telling us just what a profound impact Heaps Normal has had on their lifestyle,” says Andy. 

With their core range of delicious beers being consumed across the world, and their next venture of non-alcoholic wine gaining traction, this loved Aussie brand is showing no signs of slowing down. 

At Airwallex, we couldn’t be more delighted to be a part of their growth endeavours. We’re stoked to help the team focus on what matters most. 

“For a small business, like Heaps Normal, it’s so important that we put our energy where it's going to have the most impact, " says Andy. 

“Having a tool like Airwallex supporting our growth means that we can concentrate on the things that matter most to us and that we are particularly good at. And for Heaps Normal, that really, across the board, means changing the way that we play and throwing a better party.”