Cape aims to provide a centralised node for internal expense controls, rooting out duplicate and unnecessary expenses to help companies lower their total expenses with corporate cards wrapped in software that tracks and controls all spending. Businesses are able to set different limits for different individuals and teams, as well as centralising all of their receipts, attaching them to each expense with integrations into cloud accounting software providers.

The startup also provides customers with cashback on all purchases, whether that be a client coffee, Uber ride or monthly subscription cost.

Cape customers get access to a charge card with credit limits up to $100k depending on creditworthiness. Cape uses open banking technology to understand its customers financial position and any subsequent changes to ensure they’re offering an appropriate line of credit.

Cape, like many of its peers in North America (Brex & Ramp) and Europe (Pleo & Payhawk), makes money by collecting a small slice of customer spend as revenue via interchange income.

Unlike these territories, interchange in Australia is one of the lowest globally. To counteract this, Cape became a Principal Member to Mastercard, controlling its costs by retaining all of the interchange and offering a route to growth across the Apac region. Cape's pricing structure also differs from its peers, allowing customers to issue unlimited virtual cards to employees, with no transaction fees or interest charged on the credit facility. Instead the firm charges a subscription fee for its expense and spend management software, making it more like a traditional SaaS company with tiered pricing.

The 18 person team founded 17 months ago is based in Sydney and remotely across three continents. The firm intends to double its headcount in the coming months, with the vast majority of capital going into hiring engineers and product specialists.