Building a Smarter Treasury: The Embat Story

1. What inspired you to create Embat, and how has the journey been so far?

Behind Embat are its two founders, Toni Berga and Carlos Serrano. They met at JP Morgan in London, where they established their careers as financiers but left their positions, inspired by their entrepreneurial aspirations.

With over a decade of experience in investment banking, Toni and Carlos identified a critical gap in the market: finance teams needed tools that were cloud-connected, collaborative, and intuitive. These tools would enable finance teams to quickly ascertain the status of their accounts and construct financial scenarios without the cumbersome and time-consuming task of manually updating massive datasets in complex Excel spreadsheets.

The European PSD2 directive facilitated rapid access to client information storage and transformed financial opportunities. Recognising this regulatory change, Toni and Carlos identified an untapped market among medium and large corporations. They aimed to help finance teams automate treasury operations like collections, payments, accounting, and reconciliation, addressing the needs arising from this shift.

Amidst the pandemic, they embarked on their venture, enlisting Tomás Gil, former Chief Technology Officer at Fintonic Latam, as a partner.

With this clear vision, Embat was launched in 2021.

Today, Embat stands as a comprehensive cloud-based treasury solution, empowering finance teams in medium and large companies to centralise all operations, from banking relationships to financial management processes.  By automating manual tasks, we allow finance teams to focus on strategic decision-making and drive value for their company’s growth.

2. If you could describe Embat’s impact in one sentence, what would it be?

Embat allows finance teams to save up to 75% of their time on manual tasks, enabling them to focus on strategic decision-making.

3. How do you keep your team motivated and focused on innovation at Embat?

At Embat, we keep our team motivated and focused on innovation by giving them ownership of real, high-impact challenges in corporate finance. Rather than just executing tasks, our team is deeply involved in rethinking how treasury management should work, ensuring that every development leads to tangible improvements for finance teams.

We foster a culture where experimentation and rapid iteration are encouraged. Our engineers, data scientists, and financial experts work in cross-functional teams, allowing them to test and implement new solutions quickly. This agility keeps motivation high, as team members see the direct impact of their work in automating processes, improving accuracy, and optimising financial decision-making.

“With a diverse team of over 100 professionals from +15 nationalities, we embrace different perspectives, challenge conventional treasury practices, and create an environment where innovation is not just encouraged—it’s embedded in everything we do.”

4. What’s the key challenge you aim to solve for finance teams with your platform?

Embat solves one of the biggest challenges finance teams face: the inefficiency and fragmentation of treasury management. Many companies still rely on manual processes, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems, which slow down decision-making and increase the risk of errors.

Our platform automates and centralises treasury operations in real time, allowing finance teams to reduce operational workload by 75%.

Through seamless API connectivity with over 15,000 banks and the most widely used ERPs and payment gateways worldwide, Embat eliminates the need for manual reconciliations, cash flow consolidations, and payment processing.

By integrating AI-driven forecasting and real-time liquidity management, we enable finance teams to shift their focus from routine tasks to strategic decision-making, ensuring businesses operate with greater accuracy, efficiency, and financial control.

5. How does Embat’s approach to AI differ from traditional treasury tools?

Embat sets itself apart from traditional treasury tools through its deep integration of Generative AI in Google Cloud’s Vertex AI, enhancing automation, accuracy, and efficiency. Unlike conventional systems that rely on static rules and manual oversight, Embat leverages AI to improve reconciliation accuracy, automate user interactions, and reduce accounting errors. This innovation saves finance teams in medium to large organisations up to 10 hours per week, allowing them to shift their focus from manual processes to strategic financial management

6. What’s one surprising insight you’ve gained about the future of treasury management?

A key insight about the future of treasury management is that efficiency isn’t just about automation—it’s about eliminating friction in decision-making. Companies don’t just need faster processes; they need real-time accuracy and predictive capabilities to navigate financial complexity. For example, we’ve seen that cash flow forecasting improves significantly when AI adapts to customer and supplier behaviours rather than relying on rigid historical patterns. Similarly, automating 90% of accounting entries isn’t just about saving time—it reduces reconciliation errors that cause downstream inefficiencies. The future of treasury isn’t just digital; it’s adaptive and deeply embedded in strategic decision-making.

7. What is the biggest misconception about corporate treasury that you encounter?

One of the biggest misconceptions about corporate treasury is that it’s just about cash management and payments when, in reality, it plays a critical role in a company’s strategic decision-making and financial stability. Many believe treasury is purely operational, but its real impact lies in optimising liquidity, managing financial risks, and ensuring long-term growth.

For example, companies often focus on having a cash buffer but overlook predictive cash flow insights that help them allocate resources more effectively. Similarly, reconciliation is seen as a back-office task when it actually affects financial accuracy, working capital decisions, and overall business agility. Treasury isn’t just about execution—it’s a key driver of financial strategy.

8. Ten years from now, what would you like Embat to be known for?

In the long term, we envision Embat as a transformative force, evolving into the preeminent corporate bank of the future for medium to large-sized enterprises worldwide. Our ongoing strategic partnerships, our commitment to continuous innovation, and our dedication to customer satisfaction are already laying the groundwork for this growth, delivering unmatched value to our clients at a global stage. These existing efforts will be expanded to include broader financial management solutions, further enhancing our comprehensive, cloud-based platform that supports efficient operations and strategic decision-making.