At Haatch, we look for companies that solve big, persistent problems in simple, scalable ways. Powdr is doing just that, transforming financial modelling from a painful, costly exercise into an accessible, intuitive, and affordable process for businesses of all sizes.

Who They Are

Powdr is on a mission to make professional-grade financial modelling accessible to every business, not just those with deep pockets. Their platform empowers management teams to build integrated, accurate forecasts quickly, cost-effectively, and without the fragility of traditional spreadsheets.

The company is led by Joe van Gelder (Co-founder & CEO), one of the UK’s most in-demand financial modelling experts, trusted by private equity firms like Livingbridge and BGF, banks including Barclays and HSBC, and top advisory firms. Before founding Powdr, Joe spent six years running a successful consultancy, but demand exceeded what he could deliver personally, and a shortage of skilled modellers in the market meant turning away work. With 15 years’ experience spanning banking, consulting, and mid-market advisory, Joe understands the perspectives of both investors and management teams.

Joining him is Stephen Foster (Co-founder & CTO), a seasoned technology leader with 15+ years in software engineering, including work in AI-powered radiology imaging and secure systems for law enforcement. Stephen’s deep expertise in cloud computing, software architecture, and data security ensures Powdr’s technology is robust, scalable, and built for long-term growth.

What Problem They Solve

For many SMEs, producing a credible financial forecast is a recurring and costly headache. Self-built models often absorb weeks of senior management time, are created by individuals without specialist expertise, and rely on outdated templates that lead to disjointed and inaccurate outputs. While more robust, professional models typically cost between £15,000 and £100,000, can strain relationships between investors and management, and still demand significant oversight. Meanwhile, spreadsheet-based models are fragile, breaking whenever business conditions change and forcing teams to start the process all over again. Powdr replaces this broken approach with a guided, software-driven workflow that eliminates the complexity of building accurate, integrated forecasts, making them affordable, adaptable, and easy to maintain.

Traction & Progress

Powdr has already achieved impressive milestones since launch:

• Significant number of businesses supported with integrated forecasts for fundraising, restructuring, and M&A.
• Industry recognition as a regional Top Ten Finalist in the 2024 Tech Nation Rising Stars Awards.
• Product innovation with continuous feature development, keeping them ahead in the financial modelling space.

Why We Are Excited

We invested in Powdr because they are solving a fundamental bottleneck in how companies, banks, and investors share and act on financial information. By replacing a slow, expensive, and error-prone process with an intuitive, software-driven platform, Powdr addresses a universal pain point that, when solved, unlocks funding, drives growth, and reduces business failures. Their high-margin, subscription-based model scales efficiently and benefits from strong customer stickiness, while the product itself is grounded in thousands of real-world engagements, making it both intuitive to use and defensible against competitors. Most importantly, Powdr is led by a standout founding team, combining Joe’s financial modelling expertise with Stephen’s proven track record in building and scaling complex software, giving them a rare competitive advantage and the vision to become the go-to forecasting platform for businesses worldwide.