Acme Technology accelerates growth with Vanta

The company

Innovating bank integrations and finance automation

Founded in 2023, Acme Technology is a fintech company specialising in bank integrations and finance automation. The company began with an idea conceived by Acme CEO, Jx Lye, who recognised the inefficiencies, challenges, and cumbersome manual processes prevalent in managing financial operations, especially when companies try to integrate with their banks.

Armed with a deep understanding of both finance and technology, his team — proficient in payments and finance, backend money movement, and bank integrations — embarked on a mission to innovate the way businesses engage with banking services.

“We realised engaging with banking services is a unique problem. It’s painful. It takes six to eight months for a company to perform a bank integration with a team of three to five engineers,” says Rensyn Hooi, General Manager, Founding Team, Acme Technology. “What if we simplified the entire process and made it easy for businesses to connect directly with their bank accounts for everything from payments (including real-time payments) to direct debit and also reconciliation and recognition?” 

Today, the API-based company works with many major global and regional banks in the region. The company serves medium and large-sized clients from various sectors, including fintech, retail, e-commerce, B2B businesses , educational centres, and even a coffee robot barista machine. This “eclectic clientele,” according to Rensyn, underscores the versatility of the company's offerings across various industries.

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The Challenge

Navigating regulatory hurdles to unlock growth

Acme’s path to success was marked by initial obstacles and setbacks. "Establishing trust and credibility in the financial sector is paramount, especially when dealing with data and regulatory scrutiny,” says Rensyn.

Navigating the maze of legislative frameworks, particularly in a region marked by diverse market requirements, posed a formidable obstacle for Acme.

"Compliance is non-negotiable for us. We needed a solution that could help us manoeuvre through the complex landscape and ensure we were meeting all the necessary criteria.” 

Acme's founders realised the necessity of obtaining global certifications like ISO 27001 to enhance the company's credibility and facilitate business growth.

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Without the right tools and guidance, achieving ISO 27001 certification within a reasonable timeframe would have been challenging, potentially hindering Acme's ability to onboard new clients and scale its operations effectively.

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The Solution

Simplifying compliance, building trust 

Enter Vanta, a trust management platform that enabled Acme to simplify its  journey towards certification through compliance automation. "Vanta was a game-changer for us,” Rensyn says. “It provided us with the tools and guidance we needed to streamline our compliance efforts and accelerate the certification process."

With Vanta's intuitive platform and pre-built templates, Acme was able to address compliance gaps efficiently. "Vanta's step-by-step guidance made the process much more manageable. It allowed us to focus on our core business while ensuring we met all the necessary compliance requirements."

In fact, Rensyn says the team expected the compliance process to take at least seven to nine months, but in reality, it took just under three months from start to finish.

What’s more, as Acme leveraged Vanta's expertise to navigate the complexities of regulatory compliance, the company gained newfound confidence in its ability to meet industry standards.

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The Impact

Driving efficiency and innovation

Within four months, Acme was able to optimise operations, fortify security measures, and build client trust — all using Vanta to manage its compliance process. 

"We've seen a remarkable improvement in our efficiency and effectiveness since partnering with Vanta. The self-serve platform has allowed us to automate tedious compliance processes, freeing up valuable time and resources that we can now allocate to more strategic initiatives.

“Another significant benefit was in reducing audit time. Vanta's numerous prompts and existing templates streamlined our documentation process, minimising the need for extensive revisions. This thoroughness meant we encountered minimal questions from auditors during both internal and external audits, resulting in significant time savings."

“Although the audit process was rigorous, with Vanta's support, we managed to finish it in under 2-3 weeks, rather than the anticipated two months," says Rensyn.

Looking ahead, Acme has a bold vision. “We want to shake up the future of fintech by seamlessly integrating banking services, paving the way for innovation and transformation.," says Rensyn. "There's substantial room for growth, especially in serving larger enterprises. Our initial engagements with public companies mark just the beginning, offering promising avenues for further expansion. Additionally, we're committed to deeper API integrations with both local and global partners, opening up a multitude of opportunities.” 

With Vanta fortifying its compliance and security endeavours, Acme is poised to pursue additional certifications while strengthening its foothold in Singapore and venturing into new markets. “With many requirements needing annual updates, the platform becomes integral to our ongoing operations. As we expand and encounter new requirements like SOC 2 or other certifications, it's logical to explore how Vanta can support those ongoing needs."