Transition Bio, Inc., was founded in 2020 when a group of University of Cambridge and Harvard University professors decided to combine its patents and form a new life sciences organization. The patents included screening technology for drug candidates and the fingerprinting of different types of cells and condensates.
The company’s founders self-funded originally and then closed on a $50 million Series A round of funding in March 2022. Today, Transition Bio has roughly 50 employees split between the United States and the United Kingdom. The U.S. side of the business focuses primarily on biology while the UK group centers its efforts on drug screening and protein signs.
The Director of Finance said the firm is looking to close on a Series B round of funding in 2024 timeframe. As a long-time NetSuite user, the company had been using QuickBooks, but quickly realized that the basic accounting platform couldn’t support its international growth or manage segregation of duties. The company was also using an external bill payment product, which became too much to manage. “We wanted to be able to consolidate those activities on a single system,” said the Director of Finance.
Furthermore, Transition Bio needed one system that could handle both USD and GBP currencies and a solution that could manage consolidations across both entities. The company leverages CrossCountry Consulting for its NetSuite needs, and one of the consultants said, “From a reporting perspective, we were limited in QuickBooks and had to perform manual and time consuming consolidations outside the system.”
Making the cut
Transition Bio’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) evaluation team considered NetSuite, Xero, and Sage Intacct. The Director of Finance had successfully implemented NetSuite at his prior company and knew the cloud ERP would meet the needs of the growing life sciences firm. “Based on our prior use of and experience with NetSuite, we knew it would be a good fit for us,” said the Director of Finance. “It was just a matter of deciding who we wanted as an implementation partner.”
The Director of Finance previously collaborated with NetSuite Alliance and SDN Partner, Charted, formerly SquareWorks Consulting, whose expertise in the biotech and life sciences industry ultimately confirmed his choice. Charted also had the internal subsidiary experience the company was seeking. “Charted has experience implementing international subsidiaries, which played a role in our decision to use them for our new NetSuite implementation,” the Director of Finance said.
The Director of Finance also wanted to use the Charted AP automation platform which would enhance Transition Bio’s efficiency by accelerating vendor invoice processing times and automating approval workflows. As the NetSuite implementation gained momentum, Charted worked with Transition Bio to align with its business objectives and provide guidance on NetSuite’s best practices. “The Charted implementation team was extremely knowledgeable,” the Director of Finance said.
Saving time and money
Since rolling out NetSuite in May 2023, Transition Bio has been using the ERP’s core financial management functionalities like general ledger and fixed assets. It’s also using OneWorld for global subsidiary management. The company can now effectively segregate duties, bring functions like accounts payable and PO management onto a single platform, and leverage automation for functions like procure-to-pay.
Transition Bio expects to see the financial benefits of software consolidation within the next nine to twelve months. Primarily involved with drug development now and for the foreseeable future, the company is saving both money and time on the accounts payable process.
“We wanted the new solution to be similar to our previous Optical Character Recognition (OCR) billing software, but to be part of our overall ERP,” said the CrossCountry consultant. “NetSuite offered everything we were looking for from a global subsidiary standpoint and checked all the boxes to streamline our AP process.”
Addressing the now, preparing for the future
Transition Bio also leverages Chartedto elevate NetSuite’s native AP processes. This suite offers a range of powerful features, from AI-enabled OCR and invoice scanning to payments.
The Director of Finance calls Charted a “well-built and well-thought-out system that aligns with the company’s objectives and financial needs.” The CrossCountry consultant is highly impressed with the system’s OCR functionality and how it automatically matches POs with invoices. “Charted is smart and fast and it’s getting even smarter the more we use it,” he said.
The company previously used an OCR billing software that was not fully integrated within its ERP. This created numerous inefficiencies, including syncing issues and connectivity breaks. “By having everything in one system within our ERP makes a huge difference for us,” the CrossCountry consultant explained. “For instance, when bills are posted, they can be promptly reviewed within the ERP, seamlessly integrated into the general ledger (GL), approved, and processed for payment, all within a unified system.”
“NetSuite seamlessly integrates with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for our UK group, facilitating VAT reporting and refunds—a pivotal component of the consolidation process. Additionally, it offers tailored customizations pertaining to approval workflows and organizational hierarchy.” the Director of Finance continued. “Collectively, these contribute to the overall value we’ve seen from our NetSuite implementation.”
Looking out further, the CrossCountry consultant said that if Transition Bio has to manage SOX requirements or establish additional controls, the company now has the internal control framework in place and ready to use.
Transition Bio’s large and small milestones
As it prepares for its next funding round, Transition Bio may begin using NetSuite’s Planning and Budgeting module to manage planning, budgeting, and forecasting at both the departmental and organizational level. “That would be one of our top priorities,” said the Director of Finance, who is also exploring the use of procure-to-pay punch-out features for its lab managers.
Transition Bio also wants to leverage Charted Advanced Vendor Onboarding feature which would allow the company to send secure forms to vendors and let NetSuite auto-create or update vendor in information. Right now, the company is familiarizing itself with the platform and hopes to utilize all of its features by next year.
“From the NetSuite perspective, we want to be prepared for our first audit, have a good grasp on all our accounting processes and procure-to-pay, and know that we’re adhering to internal control policies,” said the Director of Finance.
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