Nuvo has grown rapidly over the last two years. Every firm it acquires arrives with its own challenges and its own way of getting paid. Adfin gives Nuvo one platform to bring every acquisition onto, migrating 2,500 direct debit mandates in its first rollout alone.
“We had 20 years of direct debit mandate history to wash through as part of this... the support we got in that journey was fantastic.”
How Nuvo built a repeatable payments playbook for its acquisition strategy
Every firm Nuvo brings into the group arrives with its own way of collecting client money - different direct debit providers, different invoicing habits, and in some cases, still cheques and cash.
To bring every acquisition onto one modern payment experience without disrupting client relationships, Nuvo made Adfin the backbone of its integration playbook, working alongside Socket for pricing and client engagement.
Nuvo grows almost entirely through M&A - 45 deals completed to date, with a plan to keep doubling revenue over the next three to four years.
But every firm it acquires brings its own way of collecting client money: separate direct debit providers, different invoicing habits, and sometimes cheques and cash.
That made each deal an admin integration project as well as a legal one. Direct debit mandate histories stretched back 20 years, with real matching risk whenever client data moved between providers, and support from the previous provider was slow, with cases logged and left waiting. Credit control, meanwhile, was split across Excel, Satago and manual portfolio reviews, leaving no single view of the group's debtor position.
“There's complexity with bringing in lots of different businesses. They've got different ways of working: how they operate their finances, how they engage their clients. How they pay is a key element. So we wanted to ensure that we have a platform that means the client's experience is better under Nuvo,. rather than it being a step backwards.”
Phil Reader · CFO, Nuvo Accountancy
Nuvo made Adfin the standard payment layer for every firm it brings into the group, working alongside Socket for pricing and client engagement. Each acquisition lands on the same stack, so clients experience the move as a step up rather than a disruption.
“The tech we adopt is there to make sure we're presenting the business in the best possible way from day one.”
Phil Reader · CFO
The first move was the biggest: around 2,500 direct debit mandates and 20 years of mandate history, from signed agreement to first live collection in eight weeks. Future subsidiary migrations are expected to take four to six.
“We've got a nice, repeatable process... data extraction, data cleansing, and then working with Chris and the wider Adfin team on that mapping. Having that clear process will make it a lot smoother going forward.”
Alex Flynn Smith · Financial Controller
Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay sit alongside direct debit, giving smaller clients and sole traders a way to pay without setting up a mandate. Payments reconcile automatically into Xero, so the credit control team isn't matching them by hand.
“Clients who are on the move can just click on their phone and pay it straight away, whereas we didn't have that with the old system.”
Emma · Finance Manager
Mandates auto-match to the right client, and failed direct debits are chased automatically. But when human support is needed, it's there.
“Chris is on hand pretty much straight away and sorts it out as soon as possible. With our previous provider, we'd sometimes have to log a case and wait two or three days for a response, dealing with different people. That's never the case with Adfin.”
Emma · Financial Manager
The migration is done. But the team is candid that the biggest financial gains are still ahead.
“The next milestone is once we've got multiple entities live on the platform, and then working on credit control together, that's when we'd expert to start moving those DSO numbers.”
Phil Reader · CFO
Nuvo's plan is to continuing growing through M&A, with the infrastucture in place to support.
“Our target is to get from £30 million to £100 million. Effectively, doubling, and doubling again over the next three years. Adfin will play a key part in this.”
Phil Reader · CFO