Kittl Scales Globally as It Brings Beautiful Designs to Well Over 1M Subscribers
- Future-proofed a small finance team with the ability to scale payments by 10x
- Over 300 automated payouts issued monthly
- Reduced payment processing times from 1 day a week to just two hours
Kittl is an innovative design platform that simplifies the complex process of creating beautiful designs. Headquartered in Berlin, Kittl has rapidly grown its user base to well over a million subscribers since being founded in 2020, with a substantial share of users located in the US.
Founded by individuals with backgrounds in design and business, Kittl has expanded its team to over 120 employees across four countries. The company completed a Series B funding round in 2023.
1 Million
Well Over 1 Million Subscribers
4 Countries
Entities in Four Countries
Scaling with Technology Adoption
Kittl’s strategy was to redefine their workflows through automation, aiming to enhance efficiency and foster innovation with technology. By minimizing manual tasks, Kittl focused on how technology can drive business scalability and provide designers with a best-in-class payment experience.
We work with a lot of designers and partners around the world that get paid based on multiple metrics. They are often not into finance.
Christoph Drayss | Finance Manager, Kittl
Too Many Manual and Error-Prone Processes
Kittl relied on manual processes to manage invoices and issues payments via bank wires and PayPal. They needed to improve their efficiency and wanted to improve their time-consuming and error-prone processes.
Kittl pays over 300 designers and partners worldwide, operating under different tax jurisdictions, payment methods, and geographic locations. Kittl’s requirements in accounting software are being able to consolidate payment details, payment methods, and compliance information for VAT and taxes and handle supplier onboarding.
- Invoice Management Processes Were Inefficient
- Onboarding Suppliers Was Error Prone and Time-Consuming
- Incapable of Scaling Effectively to Support a Growing Number of Transactions
A Lean Finance Team with Scalable Aspirations
Kittl aimed to keep its finance team as lean as possible. As their transaction volume rapidly increased, they sought to implement a solution that would substantially reduce manual workload and associated errors. Scalability was crucial for supporting this growth.
The designers needed to make perfect invoices themselves, which was an administrative burden. The payout amount was challenging for a lean team because we were paying through traditional ways only.
Christoph Drayss | Finance Manager, Kittl
Finance Automation to Streamline Operations
To tackle these challenges, Kittl partnered with Tipalti to streamline its global payouts, reduce manual effort, and ensure smooth, transparent, and timely payments to its global network of designers.
By integrating Tipalti into its financial operations, Kittl could automate its invoicing and payouts to its network of 300+ designers and partners.
- Issues Mass Payouts to Multiple Countries in Multiple Payment Methods
- Minimized Errors and Improved the Accuracy of Its Financial Operations
- Created a Centralized Reliable Source of Information for the Finance Team
- Transitioned to Self-Billing—Eliminating the Need to Process Incoming Invoices
Simplified Payments to Designers and Partners
Implementing Tipalti into its payout scheme, Kittl significantly reduced its manual workload and errors. By automating complex workflows, Tipalti brings peace of mind to the finance team by removing the burden of manual processes, allowing them to scale operations without increasing headcount.
It’s like having one extra person to handle the workload. At our scale, where we can grow tenfold, it would otherwise mean needing five more people. Tipalti saves us that requirement.
Christoph Drayss | Finance Manager, Kittl
Focus on Designs. Not Finance.
Tipalti brings peace of mind to both the finance team and designers, as payments are processed smoothly and transparently, enabling designers to focus on their creative work without worrying about financial administration.
