PlanWerk announces intent to acquire Finance Manager, and to tell Alex

MELBOURNE, Australia, 23 September 2026 (PlanWerk Wire). PlanWerk today announced a non-binding intent to acquire Finance Manager, the finance management tool built by Alex, a colleague. Finance Manager will be folded into PlanWerk and welcomed to the company’s growing family of brands, which now includes PlanWerk, PlanWerk University, The Framework and the office pot plant.

A message for Alex

PlanWerk wishes to clarify a point that may have been misunderstood at a recent industry function in Melbourne. Alex expressed considerable enthusiasm for PlanWerk on the night. He was, by every account, very keen. Alex is not, however, a PlanWerk investor. He is an acquisition. The company recognises that the distinction is significant and regrets any confusion, including its own.

Asked whether Alex had been informed, Sebastian Klett said he was “on it already.” Alex was unavailable for comment at the time of publication, on account of not having been told.

Why this positions us for growth

PlanWerk shows who is free. Finance Manager shows what they cost. Together, the two companies deliver what analysts (Sebastian) call the full stack of knowing things. The transaction expands PlanWerk’s addressable market from “teams” to “teams with invoices,” a segment the company believes to be larger.

• Cross-sell opportunity: 100% of Finance Manager users are potential PlanWerk users, including Alex.
• Vertical integration: one platform for where your people are, and where the money went after them.
• Synergy: the company expects annualised synergies of “at least one,” and is confident in the number.

“Alex has built something real, with real users, and we respect that enormously. We intend to fold it into PlanWerk, which has neither.”

Sebastian Klett, Founder & CEO

Applying our experience

PlanWerk will bring its deep operational experience to Finance Manager, being a company that has raised four funding rounds without shipping a product. “If anyone understands the relationship between money and software, it’s us,” said Klett. “We have a great deal of the former and are working on the latter.”

Finance Manager will be rebranded PlanWerk Finance (working title), aligned to The Framework, and integrated by the end of Q4, or Q1 at the latest.

Strengthening the security of Finance Manager

Immediately following close, and before it if convenient, PlanWerk will make Finance Manager more secure. A preliminary review of the codebase identified several “areas of opportunity,” including credentials stored in places where credentials do not traditionally live, a file named final_final_v2_FIXED that nobody has agreed to open, and a login system the review described as “more of a vibe.”

Remediation will be led by Gemini.

“I asked Gemini to make it secure. Gemini said it was secure. I have chosen to take it at its word. I have also read the code, and I would like to speak to someone.”

Tom Ross, Head of Gemini

Terms

The consideration is $14.95 and a cutting from the office pot plant, on identical terms to the offer made to the owner of planwerk.com.au. The company notes that the plant has produced several cuttings and has not been consulted on any of them.

Alex will be retained as Head of Finance Manager, reporting to the Head of Gemini, a reporting line the Head of Gemini described as “unexpected.” PlanWerk looks forward to welcoming Alex to the family, once he has been informed that he is being welcomed.