So, you fundraise in USD and operate in GBP
By
Seth Phillips | CEO | Bound
First things first, you’re not alone. This is how Bound operates and we have many customers in this same scenario.
…Maybe the company has a US top-co (like nearly all YC companies).
…Maybe it raised a recent round from a US VC and investors wanted to think in terms of USD–forcing the GBP issue down to the company.
…Perhaps the company’s management is working under the assumption of an eventual US-based acquisition.
Whatever the reason, if you’ve raised USD and you operate primarily in GBP, then you’ve put ~10% of your company’s funds at risk of being eaten by unpredictable/unfavorable exchange rate movements. And it’s possible that no one involved in this process is talking about it, because no one really knows what best practice is. Or maybe you’re getting random advice from everyone you ask.
Bound can’t tell you what to do, but we help a lot of companies think through this. Two big questions arise immediately when we talk to customers about this situation:
In which currency are you going to report your financial statements?
In which currency do you want to hold your cash balances?
So, let’s pretend you did this 2 years ago. Let’s take a look at what happened. Here’s the GBP/USD rate over the past 2 years.
So, how did 2022 and 2023 look for you?
