Castaway
Castaway Cloud is a SaaS platform for three-way financial forecasting and business modelling, integrating P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow reports for SMEs and the accounting and business advisory firms that serve them. The product offers scenario modelling, Xero/QuickBooks/Excel/Google Sheets integrations, and tiered monthly subscriptions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersSydney, Australia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Castaway does
Castaway is an Australian-based software company operating as Financier Software Pty Ltd that builds Castaway Cloud, a SaaS platform for three-way financial forecasting and business modelling. The product integrates Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow reports into a single model with line-by-line assumptions, scenario modelling, and actuals/variance analysis, underpinned by a proprietary calculation engine that the company positions as industry-leading for 3-way integrated forecasting. It supports dynamic modelling through activity drivers and custom KPIs, customizable chart of accounts, and management reporting via dashboards, reports, and storyboards, with built-in handling of complex transactions including debtor finance, accruals, and asset financing.
Castaway Cloud serves two primary customer segments in parallel: small and medium enterprises (SMEs) needing cashflow visibility and business forecasting, and accounting and business advisory firms that use the product to deliver advisory services to their own SME clients. The platform integrates directly with Xero, QuickBooks, Excel, and Google Sheets, allowing actuals to flow from the customer's accounting system into the forecast. Customers named by the company span SMEs in agriculture (Atlas Pearls and Perfume), food and beverage (Miami Bake House), and healthcare (Dr+Group), alongside advisory firms such as PKF, Interact Business Consulting, CFO Insight, Accru Melbourne and Caveo Partners.
The company monetises the product through monthly SaaS subscriptions organised by tier: Plan3 (1-3 project files, AUD$150/month), Plan10 (4-10 files, AUD$400/month), Plan20 (11-20 files, AUD$700/month) and Plan50 (21-50 files, AUD$1,500/month), with an Enterprise tier for larger requirements. Distribution combines self-serve free-trial PLG at the low end with account-managed enterprise sales and an advisory-firm channel at the high end. Castaway was founded around 2010 (succeeding the earlier WinForecast product), migrated its installed base from a desktop product to Castaway Cloud in late 2023, and operates across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. The company is privately held by co-founders Michael Ford (CEO) and Jo Buchanan (COO), with no disclosed institutional funding.
Castaway firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Castaway
- Legal name
- Financier Software Pty Ltd
- Website
- https://castawayforecasting.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Castaway Cloud is a SaaS platform for three-way financial forecasting and business modelling, integrating P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow reports for SMEs and the accounting and business advisory firms that serve them. The product offers scenario modelling, Xero/QuickBooks/Excel/Google Sheets integrations, and tiered monthly subscriptions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Castaway industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Financial Forecasting Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Software/SaaS Subscriptions (Consumer & Prosumer) (CRAFAIAB)
Keywords
Where Castaway is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Sydney
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices2 records
Markets served
Castaway business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription - Cloud SaaS: Monthly subscription plans (Plan3, Plan10, Plan20, Plan50) and Enterprise plans. Pricing based on number of project files required. Additional project files available for purchase within each plan tier.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Plan3 - 1 to 3 Project Files |
| Subscription | Monthly | Plan10 - 4 to 10 Project Files |
| Subscription | Monthly | Plan20 - 11 to 20 Project Files |
| Subscription | Monthly | Plan50 - 21 to 50 Project Files |
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise Plan |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Castaway product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Castaway Cloud is a SaaS-based three-way cashflow forecasting and business modelling application that integrates Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow reports in a single model. It serves SMEs and accounting/advisory firms with dynamic scenario modelling, line-by-line assumptions, customisable dashboards and storyboards, and direct integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Excel, and Google Sheets. The platform is delivered via tiered monthly subscriptions (Plan3 through Plan50) plus custom Enterprise agreements.
Product overview
Castaway is a unified SaaS platform providing three-way cashflow forecasting and business modelling software. The core product is Castaway Cloud, available through four subscription tiers (Plan3, Plan10, Plan20, Plan50) plus Enterprise options. The platform integrates Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow forecasting with dynamic modelling capabilities, scenario analysis, customizable dashboards, and storyboards. Key features include 3-Way Financials, Flexible Chart of Accounts, Line by Line Assumptions, Dynamic Modelling, Management Reporting, Complex Transactions & Scenarios, Actuals and Variance Analysis, and Custom Formulas and KPIs. Recent additions include Consolidations and Copy Projects. The platform offers native integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Excel, and Google Sheets. Training and webinars (Baseline, BUILD, MAINTAIN, DELIVER) are provided as complementary services.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Castaway Cloud Cloud-based three-way cashflow forecasting and business modelling SaaS application that integrates Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cashflow reports. Provides scenario modelling, dynamic reporting, storyboards, real-time collaboration and native integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Excel and Google Sheets for SMEs and their accounting/advisory partners.
- Castaway Cloud Training and Webinars
Quantifiable outcome
- One advisory firm achieved 40% business growth in two years with 90% growth attributable to Castaway work
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Castaway
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Castaway technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
AI capability2 records
Feature11 records
Castaway partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- XerocorePrimary accounting software integration partner. Direct integration with Xero allows users to build fully customised forecasts in minutes and import actuals data for monthly or quarterly reporting in seconds. Xero-Castaway integration launched in 2015.
- QuickBookscoreAccounting software integration partner providing direct integration for users to connect financial data to Castaway forecasting models.
- Excel/MicrosoftcoreExcel integration makes Castaway compatible with any accounting software that can export to Excel. Enables users to build forecasts quickly and customise modelling and reporting.
- Google SheetscoreIntegration with Google Sheets allows users to connect financial data and build forecasts using Google Sheets exports.
- StripeminorThird-party payment processor used for securely processing payment information. Castaway does not collect or store credit card data.
- GoCardlessminorThird-party payment processor used for securely processing payment information through direct debit.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Castaway competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- LiveFlow: LiveFlow turns Google Sheets and QuickBooks data into live financial dashboards, forecasts and budgets for SMBs and their accountants. It is a direct competitor in spreadsheet-friendly cashflow forecasting for SMEs.
- Fathom: Fathom provides financial analysis, reporting and forecasting tools for accountants and SMEs, with deep Xero and QuickBooks integrations. It overlaps directly with Castaway on advisory-led forecasting and reporting workflows.
- Float: Float is a cash flow forecasting SaaS tightly integrated with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage, targeting exactly the same SME and accountant/advisor buyer as Castaway. It is one of Castaway's most direct head-to-head competitors in 3-way forecasting.
- Jirav: Jirav is a financial planning and analysis (FP&A) platform offering budgeting, forecasting and scenario modelling for SMB and mid-market customers. It overlaps with Castaway's modelling and scenario capabilities at the upper end of Castaway's market.
- Spotlight Reporting: Spotlight Reporting builds reporting, forecasting and dashboarding tools for accountants and bookkeepers globally. It competes with Castaway for the same accounting-firm channel and SME advisory use cases.
Emerging players
- Pulse (cash flow forecasting): Pulse is an emerging cash flow forecasting and financial planning tool targeting SMBs. It competes with Castaway on cashflow visibility but typically with a lighter feature set than Castaway's 3-way engine.
- Causal: Causal is a financial modelling and forecasting tool focused on scenario planning for businesses. It addresses the same 'model any business scenario' use case as Castaway's dynamic modelling, but from a spreadsheet-replacement angle.
Others
- Xero Analytics / Xero Forecasting: Xero, Castaway's core integration partner, increasingly bundles analytics and short-term cashflow forecasting into its platform. Any deeper native forecasting features from Xero would directly threaten Castaway's distribution and value proposition.
- QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner: Intuit's QuickBooks suite includes built-in cash flow planning tools for SMBs. As a platform incumbent with massive distribution, it represents the most significant risk of native features undercutting third-party forecasting SaaS like Castaway.
Broad incumbents
- Planful: Planful is a larger, well-established FP&A platform offering budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning. It serves a broader mid-market and enterprise customer base than Castaway and represents the kind of scaled incumbent Castaway could be displaced by upmarket.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Castaway social profiles
Digital presenceCastaway compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Castaway financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Castaway leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Castaway funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Castaway M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Castaway
What does Castaway do?
Castaway Cloud is a SaaS-based three-way cashflow forecasting and business modelling application that integrates Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cashflow reports in a single model. It serves SMEs and accounting/advisory firms with dynamic scenario modelling, line-by-line assumptions, customisable dashboards and storyboards, and direct integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Excel, and Google Sheets. The platform is delivered via tiered monthly subscriptions (Plan3 through Plan50) plus custom Enterprise agreements.
Is Castaway a public or private company?
Castaway is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Castaway founded?
Castaway was founded in 2010. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Castaway based?
Castaway is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Castaway make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription - Cloud SaaS.
Who are Castaway's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are LiveFlow, Fathom, Float, Jirav and Spotlight Reporting. Emerging players are Pulse (cash flow forecasting) and Causal. Others are Xero Analytics / Xero Forecasting and QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner. Planful is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Castaway have an API?
No public API is recorded for Castaway.
What industry is Castaway in?
Castaway's product category is Financial Forecasting Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAFAIAB, Software/SaaS Subscriptions (Consumer & Prosumer). Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.