See how The Black Hole Group improved cash flow by using CardUp

Meet The Black Hole Group, a collective of creative concepts, curated foods and designer experiences.

Starting out as a boutique hostel, The Black Hole Group grew into an eclectic cooperative lifestyle brand that features a range of local food and beverage joints, hotels, clothing brands, and more. It is now a parent company of entities and beloved spots for artisanal and gourmet experiences in Singapore.

The Group is now made up of a collective of brands, with 9 lifestyle and F&B establishments in their portfolio. 

The Challenge

Like any F&B business, The Black Hole Group has multiple fixed costs in the form of rent and manpower, even during slow months. Traditional payment methods such as bank transfer often lead to immediate outflow of cash and makes settling of payments very time-consuming. The company was looking for an efficient alternative that could stabilise their working capital needs during both peak and off-peak months. 

The Solution

CardUp is a credit card enablement and automation platform that allows you to shift non-card payments to your credit cards. With CardUp for Business, you get your invoices paid on time while you extend your payment terms by up to 2 months, interest-free – allowing you to optimise cash flow. Through CardUp's digital platform, you also can manage your payments seamlessly, streamline payables and monitor all payments on a singular dashboard.

The Black Hole Group sought CardUp as a financing solution to stabilise their working capital needs. The company now uses their credit card to settle their payments. This allows them to leverage on their existing credit line. They are also able to consolidate all of their payments in one platform. 

Stabilised cash flow in peak and off-peak seasons

CardUp is a fast and convenient financing solution for businesses. After shifting their payments onto CardUp, The Black Hole Group was able to free up more cash on hand. Their invoices are paid on time, and they get to hold on to cash longer – i.e. until their credit card bills are due. This means that their suppliers get paid on time; their employees receive their monthly pay; and their landlord receives rent on time via bank transfer– and while all these payment are paid on time, The Black Hole Group only pays off their credit card statement one month (or up to 2 months) later. This enables the company to improving on-hand cash flow with minimal costs.

Digitised payments trail

Shifting their payments onto CardUp also allow them to gain access to CardUp's suite of Digitisation Tools. Their recurring payments can be scheduled and automated easily. Furthermore, all of their payments are visible on a clean and user-friendly digital dashboard.

CardUp's automation and payment consolidation feature creates easier and more productive management of payments, and greater time savings for the team. The Black Hole Group now views and handles all past and upcoming payments all in one platform. Past payments are also cleanly stored in the transaction history for better tracking and monitoring.  

Increased focus on expansion 

With working capital and productivity better optimised, The Black Hole group saves time on manual payment processes and manual consolidation of their account payables. Their team can now channel more time and resources to more important business operations, such as optimising other operational costs and opening more outlets.

How to conserve more cash during tough times using a credit card?

CardUp is committed to helping businesses emerge stronger and thrive better in the new normal. The ever-evolving pandemic situation has and will continue to put companies all around the world in unprecedented circumstances. For many businesses, meeting cash flow needs remains a top priority in order to stay afloat and emerge stronger from the pandemic. 

For business such as The Black Hole Group, CardUp’s platform provides a stable and low-cost way to free up cash on hand to tide through the fluctuations of peak and off-peak months. This, in turn, optimises their working capital as well.

CardUp’s Business Transformation Support provides lowered fees to support businesses better and manage working capital needs by freeing up more cash at a lower cost – making it a more cost-effective option compared to other financing options such as loans and overdrafts. 

Learn more about how CardUp can bring more value to your business’s payment processes through its Business Transformation Support!