Cube: Excel-Native FP&A for Mid-Market Finance Teams
A flexible planning platform that keeps Excel and Google Sheets at the center, while adding workflow, automation, version control, and centralized data.
Cube is the Excel-first Gen-3 FP&A platform.
Where Pigment, Abacum, and Mosaic require you to move modeling into a new interface, Cube extends the tools finance already uses.
It is not a modeling engine, not a pure AI engine, not a metrics BI tool - it's a centralized FP&A data & governance layer built around Excel/Sheets.
This is why Cube has explosive usage among mid-market finance teams who don't want to leave Excel.
1. Snapshot
What Cube is
- A spreadsheet-native FP&A platform designed to centralize data, add governance, and automate FP&A workflows while keeping Excel/Sheets as the front end.
- Positioned as a "lightweight but powerful FP&A control layer" for teams not ready for Pigment or Anaplan.
Company facts
- Founded: 2018 (NYC)
- Founders: Christina Ross (CFO background), with cofounder engineers
- HQ: New York, remote-friendly
- Funding: ~$40M+ (Series B led by Battery Ventures, Bonfire, Slack Fund, Operator Collective, etc.)
- Employees: ~100-150
- Customer segment: SMB & mid-market, especially 50-1,000 employees
- Positioning: "FP&A's favorite spreadsheet-native planning platform"
Who uses Cube
Cube publicly references:
- MasterClass
- SmugMug
- Earnest
- Fivetran-adjacent ecosystems
- Canopy
- Ro
- IL Makiage
- Zapier-adjacent financial teams
- Many mid-market B2B SaaS / consumer startups
Cube wins deals directly against Vena, Planful, and Adaptive - for teams who love Excel but need structure.
2. Who Cube Is Really For (ICP)
Best-fit customers
Cube is ideal for organizations that:
- Live in Excel/Google Sheets
- Want better governance, automation, and version control - but not a new modeling UI
- Have 1-5 finance team members
- Run financial models primarily in spreadsheets today
- Need to centralize data from ERP, CRM, HRIS, billing
- Don't have internal bandwidth for heavy EPM systems
Cube's sweet spot:
- 50-1,000 employee companies
- B2B SaaS
- Consumer subscription
- Professional services
- Light manufacturing
- Multi-entity mid-market orgs
Less ideal for
- Large enterprises needing complex dimensional modeling
- Organizations wanting multi-domain xP&A (Finance + HR + Sales + Supply Chain in one platform)
- Finance teams who want to fully abandon spreadsheets (Pigment/Vareto better)
- Companies needing statutory consolidation
- Highly complex multi-COA/multi-GAAP groups
Cube's value lies in making Excel scalable, not replacing it.
3. Product Overview & Key Use Cases
Cube extends spreadsheets with:
1. Centralized data & version control
- Unified data hub for ERP, CRM, HRIS, billing
- COA mapping, dimensional model, historical actuals
- Versioning for budget, forecast, scenarios
- Automatic roll-ups
2. FP&A automation
- Driver-based modeling using native Excel formulas
- Automated data refresh
- Push/pull between Excel/Sheets and Cube
- Hedging against broken links, formula drift
3. Workflows & governance
- Approval workflows
- Contributor access
- Department-level templates
- Audit trails
4. Reporting
- Management & departmental reporting
- Variance analysis
- Board reporting templates
- Self-service dashboards
5. Scenario Planning
- Multi-scenario analysis
- Faster versioning than pure Excel
- Shared dimensions across models
What this feels like to a buyer:
Excel gets "superpowers." You keep your models - Cube adds structure, governance, and automation.
4. Architecture & Tech Stack (Inferred)
Cube is not a modeling engine - it's a data + governance + FP&A middleware layer wrapped around spreadsheets.
Components:
1. Data engine
- Stores actuals, dimensions, hierarchies, scenarios
- Allows top-down and bottom-up modeling from spreadsheets
- Supports multi-entity rollups
2. Excel/Google Sheets connectors
- Add-in pushes and pulls data
- Cube becomes the source of truth
- Spreadsheets remain the modeling interface
3. Workflow engine
- User roles
- Access control
- Model submission
- Approvals
4. Integrations layer
- Pre-built connectors for ERP, CRM, HRIS, billing
- ETL configuration for custom data lakes
Cube sits between the ERP and Excel, not as a UI replacement but as the FP&A data brain.
5. AI Capabilities
Cube's AI capabilities (current generation):
1. AI-assisted insights
- Variance explanations
- Trend commentary
- Data anomaly detection
2. AI narrative generation
- "Write my budget commentary"
- "Summarize drivers of revenue decline this quarter"
- "Explain opex trends for presentation"
3. AI spreadsheet assistance
- Helping modify or clean up models
- Suggesting drivers
- Identifying errors or missing logic
Cube is not an AI-first platform like Runway or Abacum - but its AI layer makes spreadsheets smarter and faster.
6. Integrations & Ecosystem
Cube integrates with:
ERP & Accounting
- NetSuite
- Sage Intacct
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Microsoft Dynamics (via ETL)
CRM
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
HRIS
- BambooHR
- Gusto
- Rippling
- Workday (via flat file/ETL)
Billing
- Stripe
- Chargebee
- Recurly
- Maxio / SaaSOptics
- Paddle
Data warehouses
- Snowflake
- BigQuery
- Redshift
- S3
Cube's integration stance: Minimal setup to quick data flow to fast modeling.
7. Implementation & Time-to-Value
Cube is among the easiest FP&A tools to implement because you keep your models.
Typical implementation (very realistic):
Week 0-1
- Connect ERP, billing, CRM, HRIS
- Load historicals
- Map COA & dimensions
Week 2-4
- Set up templates in Excel
- Build budget versions
- Configure push/pull
Week 4-6
- Departmental workflows live
- Automated reporting live
- Scenario planning enabled
Full rollout tends to be 6-10 weeks for most mid-market companies.
8. Pricing & Commercial Model (Directional)
Cube pricing is positioned as:
- Higher than LiveFlow
- Lower than Pigment, Vareto, Abacum
- Roughly equivalent or slightly below Mosaic
- Often similar to Planful/Vena in TCO, but with far less complexity
Pricing drivers:
- Users (editors, contributors, viewers)
- Number of entities
- Data sources / integrations
- Volume of templates
- Departmental planning needs
For a 200-1,000 employee company, Cube is often low-to-mid five figures annually.
9. Customer Stories, Case Studies & Outcomes
Cube has strong public case studies from mid-market tech and consumer companies.
MasterClass
- Consolidated FP&A processes
- Faster reforecasts
- Increased visibility into departmental spend
Ro (Healthcare tech)
- Migrated from Excel chaos to structured planning
- Saved 10-20 hours/month in manual reporting
- Finance improved accuracy & collaboration
Earnest
- Automated budgeting
- Reduced manual errors
- Improved month-end cycle
IL Makiage
- Improved operational forecast accuracy
- Unified financial and operational data
Support/Tech case studies (e.g., SmugMug, Canopy)
- Better headcount planning
- Reduction of broken models
- Faster budgeting cycles
Common themes across Cube customers:
- Keep Excel, lose the chaos
- Faster reforecasting
- Fewer versioning issues
- Better departmental engagement
- Much less manual reconciliation
10. Go-to-Market & Positioning
Cube's GTM is built around:
1. Excel loyalty
Their core product hook: "You don't need to abandon Excel to get world-class planning."
This message resonates deeply with mid-market teams.
2. Mid-market focus
Unlike Pigment (enterprise expansion) or Runway (automation-first), Cube sells to:
- Directors of FP&A
- Senior analysts
- CFOs at 50-1,000 employee companies
- Finance teams upgrading from Excel/Google Sheets
3. Self-serve + assisted onboarding
Cube often wins where teams cannot afford slow, expensive implementations.
4. Partner ecosystem
Cube works with:
- Fractional CFO networks
- Boutique FP&A consulting shops
- Bookkeepers graduating toward FP&A
- Pre-IPO startups
Cube is not trying to own xP&A. They're trying to become the Excel-native standard for FP&A teams.
11. Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- Best-in-class Excel-native FP&A
- Easy implementation
- Strong fit for lean teams
- Great for companies that want FP&A modernization without changing how they work
- Lower cost than enterprise EPM tools
- Flexible and intuitive for spreadsheet power users
- Simple departmental collaboration
Limitations
- Not a full modeling engine (Pigment, Causal, Vareto more flexible)
- Not built for enterprise xP&A across HR, Sales, Supply Chain
- No true multi-GAAP consolidations
- AI presence growing but less advanced than Runway/Abacum
- Requires spreadsheet discipline - model complexity still depends on team expertise
- Not ideal for complex multi-entity, multi-currency groups
Cube is a transitional solution for many teams - excellent for 1-3 years, but eventually some outgrow it and move to Pigment or Vareto.
12. When Cube Is a Great Fit vs When to Consider Others
Cube is a perfect fit if you:
- Love Excel/Sheets and want to keep them
- Need to eliminate manual consolidation and broken models
- Have 1-5 FP&A staff
- Want better version control, workflows, and automation
- Run SaaS, subscription, or mid-market operations
- Are not ready for heavy EPM commitments
- Need fast implementation and low IT dependencies
Consider alternatives if:
- You need enterprise modeling → Pigment
- You want heavy AI for FP&A → Runway
- You want mid-market AI + structured modeling → Abacum
- You want integrated analytics + GTM + operations → Mosaic
- You want Python/analyst-friendly modeling → Causal
- You want Microsoft-native → Acterys
- You need statutory consolidation → OneStream/Tagetik
13. Demo Questions to Ask Cube
Excel-first architecture
- How does Cube push/pull data from Excel without breaking formulas?
- How do contributors interact with templates without overwriting logic?
Data & integrations
- How does Cube normalize data across ERP/CRM/HRIS/billing?
- How frequently can data refresh?
- How do mapping tables work for multi-entity setups?
AI
- What can Cube AI actually automate today?
- Can it generate variance explanations + narratives?
- How does it assist with modeling?
Planning workflows
- Show how department leaders enter plans in Excel/Sheets.
- How are submissions, approvals, and audit trails handled?
Commercials
- How do pricing tiers scale with: entities, templates, contributors, data sources?
- What does a typical 3-year TCO look like?
Need Help Evaluating Cube?
Our analysts can help you evaluate Cube against other Excel-native FP&A platforms and determine if it's the right fit for your team.
Book a 20-min Consultation