From Seed to $20M Series A: How Lupa Found Its Fractional Finance Director
Lupa’s founding team (pictured) raised a $20M Series A led by Singular with participation from firstminute capital and angel investor Michael Callahan. The London-based PetTech startup used enki to hire a fractional Finance Director shortly after its $4M seed round, helping build the financial infrastructure that powered its next stage of growth.
London-based petcare startup Lupa hired a fractional Finance Director through enki shortly after closing its $4 million seed round, using the placement to build financial infrastructure ahead of its $20 million Series A.
Founded in 2023 by former consultants from BCG and Palantir, Lupa develops an AI-driven operating system for veterinary clinics. The company has grown rapidly across the UK and Europe, signing multi-year contracts with veterinary groups and expanding its engineering and commercial teams.
To maintain that pace, the founders needed senior finance capability, but a full-time FD was both out of budget and surplus to requirements.
“We were at the stage where finance was becoming increasingly important, but there wasn’t enough workload for a full-time position,” said Rocco Pela, Lupa’s Strategy & Operations Lead.
Exploring fractional finance
Initially sceptical about the concept of fractional leadership, Lupa’s founders worried whether a part-time Finance Director would be embedded enough to make an impact, especially as the team works mainly in person. After a short discussion with enki, they decided to test the model.
enki connects early-stage companies with vetted finance professionals who work on a part-time or project basis. Within 48 hours of submitting a short role brief, Lupa received a shortlist of pre-qualified candidates through Enki’s platform.
“The process was straightforward,” Pela said. “We spent about 20 minutes refining the job description, filled out the form, and quickly had a shortlist. We interviewed three people, but Tom stood out immediately.”
Tom, a finance professional with experience at two Series-A-stage startups, including one in the petcare sector, joined Lupa four days per week as Fractional Finance Director.
Fast turnaround and clear pricing
Lupa said the turnaround time, from defining the role to making a hire, took less than a week.
“For a small company moving fast, that speed is invaluable,” Pela said.
He also highlighted enki’s pricing model as transparent and fair, adding that the founders preferred it to traditional recruitment mark-ups.
Building for Series A
The fractional hire focused on implementing FP&A processes, cash-flow forecasting, and reporting systems, giving the founders better visibility on burn and runway as they prepared for their next funding round.
By the time Lupa announced its $20 million Series A led by Singular and firstminute capital in October 2025, the company’s finance function was fully established.
“We found a phenomenal candidate we couldn’t have sourced manually,” Pela said. “Enki helped us move quickly and get exactly what we needed.”
About enki
enki is a London-based platform that connects startups and scaleups with fractional finance talent - CFOs, Finance Directors, Controllers and Finance Managers - within 48 hours.