Fractional CFO · UK · EU · US · APAC

Senior financial leadership,
wherever you are.
Built for growth.

Cognos Advisory brings CFO-grade financial strategy, AI-enabled processes, and a two-decade track record across PE/VC-backed businesses in London, Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific — to the companies that need it most, at the stage where it makes the biggest difference.

$0M+
Capital Raised
£0M ARR
ARR Scaled at Exit
0+
Years in Finance
4
Exit Transactions Led
Scroll to explore
PE & VC relationships
KKR Apollo Warburg Pincus CVC Hg Capital Apax Bridgepoint Cinven Temasek Northzone
Operating across 🇬🇧 UK 🇪🇺 EU 🇺🇸 USA 🇸🇬 Singapore 🇦🇺 Australia 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
What We Do

The CFO capability your business
needs — right now

Most SMEs between £2M and £50M turnover are making critical financial decisions without the senior expertise to support them. We change that — embedding directly with your team across any timezone, without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.

Fractional CFO

Senior financial leadership embedded in your team — attending board meetings, managing investors, owning strategy — without the full-time salary, equity dilution, or long-term commitment.

  • Financial strategy & long-range planning
  • Board pack preparation & investor reporting
  • Finance function design & team oversight
  • Cash flow management & runway modelling
  • Audit readiness, compliance & statutory reporting
  • Multi-jurisdiction oversight (UK, EU, US, APAC)

Fundraising & Investor Relations

Having raised capital from seed through to growth equity — across equity rounds, structured financing, and international grants — we know what serious investors scrutinise, and how to present your business compellingly.

  • Financial model build & investor narrative
  • Data room management & financial due diligence
  • Cap table modelling & dilution analysis
  • Grant applications (UK, EU, US, AUS)
  • Ongoing investor reporting & communications
  • Exit planning, M&A support & financial DD
Tools & Templates

Practical AI tools for the way
SMEs actually operate

Having worked at the forefront of AI deployment in finance and legal-tech — including leading the acquisition and integration of a prominent UK legal AI company into an AI-native platform — we've built a focused suite of practical, ready-to-use templates that bring institutional-grade financial structure to businesses that couldn't previously access it.

Most growing businesses have spreadsheets where they need systems, and gut feel where they need data. These tools close that gap — deployable in days, not months, and priced for the SME that doesn't have an enterprise budget.

Informed by hands-on CFO experience across SaaS, MedTech, EdTech, professional services, and regulated industries in multiple jurisdictions — and built around the processes that PE-grade investors actually expect to see.

Templates marked "Available now" are ready to share — request a sample, or get in touch about early access to one still in development.

Financial Health

CFO Diagnostic

A structured, scored assessment that benchmarks your finance function against PE-grade standards across people, process, systems, and controls — with a prioritised action plan.

Available now Request template →
FP&A

Cash Forecast Model

A formula-driven 13-week cash flow and 12-month P&L model, built to work from data exported out of Xero, NetSuite, or QBO — update your assumptions and it recalculates automatically.

Available now Request template →
Investor Ready

Board & Investor Pack Template

A structured, board-ready monthly reporting template — built to turn your financials and narrative into an investor-grade pack in a fraction of the time.

Available now Request template →
Fundraising

Fundraise Readiness Scorecard

A scored self-assessment across financial model, data room, and cap table readiness — benchmarked against what investors expect at each funding stage.

Available now Request template →
Compliance

Compliance & Governance Checklist

A scored checklist covering governance, controls, and regulatory reporting obligations — built for regulated and professional-services businesses.

Available now Request template →
Unit Economics

SaaS Metrics Dashboard

Automated tracking of ARR, MRR, churn, LTV, CAC, and NRR — the metrics that drive valuations in SaaS and subscription businesses.

Coming soon
About the Founder

Christopher LevineFCCA

FCA Senior Manager · Commercial CFO · AI in Finance

Christopher is a commercial CFO with 25 years across PE and VC-backed businesses in the UK, EU, US, and APAC — spanning SaaS, AI/Tech, MedTech, EdTech, legal-tech, and professional services, from pre-revenue through to $50M+ ARR and exit.

His experience spans senior finance roles at high-growth technology and professional services businesses, including an AI-native platform where he led the end-to-end acquisition and integration of a prominent UK AI company. That hands-on experience deploying AI in a regulated, international environment directly informs how Cognos Advisory approaches finance for SMEs.

He has served as CFO and Group Finance Director across PE-backed and VC-backed businesses in robotics, SaaS, strategic consultancy, and legal-tech — including scaling one business from £5M to £40M ARR before leading its exit to a US acquirer.

Through Cognos Associates, he has worked with growth-stage businesses across EdTech, MedTech, retail eCommerce, professional services, and a large not-for-profit — giving him direct experience of what effective CFO leadership looks like at every SME stage.

He holds FCCA designation, previously held FCA Senior Manager (SMF) status, and is conversational in French and Spanish.

FCCA Prev. FCA Senior Manager (SMF) IFRS · US GAAP · SFRS NetSuite · Xero · SAP Looker · HubSpot · Salesforce UK · EU · US · APAC
CFO & Senior Finance Advisory
AI-native legal-tech & SaaS · UK, US & APAC
CFO
Robotics & SaaS · PE & VC backed · UK, Portugal, Australia, USA
Group Director of Finance & Operations
Strategic consultancy · Scaled ARR £5M→£40M · Exited to US acquirer
Group Financial Controller
Tech & SaaS · PE-backed · £30M raised · Successful exit
Finance Leadership
Events & entertainment · Hospitality · Facilities management
Track Record

Experience that spans
stages, sectors & continents

$100M+
Capital raised across equity rounds, innovation grants & structured financing (UK, EU, US, AUS)
£5→40M
ARR scaled at a PE-backed professional services business, with EBITDA margins expanded from ~10% to ~40%
4
Exit transactions led across PE-backed tech, SaaS, and professional services businesses — from MBO to trade sale
6+
Countries with direct finance operations managed: UK, Ireland, US, EU, Australia, Singapore/APAC, HK
Sectors with direct CFO or senior finance experience
SaaS & AI/Tech Legal-Tech Health & Life Sciences MedTech Robotics EdTech Strategic Consultancy Retail & eCommerce Hospitality & Leisure Regulated Industries Not-for-Profit Sports & Entertainment
PE & VC Relationships

Institutions partnered with, reported to, or raised capital from:

KKR
Apollo Global Management
Warburg Pincus
CVC Capital Partners
Hg Capital
Apax Partners
Bridgepoint
Cinven
Temasek
Northzone
Conor Venture Partners
How We Work

Operational from
week one

A structured onboarding that respects your time and gets us contributing — not just learning — from the first engagement.

01

Finance Diagnostic

A focused review of your current reporting, forecasting, and finance function — identifying the most material gaps and quick wins against PE-grade standards.

02

Right-Sized Engagement

We agree scope and cadence together — from a focused project (model build, fundraise prep, exit readiness) to ongoing fractional days. Adjusted as your needs evolve.

03

Embed & Deliver

Christopher joins your board meetings, investor calls, and leadership team — owning finance deliverables alongside your team rather than reviewing them from the outside.

04

Build & Automate

We leave you with better infrastructure — smarter models, cleaner reporting, AI-enabled processes — so the value compounds well beyond the engagement itself.

Why Cognos Advisory

The difference experience makes

01

Always Christopher

Every engagement is led directly by Christopher. No juniors, no handoffs. You get a senior CFO-level operator who has done this in the real world.

02

Truly Cross-Border

Operating across UK, EU, US, APAC, and Singapore — with experience managing multi-entity structures, cross-jurisdiction compliance, IFRS, US GAAP, and international grant programmes.

03

AI at the Core

Having led AI adoption and M&A in a live AI business, we bring grounded, practical AI thinking to your finance function — not buzzwords.

04

Exit & Investor Ready

Everything we build is designed with your next funding round or exit in mind. We know what institutional investors and acquirers look for — because we've sat across the table from them.

Get in Touch

Let's talk about
where you're headed

Whether you're preparing for a fundraise, need a financial model built, want an ongoing CFO partner, or are exploring what our AI tools could do for your business — we'd love to hear from you.

We work with clients across the UK, EU, US, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong — remotely and in person.

hello@cognosadvisory.com
Response within one business day
London, UK — working globally
French & Spanish spoken

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