EV producer Harbinger powers largest year of revenue growth with Gynger

As Harbinger, an electric vehicle manufacturer, navigated its first year of production, the CFO faced a critical challenge: heavy start-up costs spanning across materials procurement, production infrastructure construction, and software licenses procurement essential for product development and strategic go-to-market initiatives. During his tenure, Harbinger CFO successfully secured a dynamic and effective finance stack to prepare the company for its first year of production; however, despite best efforts, they struggled to find sustainable funding for their digital assets.

When CRS discovered Gynger, they immediately knew they’d found the solution to their technology financing gap. Gynger enabled Harbinger to finance mission-critical tools like CAD design software and NetSuite, ensuring vendors were paid up front and CRS could negotiate for better pricing as they unlocked immediate access to the technology their teams needed to develop their product and bring it to market. Ultimately, with Gynger in their pocket, Harbinger was able to power through its largest year of revenue growth and maintain capital discipline without sacrificing growth.

Building the Future of EV

Three years ago, Ben Dusastre was approached by a friend who had a big idea—to decarbonize mid-sized vehicles in order to reduce carbon emissions in communities across the US. 

“I went to school with one of the founders and ended up being pitched over lunch in a diner when it was just 3 guys” Ben recounts fondly.

Ben was immediately drawn to Harbinger as an investor, intrigued by both the ambitious vision and the team's approach to solving complex problems in the EV space, but as he got closer to the team and the mission, he realized he could offer more than just capital support. 

Before his introduction to Harbinger, Ben had spent years working in the alternative financing space—helping businesses access strategic working capital. This background in financing gave him a unique perspective on capital allocation and its importance for growing companies.

With his background in financing and alignment with the founding team and EV mission, Ben knew he was uniquely positioned to help Harbinger navigate the financial landscape of building a capital-intensive product from the ground up.

"I also like cars," Ben admitted with a grin.

After a year on the outside, Ben doubled down on his commitment to the mission and officially joined Harbinger as their in-house CFO. 

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Managing Capital in a High-Growth, High-Burn Environment

Harbinger's vision was bold: to bring their electric vehicle solutions to market at scale and displace centuries-old fossil fuel-powered competitors. But building new vehicle products, testing new models, and developing iterative designs came with significant operational and financial complexity, not to mention a sizeable price tag.

"We're producing our first round of products this year, which means investing heavily in startup costs—warehouse space, factory equipment, and R&D. Everything costs money, and that money has to come from somewhere."

In these essential early days, the company faced multiple layers of logistical and financial demands across its operation that required layers of strategic investment. 

"As a CFO, my primary job is to raise money. But with a capital-intensive product like ours, the challenge becomes more complex," Ben explains. 

The Devil in the details

Harbinger's path to production demanded significant capital across several critical areas:

• Research and development: Investments in CAD design, modeling software, and pre-production tools to develop and refine proprietary technology
• Production infrastructure: Capital-intensive manufacturing equipment, production hardware, and warehouse space for building their bespoke production facilities from scratch
• Supply chain management: Sourcing and managing dozens of vendor relationships for hundreds of vehicle components
• Go-to-market enablement: Software licenses and IT solutions to support marketing and sales efforts to hit aggressive 1st year revenue targets

Under Ben Dusastre’s leadership, Harbinger built a dynamic stack of financial tools designed to provide critical financial infrastructure across all key investment areas for their first year of production, including equity and banking support for major capital needs, inventory financing for parts and materials, and funding for machinery and assembly line technology. 

In addition to the more visible expenses of launching a highly technical manufacturing operation, Harbinger uncovered unexpected challenges when it came to managing their in-house tech spend.  

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A tech stack challenge

Engineering dependencies: Engineering and R&D departments tasked with developing and testing Harbinger’s EV product line relied on heavy investments in high-performance, enterprise-grade software tools for conducting CAD design, simulations, and overall development of core vehicle components.

Go-to-market requirements:  In their first year of production with ambitious revenue goals, expensive software licenses were necessary to ensure Harbinger’s go-to-market teams could begin hitting sales targets effectively.

Capital cost considerations: As the CFO, Ben understood that Harbinger could not treat all financial solutions equally and endeavored to limit the cost of capital both upfront and long-term. However, existing solutions were costing the business in adverse ways. 

• Enterprise SaaS vendors preferred up-front payment on annual contracts from their buyers, but doing so would become a strain on Harbinger’s operational cash flow. 
• Harbinger also didn't want to give up more equity at this stage of the business in order to cover operational expenses during this period.

Lack of capital alternatives: Harbinger successfully sourced capital solutions for much of their production operation; however, they struggled to find suitable financing solutions for their digital assets. "We've been able to secure financing against traditional collateral, but IT assets haven't been something lenders will finance. But the first year of production is still incredibly capital-intensive, so we still needed to sustain opex.”

Discovery and Evaluation

In 2023, Ben was forwarded email by Harbinger's CEO with the simple note - ”'Check this out—it sounds like something we could use'” Ben recalls. 

It was an article highlighting Gynger, an intriguing new cash flow management tool that claimed to offer technology buyers flexible payment terms as a means to spread out tech payables over time. 

Right away, Gynger seemed uniquely equipped to help Ben offset high software costs and preserve essential relationships with vendors without eating up existing resources.

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Unlocking Development & Go-to-Market Velocity with Gynger

"I come from a background in alternative financing so I am familiar with the financing space, and Gynger stood out to me as an optimal solution," explained Ben.

“Gynger was the only solution that I’d come across that would allow me to finance digital assets,” Ben concluded.

Soon after their initial conversation with the Gynger team, Harbinger seamlessly onboarded the Gynger platform and began to manage several of their major software purchases with Gynger.

Strategic Implementation

Harbinger instantly began using Gynger to pay for NetSuite and CAD design software upfront, gaining immediate access to the mission-critical tools they needed to develop their solutions and bring their product to market.

CAD Software Access: CAD (Computer-Aided Design software) allowed Harbinger's R&D teams to design, engineer, and build their innovative EV products efficiently and effectively as they worked to refine innovative market solutions and prepare them for sale.

NetSuite Integration: Leveraging Gynger, Harbinger also onboarded NetSuite, which allowed their revenue teams to manage customer data and go-to-market workflows more efficiently. These tools equipped Harbinger with the tools necessary to bring their EV chassis and components to market and accelerate towards their year-one revenue goals with confidence. 

Vendor Relationship Benefits: Paying tech vendors upfront and in full, allowed Harbinger to secure discounts with its vendors and save money on annual contracts.

"With Gynger, we were able to pay for high-cost software licenses upfront—unlocking significant discounts from our technology vendors," says Ben. 

Working Capital Optimization: Beyond access to tools and vendor discounts, spreading payments out over time allowed Harbinger to free up working capital from its payables and refocus resources into other critical areas like production setup costs. By strategically managing costly elements to their start-up operations…

Harbinger was able to successfully balance the financial demands of their first year of production, alongside their ambitious revenue goals for the year.

Key Outcomes:

• Capital preservation: Successfully avoided raising more investment capital and instead leveraged cash flow management solutions that helped them balance the costs of critical tech infrastructure, production, and more.
• Immediate tool access: Onboarded mission-critical tools without cash flow strain. CAD design tools were used to support their engineering and design teams' ability to build and iterate on their EV products. GTM teams leveraged Netsuite to bring their product to market at scale and pace with their growth goals.
• Lower tech costs: Unlocked lower prices on software and IT tech spend by nurturing vendor relationships and ensuring vendors were paid up front on annual contracts.
• Strategic flexibility: Preserved working capital for other essential operational areas by paying select technology bills over time on terms that suited their financial strategy and evening out large payable impacts to short-term cash flow.

Building Without Barriers

Harbinger’s new found ability to strategically manage technology spend had a ripple effect across the organization. With the flexibility to finance critical tools through Gynger, Harbinger's engineering and GTM teams now had the freedom to build and sell with full force—successfully bringing Harbanger’s suite of EV products to market and hitting major revenue milestones, all the while cutting technology costs. 

Meanwhile, Ben and the Harbinger leadership team could continue to focus on scaling the company without compromising equity or draining vital cash reserves. "It's easy to raise capital—but doing so wisely, without ceding ownership unnecessarily? That's the hard part," says Ben. "Gynger gave us another financial lever to pull, and that's incredibly valuable at this stage of the company."

Measurable Results:

Operational Excellence: Harbinger was able to meet product development deadlines during their first year of production and enable their sales team to surpass major revenue milestones.

Vendor Savings: Tens of thousands of dollars in savings achieved with vendors by paying upfront and newly securing annual contract discounts.

Timeline Acceleration: Key elements of their product line could be deployed at a more efficient pace by onboarding the critical tools quickly with Gynger rather than waiting for optimal cash flow timing. As a result, growth initiatives across both product development and go-to-market teams were accelerated. 

Looking Ahead: The Road to Market Launch

As Harbinger geared up to bring its first round of EV products to market, capital discipline and careful financial planning remained critical—but so too did speed. With Gynger in its financial toolkit, the company could defuse the financial pressures of capital-intensive production and focus on what matters most: innovation, execution, and redefining what's possible in sustainable transportation.

Harbinger’s experience with Gynger demonstrates how flexible payment solutions can unlock substantive growth without the traditional trade-offs of equity dilution or cash flow constraints. For capital-intensive businesses navigating the complex balance between immediate operational needs and long-term strategic investments, Gynger provides the flexibility to maintain momentum while preserving precious cash for core business development.

Click here to learn more about how Gynger can help your business cut costs and accelerate towards your growth goals with ease.