Vena Outranks Competitors in 2024 EPM Digital World Class Matrix

Complete Planning platform categorized as Challenger for its excellence in product functionality, CX and market impact, outperforming some of the largest industry vendors

Vena has been recognized by strategic consulting and advisory firm The Hackett Group in its 2024 Enterprise Performance Management Digital World Class Matrix.

The Hackett Group analyzed the product functionality, customer experience and market impact of major enterprise performance management (EPM) vendors including Anaplan, Board, Oracle, OneStream, SAP, Workday and others. Vena was named a Challenger based on the strength of its unified EPM platform that encompasses world-class capabilities for integrated planning, analysis, reporting, close, data management and business intelligence.

Vena's integrated solution also received badges for Planning and Forecasting and Close and External Reporting capabilities. By comparison, other vendors in the space received partial or no badges across these categories.

Hackett Group Badges

“Being named a Challenger validates our ability to deliver a truly unified Complete Planning platform that meets the digital needs of today's finance and operations leaders,” said Hugh Cumming, Chief Technology Officer at Vena. “With Vena, our customers are equipped to increase capacity, accelerate core processes and enable faster and more strategic planning and decision making.”

According to The Hackett Group matrix, several factors are driving investment in enterprise planning management, including the need to free internal resources, a desire to streamline close and reporting, requirements for enhanced agility through faster planning cycles and the need to leverage integrated platforms for a complete view of the business. Vena's Complete Planning platform helps customers achieve these key transformation objectives.

This recognition from The Hackett Group is the latest in a string of industry kudos. Most recently, Dresner Advisory Services ranked Vena as a winner in the Financial Consolidation, Close Management and Financial Reporting category of its Dresner Advisory Services 2023 Technology Innovation Awards. That followed the firm’s recognition of Vena Complete Planning for its excellence in Enterprise Performance Management, as well as recognition from other analyst firms including Nucleus Research, which recently included Vena in its 2024 Technology Value Matrix for Corporate Performance Management (CPM).

Vena has also received numerous awards based on user experience, including 2023 Trust Radius “Best Of” Awards in the Best Feature Set, Best Relationship and Best Value for Price categories, as well as 28 awards in G2’s Winter 2024 report.

For more information about Vena Complete Planning, please visit, www.venasolutions.com.

About Vena
Vena is the only Complete Planning platform natively integrated with Microsoft 365. Vena streamlines financial and operational planning, reporting and analysis processes, and provides advanced analytics and modeling capabilities to help business, finance and operations leaders make agile and more informed business decisions. With Vena, you can leverage the power of Excel and AI-powered insights in a unified, cloud-based platform that enhances productivity, collaboration and insights. Over 1,700 of the world’s leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit venasolutions.com. 

Media Contact 
For immediate inquiries and more details regarding our latest company news announcement, please contact:

Jonathan Paul 
Vice President, Content Marketing 
jpaul@venacorp.com 

Vena Elevates Le Huong Truong to Chief Legal Officer To Support Next Stage of Growth

Promotion recognizes Truong's exceptional leadership and pivotal role in navigating Vena's global expansion and strategic initiatives TORONTO – April 22, 2024 – Vena is pleased to announce the promotion of Le Huong Truong from Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to Chief Legal Officer. In her new role, Truong will spearhead legal strategy and oversight critical to driving Vena's growth trajectory as it continues to evolve financial planning and analysis (FP&A), operational planning and beyond for decision making, planning agility and operational efficiency for businesses. "Le has always been an amazing partner to the executive team and a champion of our culture,” said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. “Her team continues to do important work in the service of our customers and all our employees. This promotion recognizes both the quality of work Le has always committed herself to, and the passion she has for what we are building together." The role of Chief Legal Officer requires a deep understanding of the mechanics of Vena’s business across the globe and an ability to balance innovation, growth, governance and risk mitigation. Truong joined Vena in 2020 as Vice President and General Counsel and has since played a pivotal role in managing risk and facilitating the company's growth initiatives. Notably, she was instrumental in securing Vena’s Series C funding round, which raised approximately $300 million, marking one of the largest funding rounds for a Canadian tech company. Prior to her tenure at Vena, Truong held legal positions at CDW, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. "It is an honor to take on the role of Chief Legal Officer at Vena, especially during such a transformative period for the company,” said Truong. “I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our talented teams to drive innovation and growth in service of our customers, partners and community.” With Truong's appointment, Vena reinforces its commitment to fostering top-tier talent and positioning itself for continued success in the dynamic financial technology sector. About Vena Vena is the only Complete Planning platform natively integrated with Microsoft 365. Vena streamlines financial and operational planning, simplifies reporting and analysis processes, and provides advanced analytics and modeling capabilities to help business, finance and operations leaders make agile and more informed business decisions. With Vena, you can leverage the power of Excel and AI-powered insights in a unified, cloud-based platform that enhances productivity, collaboration and insights. Over 1,700 of the world’s leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit  venasolutions.com.  Media Contact  For immediate inquiries or more details regarding our latest business news, please contact: Jonathan Paul  Vice President, Content Marketing  jpaul@venacorp.com 

April 22, 2024 |

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Vena Closes FY24 With Record-Setting Quarter, Customer Growth, Product Innovation and Industry Recognition

Company propels into FY25 unveiling Vena Copilot to revolutionize how FP&A teams work TORONTO – April 16, 2024 – Vena, the Complete Planning platform loved by finance and trusted by business, today announced it entered its fiscal year 2025 in February with momentum from a successful 2024. Notably, its record-breaking fourth quarter, increasing demand and innovative strides with the launch of Vena Copilot, a gamechanger for FP&A teams. "Vena's exceptional performance in fiscal 2024 reflects the unwavering dedication, agility and innovative spirit of our team, as well as the enduring trust placed in us by our valued customers," said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. Vena experienced significant customer and revenue growth over its last fiscal year. Currently, more than 1,700 organizations across diverse industries, such as banking and credit unions, insurance, real estate, higher education, healthcare, professional sports and more, rely on Vena to plan with confidence in an ever-evolving economy. Meg Bear, Controller at Turner Enterprises and speaker at this year’s Excelerate Finance 2024, highlighted the increased value and agility their finance team is now driving for the business since using Vena: "We've hooked our train to an engine that's going to allow us to change as we go. Not just as our business evolves and the workforce evolves, but as the markets evolve and our business lines change. The pandemic taught us all that nothing is for sure, and we've got to be able to be responsive and pivot more quickly. And that's one of the things that Vena has allowed us to do." Other highlights from Vena’s 2024 fourth quarter include: Strategic leadership changes to elevate the customer experience and deliver industry-leading customer value, including an expanded role for Tina Goulbourne as Chief Operating & Customer Officer, and the addition of Ilene Landon as Vena’s Senior Vice President of Professional Services. Industry-specific solutions launched: One for legal firms with ProLytics Consulting Group (Vena for Legal by ProLytics) and for franchises with Citrin Cooperman (Vena for Franchising by Citrin Cooperman). Strategic partnership with Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) as a Trusted Cloud Provider. Recognition from leading analyst firms, including Gartner’s 2023 Magic Quadrants for Financial Planning Software and for Financial Close and Consolidation Solutions, Dresner Advisory Services, The Hackett Group, Nucleus Research and Ventana Research. An earned spot on the Team True North Roster of Canada’s Top-Performing Tech Companies for the second consecutive year. 2023 TrustRadius Best Of Awards in three categories: Best Feature Set, Best Relationship and Best Value for Price. Recognition as one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers and recertification as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures. Acknowledgment of Vena’s recruiting practices by the Brandon Hall Group for excellence in leadership development, diversity, equity, inclusion and talent acquisition for the second consecutive year. Looking ahead, Vena is continuing to drive its commitment to customer value and product innovation, including Vena Copilot, through this year’s Excelerate Finance 2024, its annual flagship industry conference for finance professionals and business leaders. “It’s an exciting time at Vena as our Complete Planning platform and robust community of finance and operations professionals continue to evolve and leverage new technologies and capabilities. The teams choosing Vena are achieving operational excellence and unlocking the strategic potential of their organizations. Seeing our customers doing amazing work with the platform is what excites us most as we build value together,” added Madeley. About Vena Vena is the only Complete Planning platform natively integrated with Microsoft 365. Vena streamlines financial and operational planning, simplifies reporting and analysis processes, and provides advanced analytics and modeling capabilities to help business, finance and operations leaders make agile and more informed business decisions. With Vena, you can leverage the power of Excel and AI-powered insights in a unified, cloud-based platform that enhances productivity, collaboration and insights. Over 1,700 of the world’s leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit  venasolutions.com.  Media Contact  For immediate inquiries or more details regarding our latest company press release, please contact: Jonathan Paul  Vice President, Content Marketing  jpaul@venacorp.com 

April 16, 2024 |

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Vena Introduces Vena Copilot, a Complete Planning AI Assistant Purpose-Built for FP&A Teams

Vena Copilot for FP&A harnesses the power of Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to unlock the strategic potential of FP&A teams and the organizations they support TORONTO - April 3, 2024 – Vena, the Complete Planning platform loved by finance and trusted by business, today announced that it is bringing state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams with Vena Copilot. Vena Copilot for FP&A combines Vena’s category-leading FP&A expertise with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service large language models, including GPT-4, to help FP&A teams and their collaborators increase productivity, operational efficiency, and business agility so they can focus on driving strategic impact. Today, 75 % of an FP&A team's work is gathering data and administering processes. That stops now with Vena Copilot. Vena Copilot acts as an extension of the FP&A team, doing tactical work and producing insights using the most intuitive interface there is—natural language—to unlock everyone’s strategic potential. With Vena Copilot for FP&A, teams can: Easily create and train a dedicated Complete Planning AI assistant that is built on their organizational knowledge, and learns from feedback and preferences to get smarter over time. Gather data, generate reports, analyze trends, optimize forecasts and more, doing work that used to take hours in minutes with a simple prompt. Empower anyone to interact with data and insights quickly and easily using natural language, such as identifying seasonal patterns in revenue by product or identifying departments that have the highest in period actual to budget variances. Create a seamless flow of work alongside Copilot for Microsoft 365 only through Vena’s native integrations with Microsoft 365, from unlocking insights to visualizing data. "Vena Copilot for FP&A is a game-changer for FP&A teams, empowering them to do more with less effort and better use of their resources," said Hunter Madeley, CEO of Vena. "It’s not just a new tool, it's a trusted ally that helps FP&A teams and their collaborators achieve their full strategic and operational potential, driving agility and resilience in the face of dynamic business conditions." Vena Copilot uses the combined power of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service advanced AI models including GPT-4—the largest and most powerful language model in the world—and Vena’s central analytical data model, CubeFLEX™, enabling FP&A teams to put the power of generative AI to work across Complete Planning use cases and unique data sets. Vena Copilot is also enterprise-ready, built with industry-leading generative AI enterprise security, compliance, and privacy capabilities driven by ethical principles, including role-based access controls and prompt compliance management. This allows FP&A teams to deploy Vena Copilot easily, safely, and responsibly within compliance requirements—no IT, data scientists, or AI engineers required. "Vena Copilot for FP&A is the result of our close collaboration with Microsoft to bring together the best of both worlds: Microsoft's world-leading AI technology and Vena's deep FP&A domain expertise," said Hugh Cumming, Chief Technology Officer, Vena. "By integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service large language models with Vena CubeFLEX, we are giving our customers a powerful addition to their Vena Complete Planning solution that leverages their existing data, systems, and workflows and enables generative AI capabilities that are tailored to their specific FP&A requirements." "Vena’s use of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to create Vena Copilot for FP&A has resulted in a transformative generative AI assistant that empowers all teams to be more productive, efficient, and strategic," added Sylvia MacPherson, National Unicorn Leader, Microsoft Canada. “This solution is a great example of how our partners are using Microsoft AI technology to build innovative and customized AI solutions that address specific business challenges and opportunities, and how Vena is transforming the strategic office of finance."  Vena Copilot is the latest addition to Vena’s industry-leading AI offering, which harnesses Microsoft AI technology for Complete Planning. This includes Vena Insights, an intelligent, AI-powered reporting and analytics solution, and native integration with Copilot for Microsoft 365 as well as Microsoft Excel’s powerful AI toolset. Vena Copilot is currently in beta. To learn more about Vena Copilot and see it in action, register for Excelerate Finance 2024, the annual conference where attendees can discover the skills, methodologies, and next-gen technologies that will empower them to architect the future of finance. About Vena Vena is the only Complete Planning platform natively integrated with Microsoft 365. Vena streamlines financial and operational planning, simplifies reporting and analysis processes, and provides advanced analytics and modeling capabilities to help business, finance and operations leaders make agile and more informed business decisions. With Vena, you can leverage the power of Excel and AI-powered insights in a unified, cloud-based platform that enhances productivity, collaboration and insights. Over 1,700 of the world’s leading companies rely on Vena to power their planning. For more information, visit  venasolutions.com.  Media Contact  Jonathan Paul  Vice President, Content Marketing  jpaul@venacorp.com 

April 3, 2024 |

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Vena Outranks Competitors in 2024 EPM Digital World Class Matrix

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