How Base Is Changing the Beauty Industry In Indonesia, Powered By Aspire Cards

The Company: Taking the guesswork out of sustainable skincare

Founded in 2019 by Yaumi Fauziah Sugiharta and Ratih Permata Sari, Base was built on their unique beauty philosophy that specializes in choosing the right skin care through technology. Using a method called a Smart Skin Test, Base sets out to create personalized recommendation yet vegan and sustainable beauty products that celebrates the uniqueness of each individual skin type一 particularly catered for the skin needs of women in Indonesia.

The Challenges: Traditional corporate card slowed purchasing decisions

#1 Traditional corporate cards lacked flexibility 

As any young startup knows, it is a hassle to choose, apply for and use a traditional corporate card. This was the experience for the team at Base, who used a card that they later found to be unsuitable for the needs of their growing company. One of which was the inability to issue more than one card without going through a painstaking process that involved processing fees and a long waiting period. The inflexibility of their card made it apparent that they needed a modern solution that was designed for their modern business.

#2 Blindspots due to lack of real-time visibility on spend

The Base team relied on their corporate card to facilitate payments for their diverse SaaS tools, such as Zoom, Slack, Adobe and Google Suite. However, they realized that there was a lack of visibility on how much they were spending on. Instead, they would only know how much they had spent at the end of the month. This grew challenging for the finance team as they couldn’t view their transactions at the mid-month point, where they would have more bandwidth to review their spends and see how they could adjust their monthly budgets.

#3 No controls to limit spend 

Moreover, the lack of visibility soon contributed to another emerging issue: the possibility of overspending. This was soon discovered when they realized their corporate card did not provide the tools they needed to control how much they could spend every month. A feature that would have been useful in keeping track of their budget while ensuring that each dollar spent was accounted for. The lack of control did not bode well for the growing brand, who was quickly establishing a strong foothold in Indonesia’s booming beauty market.

The Solution: Modern finance solutions built for a tech-forward beauty brand

Since their launch in 2019, Base was quickly taking the beauty industry by storm with their innovative way of approaching skin care. However, the inventive business they were building did not align with their traditional finance processes. As a modern company, they needed a more powerful, flexible and automated finance OS and corporate card that could scale as quickly as Base was growing.

This was when they turned to Aspire cards.

#1 Corporate cards built for delegated spend

With the power of Aspire cards, delegating spend was a breeze. The Aspire card could be issued to as many users in the team as they needed, and was able to be put to use instantly. This was useful when they needed to make purchasing decisions on the fly, something that grew more important as they continued to expand their headcount in Indonesia.

#2 Maximised visibility on spending as it happens

Spending visibility was another perk they gained with Aspire. Using the Aspire dashboard, the Base team could glean real-time insights on spending一anytime, anywhere. The level of transparency was what was sorely lacking with their traditional corporate card. With the insights at their fingertips, they were able to make faster decisions, adjust budgets and find spend categories where they could otherwise achieve higher cost saving or reinvest more in overlooked areas.

#3 Easily enforce spend limits

As the icing on the cake, Aspire cards also come with controls designed for teams to spend without worrying about going over budget. Using Aspire, the finance team could set a spend limit for each category. This sets the maximum amount an Aspire card user is allowed to spend. On top of that, they’ll be reminded with timely notifications should the card be near its spending limit. These controls were a lifesaver for the team and provided added reassurance that they were safe within their allotted budget to make spending decisions on the fly.