Let’s get this out of the way first: Excel isn’t going anywhere in 2023, despite any misguided “Excel is dead” headlines you may see in the coming weeks.

As the outlook for the 2023 economy becomes more uncertain, finance professionals are looking to invest in technology that increases organizational efficiency and contributes to strategic decision-making.

“Anything that can help you with reducing costs is quite popular at the moment,” said Wouter Born, founder and managing partner at Born Capital, an investment firm specializing in CFO tech. “Of course, in the end, [organizations] always want to add strategic value as well.”

But that’s not the only thing that’s driving tech investment for CFOs in 2023. CFO Brew recently spoke to several fintech experts about the technology trends and innovations that they think finance professionals should be paying attention to over the next 12–18 months.

Watching the spend. Although CFOs are optimistic about organizational growth in 2023, they see “cost control as their most urgent imperative” in the face of economic uncertainty, according to the Grant Thorton 2022 Q3 CFO Survey. In that same survey, 41% of respondents said that technology investments could be cut to save costs, but only 11% said that digital transformation expenses would decrease.

In a downturn, organizations will be looking for digital technology that helps create efficiencies and cost savings, especially in back-office processes like financial planning and analysis (FP&A), accounting, and accounts payable and accounts receivable (AP/AR), according to Thiago Sachs, co-founder and managing partner at RVNA, a professional services firm specializing in finance technology.

“It’s all about cost cutting, efficiency, doing more with less,” he said. Continue reading here.—DA

After a healthy year of dealmaking in 2021, private equity investments have seen a steep decline in the latter half of 2022, falling 22% YoY, and returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to PwC’s recent “Private Equity: US deals outlook 2023.”

Higher interest rates, inflation, and economic uncertainty are driving the decline in PE capital allocation, according to PwC. But the report finds that PE is also sitting on a record $1.1 trillion of dry powder and investors are going to be looking for high value-generation targets in 2023.

“We’re in a period of intense change for PE, reflecting the acute economic environment and longer-term evolution. Success requires both navigating near-term uncertainty and positioning for future differentiation through talent, digital and ESG,” Manoj Mahenthiran, private equity lead at PwC US, said in a statement.

A recent study by Lincoln International found that financing for private deals is getting harder to find, and more expensive. As an end run around these financing challenges—particularly the unfavorable debt markets—PwC predicts that PE investors will lean away from highly leveraged buyouts and will pivot towards more innovative investment strategies like minority investments, all-equity deals that sidestep credit markets altogether, and private placement of debt.

Dealmakers will also be doubling down on long-term value creation trends like digital, talent, and ESG, according to PwC. This marks a shift away from traditional PE investment strategies of acquisition-fueled growth and aggressive cost cutting towards more sustainable value creation, according to the report.—DA

Coworking is a weekly segment where we talk to CFOs and other leaders in the finance space about their experiences, their companies, and the larger economy. To be considered, answer a few quick questions for us here and we’ll be in touch if we want to feature you in the newsletter.

Tom Fennimore is CFO of Luminar Technologies, an automotive technology company based in Palo Alto that builds safety and autonomy material for vehicles.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in finance?

My job is to make sure Luminar has the financial and other resources to achieve CEO Austin Russell’s bold vision of saving 100 million lives and 100 trillion hours over the next 100 years.

How do you think the CFO role has changed over the past five to 10 years, both for you, and in general?

It was easier to raise capital five years ago than it is today. With the days of “free money” over, it’s a much more complex financial world for companies to navigate. CFOs need to be more strategic, thinking well beyond the fiscal year to understand both the opportunities and threats their companies will face.

What’s something we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile?

In my role as CFO at Luminar, I’m also in charge of our business development efforts. That means I spend a lot of time meeting with our customers, which gives me greater insight into the investments we make to serve them and to maintain our leadership position. Working directly with our global automotive customers is also a ton of fun. Just recently, I attended Volvo Cars’s unveiling of the new EX90. It was inspiring and emotional to see our technology integrated into what will be the first global vehicle to come standard with Luminar. Keep reading here.—KT

Stat: ~$4 million. That’s the total amount brought in by sales of Donald Trump’s NFT “digital trading cards,” according to the promotional website. Proceeds from sales of the cards, which feature various artists’ fictional depictions of the former president, will not go toward his nascent reelection campaign. (the Wall Street Journal)

Quote: “Folks believe that there is somebody out there who has the magic beans.”—finance attorney and former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement official Lisa Bragança, reacting to the indictments of a group of “FinTwit” influencers whom the SEC alleges ran a pump-and-dump stock scheme on podcast and social media platforms. (the New York Times)

Read: This piece lays out the timeline of Black Rock’s ESG journey, and how the firm now finds itself in the crosshairs of both pro- and anti-ESG activists and politicians. (Bloomberg)