How Weel built scalable, automated compliance to accelerate growth with Vanta

TL;DR

• Challenge: Weel needed a scalable, objective way to prove their security posture to customers without relying on manual conversations or time-consuming questionnaires.
• Solution: Vanta gave Weel a self-managed, automated compliance program they could own in-house, replacing manual spreadsheets, ad-hoc conversations, and reactive questionnaire reviews with a proactive, scalable foundation.
• ROI: Achieved SOC 2 and ISO 27001 ahead of schedule, no need for new, dedicated compliance hire, and accelerated sales cycles with instant, objective proof of security.

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The company

Giving finance teams complete visibility and control over company spend

Weel is a rapidly scaling AI-powered spend management platform trusted by over 4,000 businesses across Australia and New Zealand, from startups to enterprises. With virtual corporate cards, automated approvals, and real-time visibility, Weel gives finance teams everything they need to be expense complete before month-end even starts. 

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As the company expanded its customer base and began serving larger, internationally minded businesses, the team knew that demonstrating strong security and compliance practices was becoming increasingly important.

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“Since day one, we’ve taken customer data protection seriously,” says CFO & COO Damon Hauenstein, a Chartered Accountant who spent over a decade in investment banking before joining Weel. “Our internal practices were strong—we just had no externally verified way of proving this to customers.”

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Most prospects simply relied on Weel’s senior leaders to explain the company’s security posture. As Weel scaled, this approach wasn’t sustainable.

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The challenge

Scaling trust beyond manual conversations

As Weel expanded, the company needed a clearer, more scalable way to communicate its security posture to customers. Up until that point, prospects relied heavily on verbal explanations from senior leadership during sales calls.

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“We were relying on people believing what our senior team said,” Damon explained. “We needed something objective—evidence that could stand on its own.”

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This approach didn’t scale, especially as Weel began engaging larger, more security-conscious customers. But they also realised they didn’t want to outsource such a critical aspect of their business.

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“Owning information security in-house was critical to us,” Damon said. “A self-managed solution was exactly what we needed; something accessible and intuitive that we could own ourselves.”

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A growing volume of customer-prepared security questionnaires

Beyond the conversations, prospects often required detailed security questionnaires, each one prepared by the customer and then reviewed by Weel’s team, creating significant overhead on both sides.

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“If you’re doing a security questionnaire, the customer needs to invest time to prepare it, and to review it,” Damon said.

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Then Weel had to do the same in return.

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This process slowed sales cycles, created repetitive manual work, and diverted leadership time from high-value initiatives.

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“We were doing everything ourselves,” Damon said. “Preparing and reviewing every questionnaire manually just wasn’t scalable.”

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The selection process

Looking for self-managed, automation, and credibility

Weel considered multiple compliance approaches, from high-touch consulting firms to internal builds. But none struck the right balance between usability, depth, and long-term scalability.

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Vanta stood out for several reasons:

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• Ease of use with powerful automation
• A detailed, prescriptive approach to the standards
• Strong relationships with auditors
• A product that felt innovative, modern, and aligned with Weel’s values
  
  

“We saw a lot of ourselves in Vanta,” Damon said. “Vanta is growing and innovative. And the product made immediate sense.”

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The credibility Vanta offered was equally important.

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“Vanta gave us confidence. If Vanta says you’re 99% ready, you’re 99% ready. That’s the kind of assurance we needed,” Damon said.

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Why Weel chose Vanta

• A truly self-managed compliance platform
• Automation that replaced manual spreadsheets
• Easy-to-understand guidance mapped directly to standards
• Auditor alignment and trust
• Scalable, future-proof foundation for growth

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Vanta provided Weel with a clear, objective way to prove their security posture to customers without adding unnecessary operational overhead.

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“Prior to Vanta, customers would meet with senior representatives and just have to trust that we knew what we were talking about.. Vanta took away the subjectivity. Now we can show objective metrics,” Damon said.

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The impact

A self-managed, proactive, and scalable compliance foundation  

Vanta’s automated controls, centralised evidence, and real-time monitoring dramatically reduced the amount of manual work Weel faced when handling customer-prepared security questionnaires.

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Previously, both sides were doing redundant work: customers would create detailed questionnaires, and then Weel’s team had to stop and review them line by line.

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With Vanta’s Trust Center and audit-ready documentation, many questionnaires became unnecessary. When they did arise, Weel could complete them significantly faster using the evidence Vanta had already organised and validated.

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A faster, clearer path to audit

Under Damon’s leadership, Weel used Vanta to achieve both SOC 2 and ISO 27001 ahead of plan and with far less friction than expected.

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“Vanta gave us clarity,” said Damon. “The product explained the requirements, step by step. And Vanta’s auditor relationships made the whole process predictable—no surprises.”

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Scaling compliance without extra headcount

Through automation, centralisation, and real-time control monitoring, Vanta helped Weel stand up and run a full compliance programme without adding a dedicated hire to manage it. 

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“Doing this manually wouldn't make sense. For a 50-person business, not having to add a dedicated compliance role is significant—it changes how you allocate resources and where you invest your time,” said Damon.

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Vanta reduced busywork, streamlined evidence gathering, and eliminated the manual tracking that previously lived in spreadsheets and leadership knowledge. Instead of hiring a new compliance headcount, Weel redirected that capacity toward growth and product.

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A company-wide security mindset

Vanta shifted the culture from senior-leadership-managed security to team-wide participation.

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“Everyone now has visibility,” Damon said. “Security isn't siloed in the leadership team. The whole business owns it.”

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Improved customer trust

Instead of long explanations, the Weel team now shares their Vanta Trust Center, giving prospects a clear, simple, and credible view of their security posture.

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