How Zaki Gabe-Wilkinson Is Changing the CFO Role Through AI

Zaki Gabe-Wilkinson began his career at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, where he gained firsthand experience with institutional finance. He later joined edtech company Multiverse to build out its finance function, reporting directly to the CFO. His work there included strategic finance, operational modeling, and corporate development. During this time, he frequently observed finance professionals focusing on repetitive processes rather than strategic initiatives.

In 2024, he co-founded Gekko AI, a London-based company that develops AI software to automate core financial planning and analysis (FP&A) tasks. The platform enables CFOs and their teams to move from reactive reporting toward more forward-looking strategic roles. Although headquartered in the United Kingdom, Gekko AI primarily serves U.S. mid-market companies that want efficient, data-driven systems to streamline financial operations.

Addressing the Workload Bottleneck in Finance

Modern finance teams are responsible for providing strategic insight while managing high volumes of data and reporting. Many teams still rely on spreadsheets and manual cycles during the month-end close, spending significant time on variance analysis, budget reconciliation, and performance summaries. Recent benchmarks show that half of finance teams take more than six business days to close their books, with only 18 percent achieving a three-day close—highlighting persistent inefficiencies in the process. While AI offers significant potential, adoption has progressed slowly due to typical data accuracy, compliance, and usability concerns.

Gabe-Wilkinson believes the right tools can resolve these concerns by aligning closely with finance teams ' operations. "This is not about adding more dashboards," he explains. "We need to build systems that reason through financial data and deliver insights with the precision of a human—only faster."

Gekko AI addresses these needs by automating month-end reporting and streamlining the production of finance summaries. The platform helps teams operate more efficiently while enabling a deeper focus on collaboration and planning.

How the Gekko AI Platform Works

Gekko AI connects with a company's existing systems—such as ERP, CRM, and HRIS platforms—to extract, organize, and analyze operational and financial data. The system uses large language models to generate variance explanations, historical comparisons, and management-ready summaries that finance analysts would otherwise compile manually.

"Gekko AI is built to fit within established workflows for fast integration," Gabe-Wilkinson says. "It helps finance teams stay focused and deliver results quickly."

The company's team includes AI researchers from Oxford and Cambridge and professionals with operational finance backgrounds. Gabe-Wilkinson says this combination ensures that Gekko AI is technically advanced and practical. "We have built Gekko AI with a clear understanding of how finance teams work, not just how software engineers think they should," he adds.

Partner-Led Development and Revenue Growth

Gekko AI partnered with 20 mid-sized firms as early customers to shape the platform in real-world conditions. These companies provided feedback and helped refine the product based on live use cases. This development approach ensured that the platform addressed specific pain points encountered by finance professionals.

Gekko AI now reports meaningful revenue traction is growing rapidly every month. Clients, particularly those backed by private equity, report greater speed and consistency in financial reporting.

The company secured early backing from Entrepreneur First and several angel investors focused on enterprise software. Gekko AI expanded its engineering team in early 2025 and continues to grow its technical and commercial teams.

Strategic Outlook and Product Roadmap

Gabe-Wilkinson encourages finance professionals to spend less time on routine reporting and more time on strategic work. He points out that AI is already capable of analyzing code and generating structured business content—tasks that require far more complexity than producing a financial report. This belief continues to shape the direction of Gekko AI's platform. This aligns with broader industry trends. A recent Gartner survey found that 58 percent of finance functions now use AI, an increase of 21 percentage points from the previous year. The data reflects a rapid shift toward AI-driven financial operations.

The company plans to introduce tools for forecasting, pricing analysis, and workforce planning, along with scenario modeling features that allow finance teams to evaluate options and adapt quickly. "We aim to give finance leaders more time and sharper tools to act faster, and focus on driving business performance," Gabe-Wilkinson adds.

Shorter reporting deadlines and growing expectations are pushing CFOs to work faster and smarter—Gekko AI supports this by simplifying workflows and improving data use.