About Opnua
Built by 
Opnua is built by Apridata, an Irish company founded in Cavan in 2014 that has spent twelve years integrating and automating the ERP systems that Irish and UK manufacturers and distributors actually run.
Our Story
From data analytics to finance operations AI
Apridata was founded in 2014 in Cavan, Ireland, as a boutique consulting firm focused on data analytics. Over the following decade it expanded into process automation and custom software development for businesses across manufacturing, distribution, logistics, healthcare and professional services. Opnua came out of that work: a platform where deterministic rules handle the routine and an AI agent resolves the rest.
Through years of working closely with finance teams in manufacturing and distribution, we saw the same pattern repeatedly: AP automation platforms could handle the straightforward invoices, but the exceptions, the mismatches, the edge cases, still required hours of manual investigation. Rules could only take you so far.
That insight led to Opnua. The agent investigates exceptions, gathers the context from the ERP and the correspondence, and recommends a resolution for approval. It learns from every decision your team makes, and it never writes to the ledger itself.
Opnua is not a generic AI tool bolted onto an existing platform. It is purpose-built for manufacturing and distribution finance teams by people who have spent years understanding how those teams work.
Apridata at a Glance
What we think
Three beliefs
Rules before AI
Rules handle the routine majority, because a rule can be audited. AI belongs on the judgment work: the exceptions and the investigations. Start with measurable problems, not another technology project.
Finance capacity shouldn’t scale with transaction volume
Headcount rising with revenue is the sign that resolution is being carried by hand. Transactions are absorbed by rules and AI; the team grows in analysis, not processing.
From producing numbers to acting on them
For the controller this is control: a ledger trusted sooner. For the director it is commercial: capacity moved from producing information to influencing decisions.
Leadership
The founders behind Opnua
Richard Stafford
Founder and Managing Director, Apridata
Richard Stafford has spent thirty years building software and analytical systems for finance, manufacturing and professional services, and the last twelve inside the ERP systems that Irish and UK mid-market manufacturers and distributors actually run. He founded Apridata in Cavan in 2014 and built Opnua out of what those years taught him: the finance function doesn’t have a technology problem, it has a between-the-systems problem. He speaks and writes on where automation and AI belong in the finance function, and where they don’t.
Sylvia Stafford
Director of Operations
Over 20 years leading change programmes in healthcare, technology and logistics. Specialises in change management and business process improvement, across post-acquisition integrations, operational restructures and team development.
Want to see what Opnua can do for your finance team?
Get in touch with our team to discuss your AP and AR challenges. We will show you how the agent works with your ERP and your data.