Airbase Financial Model

Airbase replaces 4–5 siloed tools - approval workflows (Procurify, email/Slack), corporate cards (Amex, Brex), expense reimbursement (Expensify), and AP/bill pay (Bill.com) - with a single platform. Core value is real-time spend control, automated GL sync, and elimination of manual monthly-close work for finance and accounting teams. Product development team was 54 people (>50% of headcount) as of the memo date. Target customer: mid-market businesses with 50–1,000 employees.

Two revenue streams:

1. Subscription fees: SaaS fee charged per customer for access to the platform. This is the primary revenue stream at the time of the memo; exact pricing not disclosed (redacted as X/Y in slide 10 image).
2. Financial services revenue: Interchange on card spend, FX conversion fees, interest income on float. Expected to grow faster than subscription as payment volume scales.

The memo states the split is currently "X/Y in favor of subscription" (numbers redacted) but that financial services will grow proportionally faster.

Average revenue per customer and per-customer range are redacted (shown as X/Y placeholders in slide 10).

All customer count, ARR, and revenue figures are redacted with X/Y/Z placeholders in the deck image. Hard confirmed numbers from slide 10:

Payment volume growth: annualized rate grew from $X/year (March 2020) to $Y/year (March 2021) - both redacted.

NRR (FY2021 renewal cohort): Z% - redacted. Q1 FY2022 NRR target: Y% - redacted.

• Gross margin: 90.12% (FY2021); expected ~84% near-term due to onboarding/support hiring, recovering above 90% by FY2023.
• Average revenue per customer: redacted.

Competitors:

• Legacy/point solutions (primary competitive set in practice): Bill.com (AP), Expensify (expense), Amex/bank corporate cards. Most prospects are using this bundle.
• Emerging players: Brex, Divvy, Ramp (card-first, interchange-funded, free product), Teampay.

Airbase's differentiation:

• Charges a subscription fee (contrarian vs. Brex/Divvy/Ramp interchange-only model).
• Software-first: value proposition is workflow ownership, not payment rails.
• Plans to partner with incumbent banks (rather than compete on card issuance) - named bank partnerships redacted (XYZ, ABC).
• System-of-record position creates stickiness and future optionality (budgeting, CLM, SaaS management adjacencies).

• Total raised to date: ~$30.5M.
• Cash on hand: ~$21.5M.
• Round size / use of funds: Not explicitly stated in this memo. Context implies Series B raise is being sought (memo is the fundraising document).
• Stated use of proceeds (implied): accelerate GTM, continue R&D investment (54-person product dev team), expand globally.

• Archetype + why: SaaS ARR + financial services revenue blended model. Airbase has two distinct revenue streams with different growth drivers: (1) subscription ARR scales with logo count and per-seat/per-module pricing; (2) financial services revenue scales with payment volume (cards, ACH, FX). A pure SaaS ARR model undersells the fintech upside; a payments-only model ignores the high-margin SaaS base. The correct structure is a dual-stream model - subscription ARR (logo × ARPU) + financial services (payment volume × take rate), unified into a 3-statement P&L with gross margin by revenue line.

• Forecast horizon & granularity: Monthly for Year 1–2, quarterly for Years 3–5. FY ending January 31 (not calendar year - must align fiscal year accordingly).

• Key drivers & assumptions:
• Subscription revenue
• Logo count at start of model: placeholder - exact number redacted in deck
• New logo adds per month: based on typical Series B SaaS GTM ramp; e.g., 15–30 net new logos/month
• Monthly churn rate: ~0.5–1% (implied near-zero involuntary churn; confirms no product-driven churn, top reason is M&A)
• Average ARR per customer: placeholder - redacted in deck; range noted as $X–$Y
• NRR: target ~110–120% (deck signals target NRR figure redacted; strong expansion implied by product breadth)
• Financial services revenue
• Payment volume (annualized): starting point redacted; grew meaningfully March 2020→March 2021
• Take rate on card spend (interchange): ~0.5–1.0% (industry standard for B2B card programs)
• Take rate on ACH/bill pay: ~0.1–0.3% per transaction
• FX conversion fee: ~0.5–1.5% of FX-denominated volume
• Financial services as % of total revenue: minority today; growing - deck says split is X/Y in favor of subscription
• Gross margin
• Subscription GM: ~90%+ (consistent with 90.12% FY2021 blended)
• Financial services GM: ~50–60% (lower due to interchange pass-through and card program costs)
• Blended GM: 90.12% FY2021; ~84% near-term target; recovering to >90% by FY2023
• Headcount / OpEx
• Current headcount: 96; product dev team 54
• Hiring plan: aggressive in onboarding/support (causes GM dip) and GTM; R&D continues at >50% of headcount
• Capital
• Cash on hand: ~$21.5M
• Net cumulative burn: ~$9M on $30.5M raised
• Runway: derive from monthly burn rate implied by $9M net burn over company life

• Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear):
• Base: Subscription NRR ~115%, net new logos at moderate GTM ramp, payment volume grows with logo base, GM recovers to 90%+ by FY2023
• Bull: NRR >120%, bank partnerships (XYZ/ABC) land and drive significant payment volume uplift, faster upmarket move increases ARPU
• Bear: Competitive pressure from Brex/Ramp (free products) slows logo growth, NRR stays at ~100%, financial services revenue growth lags due to card commoditization

• Required sheets / outputs:

1. Assumptions - all drivers, tagged or
2. Revenue build - subscription ARR (logo × ARPU waterfall) + financial services (volume × take rate), monthly
3. P&L - gross profit by revenue stream, OpEx by department (R&D, S&M, G&A), EBITDA
4. Headcount plan - by function, monthly
5. Cash flow - burn rate, runway, cash balance; bridge from $21.5M starting cash
6. KPI dashboard - ARR, logo count, NRR, payment volume, gross margin, CAC/LTV (when data available)