Capdesk Financial Model

• Equity management platform for private (unlisted) companies. Two modules:

1. Equity Management - cap table, shareholder register, convertibles, warrants, options (EMI/CSOP), growth shares, option pools/plans/grants, auto-vesting, IFRS2 share-based payment reporting, HMRC filing, round modelling.
2. Automated Transactions - end-to-end secondary share transactions: configure seller table, handle ROFR/pre-emption, AML/KYC/escrow, e-sign documentation (SPAs, SHAs, STFs), stamp duty with HMRC, automated cap table/register update post-close.

• Mission stated as "the infrastructure for private equity".
• Value prop: replaces costly manual administration (described as "thousands of pounds every year, million-pound mistakes or fines") and unlocks liquidity for holders of illiquid private shares.

• No explicit TAM/SAM/SOM figures in deck.
• Qualitative market context:
• IPOs stagnated since 2000; uncalled PE capital at highest levels; employee-owned businesses in UK growing 10% YoY; annual global startup funding up ~50% in 2017.
• Competitor benchmarks used to signal market size: Solium acquired for $900M (Morgan Stanley, 2019); Carta valued at $1.7B (Series E, Andreessen Horowitz, 2019); Computershare acquired Equatex (~$40B assets under administration).
• Client portfolio: "total market cap of +£20B" across Capdesk's client base.

• Stream 1 - Subscription: Recurring annual SaaS fee per company. No price points disclosed in deck.
• Stream 2 - Commission on transactions: Variable fee on secondary share transactions facilitated through the platform. No commission rate disclosed.
• Strategic framing: "Covering expenses through subscriptions and profiting from transactions" - implies subscription covers base costs; transaction commissions are the profit engine.
• Roadmap revenue evolution:
• 2017–19: SaaS only (equity management)
• 2019–2020: SaaS + Commission (transactions added)
• 2021: SaaS + Commission + Broker integrations

• +£20bn total market cap on Capdesk
• +500 companies on Capdesk
• +100,000 investors on Capdesk
• +500% MRR Growth in 2019
• Sample clients include: Chattermill, Secret Escapes, Nutmeg, Billie, Voi, Plum Guide, Gousto
• Customer reviews: multiple 5/5 ratings on Capterra cited on slide 10
• No ARR, absolute MRR, churn, or NRR figures disclosed.

• Named competitors (implied by M&A comps): Solium/Shareworks (acquired by Morgan Stanley $900M), Carta (US, $1.7B valuation), Equatex (acquired by Computershare).
• Moat claims:
• First-mover positioning as "Europe's leading equity management platform."
• Full-stack: combines admin software + transaction execution in one platform (competitors typically do one or the other).
• Embedded compliance: AML/KYC, HMRC filings, stamp duty, IFRS2 reporting built in - high switching cost once live.
• Network effect: as more companies and investors are on-platform, secondary liquidity improves.
• "Capdesk has been approached by several acquirers".

• Co-founders:
• Christian Gabriel, Co-founder & CEO - ex-Country Manager FundedByMe; BSc Computer Science & Communication, University of Copenhagen.
• Mikkel Boje, Co-founder & CTO - ex-Partner Accurate IT, IT Manager Netcompany; MSc AI, University of Edinburgh.
• Martin Damhus, Co-founder & CIO - ex-Partner Accurate IT, IT Manager Netcompany; MSc Computer Science, University of Copenhagen.
• Key hires:
• Hakon Junge, CCO - ex-Growth Manager at Pleo.
• Guillaume Simard, CTO - ex-Engineering Director at Pleo; 10+ years engineering.
• Greg Carter, CFO - ex-CEO & Founder of Growth Street; 13+ years in finance.
• Funding ask: £5M, extending Series A from July 2020.
• Use of funds: Geographic expansion into Scandinavia, France, Germany; cement position as Europe's leading equity management platform.
• Prior round amount not disclosed.

• Archetype + why: SaaS ARR + transaction GMV/commission model. Two revenue streams require separate build: (1) recurring subscription ARR driven by company count and ARPU, and (2) transaction volume (secondary deal flow) × take-rate. The deck's own framing ("covering expenses through subscriptions, profiting from transactions") makes this the natural segmentation.

• Forecast horizon & granularity: Monthly for Year 1–2 (to capture ramp of new markets), quarterly for Year 3–5. 5-year horizon appropriate for a Series A-stage growth company.

• Key drivers & assumptions:

*Subscription stream:*

• Starting company count: 500
• New company adds per month
• Annual subscription price per company
• Gross churn rate
• Expansion ARR / upsell

*Transaction / commission stream:*

• Secondary transaction volume (£GMV) on platform; model deal count and avg. deal size separately]
• Commission take-rate
• Transactions per quarter

*Costs:*

• Headcount (primary cost driver)
• R&D, hosting, compliance costs
• S&M costs per new market

• Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):
• Base: 30–40 new companies/month, 1% transaction take-rate, 7% annual churn, ARPU £5k.
• Bull: Faster geo expansion (Scandinavia + France + Germany all live by end Year 2), higher deal flow (broker integrations accelerate transaction volume), lower churn due to network effects.
• Bear: Geo expansion delayed to Year 3, deal flow takes longer to build, churn elevated (10–12%) as larger companies migrate to Carta US or bespoke solutions.

• Required sheets / outputs:

1. Assumptions - all drivers in one place, colour-coded
2. Company Cohort Model - monthly new adds, churned, active; by geography
3. Subscription Revenue - active companies × ARPU
4. Transaction Revenue - deal count × avg. GMV × take-rate
5. P&L - combined revenue, COGS (hosting, support), gross profit, OpEx (S&M, R&D, G&A), EBITDA
6. Headcount Plan - by function and geo
7. Cash Flow & Runway - burn rate, cash position, months of runway post-raise
8. KPI Dashboard - MRR, ARR, company count, investors on platform, GMV, take-rate revenue, CAC (if data added)
9. Sensitivity - ARPU vs. churn; take-rate vs. deal volume