# Carta Series D Financial Model Carta (formerly eShares) is a SaaS platform that digitizes cap table management, equity issuance, and ownership tracking for private companies, venture firms, and limited partners. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/carta-series-d - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/carta-series-d.xlsx - Category: Fintech - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series D - Funding: $80M - Founded: 2018 - Geography: USA primary (7 offices: Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Salt Lake City, Princeton); international footprint implied (Rio de Janeiro office, "global problem" slide 21) [DECK slides 14, 21] - Customer: B2B ## About the company Carta digitises cap-table administration, equity issuance, and ownership records for private companies, venture funds, and limited partners. Its platform turns historically manual legal and finance workflows into subscription software with a system-of-record position. At the Series D stage, Carta reported ARR as its primary metric and had built products beyond its original issuer cap-table base. The company’s expansion opportunity comes from serving more stakeholders across private-market ownership and fund administration. The model should use a multi-segment SaaS ARR build: subscription customers, new-logo ACV, expansion ARR, churn, and implementation costs. Separating core company subscriptions from newer fund or LP products makes customer mix, sales efficiency, and gross-margin progression visible. ## What's included - 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions - Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule - Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking - Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check - Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR - Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention ## Product & value proposition - Central registry of private asset ownership: shares, options, warrants, debt, membership units - Electronic issuance of securities (shares, options, debt, derivatives) with tracking of ownership, restrictions, and shareholder info - Automates approval and compliance workflows for new issues, transfers, and settlement - Cap table management dashboard: tracks all issuer liabilities with historical view - Shareholder portfolio view: tracks all owner assets across companies - Network effect strategy: VC firms are the first network; LPs (fund membership units) are the second, larger network - Revenue expansion path: sell software and financial products into each node - Companies → Venture Firms → Limited Partners → PE → All Private Companies → Public Companies → Transfer Agents → Employee Equity Brokerages → Real Estate → Other Privately Held Assets - Vision: "ownership as simple as payroll" - extend to gig workers and non-employee stakeholders (Uber drivers, Airbnb hosts cited as illustrative examples, not customers) - Positioning: utility / financial infrastructure ("financial cables") built to endure for a century ## Revenue model - Primary: SaaS subscription fees from companies (issuers) - referred to as "subscription customers" - ARR is the primary revenue KPI; $50M ARR at time of deck - Two visible stacked revenue segments in ARR chart (blue = existing/core, green = newer/expansion segment - likely venture fund / LP product layer) - CAC definition in deck: Sales & Marketing spend (fully loaded) + Net implementation cost (fully loaded), divided by new subscription customers - Average ARR per new customer = ARR per new subscription customer × Subscription gross margin - Financial products sold into network nodes (slide 11 references "financial products" alongside software) - No per-seat, per-transaction, or specific tier pricing disclosed ## Traction & metrics - ARR: $50M - Subscription customers: ~10,000 - Shareholders on platform: ~700,000 - Employees: 450 - Offices: 7 - Founded: 2012 - ARR trajectory (from chart, Q1-16 through Q4-18E): started near ~$2M in Q1-16, reaching ~$50M in Q3-18 actual and ~$48–50M in Q4-18E - ARR approximate quarterly readings (visual interpolation from chart): - Q1-16: ~$2M | Q2-16: ~$3M | Q3-16: ~$5M | Q4-16: ~$7M - Q1-17: ~$10M | Q2-17: ~$13M | Q3-17: ~$18M | Q4-17: ~$27M - Q1-18: ~$28M | Q2-18: ~$35M | Q3-18: ~$42M | Q4-18E: ~$48–50M - Subscription customers trajectory (Q1-16 through Q4-18E): - Q1-16: ~1.5K | Q2-16: ~2.2K | Q3-16: ~3.3K | Q4-16: ~4.0K - Q1-17: ~4.5K | Q2-17: ~5.2K | Q3-17: ~6.0K | Q4-17: ~7.0K - Q1-18: ~7.5K | Q2-18: ~8.5K | Q3-18: ~9.2K | Q4-18E: ~10K - Shareholders trajectory: started well below 100K in Q1-16; reached 700K by Q4-18 ## Unit economics - Payback period (months) - verbatim data points from chart: - Q1-17: 14.3 | Q2-17: 11.5 | Q3-17: 12.1 | Q4-17: 11.4 - Q1-18: 21.1 | Q2-18: 18.2 | Q3-18: 21.1 | Q4-18E: 19.4 - Payback period lengthened significantly in 2018 vs 2017 (from ~11–14 months to ~18–21 months), suggesting rising CAC relative to new ARR per customer (likely from moving up-market or expanding S&M spend ahead of Series D) - CAC definition: fully loaded S&M + net implementation cost per new subscription customer - Average ARR per new customer = new customer ARR × subscription gross margin - Gross margin %: referenced conceptually (subscription gross margin in payback formula) but no specific % disclosed ## Competition / moat - Moat articulated as network effects: fractional ownership industries have strong network effects - Layer 1 (companies): VC firms connect companies to employees (equity holders) - Layer 2 (funds): LPs connect across VCs, companies, banks - "larger and more valuable network effect" - Utility / infrastructure positioning: "financial cables" - switching cost argument, designed for century-long durability - No named competitors in deck - Problem framing: private assets are priced at $20K minimums vs public assets at ~$7 (illustrative comparison); private market illiquidity / opacity is the pain point ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR subscription model with multi-segment revenue build. Carta is a pure SaaS business with clean ARR, subscription customer count, and payback period data. The two-stack visual in the ARR and customer charts (blue = core cap table subscription; green = likely fund/LP product layer) calls for a two-segment revenue build. A 3-statement model is not warranted at this stage; a subscription ARR model with unit economics is the right vehicle. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Quarterly actuals Q1-16 through Q3-18 (populate from deck data); Q4-18E per deck; then annual forecast FY2019–FY2022. Granularity: quarterly for near-term (2019), annual thereafter. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value / Tag | | -- | -- | | ARR at model start (Q3-18 actual) | $42M | | Subscription customers (Q4-18E) | ~10,000 | | Implied ACV per customer (ARR / customers) | $50M / 10K = $5,000 | | ARR YoY growth rate - FY2019 | ~50% (extrapolating from Q4-17 ~$27M to Q4-18E ~$50M = ~85% 2018 growth; deceleration expected post-Series D scale) | | ARR YoY growth rate - FY2020–2022 | 40% / 35% / 30% declining ladder - typical SaaS deceleration at $50M+ scale | | Net new subscription customers per quarter | ~500–700/qtr in 2019, growing ~15% annually, consistent with recent ~750/qtr adds | | ACV growth (price × mix) | 5% annual increase - modest ARPU expansion as company moves up-market (consistent with rising payback period) | | Subscription gross margin | 65–70% - typical B2B SaaS at this scale; used in Carta's own payback definition | | CAC (fully loaded, per new customer) | ~$9,000–10,000 in FY2019, based on ~19–21 month payback × ~$5K ACV × ~65% gross margin | | Payback period | 19–21 months; improving to ~18 months by FY2021 as S&M leverage improves | | Shareholders per subscription customer | ~70 (700K shareholders / 10K customers); grows as larger companies adopt | | S&M as % of revenue | ~40–45% in FY2019 (consistent with 19-month payback at 65% GMs) | | R&D as % of revenue | 25–30% (typical early-scale SaaS) | | G&A as % of revenue | 10–15% | | Operating loss / EBITDA margin | 30% to -40% in FY2019, improving toward breakeven by FY2022 | | Headcount | 450 employees at deck date; growing ~20% annually | | Revenue from financial products (non-subscription) | immaterial / zero in near term - not quantified in deck | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - **Base:** ARR growth 50%/40%/35%/30%, payback ~19 months, gross margin 67% - **Bull:** ARR growth 65%/55%/45%/35% (LP/fund product accelerates, faster enterprise move-up); payback compresses to ~14 months by FY2021; gross margin 72% - **Bear:** ARR growth 35%/25%/20%/18% (market slowdown, longer sales cycles); payback stays 20+ months; gross margin 63% (higher implementation costs) - Flex variables: net new customer adds, ACV, S&M efficiency (payback period), gross margin - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. **Assumptions** - all drivers, toggleable Base/Bull/Bear 2. **ARR Bridge** - quarterly: opening ARR + new ARR + expansion ARR - churned ARR = closing ARR (by segment: core cap table, fund/LP) 3. **Customers** - new adds, churn, ending count; ACV per cohort 4. **Unit Economics** - CAC, avg new ARR per customer, payback period (replicate deck chart; validate against actuals) 5. **P&L (Income Statement)** - Revenue (ARR converted to recognized revenue), COGS, Gross Profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA, Net Income 6. **Headcount & Opex detail** - employees by function, cost per head 7. **KPI Dashboard** - ARR, customers, ACV, gross margin %, payback, YoY growth (mirror deck charts) 8. **Scenarios tab** - side-by-side Base / Bull / Bear on key outputs ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Carta Series D financial model free? Yes. The Carta Series D model is a free Excel download with live formulas. ### Can I change the assumptions? Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.