# Circular Financial Model

Cooperative recruiter community that recirculates rejected candidates between in-house tech recruiters, eliminating agency cost.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/circular
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/circular.xlsx
- Category: Marketplace
- Model type: Marketplace / GMV
- Funding round: Series A
- Funding: $7.5M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: Europe (customers include Typeform, Hopin, TravelPerk, Glovo, Preply - primarily Spain/UK/EU tech ecosystem) [DECK, slide 7].
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

Circular is a recruiter community that recirculates strong candidates rejected from one process to other in-house hiring teams. Recruiters share referrals, build reputation, and access salary and market intelligence, while candidates receive confidential and tailored opportunities.

The platform is designed to replace a portion of agency-led hiring with a cooperative network. Its research notes that active companies post most of their jobs through Circular, and defines GMV as the annual salaries of hires closed on the platform.

The financial model uses a success-fee marketplace structure. Active companies, jobs posted, referrals per role, interview conversion, hires, and average salary create placement GMV; a take rate then produces revenue. Company retention, recruiter activity, fill rate, and sales cost are more important drivers than a conventional SaaS seat count.

## 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

- For recruiters: community platform to refer and receive vetted candidates rejected from their own processes; build a reputation score; access salary benchmarks and market intelligence.
- For candidates: passive job search - referred by recruiters, receive tailored inbound offers confidentially, no public profile listing, give feedback on hiring process.
- Core mechanic: recruiter reputation score (visible leaderboard) incentivises quality referrals; feedback loop - more referrals → more fills → more jobs posted.
- Active companies post 90% of their jobs in Circular.

## Revenue model

Not explicitly stated in deck. Implied model based on context:
- GMV is defined as "annual salary of hires closed during the period", strongly suggesting a success-fee / placement-fee model (% of annual salary per hire placed).
- No SaaS subscription pricing shown.
- No fee percentage disclosed.
- Two potential revenue lines: (a) placement fee charged to hiring company on successful hire; (b) future SaaS/seat fee for recruiter community tools (speculative, not in deck).

## Traction & metrics

- 2 years since launch.
- #1 hiring source for their customers.
- Active company count: redacted in deck (yellow box) [slide 7].
- % of customers' tech hires filled through Circular: redacted [slide 7].
- Survey base: 86 companies answered the source-of-hire survey.
- Interview processes started through Circular: redacted growth % over two quarters [slide 8].
- GMV growth: redacted % over two quarters [slide 8].
- Average salary on Circular: redacted [slide 8].
- Referrals per job posting: redacted [slide 9].
- Jobs filled in Circular (absolute count): redacted [slide 9].
- Active companies post 90% of their jobs in Circular.
- Customer logos (15+ named): TravelPerk, Typeform, Personio, Hopin, Glovo, Preply, Facebook, Free Now, Twilio, XING, Oracle, Gartner, EA, Ryanair.

## Competition / moat

- Compared to: internal referrals, LinkedIn applications, career pages, reach outs, job board applications, agencies, others - Circular claims to be #1 source for its customers across all these.
- Moat articulated as: (a) network effects (more recruiters → more quality candidates), (b) reputation lock-in (recruiter reputation score tied to platform).
- Positioning: recruiter community (trust-based), not a job board or agency.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

- Pedro Torrecillas - VP of Product, co-founder; previously VP at Jobandtalent (€300m+ raised).
- Teo Ruiz - VP of Engineering, co-founder; previously VP at Jobandtalent.
- Journey together started 2015.
- Funding raised: €2.1m Seed, led by LocalGlobe.
- Use of funds: not specified beyond "scale the community across tech hubs" and prove zero-cost candidate acquisition.

## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** Marketplace GMV + take-rate P&L. Revenue = GMV × take rate (placement fee as % of annual salary). This fits exactly how the deck defines and tracks GMV. Secondary scenario: SaaS seat fee once community reaches scale.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years (Y1–Y3), monthly in Y1, quarterly in Y2–Y3. Seed stage with fast growth warrants monthly resolution in near term.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value | Source |
| -- | -- | -- |
| Active companies (starting) | 50–100; redacted in deck - 86 companies surveyed implies ~this range | - |
| Active companies growth (MoM) | 8–12% MoM early-stage community growth | based on "accelerated speed" language |
| Jobs posted per active company per quarter | 3–5; active companies post 90% of jobs on platform | average, seeded from deck context |
| Referrals per job posting | Redacted; 2–4 referrals | - |
| Conversion: referral → interview → hire | 15–25% hire rate from referred candidates | recruitment industry benchmark |
| Average salary (GMV per hire) | Redacted; €60–80k (EU tech mid-level, consistent with salary shown in slide 5: £51–67k range) | - |
| Take rate (placement fee) | 8–15% of annual salary - standard contingency recruitment fee range; not disclosed in deck | - |
| Revenue per hire | €6–12k at midpoint assumptions | - |
| Recruiter CAC | €0 (organic community referral, Campus Madrid presence) | - |
| Company CAC | €500–2,000 (sales-assisted outbound for enterprise; community-led for SMB) | - |
| Gross margin | 70–80% (marketplace, minimal COGS beyond ops/support) | - |
| Headcount | 5–10 FTEs post-seed; scale with rounds | - |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - Bear: take rate = 8%, active company growth = 5% MoM, average salary = €55k
  - Base: take rate = 12%, active company growth = 10% MoM, average salary = €70k
  - Bull: take rate = 15%, active company growth = 15% MoM, average salary = €80k, faster fill rate
  - Primary flex variables: take rate (unknown), company growth rate, average salary per hire

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. Assumptions - all drivers in one tab
  2. Community growth - recruiters, active companies, jobs posted per period
  3. GMV bridge - jobs posted → referrals → interviews → hires → GMV
  4. P&L - revenue (GMV × take rate), COGS, gross profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA
  5. Cash / runway - burn vs. raise (€2.1m seed); months of runway
  6. Dashboard - GMV, revenue, hires, active companies, fill rate, burn

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Circular financial model free?

Yes. The Circular 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.