# Curio Financial Model Curated audio journalism app that narrates premium articles from top publications, delivered via a subscription mobile app. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/curio - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/curio.xlsx - Category: Media/Gaming - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series A - Funding: $9M - Founded: 2020 - Geography: Global (UK-headquartered; English-speaking markets first, then non-English expansion). [DECK] - Customer: B2C ## About the company Curio is an iOS app that turns journalism from publishers including the Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Washington Post, and The Guardian into professionally narrated audio. A personalised For You feed, daily edit, discovery tools, and machine-learning recommendations support a no-ad listening experience. It is a direct subscription product with a seven-day trial, priced at $59.99 annually or $7.99 monthly. The research identifies the iOS App Store as the primary channel and no freemium or advertising tier; content licensing, narration, and Apple’s platform fee are central economics. Subscription revenue grew at a reported 26% monthly compound rate from December 2018 to October 2019. Half of subscribers completed at least 30 tracks monthly, sessions averaged about one hour, and track completion reached 70%. The model should forecast trial conversion, plan mix, churn, net App Store revenue, and content cost. ## 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 - Mobile app (iOS) delivering professionally narrated versions of articles from premium publishers: Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Aeon, Fast Company, Inc., Bloomberg, and others. - Personalised "For You" feed + daily curated edit; "Discover" and "Browse by publisher" modes. - No ads; subscription-only. Content quality is differentiated and IP-owned. - ML-driven personalisation for content recommendations and discovery. - Five-layer moat: quality content → product → proprietary data → IP ownership → brand/community. - Featured at Apple Keynote September 2019; App of the Day. App Store rating 4.7★, #1 in 12+ category. ## Market - Framing: "Audio is where video was in 2008" - analog to YouTube/Netflix trajectory. - Digital subscription audio market in China alone: $7bn. - Global earphone market: $36bn by 2024; AirPods revenues $8bn with 50% YoY growth. - 8bn voice-enabled devices projected by 2023; 200m by end 2019. - 176bn hours of radio listened per year in the US. - 1/3 of Americans listen to podcasts; 65% started only in the past 3 years. - Headspace + Calm revenues alone = >50% of the entire US podcast market. - Segmented addressable users (not a formal TAM/SAM/SOM): - Tier 1 - 0.5bn: highly educated, cash-rich, time-poor - Tier 2 - 1.5bn: English-speaking aspirational mass market - Tier 3 - 3bn+: non-English speaking aspirational mass market - No formal TAM/SAM/SOM dollar figure stated for the model's target segment. ## Revenue model - Single revenue stream: direct subscription. - Annual plan: $59.99/year (with 7-day free trial). - Monthly plan: $7.99/month. - Effective annual ARPU if mix favours annual: ~$60; monthly annualised: ~$96. - Channel: iOS App Store (primary, given Apple showcase). - No advertising revenue; no freemium tier mentioned (free trial only). - Future revenue diversification (IP licensing, non-English markets, B2B partnerships) implied by "full-stack" platform narrative but not quantified. ## Traction & metrics - Revenue growth: 26% month-on-month CMGR in subscription revenue, Dec 2018 – Oct 2019 (bar chart confirms steady upward trajectory, absolute revenue figures redacted). - Retention: "Best in class retention" - retention chart shown but values redacted. - Power users (engagement): 50% of subscribers complete at least 30 tracks/month. - Session time: ~1 hour average session time. 15% of sessions are power users with 2-hour average session duration. - Content data: 2 million+ data points per month. - Track completion rate: 70% (vs. 52% for podcasts, 20% for print). ## Unit economics - Implied LTV proxy: high power-user retention + 70% completion rate suggest strong stickiness; with $59.99/year plan and monthly churn implied to be low (retention called "best in class"), LTV is likely multiple years of ARPU. No figure stated. ## Competition / moat - Generic podcast apps (Spotify, Apple Podcasts): poor discovery, inconsistent quality, ads, poor monetisation, English/US-centric, limited data. - Non-music streaming (Audible, Headspace, Calm): adjacent but different use cases. - Positioning matrix: Curio occupies "on-the-go + non-music + premium" white space. - Moat: proprietary data loops (content commissioning + personalisation) from 2m+ monthly data points; IP ownership; exclusive publisher relationships; ML-driven completion rates. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - Govind (Co-founder, CEO/Product): BBC News strategy lead; IIT Madras, RCA/Imperial, LSE. - Srikant (Co-founder, COO/Content): Sidley Austin lawyer; prior AR startup exit; National Law School India, University of London. - Emmanuel (CTO): Led tech at a company sold to Google; 15+ years scaling startups. - Hannah (Head of Growth): marketing at Drinki and Dice; Google Launchpad mentor. - Yuko (Head of Design): Jake Dyson Products / Dyson. - Tainá (Head of Brand): Depop from seed stage. - Round: Series A. - Use of funds: 12–18 month goals - data to commission big content hits; product to enhance audio experience; build for self-sustaining growth. 3-year goal: position Curio for global land-grab. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** Consumer subscription (SaaS-style ARR model adapted for B2C). Revenue is 100% recurring subscription; the correct archetype mirrors a SaaS cohort model - monthly subscriber additions, churn by cohort, ARPU by plan mix, flowing into MRR → ARR. The platform and data moat narrative is secondary; the cash engine is subscriber count × ARPU × (1 − churn). - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years monthly (Year 1–2 monthly detail; Year 3 quarterly or monthly). Series A investors will want to see path to either breakeven or next-round metrics. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value / Rationale | | -- | -- | | Starting MRR | Inferred from 26% CMGR over ~11 months from Dec-18 to Oct-19. If starting MRR (Dec-18) is small (e.g. ~$5k), Oct-19 MRR ≈ $5k × 1.26^10 ≈ $50k. Treat as a sensitivity input; actual figure redacted. | | MoM revenue CMGR (historical) | 26% | | MoM growth rate (forecast) | Decelerate from 26% to 10–15% over 3 years as the channel matures; common S-curve pattern for consumer apps. | | Annual price | $59.99/year | | Monthly price | $7.99/month | | Plan mix (annual vs. monthly) | 60% annual / 40% monthly - annual plans common for apps with trial conversion funnels; needs validation. | | Blended ARPU | ~$68/year blended (60% × $60 + 40% × $96) | | Monthly churn | 3–5% monthly - "best in class" retention claim; Headspace/Calm benchmarks suggest 3–4% for strong consumer audio; power-user cohort likely much lower. | | Trial conversion rate | 20–30% - 7-day free trial; typical for premium consumer audio. | | Content cost / gross margin | 50–60% gross margin - publisher licensing fees are likely revenue-share or flat-fee; professional narration adds cost; exact split not in deck. | | S&M spend (CAC) | CAC unknown; model as a % of revenue or derive from growth spend line once raise amount is known. | | R&D / engineering | Significant (ML, personalisation, content data loops are core); estimate 25–35% of OpEx. | | G&A | 10–15% of OpEx at this stage. | | App Store take rate | 30% of subscription revenue on iOS (Apple cut) - reduces effective ARPU from $59.99 to ~$42 net for annual; model both gross and net revenue. | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - **Base:** MoM growth decelerates to 12% by month 18, 8% by month 36; churn 4%; plan mix 60/40; gross margin 55%. - **Bull:** Growth sustains at 18–20% for 18 months (Apple distribution, global expansion kicking in); churn drops to 2.5% (power-user flywheel); gross margin improves to 65% via IP ownership leverage. - **Bear:** Growth decelerates sharply to 5% by month 12 (category crowding, Apple algorithmic changes); churn rises to 7%; gross margin compressed to 45% (content cost step-up). - Flex variables: monthly new subscriber growth rate, churn, ARPU (pricing power / plan mix), content cost %. - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. **Assumptions** - all input drivers centralised. 2. **Subscriber Cohort Model** - monthly cohort waterfall: new subscribers, retained, churned, ending count by month. 3. **P&L** - Revenue (gross, net of App Store cut), Cost of Revenue (content licensing + narration), Gross Profit, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA, Net Income. 4. **Cash Flow** - operating CF, capex (minimal for software), financing (Series A proceeds), ending cash / runway. 5. **KPI Dashboard** - MRR, ARR, Subscriber count, MoM growth rate, Churn %, LTV (implied), CAC (once known), LTV/CAC, Gross Margin %. 6. **Scenarios** - toggle for Base / Bull / Bear on a single sheet. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Curio financial model free? Yes. The Curio 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.