# Liquid Marketplace Financial Model Blockchain-based platform that tokenizes and fractionalizes collectible trading cards and high-value assets, enabling co-ownership and real-time secondary market trading. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/liquid-marketplace - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/liquid-marketplace.xlsx - Category: Crypto/Web3 - Model type: Marketplace / GMV - Funding round: Series A - Funding: $6M - Founded: 2022 - Geography: Global (world-map slide shows pins across North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia); HQs in Miami, FL and Toronto, ON. [DECK, slide 5] - Customer: B2C ## About the company Liquid Marketplace tokenises and fractionalises trading cards and other high-value collectibles, allowing investors to co-own assets and trade interests in a secondary market. The platform combines a collectibles marketplace with blockchain infrastructure, physical custody, valuation, authentication, and compliance requirements. The April 2022 deck did not disclose a round or stage, but described a global footprint with Miami and Toronto headquarters. The value proposition depends on converting normally illiquid assets into investable offerings, then maintaining enough secondary-market participation for those fractions to have credible liquidity. Build an asset pipeline from sourcing through appraisal, fractional offering, and assets under custody. Generate revenue from primary issuance, secondary GMV times take rate, and recurring vault or custody fees. Model authentication, insurance, storage, and blockchain costs separately. Asset onboarding, average asset value, offering conversion, secondary turnover, and regulatory timing should determine the scenarios. ## 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 - Tokenizes physical collectible trading cards (and other high-value collectibles/art/NFTs) and lists fractional ownership tokens on a proprietary marketplace. - Process: asset owner submits card → Liquid MarketPlace verifies and appraises → stores in physical vault → tokenizes ownership → primary offering (75–100% of tokens offered; owner retains 0–25%) → secondary real-time exchange. - Key features: 24/7 real-time trading, instant settlement (no 120-day wait typical of legacy auction houses), cryptocurrency payment support, curated offerings, gamified user tiers (Novice → Grand Master). - Tag line: "OWN ANYTHING." ## Market - Collectible card market audience size: 75 million people globally (sourced from Google Analytics per deck). - Asset appreciation context cited in deck: high-value collectibles increased ~2,000%–13,000% in value over 5 years; specific examples - Bored Ape #8135 $1.62M (7,088% ROI in 10 months), Banksy "Girl with Balloon" $25.4M (1,714% ROI over 3 years), PSA 9 Pokémon Illustrator $2.7M (1,885% ROI over 5 years), PSA 9 1952 Mickey Mantle $5.2M (580% ROI over 5 years), PSA 10 Wayne Gretzky $3.75M (577% ROI over 5 years). ## Revenue model - Not explicitly stated in deck. Implied monetization mechanisms (inferred from process description and comparable platforms): - Primary offering fee: platform likely takes a spread or listing fee when an asset is first tokenized and offered. - Secondary market transaction fee: take-rate on each trade executed on the exchange. - Vault/custody fee: annual or monthly fee for physical storage of asset. - No take-rate, fee schedule, or pricing page is shown anywhere in the deck. ## Traction & metrics - Social media followers: 35,000+ - Media coverage: Business Insider, TIME, Betakit, The New York Times, Financial Post, Hypebeast, Yahoo Finance. ## Competition / moat - Direct competitors identified: Dibbs, Rally, PWCC, Collector (logo appears in matrix - "C" icon), eBay, GA (Golden Auctions?), Heritage Auctions. - Competitive differentiation claimed by Liquid MarketPlace (only company with all five checkmarks in matrix): - Worldwide access - 24/7 trading - Cryptocurrency payment support - Curated collectable offerings - Incentives for asset owners (0–25% retained ownership, gamified tiers) - Moat narrative: blockchain-based instant settlement + physical vault custody + crypto payments + gamification layer. No patent or technology exclusivity claims made. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - Founding team: - Ryan Bahadori - Founder & CEO; entrepreneur, crypto investor, avid collector; founded a commercial real estate development corp growing to multi-million dollar business. - Logan Paul - Founder; internet celebrity, professional boxer, IMPAULSIVE podcast host, avid collector; 100M+ online followers. - Amin Nikdel - Founder & President/Chairman; 10+ years in technology ventures. - Executive team: CTO (Yisrael Lowenstein), CFO (Dennis Domazet), CLO (Money Khoromi), CCO (Liana Falzone), Director of Marketing (Kateryna Chystiakova), Director of Operations (Alina Guidu), Director of Assets (Matt Allen). - Advisors include: Steve Aoki, Jeff Levin, Buster Scher, Jeremy Padawer, Rich Antoniello (ex-CEO Complex), Brian Daley (Osprey Capital), David Sears (ex-Merrill Lynch), Lowell Kamin (ex-Merrill Lynch, 25 yrs capital markets), Rob Segal. Legal: Goodmans, Osler, Zuber Lawler. Market maker: ITG. - Contact for investment: Ryan@liquidmarketplace.io, Amin@liquidmarketplace.io. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** Marketplace GMV + take-rate P&L model. Liquid MarketPlace operates as a two-sided collectibles marketplace with a fractionalization/tokenization layer. The right model tracks: (1) assets listed → GMV of primary offerings, (2) secondary market trading volume → transaction fee revenue, (3) custody/vault fees as a recurring revenue stream. This is structurally identical to a fintech marketplace model (cf. Rally Rd, Masterworks) - unit of analysis is assets under custody (AUC) and trading volume. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly, 3 years (2022–2024). Monthly granularity needed to model asset onboarding pipeline and trading volume ramp. Year 3 annual summary for exits/sensitivities. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** *Supply side (assets listed):* - Assets onboarded per month (Year 1 ramp: 5 → 20/month) - Average asset value per item ($50,000) - % tokenized and offered (75–100% per deck) *Primary offering revenue:* - Platform fee on primary offering (5% of offered value) *Secondary market (trading volume):* - Monthly secondary volume as % of AUC (2% per month → 24% annual turnover) - Take-rate on secondary trades (1.5% per trade, blended buyer+seller) *Custody/vault fees:* - Annual custody fee as % of AUC (0.5% p.a.) *User side:* - Registered users (start 5,000; grow 15% MoM Year 1, decelerating) - Average wallet size / capital deployed per active user *Cost drivers:* - Vault/insurance/custody OpEx (% of AUC, ~0.3% p.a.) - Authentication/appraisal cost per asset - Technology & blockchain infrastructure (fixed + variable) - S&M spend (headcount + Logan Paul marketing leverage) - G&A (headcount-based) - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - Base: 10 assets/month by end of Year 1, $50K avg value, 1.5% secondary take-rate, 24% annual turnover - Bull: 25 assets/month by end of Year 1, $150K avg value, higher turnover (40% p.a.) driven by Logan Paul community effect - Bear: Asset onboarding stalls at 5/month, regulatory headwinds on blockchain/tokenization delay launch, low trading velocity - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions - all drivers in one place, toggle for scenarios 2. Asset Pipeline - monthly onboarding, AUC build, asset-level detail 3. Revenue - primary offering fees, secondary trading fees, custody fees; monthly and annual 4. P&L - revenue, COGS (vault, auth, blockchain), gross profit, S&M, G&A, EBITDA 5. Cash Flow / Runway - burn rate, cash consumed, implied funding need 6. KPI Dashboard - AUC, # assets, # users, GMV, take-rate blended, gross margin ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Liquid Marketplace financial model free? Yes. The Liquid Marketplace 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.