# Lula Financial Model API-first episodic insurance platform that sells on-demand, transaction-level policies to businesses and their end-customers at point of sale. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/lula - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/lula.xlsx - Category: InsurTech - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series A - Funding: $18M - Founded: 2021 - Geography: United States [DECK, slide 4] - Customer: B2B ## About the company Lula is API-first episodic insurance infrastructure for businesses that need on-demand coverage at the point of sale. It targets rental, sharing, gig, and other asset-heavy platforms where risk changes transaction by transaction. The company charges business customers a subscription and earns 5–10% commission on premiums generated through embedded policies. It reported 31.13% monthly revenue growth, more than 95% retention, and profitable months in its early period. The model is SaaS plus embedded-insurance commission. Platform customers, subscription ACV, transactions, policy attach, average premium, and take rate build revenue. Partner retention, API usage, carrier capacity, and a future move into premium collection determine the outlook. ## 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 - Insurance API that eliminates the need for companies to build their own insurance infrastructure. - Sells "episodic" (on-demand, per-transaction) insurance to business customers' end-users at the point of sale. - Targets asset-heavy platforms where utilization rates change frequently and risk profiles vary by user (rentals, sharing economy, gig economy). - Positions as the infrastructure layer - companies integrate Lula's API, Lula handles policy issuance, pricing, and (in future) underwriting. ## Market - Total US Insurance TAM: $1.3T annual Gross Written Premium; split $638B Property & Casualty + $679B Life & Annuity. Source: Swiss Re. - US P&C breakdown: Personal Auto $229.6B, Homeowners $102.0B, Commercial Other $102.0B, General Liability $76.5B, Workers Comp $51.0B, Commercial Auto $38.3B, Commercial Multi Peril $38.3B. - Lula's primary beachhead: Commercial Auto ($38.3B) - highly fragmented, top player (Progressive) holds only 8.8% share. ## Revenue model **Current business model**: - Subscription Revenue: SaaS fee - monthly or prepaid annual, charged to business customers. - Transactional Revenue: Commission fee on episodic policies sold, ranging 5%–10% of premiums sold. **Future business model**: - Premium Collection: Collect premiums and underwrite insurance programs directly (moving up the value chain from distributor to carrier/captive). Revenue is B2B (API/SaaS contracts) with B2B2C transactional volume layered on top. No per-seat or per-policy absolute pricing disclosed. ## Traction & metrics - Revenue: Bar chart shown Jul-2020 through Apr-2021 showing consistent month-over-month growth; no Y-axis values or absolute revenue figures visible in image. - CMGR (Compound Monthly Growth Rate): 31.13%. - Retention Rate: 95%+. - Profitable months: Nov-2020, Dec-2020, Jan-2021, Feb-2021. - Apr-2021 figure described as "Expected ARR for the month of April" - implies ARR metric is used but no dollar amount disclosed. - Total Customers: Listed as a KPI label on slide 6 but no number shown in image. ## Unit economics - Commission margin: 5%–10% of premiums sold (transactional take rate). - Described as "capital-efficient growth"; profitable during 4 consecutive months. ## Competition / moat - Competitive categories identified: Brokers, InsurTech Companies, Carriers. - Matrix rows: Threat / How We Win / Long Term Advantage. - Cell content obscured by animation overlay in slide image; OCR extracted only fragments: "B2B distribution", "Most companies are", "a Captive". - Key advisor: Curtis Scott - Former Head of Insurance at Uber, VP of Risk at Lyft; signals moat via gig-economy/sharing-economy network expertise. - Stated moat direction: episodic/usage-based pricing infrastructure, API distribution lock-in, path to owning the captive/underwriting layer. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds **Team**: - Matthew Vega-Sanz - CEO & Co-Founder - Michael Vega-Sanz - President & Co-Founder - Jag Doddapaneni - VP of Development - Suresh Cherrolu - Senior Technical Lead - Jenna Chong - MEng Cornell; Plug and Play Ventures - Eric Ramos - Director of Investments, Florida Funders; Blackstone Launchpad **Advisor**: Curtis Scott - Former Head of Insurance at Uber, VP of Risk at Lyft **Existing investors**: Nextview Ventures, Bloom Venture Partners, PnP Ventures, Basement Fund, Florida Funders, Verissimo Ventures, Strada Holdings, Constellar Ventures. **Notable angels**: Andy Shah (Sequoia/TPG/Naspers), Dom Pasalic (TPG/Ribbit/Sequoia), Dave Delaney (CEO Lancer Insurance), Dan Macklin (Co-Founder SoFi). **Note**: "All investment firms have requested to exercise their pro rata". --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why**: SaaS + transactional commission model (usage-based / marketplace hybrid). Lula has two revenue legs - a recurring SaaS fee from B2B API customers and a variable commission take rate on episodic policy GWP volume. This is structurally identical to a B2B SaaS business with a payments/marketplace revenue kicker. The future underwriting ambition would eventually call for a GWP / loss-ratio model, but at Series A the operating model is SaaS + commission. - **Forecast horizon & granularity**: 3 years monthly (Year 1–2 monthly, Year 3 quarterly is acceptable), given early-stage with 31% CMGR. Monthly granularity required to model the SaaS cohort churn and policy volume ramp. - **Key drivers & assumptions**: - New B2B customers (API/SaaS) added per month - Monthly SaaS fee per customer - Gross churn rate (SaaS): - Average GWP per customer per month - Commission take rate: 5%–10% of GWP - CMGR of revenue: 31.13% - use as sanity check / calibration on combined model output - Headcount growth - COGS: platform hosting + insurance-related compliance costs - S&M spend per new customer acquired - Path to premium collection (Year 3+): model as optional scenario toggle; requires loss ratio assumption - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex)**: - Bear: CMGR decelerates to 15%, churn rises to 7% annual, commission rate compresses to 5%. - Base: CMGR tapers from 31% to ~20% by end of Year 1, 12% by Year 3; 4% churn; 7.5% commission. - Bull: CMGR holds at 25%+ through Year 2 on Series A capital deployment; churn stays at 3%; commission reaches 10% as mix shifts to higher-value policies. - **Required sheets / outputs**: 1. Assumptions dashboard (all drivers in one place, tagged DECK vs ASSUMED) 2. Customer cohort model (B2B SaaS - new adds, churn, cumulative active) 3. Revenue build: SaaS MRR + transactional commission revenue (GWP × take rate) 4. P&L: Revenue → Gross Profit → EBITDA (OpEx: headcount, S&M, G&A, compliance) 5. Cash flow & runway (given profitable months exist, burn rate matters) 6. Scenario toggle (Bear / Base / Bull) 7. KPI summary: CMGR, NRR, GWP volume, ARR, gross margin % ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Lula financial model free? Yes. The Lula 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.