# nTopology Financial Model Next-generation engineering design software (CAD/CAE) that enables advanced manufacturing workflows - latticing, field-driven design, topology optimization - impossible in legacy tools. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/ntopology - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/ntopology.xlsx - Category: Hardware/Deep-tech - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series C - Funding: $40M - Founded: 2020 - Geography: US-headquartered; customers span Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Medical, Consumer Products [DECK, slide 8]. - Customer: B2B ## About the company nTopology provides engineering design software for advanced manufacturing, latticing, and topology optimisation. It enables workflows that legacy CAD and CAE tools cannot easily deliver, targeting engineers who need computational design tools for complex parts and production methods. Its commercial model is enterprise software sold into technical teams. Value grows as customers deploy the platform across engineers, programmes, and manufacturing workflows, but adoption can require specialised implementation and engineering support before the product becomes embedded in design processes. Model enterprise customers, seats, contract value, implementation, usage expansion, renewals, and churn. Include engineering support, product development, cloud or licensing delivery, sales, and customer-success costs. New-logo wins, seats per customer, deployment speed, expansion, pricing, support intensity, and net retention should drive 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 - nTop (nTopology) is a computational geometry / parametric design software for advanced manufacturing (additive manufacturing, CNC, etc.). - Key differentiator: "remixable workflows" - power users (Authors, ~11% of MAUs) build automated design workflows that non-expert engineers (Users, ~89% of MAUs) can run. This drives exponential seat expansion inside accounts. - Outperforms incumbents (CATIA, Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Dassault) on speed and capability for complex geometries: - vs. Dassault on helicopter parts: 48% weight reduction vs. 10%; 30 min design vs. 6 hrs. - vs. Siemens NX on stealth wings: 60 min optimization vs. impossible; 30 min design vs. impossible. - vs. CATIA on Ford auto structure node: optimization 1 hr vs. 3 hrs; design 4 min vs. 1 week. - vs. legacy tools at Stryker (medical): enables 2,000+ engineers to design parts previously only 4 could; 2 min vs. 8 hrs design time. - Positioned as a non-disruptive add-on: nTop slots into the Part Design phase of existing CAD workflows (SolidWorks, NX, etc.) without requiring full workflow replacement. ## Market - TAM framing: engineering software industry dominated by 41-year-old average-age incumbents: - CAD (Design): $9B yearly spend - CAE (Simulation): $8B yearly spend - CAM (Manufacturing): $5B yearly spend - Combined: ~$22B annual engineering software spend - Incumbent market cap: $100B+ (Autodesk, Dassault, PTC, ANSYS, Siemens) - Per-account total engineering software spend ceiling cited: $200M - appears to reference a single large enterprise account's full software budget. - SAM / SOM: Not explicitly stated. No SOM figure given. ## Revenue model - Seat-based SaaS with land-and-expand tiering: - **Land** (<90 days): ACV $15K–$40K, 2–6 users - **Expand** (6–12 months): ACV $100K–$500K, 20–100 users - **Enterprise** (>12 months): ACV $1M+, 125+ users - 2019 blended ACV: $35.5K - consistent with early land-phase deals dominating. - 2020 ACV (as of Q1 2020): $25K - lower than 2019; likely reflects a shift toward more land deals or pricing strategy change; no explanation given. - Pipeline by type: 58% Enterprise, 43% Land (by pipeline value). - Pipeline by industry: Aerospace & Defense largest, then Medical, Automotive, Consumer Goods, Manufacturing/Service Bureau, Research/EDU, Heavy Industry. Pipeline values reach ~$3M for top verticals visible on chart axis. - Sales channel: Direct enterprise sales (CRO Steve Costello with PLM/CAD enterprise background). No mention of channel partners or self-serve. ## Traction & metrics - ARR: >$2M as of ~Q1 2020 - ARR target: $5M by end of 2020 - nTop product launched: ~Q2 2019 - User growth: >40% monthly user growth in 2020 - Users tripled since beginning of 2020; chart (slide 19) shows growth from ~0 in May 2019 to ~1,200–1,300+ by March 2020 (exact latest figure redacted) - Account growth chart (slide 12) shows actual user count reaching ~160–170 users at ~21 months, trending projected to ~650–800 by 33 months - these appear to be aggregate nTop users across accounts, not individual account counts - Per-account user expansion pattern: accounts that land at 2–6 users reach 20–100+ users within 6–12 months across multiple named enterprise accounts - User mix: 89% design-engineer users, 11% authors (workflow creators) - Engagement / retention metrics: all specific numbers redacted in deck (slides 20): - Avg. time in nTop per session: redacted - % of All MAUs who are DAUs: redacted - % of Author MAUs who are DAUs: redacted - 8-week product retention (including trials): redacted - Q1 2020: described as "best quarter yet"; specific figures redacted - Customer verticals in production: Aerospace & Defense (helicopter parts, stealth wings), Automotive (Ford structural node), Medical (Stryker, 500K parts/year), COVID-19 swabs ## Unit economics - Land-to-expand signal: deck claims accounts grow "exponentially" and multiple enterprise accounts show the same exponential user growth curve within 4 quarters of signing. ## Competition / moat - Named competitors: CATIA (Dassault Systèmes), Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Autodesk, PTC, ANSYS. - Competitive positioning: incumbents average 41 years old; all were built before additive manufacturing and field-driven design existed. - Moat claims: 1. Workflow remixability: only engineering software with "robust remixable workflows" - Authors encode expertise into reusable apps that non-experts can run, creating a network effect within accounts. 2. Computational geometry IP: founder Brad Rothenberg described as "computational geometry & design for additive manufacturing leader." 3. Non-disruptive integration: drops into existing CAD workflows rather than replacing them, reducing switching friction. 4. Strategic investor: Lockheed Martin as investor - validation and likely reference customer access in defense. - No patent or IP count mentioned. No data moat or marketplace effects beyond the workflow flywheel. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - **Brad Rothenberg** - Founder & CEO; computational geometry & design for additive manufacturing expert - **Steve Costello** - CRO; built enterprise sales at Aras PLM, zCorp, SpaceClaim; defense experience at Digital Globe & BAE Systems - **Blake Courter** - CTO; founded SpaceClaim; PM at PTC, GrabCAD, Stratasys - **George Allen** - CSO; 40 years at Unigraphics/NX; pioneer in solid modeling; R&D, strategic planning, customer consulting - **Carl Bass** - Independent Board Director; former CEO Autodesk (2006–2017) - Investors: Canaan, Data Collective (DCVC), Root Ventures, Carl Bass, Haystack, Pathbreaker Ventures, Lockheed Martin - Prior rounds: Not itemized in deck. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR land-and-expand model with seat-count driver. The business is pure B2B SaaS with a three-tier expansion motion (Land → Expand → Enterprise) and explicit ACV bands. The right model is a cohort-based ARR build: new logos land at small ACV, expand within 6–12 months, and compound toward $1M+ enterprise contracts. This maps cleanly to a logo cohort × ACV expansion waterfall. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 5 years (2020–2024), quarterly for years 1–2, annual for years 3–5. Q1 2020 is the anchor point (>$2M ARR). - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value | Source | | -- | -- | -- | | ARR at model start (Q1 2020) | $2.0M | - | | ARR target end of 2020 | $5.0M | - | | Monthly user growth rate (2020) | >40% | - | | Land ACV | $15K–$40K; use $27.5K midpoint | - | | Expand ACV | $100K–$500K; use $200K midpoint | - | | Enterprise ACV | $1M+ floor; use $1.5M | - | | 2019 blended ACV | $35.5K | - | | 2020 blended ACV (early) | $25K | - | | Land → Expand conversion timing | 6–12 months | - | | Expand → Enterprise timing | >12 months from land | - | | Land seat count | 2–6 users | - | | Expand seat count | 20–100 users | - | | Enterprise seat count | 125+ users | - | | Pipeline Enterprise share | 58% | - | | Pipeline Land share | 43% | - | | Author / User split | 11% Authors, 89% Users | - | | New logo adds per quarter (2020) | ~3–6 new logos/qtr; implied by pipeline volume ($1M–$3M by vertical) and $25K ACV | | Land → Expand conversion rate | 70%; strong product stickiness implied by case studies and retention claims | | Expand → Enterprise conversion rate | 30% of expanded accounts; enterprise is a subset | | Annual gross churn | <5%; engineering software with workflow lock-in typically very low churn; no figure given | | Net Revenue Retention | 130–150%; land-expand motion with 3–5× ACV expansion implies strong NRR | | Gross margin | 75–80%; typical B2B SaaS engineering software; no COGS data given | | Headcount growth | proportional to pipeline; sales team scale needed to hit $5M ARR | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - **Base:** Land 4 logos/qtr in 2020; 70% L→E conversion at 9-month lag; gross churn 5%; NRR 135%. Hits ~$5M ARR by year-end 2020, consistent with deck target. - **Bull:** Land 6 logos/qtr; 80% L→E conversion; NRR 150%; enterprise deals close faster. ARR reaches $8–10M by end of 2020. - **Bear:** Pipeline slippage (only 2 logos/qtr landing); L→E conversion 50%; some churn on smaller accounts. ARR stalls at $3–3.5M by year-end 2020. - Flex variables: new logo velocity, L→E conversion rate, enterprise ACV realization, monthly user growth (leading indicator of expansion revenue). - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. **Assumptions** - all drivers in one place, color-coded inputs 2. **ARR Waterfall** - starting ARR + new logos + expansion + churn = ending ARR, quarterly 3. **Logo Cohort Table** - cohort by quarter; track each cohort's ACV progression Land→Expand→Enterprise over time 4. **User Count Build** - monthly active users (Authors + Users) as leading pipeline indicator; ties to 40% monthly growth claim 5. **Revenue & P&L** - ARR to recognized revenue; gross margin; operating expenses (R&D, S&M, G&A); EBITDA 6. **Pipeline Model** - pipeline by stage × industry; close rates; bridge to new logo adds 7. **Headcount Plan** - sales, engineering, CS headcount; comp assumptions 8. **Cash & Runway** - cash burn vs. ARR milestone; implied raise sizing 9. **Scenario Toggle** - dropdown or flag to switch Base / Bull / Bear ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the nTopology financial model free? Yes. The nTopology 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.