# Palau Project Financial Model

Mobile app that scans food barcodes, scores their ecological and nutritional impact, and sells tailored sustainable food baskets via a marketplace.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/palau-project
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/palau-project.xlsx
- Category: Marketplace
- Model type: Marketplace / GMV
- Funding round: Pre-seed
- Funding: $125K
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: Europe-first; live in Portugal and Belgium; also users in Spain, US, Germany, UK, Italy [DECK, slide 14].
- Customer: B2C

## About the company

Palau Project is a consumer app that scans food barcodes to show ecological and nutritional impact, then directs users to tailored sustainable food baskets. It combines product scores, diet-footprint calculations, and a marketplace intended to make lower-impact choices easier.

The early product had organic downloads, 10,000 total scans, and 700 weekly active users in Portugal, but no disclosed revenue. Its proposed commercial model is a 3–5% commission on products sold through the marketplace, without a stated subscription layer.

The model starts with user growth: downloads, activation, repeat scans, and the conversion from informed users to basket purchasers. Average basket value and commission rate produce revenue, while retailer supply, fulfillment partnerships, content, and customer acquisition determine contribution margin. Engagement and basket conversion are the largest uncertainties.

## 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

Three-part mobile app:
1. **Barcode scanner** - scans food products, returns an ecological score (e.g. 87/100), CO2 emissions vs. category average, packaging rating, palm-oil flag, and regional alternatives.
2. **Diet footprint calculator** - user inputs diet type and consumption frequency; app returns annual water usage and carbon footprint vs. average.
3. **Tailored food basket / marketplace** - weekly/monthly curated basket of high-scoring products; users can switch to recommended alternatives.

Supporting features: community, gamification ("climate journey"), recipes with CO2 and calorie data, academy content.

Tagline: "Buy Well. Live Better." - promise of up to 70% reduction in consumer environmental impact.

## Market

- TAM proxy: 57M European consumers identified as the addressable population.
- Competitor-held: ~17.5M users across existing competitor apps.
- Remaining opportunity: 67% of the 57M = ~38M users; note the deck presents this as "remaining market share to capture" - not a revenue TAM figure.
- Demand signals: 37% of European consumers deeply care about sustainability; 13% post-COVID shifted to buying more eco-friendly food brands (source: McKinsey & Company).
- No € revenue TAM/SAM/SOM breakdown in deck. No CAGR or market growth rate cited.

## Revenue model

- **Primary: marketplace commission** - 3–5% on every product sold through the app.
- The deck references an EU regulatory angle ("European Union" on slide 10) suggesting potential future B2G or compliance-driven revenue, but this is not elaborated.
- No subscription fee, freemium tier pricing, or B2B data revenue mentioned in deck.
- No GMV projections, average basket size, or order frequency shown.

## Traction & metrics

All figures from slides 13–15; no revenue numbers are disclosed.

**App metrics:**
- 25–30 organic downloads per day
- 10,000 total scans to date
- 1h 45min average engagement time (likely per session or per week - not specified)
- 0 → 700 WAU (weekly active users) in Portugal in one month

**Social:**
- TikTok video: 430K views

**User geography:**
- Portugal: 832 users
- Belgium: 685
- Spain: 252
- United States: 242
- Germany: 144
- United Kingdom: 89
- Italy: 86
- (Additional countries exist - "View countries" link on slide)

**Recognition & non-dilutive funding:**
- Top 10 finalist out of 3,000 startups at Food 4 Future (Bilbao)
- Top 8 startups at BNEW E-commerce Hub (Barcelona)
- €50K subsidy from Flanders Agency for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Vlaanderen is Ondernemen)

**Pipeline / momentum:**
- Partnership with Noise Studios
- Wefunder expanding into Europe; Palau selected among first 10 startups for crowdfunding campaign
- Invited to pitch at Web Summit

## Competition / moat

**Direct competitors (efficient tech tools):**
- Yuka, Open Food Facts, myrealfood, Eugène, ScanUp

**Adjacent / emotional sustainability players:**
- Sea Shepherd, Earth Hero, Greenpeace, Klima, 4ocean

**Positioning:** Palau claims to be the only product sitting at the intersection of "efficient tech tool" (transparency/scanning) AND "emotional satisfaction" (ocean/planet narrative) - a Venn diagram positioning with no current overlap competitor identified.

**Stated moat drivers:** community, gamification, convenience, impact measurement. Proprietary ecological scoring algorithm implied but not detailed.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

**Founding team:**
- Jerome - CEO/Hustler: EAE Business School; marketing background; content creator; world champion (discipline not stated); 2 documentaries on Amazon Prime.
- Simon - CTO/Hacker: School 19; fullstack dev internship at DPG-Media (VTM.be).

**Extended team:**
- Holly - Environmental journalist / content writer
- Jade - COO & Advisor; Senior McKinsey consultant
- Emilio - Marketing; Head of Content at Moonroi
- Toby - Product Manager; Technical Account Manager at Qualtrics
- Nina - User Research intern; content creation at DuoTone

**Funding ask:**
- Seed round: €500K
- Use of funds allocation:
  - Team (key hires: growth, data architecture, front/back-end, R&D): 47% = ~€235K
  - Marketing (growth campaigns, paid performance, climate influencers): 23% = ~€115K
  - Platform (infra scaling, analytics, dev outsourcing): 20% = ~€100K
  - Operations (office, equipment, team): 10% = ~€50K

**Equity note:** "Equity for thrifters" - implies crowdfunding / retail equity round (consistent with Wefunder mention).

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** Consumer marketplace / app monetisation model - specifically a **two-sided marketplace GMV + commission P&L**, layered with a user-growth funnel (downloads → MAU → transacting users). The business is pre-revenue; the model must bridge from app user counts to basket GMV to net revenue. A lightweight 3-statement is appropriate at seed but the core driver is the conversion funnel and GMV build.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 3 years (Year 1–3), monthly in Year 1, quarterly in Years 2–3. Seed capital depleted model to show runway.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Seed value |
| -- | -- |
| Daily organic downloads | 25–30/day |
| WAU as % of MAU | ~700 WAU vs. ~2,300 total users implies ~30% |
| Take rate / commission | 3–5% |
| Seed burn split | Team 47%, Marketing 23%, Platform 20%, Operations 10% |
| Seed raise | €500K |
| Non-dilutive grant received | €50K |
| Headcount at seed close | ~7 (founding + extended team) |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Bear:** Transacting user conversion stays at 3%; basket frequency 1.5x/month; take rate 3%; marketing spend underperforms.
  - **Base:** 7% conversion by Year 2; basket 2x/month; 4% take rate; 15% MoM download growth off seed marketing.
  - **Bull:** 15% conversion by Year 2 driven by community/gamification flywheel; 3x/month basket; partnerships (Noise Studios, Wefunder) accelerate user acquisition at lower CAC.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. **Assumptions** - all drivers in one tab, colour-coded inputs.
  2. **User funnel** - Downloads → Installs → MAU → WAU → Transacting users (monthly, Year 1).
  3. **GMV & Revenue** - Basket GMV × take rate = net revenue.
  4. **P&L** - Net revenue, gross profit, OpEx by category (team, marketing, platform, operations), EBITDA, net loss.
  5. **Cash & Runway** - Seed €500K + €50K grant vs. monthly burn; months-to-zero, next raise trigger.
  6. **Headcount plan** - role-by-role hire schedule tied to seed use-of-funds.
  7. **Scenario toggle** - Bear / Base / Bull switch feeding into funnel and P&L.
  8. **KPI dashboard** - MAU, WAU, GMV, net revenue, burn rate, runway (months).

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Palau Project financial model free?

Yes. The Palau Project 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.