# Pennylane Financial Model

All-in-one financial platform serving as both an accounting production tool for chartered accountants and a real-time financial steering tool for their SME clients.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/pennylane
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/pennylane.xlsx
- Category: Fintech
- Model type: Marketplace / GMV
- Funding round: Series B
- Funding: $57M
- Founded: 2022
- Geography: France (primary - French language UI, French tax/VAT references); deck presented in English suggesting international ambition.
- Customer: B2B2C

## About the company

Pennylane is an all-in-one financial platform for chartered accountants and their SME clients. It combines accounting production tools with real-time financial reporting and steering, so accountants and business owners work from the same underlying data.

The company can distribute directly to SMEs and through accounting firms that bring multiple client companies onto the platform. Payments integrations may add a transaction opportunity, but recurring subscription software remains the principal visible operating model.

The model should forecast accounting firms, client companies per firm, direct SME customers, subscription ARPU, onboarding, and retention. Any supplier-payment or transfer revenue should be calculated from payment volume and take rate in a separate module, preserving the underlying SaaS unit economics.

## 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

Pennylane replaces a fragmented stack of siloed tools (bank, receipts, client invoices, supplier invoices, steering, accounting) with a single platform that:
- **For SME executives:** purchase management, sales management (quotes → invoices → reminders), cash flow dashboard with 200+ bank/PSP integrations, real-time runway monitoring.
- **For chartered accountants:** bookkeeping entry automation (API/EBICS bank feeds, OCR, auto-lettering), revision/cut-off modules, VAT and tax filing, ledger editing, analytical reporting.
- Integration layer: Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, MangoPay, Shopify, Zelty, l'Addition, Tiller, Zapier, Fintecture.
- Distribution: own accounting lab ("Accounting Lab"), network of partner accounting firms, white-glove onboarding with client's existing accountant.

## Revenue model

Not explicitly stated in deck. Inferred:
- Subscription SaaS - likely per-seat or per-company/month tiers (exec side + accountant side).
- Possible transaction / payment revenue on supplier payments and e-transfer flows (GoCardless, Fintecture integrations suggest payment facilitation).
- Channel: direct (book a demo CTA, slide 34) + partner accounting firms (network distribution).
- No pricing page or ARR/MRR figures disclosed.

## Traction & metrics

All figures from slide 6:
- Founded: 2020
- Headcount: 180+ employees ("Pennylaners")
- Customers: "thousands of companies and hundreds of accounting firms"
- Funding: €34M+ raised
- Investors: Kima Ventures, Sequoia, Partech, GFC
- Named client logos: Yuka, Kymono, Caval, Luko, AGK, Impulsa

Customer benefit claims (qualitative, from case-study slides - not financial KPIs):
- "Save 3 days every month" - Luko (slide 7)
- "Cut the time spent on accounting by a factor of four" - R-PUR (slide 10)
- "Save 20 hours every month on accounting" - agency clients (slide 17)

No revenue, MRR/ARR, growth rate, churn, or NPS figures disclosed.

## Competition / moat

Not explicitly named. Implicit competitive framing:
- Current fragmented stack (slide 3): banks, receipt tools, client invoicing, supplier invoicing, steering tools, standalone accounting software - all siloed.
- Pennylane's moat claim: only platform that simultaneously serves as a full accounting production tool (replacing Cegid/Sage/ACD for accountants) AND a live steering dashboard for executives - network effect between the two user types sharing one data layer.

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

- CEO: Arthur Waller
- No other named executives in deck; two team members visible in slide 6 photos (unnamed).
- Total raised: €34M+

## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** B2B SaaS ARR model with a dual-revenue stream: (1) subscription ARR from SME companies and accounting firms; (2) optional payments/take-rate revenue from embedded payment flows. The dual-sided platform warrants tracking both cohorts (firms and their client companies) separately. A 3-statement model is appropriate given the company is post-Series B scale with 180 headcount and significant opex.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 5 years (FY2024–FY2028); monthly for Year 1–2, annual thereafter. Monthly needed to track cash burn against fundraise.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

  *Accounting firm side (supply):*
  - Number of partner accounting firms →
  - Avg SME clients per firm onboarded to Pennylane
  - Monthly fee per firm seat or per-client-handled

  *SME side (demand):*
  - Active SME companies on platform
  - Monthly subscription per SME
  - Churn rate

  *Payments revenue (optional module):*
  - % of SMEs using embedded payments
  - Monthly payment volume per SME
  - Take rate

  *Costs:*
  - Headcount
  - R&D / Engineering as % of revenue
  - Sales & Marketing CAC
  - Gross margin

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - Base: SME count grows 50% YoY; firm network grows 40% YoY; payments adopted by 25% of SMEs.
  - Bull: Accounting firm channel accelerates (each firm brings 50+ clients); payments take-rate monetisation kicks in; enterprise/mid-market expansion.
  - Bear: Slow firm partner adoption; high SME churn (3%+); pricing pressure from incumbents (Cegid, Pennylane's own accounting firm relationships slow to convert).

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. Assumptions dashboard (all drivers in one place)
  2. SME cohort build (monthly new, churned, active)
  3. Accounting firm cohort build
  4. Revenue bridge (subscription ARR + payments GMV + take-rate)
  5. Headcount & opex plan
  6. P&L (monthly Y1–Y2, annual Y3–Y5)
  7. Balance sheet & cash flow (to track runway against fundraise)
  8. ARR bridge (new ARR, expansion, churn, net new ARR)
  9. Unit economics summary (CAC, LTV, LTV/CAC, payback period)
  10. Scenario toggle (Base / Bull / Bear)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Pennylane financial model free?

Yes. The Pennylane 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.