# Persefoni Financial Model SaaS carbon accounting platform that converts operational, financial, and supply-chain activity data into CO2e footprint calculations and climate disclosures. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/persefoni - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/persefoni.xlsx - Category: Climate/Energy - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series B - Funding: $101M - Founded: 2021 - Geography: Not in deck. (Incorporated as "Persefoni Inc." - US entity implied.) - Customer: B2B ## About the company Persefoni is enterprise carbon-accounting software that combines operational, financial, and supply-chain data in a CO2e Activity Ledger. It applies GHG Protocol and PCAF calculations to produce footprint measurement, warming trajectories, reduction targets, and climate-disclosure outputs. The commercial proposition is a compliance-grade accounting layer for corporates and financial institutions rather than qualitative ESG reporting. The deck does not provide pricing or traction metrics, but its data structure and annual disclosure use cases indicate enterprise contracts with longer sales cycles and sticky renewals. The model should use annual or quarterly enterprise cohorts: new logos, ACV, implementation timing, churn, and net revenue retention from expanded reporting and data use. Link the ARR waterfall to gross margin, customer success, sales capacity, R&D, and cash burn, flexing regulatory pull and contract value in 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 Carbon accounting platform (the "Persefoni Platform") that ingests three categories of activity data: - **Operational**: fuel consumption, electricity, equipment usage, gas consumption. - **Financial**: expense reports, vendor payments, accounts receivable/payable. - **Supply chain**: travel (air, hotel), sales & inventory, material purchasing, shipping. The platform runs these through a "CO2e Activity Ledger" using GHG Protocol + PCAF formulas (260+ calculations, 1,000s of data types) to produce: - Carbon footprint (CO2e number) - Warming trajectory modeling (SBTi Sectoral Decarbonization Approach) - 2°C reduction target alignment Use cases: corporate carbon transformation, improving climate impacts, climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD). Positioning: carbon accounting is to ESG what GAAP accounting is to financial reporting - a structured, formula-driven compliance layer, not just qualitative reporting. ## Market Context implied: the addressable market sits within the "E" (Environmental) pillar of ESG reporting, specifically at the intersection of Carbon Accounting (CDP, PCAF/GHGP), Sustainability Reporting (TCFD/GRI/SASB), and Environmental Compliance (EPA/country-specific regulations). The "S" (Social) and "G" (Governance) pillars are shown but are explicitly out of scope for the platform. ## Revenue model Inferred: enterprise SaaS subscription model, likely sold to corporates and financial institutions (the "financial" data input category and PCAF framework reference suggests financial-services clients are a primary target). Likely annual contracts given compliance-driven purchasing. ## Competition / moat Not explicitly stated. Implied moat elements: - Advisory board with regulatory/standards insiders: SASB founding chairman (Robert Eccles), TCFD founding secretariat member (Curtis Ravenel), former GRI CEO (Tim Mohin). These are the people who wrote the standards the platform implements. - Complexity moat: carbon accounting requires 260+ calculations vs. 12 for financial GAAP, across 1,000s of data types - high switching cost once a company's ledger is built. - Regulatory tailwind: both SEC/US regulatory and international frameworks apply to carbon accounting, creating compliance pull. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds **Advisory board** (slide 3 - note this is an advisory board slide, core founding team not shown): - Tim Mohin - Chief Sustainability Officer; former CEO of GRI, sustainability lead at Intel/Apple/AMD, EPA/Senate policy. - Rakhi Kumar - SAB Member; SVP at Liberty Mutual, former State Street ESG lead, Moody's/Booz Allen. - Robert Eccles - Co-Chair; founding chairman of SASB, Visiting Professor Oxford Said Business School, BCG Senior Advisor. - Curtis Ravenel - Co-Chair; founding secretariat member of TCFD, advisor to Mark Carney (UN Special Envoy for Climate Finance), Bloomberg LP. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why**: Enterprise SaaS ARR model. Persefoni is a B2B software platform with recurring subscription revenue, sold into compliance-driven enterprise buyers (corporates + financial institutions). Standard SaaS ARR build is the correct archetype. A 3-statement model can be layered on top once revenue projections are established. - **Forecast horizon & granularity**: 5-year annual model (Year 1–5), with Year 1 broken into quarterly detail. Compliance SaaS tends to have longer sales cycles and sticky annual contracts, making quarterly granularity sufficient for near term. - **Key drivers & assumptions**: - New logo additions per year - Average contract value (ACV) per customer - Net revenue retention / expansion rate - Gross margin - Sales & marketing as % of revenue - R&D as % of revenue - Churn rate - Headcount ramp (AE quota, CS ratio) - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex)**: - **Bear**: slow regulatory pull; ACV compressed as buyers demand cheap solutions; NRR ~105%; logo growth low end. - **Base**: moderate regulatory tailwind (SEC climate disclosure rules pass); ACV mid-range; NRR ~115%; logo growth mid-case. - **Bull**: mandatory carbon accounting regulation accelerates (SEC + EU CSRD spillover for US companies); strong PCAF adoption in financial services; NRR ~120%+; ACV expands via financial-institution segment. - **Required sheets / outputs**: 1. Assumptions dashboard (toggle scenarios) 2. ARR waterfall (new ARR, expansion ARR, churned ARR, net new ARR) 3. Revenue build (logo count × ACV × NRR) 4. P&L (gross margin, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA) 5. Headcount plan 6. Cash bridge / runway (if funding ask data becomes available) 7. KPI summary (ARR, logo count, NRR, CAC payback, LTV/CAC) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Persefoni financial model free? Yes. The Persefoni 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.