# Tanbii Financial Model

Gamified carbon-reduction app where users earn tokens by completing real-life low-carbon activities and redeem them for rewards from 150+ brand partners.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/tanbii
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/tanbii.xlsx
- Category: Crypto/Web3
- Model type: Marketplace / GMV
- Funding round: Pre-seed
- Funding: $1.5M
- Founded: 2023
- Geography: U.S. primary (problem framing uses U.S. emissions data); global carbon market cited for TAM.
- Customer: B2C

## About the company

Tanbii is a gamified carbon-reduction app where users earn tokens for real-life low-carbon activities and redeem rewards from more than 150 brand partners. It links sustainability engagement to sponsor participation, using play-to-earn mechanics to make repeated climate-friendly actions more visible and rewarding.

The company was pre-seed and in product-market-fit mode in 2022. Its long-term plan includes affiliate marketing, in-app purchases, freemium subscriptions, advertising, merchandise, and carbon-credit trading, but the near-term model is primarily merchant or affiliate commission against partner-driven activity.

Build active-user cohorts, completed actions, partner offers, redemptions, transaction GMV, affiliate commission, and reward cost. Add subscriptions, ads, or carbon-credit revenue only when their planned launch dates support them. Token incentives, fraud controls, partner operations, and acquisition costs should be explicit. Engagement, partner growth, conversion, commission, reward rate, and retention 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

- Decentralised Web5 platform (Web2 real-world tracking + Web3 tokenised metaverse).
- Users complete 30+ EPA-verified carbon-reduction activities → earn Tanbii Tokens → convert to game coins → build metaverse, redeem for brand discounts.
- Social layer: village expansion, leaderboards, badges, community rankings.
- AI personalises new games/activities; ML + EPA algorithms calculate carbon reduction accuracy; blockchain for identity/data security.
- Phase 3 roadmap: personal carbon credit accounts, 1 tonne CO2 = 1 carbon credit, government/bank carbon asset trading.
- University Ambassador Program targeting Gen Z: 20+ universities planned for 2024 including USC, Harvard, UCLA, Vanderbilt.

## Market

- TAM: $891 billion - Global Carbon Market.
- SAM: $8.91 billion - Global Personal Carbon Market.
- SOM: $7.13 billion - described as "80% Total of Market Share" (appears to be 80% of SAM). Note: the SOM label/rationale is unclear; the 80% figure seems optimistic and is likely an aspirational target rather than a near-term capture.
- Target segment: Gen Z - 2.6 billion global population, $143 billion buying power, 81% gamers, 7.2 hr/week gaming, 64% favour green brands.

## Revenue model

Revenue streams by phase:

**Short term (2022–2023):**
- Affiliate marketing: commission on purchases made via 150+ brand partner redemptions (Amazon, Priceline, Disney+, SK-II, EarthHero, Nike, Adidas, etc.).
- In-app purchases: users buy game items/coins within the metaverse.

**Mid term (2024–2025):**
- Freemium subscription: premium tier unlocks additional features/activities.
- Advertising: in-app ad placements.

**Long term (2026–2030):**
- Merchandise.
- Carbon credit trading: personal carbon credits tradeable with banks and government entities.

## Traction & metrics

- User targets from roadmap:
  - 2023: Official launch, 150+ vendors.
  - 2024: 250+ vendors, 100,000+ users.
  - 2025: 500+ vendors, 1,000,000+ users.
  - 2026–2030: 2,000+ vendors, 10,000,000+ users.
- University ambassador program: 20+ universities targeted for 2024.
- Brand partnerships: 150+ sustainable partners signed/targeted including Amazon, Nike, Adidas, Priceline, Disney+, SK-II, EarthHero; reforestation partner Eden Reforestation Projects.
- No current DAU/MAU, retention, revenue, or conversion data disclosed.

## Competition / moat

Competitors: Joro/Common, Aerial, Carbn, Capture, Klima, Liquidation.com - all Web2.

Tanbii differentiators (only company with all features checked):
- Only player positioned as Web5 (real-world + virtual/blockchain).
- Full feature stack: carbon management, real-time tracking, low user effort, in-app purchases, badges/ranking, community, gamification, rewards marketplace, and decentralised identity (DID).
- Competitors lack gamification and rewards marketplace combination; none offer DID.

Moat claims: EPA-verified carbon calculation, blockchain-encrypted identity, AI/ML personalisation, physical reforestation tied to in-app actions (Eden Reforestation Projects partnership).

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

**Team:**
- Robert Luo - Co-founder/CEO: 2 successful exits, GreenBiz 30 Under 30, USC Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.
- Robert Grajewski MBA, MPA - Co-founder/COO: 3 successful exits, former VC, Wharton MBA / Harvard MPA / Harvard BA.
- Kent Chen MS - CTO: 10+ years DevOps/infrastructure, former publicly traded company CTO, MS CS Xiamen University.
- Neil Whitney - Director of Marketing: 17+ years global marketing, former Sr. Manager at Apple.

**Advisors:** Daniel Bulteel (ex-TikTok/ByteDance, Adidas, WPP); Davids Sobie (founder Happy Returns, acq. PayPal); Mike McComb (SVP Pitney Bowes); Nicole Warshauser (VP Marketing, Quilted Health); Aaron Davis (Customer Engineer AI/ML, Google); Guill Lopez (Head of Zara.com).

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** Consumer app / freemium + marketplace GMV hybrid. Revenue is multi-stream (affiliate commission on GMV, in-app purchases, subscription, ads, carbon credits). Early phase is almost entirely affiliate/commission-driven, making a GMV-to-take-rate model most appropriate for 2022–2024, layering in subscription and ad revenue from 2024, and carbon credit trading from 2026+. A 3-statement operating model is warranted given the multi-phase complexity.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 2022–2027 (5-year), monthly for years 1–2, quarterly for years 3–5. Captures pre-seed through Series A and the critical transition from affiliate to subscription revenue.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value |
| -- | -- |
| Launch year | 2023 |
| User targets: 2024 / 2025 / 2026–2030 | 100K / 1M / 10M |
| Monthly user growth rate (2023→2024) | ~30% MoM to hit 100K |
| Freemium conversion rate (free → paid sub) | 3–5% |
| Monthly subscription price | $4.99–$9.99 |
| Affiliate GMV per active user per month | $15–$25 |
| Affiliate commission take rate | 5–10% |
| In-app purchase ARPU (paying users) | $2–$5/month |
| Ad RPM / CPM | $3–$5 per 1,000 impressions |
| Monthly active rate (MAU/registered) | 30–40% |
| Vendor/partner count | 150 (2023) → 250 (2024) → 500 (2025) → 2,000 (2026+) |
| Carbon credit price per tonne | $10–$50 |
| Gross margin on subscription | ~70% |
| Gross margin on affiliate | ~85% |
| CAC (paid + organic blended) | $2–$8 |
| Monthly churn | 5–8% |
| Headcount growth | 4 founders + hires scaling with funding rounds |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - **Base:** Hits 100K users by end of 2024, 1M by 2025; 4% freemium conversion; affiliate take rate 7%; churn 6%.
  - **Bull:** User growth 50% above deck targets (university channel outperforms); freemium conversion 7%; carbon credit revenue materialises at scale in 2026.
  - **Bear:** Launch delayed to mid-2023; user growth 50% below targets; freemium conversion 2%; carbon credit phase never reaches revenue scale; affiliate-only model through 2025.

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. Assumptions - all drivers, scenarios toggle (Base/Bull/Bear).
  2. User Funnel - registered → MAU → paying (sub + IAP), by cohort.
  3. Revenue Build - affiliate GMV/commission, in-app purchases, subscription MRR/ARR, ad revenue, merchandise, carbon credits (phased in).
  4. Income Statement - revenue, COGS (token costs, hosting, payment processing), gross profit, opex (team, marketing, tech), EBITDA.
  5. Cash Flow & Runway - pre-seed capital deployment, burn rate, months of runway.
  6. KPI Dashboard - MAU, paying users, MRR, CAC, LTV, LTV/CAC, gross margin.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Tanbii financial model free?

Yes. The Tanbii 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.