# Tulipshare Financial Model Activist investment platform that aggregates retail shareholder votes to push ESG/governance resolutions at public companies. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/tulipshare - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/tulipshare.xlsx - Category: Fintech - Model type: 3-Statement - Funding round: Seed - Funding: $10.8M - Founded: 2021 - Geography: UK primary (FCA-authorised broker dealer); US expansion planned (US broker dealer licence on 2021–2022 roadmap) [DECK slide 11]. - Customer: B2B2C ## About the company Tulipshare is an activist investment platform that aggregates retail shareholder votes to push ESG and governance resolutions at public companies. It combines retail investing access with a collective-engagement proposition for investors who want their holdings to influence corporate behaviour. The platform earns transaction-based revenue through an investment commission and FX fees when users trade between GBP and USD. There is no disclosed subscription layer, so active investor behaviour and trade value are the primary commercial variables. The model should forecast funded users, active traders, trades per user, average trade value, commission yield, and FX spread. Customer acquisition, brokerage or custody costs, compliance, and retention should be modelled by cohort, while campaign activity can be analysed as a driver of engagement rather than assumed revenue. ## 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 - Web + mobile trading platform (web live, iOS/Android on roadmap) that links every stock purchase to an activist campaign. - Users buy shares in a target company; Tulipshare aggregates voting rights and tables shareholder proposals on their behalf. - Minimum equity threshold to table a US proposal: $25,000 aggregate position. - Clearing broker: DriveWealth; FX: Currencycloud; KYC: Onfido; tech stack: Google Cloud, Next.js, Java. - Differentiator vs Robinhood/Freetrade: not just commission-free brokerage - wraps shareholder activism + campaign tooling around each trade. ## Market - 94% of the population do not hold shares - framed as the untapped investor pool. - No explicit TAM/SAM/SOM figures in deck. - Retail investing described as "on the rise"; no CAGR or market-size £/$ figure provided. ## Revenue model - Commission: fee charged as a percentage of the investment value per transaction. Exact rate not disclosed. - FX: fee for converting GBP to/from USD on each trade. Exact spread/rate not disclosed. - No subscription, no premium tier, no payment-for-order-flow mentioned. - Both revenue lines are per-transaction; revenue therefore scales with (users × trade frequency × avg trade size × commission rate) + (users × GBP↔USD volume × FX spread). ## Traction & metrics - Pre-seed £722k raised, February 2021. - 10 team members, fully remote. - 1 FCA broker dealer authorisation obtained. - 113 days from first line of code to trading platform launch. - Campaign interest counts at time of deck: - Amazon (worker conditions): 1,880 users shown interest - Coca-Cola (recycled bottles): 1,923 users shown interest - Apple (right-to-repair): 431 users shown interest; "Milestone No. 1 reached" badge shown - No revenue, AUM, active-user, or retention figures disclosed. ## Competition / moat - Deck positions Tulipshare as "first broker to combine shareholder activism with online brokerage". - Implicit competitors: commission-free / neo-brokers (Robinhood, Freetrade, Trading 212) - deck explicitly says these are not the answer. - Moat levers implied: FCA licence (regulatory barrier), campaign aggregation network effect (more users → bigger voting bloc → higher campaign success rate → more users), brand in ESG-conscious retail investor segment. - No competitive matrix slide. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds - Antoine Argouges - Founder & CEO; ex-co-founder Lumen (acq. by Blackstone; #1 dating app for over-50s, 1.8m members). - Timur Garifzianov - CPO; ex-Product Lead Bumble, 8 years software development. - Caitlin Smith - Head of Legal & Compliance; ex-VP Credit Suisse Global Markets Compliance; NY-admitted attorney; held Series 3, 7, 24, 63 licences. - Pre-seed investors: Laurent Ritter (co-founder Voodoo), Tom Blomfield (founder Monzo), André Mohamed (co-founder Freetrade), Speedinvest. --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** Retail brokerage / transactional fintech P&L - similar to a neo-broker model. Revenue is transaction-based (commission + FX spread), so the model must be built around user growth, trade frequency, and average trade value rather than a subscription ARR stack. A 3-statement model is appropriate once the business matures; at seed stage, a monthly operating P&L + cash runway model is the primary deliverable. - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly, 3 years (2022–2024); quarterly rollup for years 2–3. Seed pitch context means near-term cash burn visibility is as important as revenue scaling. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** | Driver | Value | | -- | -- | | Registered users at model start | ~4,000 (inferred from campaign interest counts; Amazon 1,880 + Coca-Cola 1,923 suggest ~2k–4k unique users, allowing overlap) | | Monthly user growth rate (pre-product-market-fit) | 15% MoM | | Monthly user growth rate (post-PMF, yr 2+) | 8% MoM | | % of registered users who trade in a given month (activation rate) | 30% | | Average trades per active user per month | 2 | | Average trade value (GBP) | £200 | | Commission rate (% of trade value) | 0.5% | | % of trades requiring GBP→USD FX conversion | 60% | | FX spread (% of converted amount) | 0.5% | | Gross margin on revenue | 60% | | Monthly opex (team, cloud, compliance, marketing) | £120k–£150k | | Seed raise size | TBD | | Commission rate (actual) | TBD | | FX spread (actual) | TBD | - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - Base: 15% MoM user growth tapering to 8%; 30% activation; £200 avg trade; 0.5% commission + 0.5% FX. - Bull: 25% MoM user growth; 40% activation; £300 avg trade; viral campaign milestones accelerate sign-ups. - Bear: 8% MoM user growth; 20% activation; £150 avg trade; regulatory delay on US licence pushes US revenue to 2023. - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions - all drivers in one place with toggle for Base/Bull/Bear. 2. User Funnel - registered → activated → trading users, MoM. 3. Revenue Build - commission revenue + FX revenue, by month. 4. Cost Build - headcount (from roadmap hires), infrastructure, clearing broker fees, compliance, marketing. 5. P&L - gross profit, EBITDA, net loss. 6. Cash & Runway - starting cash (seed raise), monthly burn, months of runway. 7. Campaign Milestone Tracker - optional; tracks aggregate AUM per campaign vs. the $25k threshold needed to table a resolution (key activation metric unique to this business). ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Tulipshare financial model free? Yes. The Tulipshare 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.