# UNest Financial Model

Mobile app that lets parents open and fund a 529 college savings plan in 5 minutes.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/unest
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/unest.xlsx
- Category: Fintech
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Series A
- Funding: $9M
- Founded: 2020
- Geography: United States (international expansion targeted for 2024 per roadmap [DECK slide 12]).
- Customer: B2B2C

## About the company

UNest is a mobile app that lets parents open and fund a 529 college-savings plan in minutes. It makes a traditionally adviser-led or paperwork-heavy product easier for families to establish and contribute to over time.

The primary fee is $3 per child per month, with the average household expected to have two children. Accounts above $50,000 also generate a 25-basis-point annual AUM fee, with rewards and state-plan referrals creating possible additional economics.

The model should forecast parent households, children per household, monthly subscription revenue, contributions, average balances, and AUM-fee eligibility. Cohort retention, contribution cadence, acquisition cost, and state-plan referral economics should be explicit, because mature account balances drive the higher-value revenue layer.

## 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

- Mobile-first 529 college savings account - 5-minute onboarding, fully paperless.
- Removes the main friction points: complexity, 8-hour average setup time, lack of adviser incentive.
- Age-based Invesco portfolios; asset allocation auto-adjusts as child ages.
- Gifting feature (on roadmap for 2021).
- Key differentiator vs. competitors: simple UX + low flat fee vs. % AUM charged by advisers.

## Market

- TAM: $1.8T total potential college savings market.
- SAM: $305B current 529 market (only 17% of potential market penetrated).
- Market growth forecast: $1.8T → $3.6T by 2024 (2x in 6 years).
- Target demographic: Gen X & Millennials, age 27–45, middle income; 70% without financial adviser; 90%+ use mobile banking.
- Student debt framing: $1.6T national crisis used as problem context.
- College cost inflation: ~6% p.a. vs. CPI ~2% p.a..

## Revenue model

- Primary: $3/month per child; average 2 kids per customer = ~$6/month per account household.
- Secondary: 25 bps annually on accounts over $50k AUM.
- Additional streams: UNest Rewards (unspecified) + origination fees from state plans for AUM referred.
- Appendix detail: Flat fee model vs. Class A (5% front-load + 25 bps annual) or Class C (0% front-load + 100 bps annual) used by traditional advisers.
- No transaction/trading fees mentioned.

## Traction & metrics

- Users at deck date (~3/30/20): ~18,000 users; ~10,000 accounts (read from chart axes).
- Growth rate: 20% WoW.
- Commercial launch: visible on chart as a dotted line annotation circa Jan 2020.
- Prior milestones: pilot of 1,000 users October 2018; iOS launch October 2018; Android launch February 2020; 10,000-user target March 2020.
- Roadmap targets: 100,000 users by 2021.
- 20% of acquisition is organic / word of mouth.
- CAC consistently declining week-over-week since commercial launch.
- Churn: "consistently low" (no figure).

## Unit economics

- CAC: $30 blended.
- LTV: $1,500–$2,000.
- LTV/CAC ratio: 50x–67x implied.
- Average children per customer: 2.
- Monthly revenue per household: $6 (2 × $3).
- Payback period: ~5 months at $6/month and $30 CAC.
- 529 plan redemption rate: 6% (vs. 20% for other investment products) - implies low churn floor.

## Competition / moat

Competitors named in deck:
- Wealthfront (investment but not 529-focused)
- CollegeBacker (529 but limited UX)
- State 529 plans (complex, no mobile)
- Traditional advisers (high-fee, not incentivized)
- Bank savings accounts (no tax advantage)

Moat claims:
- 5-minute mobile onboarding (vs. 8-hour average for state plans).
- Flat $3/month fee substantially cheaper than % AUM at scale.
- Age-based portfolios via Invesco (institutional-grade product).
- Gifting feature as network-effect driver (in development).
- Team with deep fintech/529 expertise (Capital Group, Acorns, Marqeta background).

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

Team:
- Ksenia Yudina (Founder & CEO): CFA, MBA UCLA Anderson, former VP Capital Group/American Funds, 529 expert.
- Steve Buchanan (CTO): 15+ years fintech, ex-Director of Engineering at Calypso, Union Bank.
- Peter Mansfield (CMO): 25 years fintech, co-founder Marqeta, Billfloat, PropertyBridge.
- Mike Van Kempen (COO & Head of Growth): former Head of User Acquisition at Acorns.

Seed investors named: Anthos, Draper Dragon, Unlock Venture Partners, Northwestern Mutual, Group 11, Band of Angels.

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## Recommended financial model

**Archetype + why:** Consumer subscription + AUM-based fintech model (hybrid subscription/AUM). Primary driver is user/account growth feeding a flat monthly fee; secondary AUM fee kicks in as accounts mature and balances grow. Not a SaaS ARR model (B2C, not B2B; per-child not per-seat) and not a marketplace GMV model - closest archetype is a consumer fintech subscription with an embedded AUM fee layer.

**Forecast horizon & granularity:** Monthly, 3 years (2020–2022); annual summary to 2024 to match roadmap milestones (10k → 100k users). Weekly granularity for acquisition/CAC is overkill at model level - collapse to monthly.

**Key drivers & assumptions:**

*Acquisition*
- New users/month
- % organic acquisition: 20%
- Blended CAC (paid): $30;
- Marketing spend = (new users × (1 − organic%) × CAC)

*Monetisation*
- Children per customer: 2
- Monthly subscription revenue per household: $6 (2 × $3)
- Average monthly deposit per child: $100
- AUM per account grows at 7% annual investment return
- AUM fee threshold: $50k; fee = 25 bps on AUM above $50k;

*Retention / churn*
- Monthly churn:; lower than typical consumer fintech ~3–5%]
- Reactivation: Not modelled (no data).

*Costs*
- COGS (custody, compliance, state-plan integration):
- S&M: driven by paid CAC model above
- R&D and G&A:

**Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
- Bull: WoW growth holds at 20% through Q3 2020, 100k users by mid-2021; CAC stays at $30.
- Base: Growth decelerates to 10% MoM by Q4 2020 as paid channels scale; 100k users by end-2021 per roadmap; CAC drifts to $40.
- Bear: Growth falls to 5% MoM; CAC climbs to $55; 100k users by 2023.
- Flex variables: monthly user growth rate, CAC, churn rate, average deposit per child (drives AUM).

**Required sheets / outputs:**
1. Assumptions (all toggles: growth rate, CAC, churn, deposit/month, tax rate, return rate)
2. User & Account Waterfall (new, churned, net, cumulative - monthly)
3. AUM build (per-cohort deposit accumulation + investment return)
4. Revenue (subscription + AUM fee)
5. Marketing spend (paid vs. organic split)
6. P&L (revenue, COGS, S&M, R&D, G&A, EBITDA)
7. Unit Economics summary (LTV, CAC, LTV/CAC, payback months)
8. Roadmap milestone tracker (10k, 100k users, international)
9. Dashboard (KPI cards + charts)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the UNest financial model free?

Yes. The UNest 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.