# Vangst Financial Model Vangst is the cannabis industry's all-in-one hiring platform - permanent placement, temp staffing (GIGS), and compliance tooling from a single dashboard. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/vangst - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/vangst.xlsx - Category: Marketplace - Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation - Funding round: Series B - Funding: $19M - Founded: 2022 - Geography: United States; GIGS live in 5 states at time of deck; adult-use legal in 19 States + DC [DECK slide 9] - Customer: B2B ## About the company Vangst is a hiring platform for the cannabis industry, combining temporary staffing, permanent placement, compliance, and employer branding. Its GIGS product vets workers, manages payroll and time tracking, and handles the regulatory complexity that comes with cannabis employment. The company reported that 80% of the largest cannabis businesses use Vangst, alongside 1,200-plus customers and more than 150,000 gigs filled. Revenue comes primarily from the markup on temporary staffing, with fee-per-hire permanent placements and job-listing or career-page products as additional streams. The model is a staffing marketplace P&L. Temporary worker hours, bill rate, worker pay rate, and client accounts build gross billings and staffing margin; permanent placements and job products sit separately. Fill rate, worker supply, payroll working capital, customer retention, and regulatory compliance costs determine profitability. ## 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 Three interconnected products: - **GIGS** - on-demand / temp cannabis staffing; Vangst sources, vets, credentialed workers, handles payroll, workers' comp, time tracking, and compliance - **Vetted** - permanent placement / direct hire pipeline with verified cannabis credentials - **Career Page & Job Boost** - employer branding and sponsored job listings Value prop: solves the full cannabis hiring stack (sourcing → credentialing → compliance → payroll) in one dashboard, addressing the regulatory complexity unique to cannabis (state license verification, changing employment law, COVID protocols). Future revenue layers noted: Training, Community Ads, Payroll (expanded), Advanced Search. ## Market - US Wholesale Cannabis Market: $9B (2020) → $100B (2030), 27% CAGR - Comparable benchmarks: Alcohol $125B (2020), Tobacco $100B (2020) - US cannabis employment (full-time): 315K (2020) → 670K (2025) - US cannabis employment (part-time): 31.5K (2020) → 67K (2025) - Vangst-defined SAM: $3.1B opportunity to fill cannabis jobs ## Revenue model Two confirmed revenue streams: 1. **GIGS (temp staffing)** - take-rate on gross wages billed; Vangst acts as employer of record, charges client a bill rate markup over worker pay rate. Exact markup % not disclosed. 2. **Permanent placement / Vetted** - likely fee-per-hire or percentage-of-salary; specifics not disclosed. 3. **Job Boost / Career Page** - SaaS subscription or listing fee; specifics not disclosed. ## Traction & metrics All from slide 3 unless noted: - 80% of the largest cannabis businesses in the world use Vangst - 150,000+ cannabis gigs filled - 1,200+ customers - Revenue run-rate EOY 2021: **Confidential** (redacted) - Overall revenue trajectory: growing from 2016, dipped at COVID (2020–2021), projections ramp steeply 2022*–2024* - no y-axis values visible - GIGS revenue: consistent MoM growth Jan–Oct (year implied ~2021); no y-axis dollar values visible - GIGS live in 5 states; adult-use legal in 19 States + DC (expansion opportunity) - Team headcount: 55 ## Competition / moat Competitors identified: - **FlowerHire** - boutique recruiting agency, no tech, no GIGS; customer count confidential - **HEMP STAFF** - boutique staffing agency, no tech - **Viridian Staffing** - boutique staffing agency, no tech Vangst moat: only technology-enabled platform; 1,200+ customers vs competitors with undisclosed/smaller bases; 80% penetration of largest operators; employer-of-record infrastructure creates switching costs; brand and compliance expertise in a regulated industry. ## Team & funding ask / use of funds **Team**: - Karson Humiston, Founder & CEO - founded company in undergrad; Forbes 30 Under 30 (2018) - Matt Karlin, CFO - 15 yrs finance/ops; early hire at Acell ($500K → $90M → acquired by Integra IART) - Bree Thomas, CPO - 20 yrs product/marketing/growth; Turing board member - Ciera Parks, Head of People - 15 yrs people ops - Craig Leland, Director of GIGS Ops - 15 yrs staffing; leadership at Robert Half & Adecco **Investors**: Lerer Hippeau, Casa Verde Capital, Colle Capital --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why**: Staffing marketplace / HRtech hybrid. GIGS (temp staffing) drives the majority of revenue and should be modelled as a gross billings → take-rate model (like a staffing agency), while Permanent Placement is a fee-per-hire stream and Job Boost/Career Page is a SaaS-lite recurring subscription. The integrated model is a 3-statement with a marketplace GMV layer on top. - **Forecast horizon & granularity**: 5-year (2022–2026), monthly for Year 1 then annual; GIGS modelled monthly given the Jan–Oct MoM growth shown in deck. - **Key drivers & assumptions**: - *GIGS - active states*: 5 at deck date; expand to 19+ over forecast - *GIGS - gigs filled per state per month*: spread over operating history; ~2,000–4,000/mo in mature states] - *GIGS - average bill rate per gig*: - *GIGS - take rate*: - *Permanent placement - fee per hire*: - *Permanent placement - placements per month*: - *Job Boost / Career Page ARPU*: - *Customer count*: 1,200+; - *COVID revenue dip (2020–2021)*: visible in deck; treat as one-time; recovery baked into actuals - *Gross margin on GIGS*: - *OpEx / headcount*: 55 staff; - *Capex*: minimal; tech platform - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex)**: - *Bear*: Slower legalization rollout (stay at 5 states through 2023); GIGS take rate compresses to 18%; customer growth 8% YoY - *Base*: Expand to 12 states by 2024; 25% take rate; 20% customer growth - *Bull*: Federal legalization accelerates; national rollout by 2025; 30% take rate on scale; 35% customer growth; Job Boost/Training become meaningful revenue lines - **Required sheets / outputs**: 1. Assumptions - all drivers above, colour-coded, scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear) 2. GIGS Revenue - monthly: states × gigs/state × avg gross billing × take rate 3. Permanent Placement Revenue - quarterly: active customers × placement rate × avg fee 4. SaaS/Listings Revenue - monthly: subscribers × ARPU 5. Consolidated P&L - gross revenue, gross profit by stream, OpEx (S&M, R&D, G&A, GIGS ops), EBITDA 6. Headcount plan - ops-heavy (GIGS coordinators, compliance, payroll) + tech 7. Balance Sheet & Cash Flow (simplified 3-statement) 8. KPI dashboard - gigs filled cumulative, active states, customer count, take rate, gross margin % ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the Vangst financial model free? Yes. The Vangst 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.