# WealthKernel Financial Model API-first "Investing as a Service" infrastructure platform for Europe, enabling businesses to embed investment products without building regulatory or custody infrastructure themselves. - Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/wealthkernel - Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/wealthkernel.xlsx - Category: Fintech - Model type: 3-Statement - Funding round: Series A - Funding: $7M - Founded: 2022 - Geography: UK (incorporated); expansion into broader Europe as stated use-of-funds [DECK, slide 7] - Customer: B2B ## About the company WealthKernel is API-first Investing as a Service infrastructure for Europe, allowing businesses to embed investment products without building custody, regulatory, or operational infrastructure themselves. It provides the rails behind investing experiences rather than directly marketing a consumer broker. Its revenue spans trading, custody, tax wrappers, payments, regulatory services, and software. Some lines scale with assets under administration or transaction volume, while others are platform or account fees, creating a broader mix than a pure SaaS API provider. The model should forecast platform clients, end-investor accounts, AUA, trades, wrapper accounts, and service adoption by product. Apply separate custody basis points, transaction fees, regulatory-service fees, and software ARR, then model custody, clearing, and compliance costs below each revenue stream. ## 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 - Modular API platform providing every building block needed to launch an investment application - Stacked into four layers: Infrastructure (custody, trading, payments, accounts), Products (funds, pensions, portfolios, stocks & shares), Auxiliary (data, KYC/AML, front-ends), Regulatory (advisory, reporting, regulatory umbrella, wrapper administration) - Positioned as "AWS for investing infrastructure" - Core value proposition: faster time-to-market and lower cost for clients building investment propositions ## Revenue model Six named revenue streams: 1. Trading - likely per-trade or spread-based fee on order flow passed through platform 2. Custody - likely basis-point fee on AUA (assets under administration) held on platform 3. Tax wrappers (ISA, SIPP, GIA) - wrapper administration / annual account fee per end-user account 4. Payments - per-transaction or monthly fee for payment rails 5. Regulatory services - fee for regulatory umbrella / FCA permissions pass-through 6. Software - SaaS licence fee (platform access, API calls, or seat-based) No pricing rates, basis points, or per-unit figures provided in deck. ## Competition / moat Not explicitly stated. Implied moats: - Regulatory umbrella / FCA permissions are hard to replicate - Deep financial-infrastructure expertise on team (Barclays, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley pedigree) - Referenced competitive context: Robinhood cancelled UK launch; Revolut restricted from LSE stocks - used to illustrate regulatory difficulty rather than name direct competitors ## Team & funding ask / use of funds Team: - Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO - ex-Barclays Portfolio Manager ($500m AUM), CFA, 15 yrs exp. - Joe Campbell, CTO - ex-Barclays Wealth Dev Lead, ex-BNP Paribas Basel III Architect ($3Tr), 20 yrs exp. - Chris Wright, Head of Engineering - ex-Morgan Stanley HF trading, MEng Cambridge, 21 yrs exp. - Chris Barton, Director of Operations - ex-Barclays Head of Centralised Investment Management ($1.6B AUM / 30,000 accounts), 16 yrs exp. - Macu Gene, People Operations - ex-Kleinwort Benson & Falcon Private Bank, 12 yrs exp. Funding ask: - Raising: $5–10m - Use of funds: European expansion + intraday trading API functionality - Existing investors: ETFS Capital, Seedcamp --- ## Recommended financial model - **Archetype + why:** B2B financial infrastructure / multi-revenue-stream platform model. Revenue splits across (a) AUA-based basis-point custody/trading fees - scales with client AUA growth - and (b) SaaS/platform licence fees + per-service charges (regulatory, payments, tax wrapper administration). This is closest to a **fintech infrastructure 3-statement model** with an AUA-driven revenue waterfall, analogous to a custodian/platform model (similar to FNZ, Seccl, or Brokerage-as-a-Service comps). - **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 5 years (2022–2026 given 2022 deck); monthly for Year 1–2, quarterly for Year 3–5. Monthly needed to track onboarding ramp of B2B clients and AUA build. - **Key drivers & assumptions:** *Client pipeline (B2B)* - Number of active B2B clients (startups, banks, pension providers) at end of each period - Average ramp time from contract to go-live *AUA driver (custody + trading revenue)* - AUA per B2B client (total end-user assets intermediated) - AUA growth rate per client cohort - Custody fee rate on AUA - Trading fee per transaction (or spread) - Average trades per account per month *SaaS / platform licensing* - Monthly platform licence per B2B client - Regulatory umbrella / FCA pass-through fee *Tax wrapper / account administration* - Number of end-user accounts on platform (driven by B2B client growth) - Per-account wrapper administration fee *Payments* - Payment volume per client - Payment fee rate *Cost structure* - Headcount: Engineering, Compliance, Operations, Sales - key cost driver - Average fully-loaded cost per employee - Regulatory / licensing costs (FCA fees, PI insurance) - Technology / infrastructure (cloud, data, third-party APIs) - Cost of funds raise: £5–10m runway allocation split between EU expansion (headcount, local licensing) and intraday trading build - **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):** - Bear: slow B2B client onboarding (3–4 clients in Y1, 10 by Y5), low AUA per client, pricing pressure drives custody fees to low end - Base: 5–6 clients in Y1, 25 by Y5, mid-range AUA and fees - Bull: 2–3 large bank/pension partnerships signed early drive AUA surge; intraday trading launch accelerates trading revenue; EU expansion adds parallel client base - **Required sheets / outputs:** 1. Assumptions - all drivers listed above with scenario toggle (Base/Bull/Bear) 2. B2B Client Cohort Table - clients by vintage, AUA ramp, revenue per client 3. Revenue Build - broken out by stream: Custody fees, Trading fees, SaaS licence, Regulatory services, Payments, Tax wrapper admin 4. Headcount & OpEx Plan - by department, tied to hiring plan 5. P&L (Income Statement) - Revenue, Gross Profit (after direct regulatory/custody pass-through costs), EBITDA, Net Income 6. Cash Flow - operating cash burn, runway from raise 7. Balance Sheet - simplified (cash, receivables, equity) 8. Runway / Burn Dashboard - months of runway vs. milestones ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the WealthKernel financial model free? Yes. The WealthKernel 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.