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The Financial Modeller
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Marketplaces, platforms and fintech

Fintech and payments platform financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a payments and fintech platform, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Processes payments for merchants or consumers, earning a take rate on total payment volume and interest on the customer funds it holds.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours, on illustrative figures: every sheet as Excel draws it, or live.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Fintech and payments platform sample model.xlsx
The Summary sheet of the sample fintech and payments platform model

Illustrative figures: the sample describes no real business. The live preview shows values; your model’s Excel file has every formula.

How it works

How the model works for a fintech and payments platform.

  1. How it earns revenue3 formulas
    Take rate and net revenue · All transaction platforms
    Transaction revenueTransaction volume (gross merchandise value)from transaction volume (GMV or TPV)Take rate (revenue as a share of volume)
    Take rate and net revenue · All transaction platforms
    Transaction costsTransaction volume (gross merchandise value)from transaction volume (GMV or TPV)Transaction costs (basis points of volume)
    Take rate and net revenue · All transaction platforms
    Transaction revenue less transaction costsTransaction revenueTransaction costs
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total average FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total staff costsSalariesOn-costsOther costs per FTE
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Corporate fixed assets
    Capital expenditureRevenuefrom statementsCapex as % of revenueAdditional planned capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    DepreciationDepreciation of the opening asset baseDepreciation of new capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valueCapital expenditureDepreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

19 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • Exchange rate (US dollar)Exchange rate by financial year
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Equity raisingDistribution reinvestment plan
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Licence capital and liquidity requirements (non-banks)NTA and liquidity requirement
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Case selectionStackable stress toggles
  • R&D and capitalised developmentGross R&D × capitalisation rateResearch and development expense after capitalisation, with the capitalised software asset and its amortisation.
  • Headcount plan by functionHiring plan by functionEmployees and staff cost by function (cost of revenue, sales and marketing, R&D, G&A).
  • Sales and marketing not attributed to plansPercentage of revenueEntity-level sales and marketing for businesses without product plans (marketplaces, payments, ad platforms, game studios) and for central brand spend deliberately not allocated to plans.
  • Interest-rate forecastMarket forward curve
  • CPI forecastCPI glide path
  • Transaction volume (GMV or TPV)Active buyers × frequency × order valueGross merchandise value or total payment volume and transaction counts for a platform.
  • Take rate and net revenueBlended take rateRevenue earned on transaction volume and the pass-through costs (interchange, scheme and processing) netted against it.
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01TPV
  2. 02net take rate in bps
  3. 03net revenue
  4. 04transaction margin
  5. 05float yield
  6. 06EBITDA margin
Used for

What it is used for.

Also used for
  • Scenarios and sensitivities
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See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.