UK startup DeepCrawl sells a web crawler to SEO marketers for an average of €123 ($139) per month.
DeepCrawl just raised €2.7 million (£2.4 million) from Beringea.
Valuation
Assume, based on comparable deals, that DeepCrawl sold a 20% equity stake in their company to Beringea.
Valuation = investment / equity stake sold.
Then DeepCrawl is priced at €2.7 million / 20% = €14 million post-money.
Exit
Assume, based on comparable deals, that Beringea wants to make 10x on their investment.
Exit value = valuation * money multiple.
Then DeepCrawl’s €14 million valuation requires a €14 million * 10 = €137 million exit value.
To simplify, this ignores dilution. To make 10x with 50% dilution, the €14 million valuation actually requires a €14 million * 10 / (1 – 50%) = €274 million exit value.
Revenue
Assume, based on comparable companies, that DeepCrawl trades at 5x revenue per year at exit.
Revenue per year at exit = exit value / revenue multiple at exit.
Then DeepCrawl’s €137 million exit value requires €137 million / 5 = €27 million revenue per year at exit.
Seats
DeepCrawl charges an average of €123 per month.
Seats sold per month at exit = revenue per year at exit / 12 / price per month at exit.
Then DeepCrawl’s €27 million revenue per year at exit requires them to sell €27 million / 12 / 123 = 19,000 seats per month at exit.
For context: The Netherlands currently has 1.8M businesses.