Investment Evaluation Guide

1. Business Valuation Approach

To estimate the value of 70SEATER, use a mix of the following methods:

Market Comparable Method

• Compare to other ticketing/payment platforms in Africa.
• Use revenue multiples for SaaS marketplaces and transport tech businesses.
• Example: 3x–6x annual recurring revenue (ARR) for winning early-stage B2B marketplace products.

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

• Forecast cash flows for 3–5 years based on ticket sales, commissions, logistics fees, and subscription revenue.
• Discount future cash flows at a risk-adjusted rate (25–35% for early-stage ventures).

Scorecard / Risk Factor Method

Evaluate the business across these dimensions:

• Market size and growth
• Team and execution capability
• Product differentiation
• Traction and customer adoption
• Technology and defensibility
• Payment and compliance readiness
• Financial model credibility

2. Core Evaluation Metrics

Revenue and Growth

• Number of booked trips per month
• Average booking value
• Commission rate per booking
• Recurring revenue from agency SaaS and logistics services

Customer Metrics

• Agency partner count
• Passenger retention/repeat bookings
• Conversion rate from search to payment
• Marketplace liquidity (routes with available seats)

Financial Health

• Gross margin on payment & booking flows
• Operating cash burn
• Cash runway
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Lifetime value (LTV) of agency and passenger customers

3. Investment Risk Factors

• Payment integration risk: Mesomb as primary payments provider, Fapshi as fallback.
• Regulatory risk: cross-border bus ticketing and transport compliance.
• Product-market risk: how fast agencies adopt a digital booking system.
• Execution risk: ability to scale operations and onboard agency partners.

4. Investment Readiness Checklist

• Business plan and pitch deck available
• Financial forecast with 12–24 month revenue projections
• Go-to-market strategy for agency acquisition
• Live demo of web/mobile flows and backend dashboard
• Data on route performance and demand validation
• Team capability in product, operations, and payments

5. Suggested Evaluation Output

For each investor, provide:

• Estimated pre-money valuation range
• Suggested ownership stake for investment amount
• Expected runway delivered by the investment
• Key milestones enabled by funding

6. Example Investment Scenario

If 70SEATER targets a 2x revenue multiple on expected ARR of USD 400k, the implied enterprise value is USD 800k.

If an investor wants to invest USD 100k, the ownership range would be between 10% and 12.5%, depending on whether the founder negotiates at 8x or 10x revenue multiple.

7. Notes on Payment Strategy

• Primary payment provider: Mesomb
• Fallback: Fapshi
• Best practice: Use Mesomb for Cameroon mobile money and bank collections, while keeping Fapshi as a backup provider for reliability.