§ 01 — What It Is
One valuation, built to survive three very different readers.
A startup valuation has to satisfy audiences with opposing incentives: investors and their counsel testing whether the number is too high, the income tax department testing whether the share premium is justified under Section 56(2)(viib) and Rule 11UA, and your own board and auditor asking whether the fair value of instruments on the cap table is supportable. A number engineered to please one reader tends to fail with the others.
We prepare one coherent, documented opinion that works for all three — covering primary fundraises, 409A-equivalent fair value exercises, convertible instruments (CCPS, CCDs, SAFEs and their conversion mechanics), and the harder situations: down-rounds, bridge rounds and rounds priced off a stale prior valuation. Every engagement is led and signed by a senior valuer — an IBBI Registered Valuer for Securities or Financial Assets — who remains accountable for the opinion from scoping to defence.
§ 02 — Who Needs It
Common triggers
- Term sheet signed — the round needs a Rule 11UA-compliant valuation report before allotment, and closing timelines are already set.
- Convertible instruments being issued — CCPS, CCDs or SAFEs whose pricing and conversion terms need a supportable fair value basis.
- ESOP pool being created or repriced — a fair value exercise alongside the round, often paired with a dedicated ESOP valuation.
- Board or auditor asking for a formal valuation — fair value of instruments on the books, or an independent check before approving an issue price.
- Down-round or bridge — a valuation below the last round, where the reasoning has to be documented carefully enough to protect both founders and investors.
- Tax notice or scrutiny — the department questioning share premium on a past issue, requiring a defensible valuation position.
§ 03 — Our Approach
Rigorous where startups usually get hand-waved
Early-stage companies break naive models: little revenue, no comparable history, a cap table full of instruments with different rights. Our process — Scope, Analyse, Triangulate, Deliver & Defend — is built for exactly that:
- Scope — we pin down the purpose (fundraise, compliance, fair value), the valuation date, the instrument being valued and the regulatory basis, so the report answers the question actually being asked.
- Analyse — projections stress-tested against your unit economics and funding runway, not accepted at face value; the cap table modelled instrument by instrument, including conversion and liquidation preferences.
- Triangulate — DCF where cash flows can be reasonably modelled, cross-checked against comparable transactions, recent round pricing and, where appropriate, scenario or backsolve methods — reconciled into one concluded range.
- Deliver & Defend — a signed report under IVS, ICAI Valuation Standards and IBBI RVO norms, a 1-page plain-English value narrative you can put in front of the board, and the signing valuer available for investor, auditor or authority questions.
Because we are a pure-play valuation practice — no audit, no tax filing, no competing service lines — the opinion is structurally independent. That matters when an investor's lawyer, your auditor or an assessing officer asks who wrote the number and why.
§ 04 — FAQ
Questions founders ask before every round
How do you value a pre-revenue company?
By valuing what actually exists: the credibility of the plan, the runway, the market evidence. We build scenario-weighted projections from your unit economics rather than a single hockey-stick, cross-check against comparable transactions and recent round pricing at similar stages, and document why each assumption is reasonable. The absence of revenue is a modelling problem, not an excuse for a made-up number.
Will investors' lawyers pick the report apart?
They will try — that is their job. The report is written for that reading: every material assumption is sourced and documented, the method selection is justified against the purpose, and the concluded range is reconciled across approaches. The signing valuer responds to diligence questions directly, so pushback lands on us, not on your team mid-close.
DCF or comparables — which is right for a startup?
Usually both, weighted honestly. A DCF captures your specific economics but leans on projections; comparables and recent round pricing anchor to market evidence but rarely match your stage and rights exactly. For convertible instruments and down-rounds, scenario and backsolve methods often carry weight too. We reconcile them into one range and explain the weighting in plain English — Rule 11UA also prescribes acceptable methods for the compliance leg, which we address explicitly.
How fast can you deliver? Our board meeting is already scheduled.
For standard mandates, an indicative valuation range within 5–7 business days and a full signed report within 10–15. If your allotment or board date is tighter, tell us at scoping — we commit to a timeline in writing before we start, and we do not take mandates we cannot deliver on time.
What does it cost?
A fixed fee, agreed against a written scope before work begins — quoted after a short scoping call once we understand the instrument, the purpose and the deadline. No hourly meters, and no surprise additions: if the scope genuinely changes mid-engagement, we re-quote before proceeding.