Your business model decides your metrics: what investors ask
Marketplaces, SaaS, buy-now-pay-later and e-commerce enablement: each model has numbers investors judge it by. Know yours before you're asked.
Many founders walk into an investor meeting with one number: revenue. And the investor asks about a completely different number, because the business model decides which metric reveals the company's health. A SaaS company with high revenue and weak retention is riskier than one with less revenue whose customers never leave.
The full picture
| Model | How it earns | Numbers you'll be asked for |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace | Commission or spread on each transaction | GMV, take rate, order frequency, unit economics per order |
| SaaS | Recurring subscription | Recurring revenue, net revenue retention, CAC and payback period |
| BNPL and lending | Merchant fees or financing margin | Transaction volume, default and loss rates, cost of funds |
| Commerce enablement | Subscription plus transaction fees | Active merchants, merchant sales through the platform, revenue per merchant |
1. Marketplace
A marketplace connects two sides and takes a cut. Jahez charges merchants a commission, and TruKKer earns the spread between its buy and sell price on each freight trip.
Key numbers:
- Gross merchandise value (GMV): the volume flowing through you. A big number, but not your revenue.
- Take rate: how much you keep of every riyal that flows through. That's what turns volume into revenue.
- Order economics: after delivery, support and discounts, does a single order make money?
Jahez recorded 111.6 million orders and SAR 2.32 billion in net revenue in 2025, then a net loss of SAR 26.6 million in the first half of 2026 as competition intensified. Big volume doesn't protect you if competition squeezes the margin. That's why investors ask about profit per order, not just the number of orders.
2. SaaS
A recurring subscription, where the real value is in customers staying and expanding.
Key numbers:
- Monthly or annual recurring revenue (MRR/ARR)
- Net revenue retention (NRR): do existing customers spend more over time? Unifonic reported a 162% net expansion rate over less than three years (September 2021).
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC) and payback: how many months does a customer need to pay to cover what it cost to acquire them?
- Customer base growth: Rewaa had more than 7,000 merchants in August 2023, and more than 23,000 in October 2026. Jisr has more than 800,000 employees on its platform (August 2026).
More in our piece on retention.
3. Buy-now-pay-later and lending
Revenue comes from merchant fees or financing margin, but the risk is that the money doesn't come back.
Key numbers:
- Transaction volume
- Loss and default rates: the most important number in the whole category.
- Cost of funds: where does the money you lend come from, and at what price?
Tamara's Saudi arm recorded $360 million in revenue and $51.5 million in net profit in 2025, its first full profitable year. Tabby's Saudi arm recorded $378 million in audited revenue in the same year. Both relied on large debt facilities alongside equity rounds, because a financing model needs capital that keeps turning over.
The other side: at Lendo, the cumulative loss rate on its platform rose from 0.80% (June 2024) to 3.19% (September 2025), and it recorded a net loss of SAR 5.46 million in 2025 despite revenue growth. In lending, the loss rate can wipe out the effect of growth.
4. E-commerce enablement
Store platforms and payment gateways. They earn as merchants grow.
Key numbers:
- Active merchants: not registered ones. Zid reported more than 12,000 active merchants (December 2024).
- Merchant sales through the platform: Salla said it had enabled $7 billion in e-commerce sales since 2020 (March 2024).
- Sales growth per merchant: Zid reported merchant GMV growth of more than 25% in 2024.
- Payment volume: HyperPay reported annual payment volume of $4.7 billion in 2021, and $7 billion in 2022.
Before the meeting
- Pick 3 to 5 numbers that fit your model, and track them every month
- Know each number's exact definition. What does "active user" mean exactly?
- Separate volume from revenue. Investors notice when you mix them up
- Prepare the bad numbers with their explanation, because they'll find them in diligence
Revenue tells you where you are. Your model's metrics tell you where you're heading.
