Take Rate

The share of transaction value a marketplace or payments business keeps as revenue.

Example

A 12% take rate on 50,000,000 of GMV produces 6,000,000 of revenue.

Competition and off-platform transactions can push take rates down over time.

Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) — The total value of transactions made through a marketplace, before the platform's share is taken.

SaaS lives on retention; marketplaces live on liquidity and take rate — Software businesses are judged on recurring revenue, expansion and margins. Marketplaces are judged on whether buyers and sellers reliably find each other, and how much of each transaction the platform keeps. (12 min)
In fintech, regulation, partners and losses matter as much as the product — Financial technology companies depend on licences or partner banks, earn thin margins on large volumes, and can face fraud and credit losses that do not appear until later. Evaluating them means looking beyond growth to compliance and loss rates. (11 min)
How a company makes money determines what good numbers look like — Subscription software, marketplaces, transactional businesses, advertising, hardware and services each have different margins, growth patterns and risks. The same metric means different things across them. (11 min)