How WorkHouse makes money — a transparent breakdown, year by year

We publish our financials openly because we believe transparency is the only way to build trust with both founders and investors. Here is an honest year-by-year breakdown of how the WorkHouse revenue model works.

Year 1 — Launch: Revenue of $120K (₹100L) from the 2% management fee on the $3.6M (₹30Cr) Fund I and initial government grants. Expenses are lean (~$44K / ₹37L) mostly on early legal setup, staff, and a small warehouse. We prep the network to begin deployment.

Year 2 — First Deployment: Management fees stay steady at $72K (₹60L), grants and sponsorships bump revenue to $144K (₹120L). We deploy $1.2M (₹10Cr) from the fund into 40 startups across 4 batches. Operations scale up to a larger warehouse ($86K / ₹72L expenses). We now own 15% of 40 active startups.

Year 3 — Scaling: Revenue hits $192K (₹160L) (management fees + full sponsorships). We deploy another $1.2M (₹10Cr) into 40 more startups. Expenses grow to $165K (₹137L) for an 8,000 sq ft facility and broader staff. The portfolio grows to 80 startups.

Year 4 — First Profits Peak: We deploy the final $1.2M (₹10Cr). Assuming just a conservative 10% of our earliest cohorts exit at a $12M (₹100Cr) average: WorkHouse's 15% stake = $18M (₹150Cr) in net equity proceeds. Plus, the GP carry kicks in at 20% on LP profits. The compounding impact of the 15% ownership becomes astronomical.

The operational burn in Years 1-3 is fully stabilized by the 2% management fee and grants. Every rupee of risk is mitigated, allowing our fund to scale purely on the asymmetric upside of India's top 120 early-stage founders.