Swapnil Manish
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Toptal member since May 26, 2020
Swapnil is a finance expert with 16 years of experience and an MBA in finance. He has advised on M&A transactions, fundraising, and valuations worth $13 billion at bulge bracket investment banks (BNP Paribas and SMTB). He is also the co-founder of two startups, and he has advised other SME entrepreneurs at the intersection of business planning, fundraising, and scaling up through M&A and organic growth. Swapnil enjoys interacting with entrepreneurs and helping them maximize business value.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Case Studies
Industry Expertise
- Agriculture
- Business Services
- Management Consulting
- Advertising & Marketing
- Custom Software & IT Services
- Holding Companies & Conglomerates
- Consumer Services
- Childcare
Other Expertise
- Financial Modeling
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Pitch Decks
- Startups
- Three-statement Modeling
- Valuation
Work Experience
Co-founder and CEO
PlayCKC
- Led the product vision, drafted product requirement documents, and drove the product development team as a business analyst.
- Hired the operating team and the non-founder CXOs, including the head of global BD, director of engineering, and head of Australia business.
- Oversaw the running of the gaming operations, led the GTM planning, and drove growth and social media marketing.
- Entered key strategic partnerships successfully, including accelerators, sports businesses, sports tech innovators, and rewards companies.
- Built the business plan and financial model, led an investor deck design, and successfully raised funds from early-stage investors.
Co-founder
LoudST Digital Solutions
- Conceptualized the original business idea (debates in a social media environment) and led the product vision.
- Led product management from inception and collaborated with developers and UI and UX designers to roll out multiple product versions.
- Worked at the intersection of business planning, capital planning and fundraising, running operations, scaling growth, managing content, and deploying the product and technology.
- Hired the senior management team, including the chief brand officer, chief technology officer, and content head.
- Led the fundraising process by creating the financial model and investor deck and reaching out to various early-stage investors.
Finance Expert
Game On! App LLC
- Created a business model canvas and put together a GTM framework.
- Designed an investor teaser and pitch deck for reaching out to investors.
- Created a shortlist of relevant investors and grants and helped the founder reach out to a few of them to initiate fundraising conversations.
Fundraising Expert
A Bright Future
- Created grant proposals and applications for grantmakers, foundations, etc.
- Built a database of various grants, application requirements, and deadlines involving extensive research and shortlisting.
- Analyzed donor management software (for fundraising, CRM, etc.) and helped the team shortlist the right software.
- Reviewed and offered strategic advice on the budget.
Market Research and Market Segmentation Expert
Brandhouse Inc
- Assisted with creating a market research report for setting up a childcare business in Canada.
- Conducted a detailed industry study to work out industry size, industry participants, and revenue models.
- Conducted extensive research for consumer insights, including the target audience.
- Included industry overview, target audience, consumer insights, and advice on the business models to be adopted in the deliverables.
Corporate Development Expert
UKG
- Built the financial model and board presentation and coordinated due diligence for the successful acquisition of Great Place to Work, the world's most trusted authority on workplace culture.
- Created a financial model and board presentation and coordinated due diligence for the successful acquisition of SpotCues and its award-winning mobile communications platform, Groupe.io (a modern digital workplace for frontline and field-based jobs).
- Scouted M&A opportunities in Europe and created business case modeling for an internal product while evaluating build vs. buy decisions. Also, created a generic Excel template for all buy-side models.
- Received review: "Swapnil was extremely helpful when I was short-staffed... His experience, attention to detail, and business sense enabled him to work independently relatively quickly after starting. He also was very thorough in his work...".
Finance Expert and Business Consultant
Freelance Clients
- Created a detailed life of mine (LOM) financial model, NPV valuation, and sensitivity analysis for a strategic investor group looking to invest in a London-listed precious stones miner. Built an investor deck capturing key investment highlights.
- Wrote an industry report and a trading multiples-cum-benchmarking analysis for the precious stones industry in a post-COVID-19 world.
- Advised an India-based food-tech startup (home-cooked meals) on a business plan, financial modeling, pitch deck, and fund-raise.
- Created business plan, financial model, and information memorandum for a sports club based in Mumbai, India.
- Constructed a buy-side financial model for a venture-funded public benefit company that offered affordable LLC formations and allied services and was planning to expand internationally via acquisitions.
- Created a presentation to propose strategic partnerships with several small MSP vendors, creating a large platform.
Fundraising Expert
Fuego, Inc
- Provided strategic advice to Fuego Shoes, a US-based eCommerce startup looking to raise a pre-seed round.
- Reviewed and fine-tuned existing financial models and made them ready for investors.
- Advised the founder and computed unit economics, ARPU, LTV, and CAC.
Fundraising Expert
WeCognition
- Built a detailed five-year business plan and financial model for WeCognition, a SaaS edtech marketplace operating in Singapore, China, and Malaysia.
- Created a business plan document covering market analysis, business strategy–including business model canvas–and projected financials.
- Defined the organization structure, operating plan, and sales and marketing plan.
Financial Modeling Expert
10club
- Worked with the founder on a fundraising strategy that 10Club, an India-focused Thrasio-style startup targeting fast-growing online D2C brands, was deploying to raise their seed round.
- Created the financial model, conducted valuation and return analysis, performed an overall target evaluation, and developed an investment thesis for a seller of casual backpacks based in India who sells their products through Amazon.
- Prepared the financial model, valuation and returns analysis, overall target evaluation, and investment thesis for an India-based seller of seeds selling through Amazon.
Strategy Advisor for a New Startup
acquisitions.com LLC
- Developed a detailed business plan for an upcoming, US-based, online M&A-cum-deal financing marketplace.
- Created the plan covering LBOs of small businesses (revenue up to $10 million), overall business workflows, financing instruments, lenders, and taxation structure. The report also covered competition in this space.
- Conducted research involving financing institutions that fund the small ticket-sized deals and the financing instruments used by them.
Financial Consultant
Scalista
- Developed a five-year business plan and a financial model: a 3-statement projection model. The model also covered streamlining the pricing strategy and developing different revenue models.
- Conducted the industry overview and created a strategic report covering competitive benchmarking, key trends, shareholder value creation, historical financial overview, and future projections, along with key assumptions and exit scenarios.
- Testimonial: "The fast-growing (marketing) agency was facing challenges on strategy (and) financial planning. Swapnil's work (and) his flawless communication provided clarity and direction. We recommend him to anyone facing similar challenges."
Head of M&A and Finance
GemRock
- Collaborated with the promoters of GemRock, an early-stage mining company in the gems and jewelry space.
- Created an LoM financial model for a mining company, using the target's publicly available financial data, technical studies, and broker reports.
- Developed business plans for the company's standalone mines in Africa.
- Built a management ratchet structure and IRR sharing models for the founders.
- Worked with bankers and mining investors in the UK and Europe and created different SPV and financing structures, including royalty financing.
- Created the investor presentation and other investment documentation. Established, populated, and managed the virtual data room.
Corporate Finance Consultant
Self-employed
- Prepared a viability analysis, including an information memorandum and financial model for setting up a greenfield plant in Sri Lanka in the commodities sector.
- Delivered fundraising advisory services for companies in real estate and technology.
- Compiled research on the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector for international institutional investors, using an online platform Smartkarma.
- Advised an early-stage eCommerce startup (home services) on product and business strategy and took them to angel investors.
- Ran fundraising and the strategic advisory mandate for a fintech startup (a robo-advisor) and a game adtech startup.
Associate Director | Investment Banking
Reliance Capital
- Ran successful fundraising deals in the real estate space and generated interest from several marquee real estate investors. For one joint venture deal, the term sheet was signed with one of India's most premium realtors.
- Executed a debt capital raise for a reseller on Amazon's eCommerce platform by successfully securing a financing term sheet from one of India's top financiers.
- Advised a leading Indian agrochemical company in joint venture discussions with a Japanese company.
- Built full-scale, dynamic financial models for fundraising efforts for single-asset and multi-asset residential real estate companies.
CEO and Co-founder
Aaloo.in (Brand of eCOM Ventures)
- Conceptualized the idea, brought together the initial team, and worked with tech, logistics, and suppliers to roll out a solution that was among the first of its kind in the city.
- Led the product vision from the beginning and was instrumental in three product redesigns and implementations.
- Built a complete financial model with five-year annual projections as well as monthly P&L and cash flow forecasts for the first 18 months.
- Led the seed to fundraise from a clutch of HNI investors and tied up with a tech company for development against equity.
- Forged business alliances with housing societies and several tech companies.
Assistant Vice President, Corporate Finance
BNP Paribas
- Performed buy-side M&A advisory and valuation analysis for Aliaxis Group's (Belgium) acquisition of a majority stake in Ashirvad Pipes and the joint venture formation in February 2013.
- Served as the co-book running lead manager for the $775 million IPO of Bharti Infratel in December 2012.
- Provided joint sell-side M&A advisory for Bharti Airtel's $10.7 billion acquisition of Zain Africa in April 2010.
- Completed an independent valuation of Telenor's Indian business, Uninor, in 2011.
- Undertook buy-side M&A and strategic business advisory for Schneider Electric's $50 million acquisition of Zicom Electric's government and institutional electronic security systems businesses in April 2010.
- Acted as the sole lead manager and book-runner for Man Industries' $50 million convertible bond issue in May 2007.
- Ran the buy-side M&A and coordinated the open offer process for CMI's (Belgium) $90 million acquisition of Flat Products Equipment Limited (India) in January 2008.
- Provided buy-side M&A advisory for Sintex Industries' $55 million acquisition of Nief Plastics, a French plastic injection molding company, in November 2007.
- Created a full-scale, dynamic financial model for one of India's leading TV shopping companies when they forayed into the online space.
- Developed the financial model and information memorandum for an oil and gas company as part of their efforts to raise $250 million in equity from private equity and strategic investors.
Associate (Team Leader)
Bank of America KSC
- Maintained trading and transaction comps in the steel sector and created a detailed case study on the highly complex Mittal Steel-Arcelor merger. This case study was included in a live pitchbook.
- Created a project tracking tool in Microsoft Access used by ten team leaders to track 50 analysts working on a project. The tool tracked time spent by individuals and the entire team on the project, enabling more efficient project assignments.
- Led a team of five analysts and oversaw significant performance improvements for a few analysts who had performed below par in their initial months. This was accomplished through constant constructive feedback and training on technical aspects.
Modeling Analyst
DSL Software (Deutsche Bank Joint Venture)
- Participated in an accomplished team in the high-profile structured finance division of Deutsche Bank, part of a joint venture with HCL Technologies and previously a 100% subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. The team won the Best Team Award on the campus.
- Created financial cash flow distribution models for mortgage-backed securities deals in the US, where Deutsche Bank acted as a trustee. The models were made directly from prospectus supplements.
- Produced several models each month and processed them to compute payments due to investors until the models became stable in six to nine months. We also processed other unstable models before passing them on to the processing team.
- Utilized models initially created in Lotus 1-2-3 and a database of mortgage loans queried via SQL. Later, we moved the models to a proprietary software platform, IMAKE, similar to C++.
Education
MBA in Finance
ICFAI Business School - Bangalore, India
Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering
University of Pune - Kopargaon, India
Skills
Finance
Financial Modeling, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Fundraising, Three-statement Modeling, Valuation, M&A (Buy-side), M&A Modeling, Revenue & Expense Projections, Market Research, M&A (Sell-side), Due Diligence, Investment Memoranda, Equity Financing, Investment Briefs, Cross-border M&A, Angel/Seed Funding, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Data Analysis, Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Pricing Strategy, Funding Strategy, ROI, Equity Research, Private Equity, Budgeting, Forecasting, Debt Raises, Business Advisory, Comparable Company Analysis, DCF Valuation, Seed Fundraising, Cash Flow Modeling, Deal Analysis, Valuation Modeling, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Startup Funding, Projected Cash Flow, CFO, M&A Earn-out Agreements, Financial Accounting, Credit Underwriting, Rollup, Commercial Mortgage-backed Securities (CMBS)
Output Software
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Jira
Data & Analysis Software
Microsoft Access, Bloomberg
Industry Expertise
CMT, Residential Real Estate, Retail & Wholesale, Technology, Financial Services, Telecommunications, Industrial & Manufacturing, Luxury Goods, Mining, Real Estate, Building Materials, Venture Capital, Chemicals, Early-stage Startups, Nonprofits, Capital Markets
Geographic Expertise
United Kingdom
Other
Funding Presentations, Pitch Decks, Financial Analysis, Transaction Advisory, Data Rooms, Business Models, Growth Strategy, Market Research & Analysis, Company Profiles, Teasers, Fundraising Strategy, Financial Forecasting, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Private Equity Consultant, Information Memoranda, Business Plan Consulting, Industry Analysis, Startups, eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Corporate Development, Investment Banking, Board Presentations, Consumer Services, Product-market Fit, Mobile Apps, Inventory Cost Accounting, Fintech Consultant, Entrepreneurship, Term Sheet Negotiations, Term Sheet Advisory, Term Sheets, Share Purchase Agreements, Investor Relations, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Financing, Private Capital Markets, Airtable, IRR, Apps, Food Delivery Services, Opportunity Identification, Gaming, Online Gaming, Excel Expert, Investments, Strategic Planning, Consulting, Fantasy Sports, Due Diligence Consultant, Business Operations, Business Development, Partnership Analysis, Capitalization Tables, Stock Analysis, Mortgage-backed Securities, Trello, Initial Public Offerings, Communication, Media, Fundraising Consultant, Business Planning, Investor Presentations, Fintech, Advertising Technology (Adtech), Transaction Comparables, Management Information Systems (MIS), Team Management, Case Studies, Metals & Mining, Pitch Books, Business Strategy, Product Roadmaps, Growth Marketing, Business Modeling, Excel Modeling, Product Management, Social Networking, Content Strategy, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Business Feasibilities, Market Risk, Project Planning, Market Entry, Target Profiles, CAPEX Budgeting & Inventory Management, Interim CFO, Mechanical Engineering, Deal Structuring, Leveraged Buyout (LBO), Post-merger Integration, Financial Writer, Strategic Partnerships, Strategic Initiatives, Go-to-market Strategy, Customer Retention, Business to Consumer (B2C), B2B Partnerships, Product Owner, New Product Rollout, Finance, Zoho Books, Microsoft Teams, Hiring, Social Media Marketing (SMM), Digital Media, Digital Advertising, Podcasting, Early-stage Funding, Marketplaces, Marketplace Lending, eCommerce Platforms, Loans & Lending, Acquisitions, Debt Financing, Business Evaluation, SaaS, Strategy, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Startup Consulting, Competitive Analysis, Market Segmentation, Consumer Insights, Social Media Platforms, Social Media Apps, Grant Proposals, Statistics, Mortgages, Grants
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