Valuing a marketplace comes down to three rules plus a bridge.
Which multiple do you use for a marketplace?
Rule 1: the denominator is net revenue, never GMV. GMV is throughput, and nobody banks throughput. EV/GMV is allowed only as a cross-check ratio. Note the identity EV/GMV = take rate × EV/net revenue. It's useful because it exposes silliness fast. A services marketplace priced at 2× GMV with a realistic 15% take needs 13× net revenue and a reason. When a hybrid reports gross (1P) revenue, restate it to net-equivalent or use EV/gross profit as the equalizer across models (practice problem 8).
Rule 2: growth-adjust and margin-bridge, just as for SaaS. A marketplace's net revenue is software-margined, so the SaaS valuation machinery transfers. You read EV/net revenue against growth and against a steady-state margin bridge. What differs is the shape of steady state. A mature 3P marketplace that has won its liquidity can print 30–50% EBITDA margins on net revenue. That's the toll booth at scale. Mature classifieds and OTAs demonstrate the upper band, so verify against Info Edge's standalone Naukri margins or Booking Holdings' filings. Logistics-heavy models (food delivery, quick commerce) settle lower on net revenue, but they're better modeled per order.
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How do you value a delivery platform from the order up?
Rule 3: for logistics-heavy platforms, build the value from the order up. The chain runs orders × CM/order → contribution → minus fixed costs → EBITDA. Then express steady-state EBITDA as % of GMV and multiply out. Work it on ThaliGo. Management's credible endgame is CM ₹22/order at 26 cr orders (frequency 8.7 on 3 cr buyers, AOV ₹430, so decompose it!), with fixed costs of ₹420 cr. Contribution = 26 cr × ₹22 = ₹572 cr, so EBITDA = 572 − 420 = ₹152 cr. GMV is 26 cr × ₹430 = ₹11,180 cr, which puts EBITDA ≈ 1.4% of GMV. Compare that with the Indian food-delivery majors' stated aspiration of 4–5% of GMV at maturity. ThaliGo's fixed-cost base or take rate must improve materially to get there, and that tells you what to diligence: ad monetization runway and brand-marketing normalization. Then value it. Take steady-state EBITDA × a mature multiple (15–20× for a moated duopolist), discount it back, and add a separately reasoned value for any option, such as new categories. You know this as the SOTP habit from the valuation phase. Indian platform companies demand it anyway, since they staple investment-phase segments (quick commerce) to profitable ones (food delivery).
What does the market price imply?
What the market is implying (question 5). At any quoted EV, invert. Take the required steady-state EBITDA at the mature multiple, then the orders × CM/order combinations that produce it. Then ask whether any of them is achievable against the three killers. Say a platform priced at ₹60,000 cr needs 5% of a ₹12 lakh cr GMV pool to justify itself. That's a category-size claim, and you can check it against a bottom-up TAM (urban households × frequency ceilings × AOV). You don't have to take a story on faith.