FindBack — Global Lost & Found Intelligence Network

01Executive Summary

A vertically integrated global lost-property network.

FindBack extends Dashback's proven hotel returns model into a full-stack, AI-powered ecosystem serving hotels, airports, municipalities, transit, the US Postal Service — and consumers directly.

Problem

$2.7B lost annually

Over 400M items go missing globally each year. Institutional recovery rates hover at 30–45% — fragmented, manual, and offline.

Opportunity

No clear winner

A $1.2B market growing 10–14% CAGR. No single vendor holds more than 15% share. The space is ripe for a unified, AI powered intelligent network.

Wedge

Dashback's moat

200+ hotel relationships, validated unit economics, working logistics. FindBack is the technology formalisation of a proven model — not a venture bet. Faster development cycle. Proven traction across multiple verticals — hospitality, airlines and trains.

Investment thesis

“Building the world's first unified, AI-powered lost & found intelligent network — starting from an Australian operator, expanding globally through a viral B2B2C model, with a clear path to ~$3M ARR by Year 3.”

02The Foundation

Dashback already works.

Founded in North Melbourne, Dashback (dashback.com.au) is the operational backbone for Australian hotel lost-and-found. Sofitel, Hilton, The Cullen and Corporate Living Accommodation confirm product-market fit.

Unfair advantages

Brand trust
4- and 5-star hotel relationships across Australia.
Operational proof
Proven 4-step returns workflow with insurance.
Network density
Hotel coverage creates data and logistics scale.
Domain expertise
Deep understanding of the hospitality pain point.
Founder credibility
Navigated regulatory, carrier and hotel procurement cycles.

The strategic gap

Three limits, closed simultaneously.

Geo

Australia only

→ Global platform

Vertical

Hotels only

→ Hotels + airports + transit + municipal + postal

Layer

Returns logistics service

→ Full AI technology platform

03Market Analysis

The $1.2B intelligent network TAM is the floor — not the ceiling.

The $1.2B global intelligent network TAM is just the floor. FindBack's addressable network spans more than 1 million institutional partners globally — hotels, airports, marinas, transit hubs, municipalities, and event venues — collectively responsible for 100M+ lost items every year. No single technology platform covers more than a thin slice of it.

$1.2B → $2.9B

Global intelligent network TAM

2025 → 2034

$8B–$12B

Full value-chain TAM

Intelligent network + logistics + insurance + consumer

14.5%

Top-end CAGR

Through 2034

The real scale of the problem

100M+

Items lost across institutional partners

Every year — hotels, airports, marinas, transit, municipalities, venues

1M+

Institutional partners globally

FindBack's addressable network

700K+

Hotels & resorts

Primary network nodes — 84M+ items/yr

25K+

Marinas globally

Completely unserved vertical

2.5 days

Wasted per American annually

Searching for lost items

$2.7B

Annual US replacement cost

For lost items

33%

Lost items never recovered

The problem FindBack solves

Key verticals at a glance

Vertical	Nodes Globally	Annual Lost Items	Top Item Types	Operational Challenge
Hotels & Resorts	700K+	84M+	Chargers, clothing, toiletries, jewellery	Manual logging, payment collection
Marinas	25K+	Millions — unserved	Keys, phones, electronics, apparel, gear	No incumbent technology provider at all
Campgrounds & RV Parks	30K+	Millions across peak season	Camping gear, electronics, kids' items, IDs	Distributed sites, low digital maturity, high turnover
Airports & Airlines	40K+ (airports + carriers)	2M+ at security/gates	Phones, passports, laptops, wallets	Multi-jurisdiction, TSA compliance
Public Transit	10K+ networks	400K+ in transit	Phones, keys, bags, cards	High volume, no owner ID, storage cost
Municipalities	200K+ worldwide	Millions	Bikes, wallets, IDs, pets	No central system, 311 integration
Event Venues	100K+	High per-event	Cards, glasses, jackets, phones	Peak volume, short window
USPS / Postal	Global postal networks	Millions of parcels	Undeliverable parcels, loose items	Mail Recovery Centres, disposition rules
TOTAL ADDRESSABLE NETWORK	1M+ nodes	100M+ items/yr	—	—

Special callout · Marinas

A 25,000-site vertical with zero incumbents.

There are no current lost-property technology providers serving marinas at all — it is a completely unserved vertical. Items lost at marinas (phones dropped dockside, keys left on boats, wallets left in clubhouses) are high-value, owners are high-income, and the marina operator has strong incentive to offer a premium return service to members.

A fast-follower vertical that requires zero new technology — just a QR code at the dockmaster's office.

Consumer behaviour

• Only 30–45% of institutional items are recovered.
• 80% of recoveries happen within 48 hours.
• After 7 days, probability drops sharply.
• Phone is the #1 most-lost item; wallet and passport follow.

The AirTag question

AirTag and Google Find Hub solve the consumer-side tagging layer. They're useless when the item wasn't tagged, is in a Faraday-shielded space, or sits in an institutional inventory.

FindBack complements smart trackers — handling the institutional side of the equation that hardware cannot.

04Competitive Landscape

Fragmented, vertical-locked, and AI-late.

No player has crossed all verticals with a unified platform. This is FindBack's structural white space.

Company	Primary Vertical	Model	Weakness
Chargerback	Hotels, Airlines	Free to hotel; guest pays shipping	US-centric, no AI matching
iLeftMyStuff	Hotels	Free to hotel; UPS-connected	Dated UX, no AI, limited global reach
Deliverback	Hotels, Airlines	Free for businesses	No network effects, no analytics
NotLost	Transit/Airports (UK/EU)	SaaS subscription	Narrow geo, no consumer app
Crowdfind	Events, Venues	SaaS + per-item	Limited hotel/transit coverage
iLost for Business	Multi-vertical	SaaS per seat	No logistics, low virality
Troov	Multi-vertical	Freemium + premium	Early stage, limited traction
Dashback (today)	Hotels (AU)	Flat fee to guest	Geo-limited, no SaaS platform yet

Key insight

Fragmentation isn't a demand problem — it's a complexity problem. Dashback's hospitality moat unlocks cross-vertical expansion with minimal incremental sales cost.

05Product & AI Moat

A data flywheel competitors can't copy.

Three layers: institutional operations (B2B SaaS), consumer experience (mobile + web), and an AI intelligence layer connecting them through probabilistic matching, predictive routing, and automated communication.

Core platform modules

Item Intake

Photo-based logging with AI auto-tagging — colour, brand, text from labels.

50× faster than manual

Owner Matching Engine

Probabilistic cross-reference across date, location, description.

No competitor matches at scale

Logistics Orchestration

Carrier-agnostic labels, tracking, international customs.

Built on Dashback DNA

Guest Portal

Mobile-first PWA. Photo upload, payment, real-time tracking.

Zero-app-download claims

Institutional Dashboard

Multi-location, SLA tracking, compliance reporting.

Chain-wide visibility

Insurance Layer

Optional item-in-transit insurance at checkout.

New revenue stream

Seven AI pillars

Visual AI item recognition

Trained on millions of lost-item photos. Auto-classifies category, brand, colour, identifying features.

Cross-platform probabilistic matching

Scores all found items across the network for match probability against reported lost claims.

Natural language claim processing

'My rose gold iPhone with a Frida Kahlo sticker' → structured query → match.

Predictive location intelligence

Train on historical data to predict high-risk venues for specific item types.

Automated communication orchestration

AI drafts owner notifications at every stage. Staff burden → near zero.

Fraud detection

Pattern recognition on fraudulent claims — critical for high-value institutional trust.

Dynamic pricing engine

AI-optimises shipping fees by item value, destination, urgency, carrier availability.

Moat summary

Every item logged, matched and returned makes the engine smarter. By Year 2, FindBack's dataset will be the largest structured lost-item database across its partner verticals.

06Enterprise & Consumer Flows

60 seconds for staff. 4 minutes for the guest.

Enterprise adoption is won by removing all friction from staff. Consumer retention is won by solving a high-emotion problem faster than expected. AI does the work invisibly — auto-tagging, matching, notifying — never as a gimmick. Buildable today by 2 engineers and a CTO using APIs that already exist.

Enterprise Flow

Staff logs a found item

Under 60 seconds, in a browser. Staff do one thing — take a photo. AI does everything else.

1
Browser opens
Staff scans a QR code or taps a bookmark. No install, no per-staff account — shared hotel PIN or Google SSO.
2
1–3 photos
One wide shot, one identifier close-up. Camera opens instantly — no form to fill first.
3
AI auto-tags in <3s
Vision API returns category, brand, model, colour, distinguishing features, value tier. Staff confirm with one tap.
4
Geolocation auto-stamped
Device GPS + indoor zone detection pin the exact found-location on a property map (Lobby, Room 412, Pool Deck, Gate B7, Platform 3). Timestamp applied. For multi-property chains, the venue is resolved automatically from coordinates — staff never pick a site from a dropdown.
5
PMS / location cross-reference
Room or zone is matched against the PMS guest list, recent checkouts, and dwell-time data to auto-propose the most likely owner. At airports/transit, the zone maps to the last departing flight or train.
6
Geo-aware silent match
Engine searches lost reports filtered by proximity (same property first, then 200km / 14 days radius), recent checkouts, and pre-registered serials. Location proximity is a weighted match signal. Runs in 1–2s, no UI required.
7
Item ID + label printed
Unique FB-XXXX ID, QR claim link, thumbnail. Prints on any A4 or $60 Dymo printer.
8
Owner notified automatically
If matched: instant SMS + email. If not: 48-hour proactive sweep. Staff do nothing further.

Zero-training option

WhatsApp Intake. Staff send 1–3 photos to a WhatsApp Business number; the label PDF returns to the same chat in <10s. No app, no browser, no onboarding.

Consumer Flow

From “I lost it” to “It's on its way”

No app download. One URL, one flow, one payment. Designed like it was made by a therapist, not an engineer.

1
Discover
QR poster, post-checkout email, Google search ('I left my phone at Hilton Melbourne'), or findback.io.
2
Describe naturally
Type or voice: 'navy Samsung S24, clear case, Hilton Melbourne, Tuesday.' LLM extracts structured fields. One-tap confirm.
3
Pinpoint where you lost it
Browser geolocation auto-detects the user's current or recent location and suggests nearby FindBack venues (hotels, airports, transit stops) within a 200m–2km radius. One tap to confirm the venue, or drop a pin on a map. Travel-history opt-in (Google Timeline-style) surfaces the last 48h of visited venues for one-tap selection.
4
Photo (optional)
Even a stock photo boosts match confidence against hotel intake images.
5
Instant geo-aware match
MATCH (94% — blurred preview) · PROBABLE (staff confirming, SMS in 2h) · NO MATCH YET (network alerts on arrival). Proximity to the pinned venue is a weighted match signal — items found within the same zone score highest.
6
Tiered identity
Tier 1: OTP. Tier 2: OTP + secret detail vs hidden AI notes. Tier 3: Stripe Identity ID + liveness selfie.
7
Frictionless payment
Apple Pay / Google Pay native. Standard / Express / International / In-person pickup. Optional shipment insurance.
8
Tracked return
Hotel gets packing alert + prepaid label. SMS updates at every carrier scan. NPS prompt on delivery.

The emotional hook

The MATCH FOUND screen is the most important pixel in the product. “We think we found your passport at Hilton Melbourne — 94% match” is the word-of-mouth engine.

Enterprise dashboard — where stickiness is built

Live Item Queue

All found items, age-sorted. Status chips + colour-coded urgency at retention deadlines.

Match Alerts Feed

Real-time: 'FB-2026-08841 (MacBook) matched at 91% — guest notified.' Manager approve/reject.

High-Value Flag

Passports, jewellery, electronics auto-flagged. Require manager sign-off. Reduces liability.

Storage SLA Tracker

Days until retention deadline. Auto-reminders at 60 / 80 / 89 days.

Return Rate Metric

'Your property returns 68% vs network 71%.' Drives competitive engagement across chains.

Shipping Queue

Items with paid claims, prepaid labels attached. Staff packs; carrier collects.

Tiered identity verification

Verification scales with item value. Too loose and fraud damages institutional trust; too strict and consumers abandon. This is the balance.

Tier	Value	Examples	What we ask	Tool
Tier 1	< $50 USD	Charger, umbrella, clothing	Name + email + phone OTP	Twilio Verify · $0.05
Tier 2	$50–$500	Phone, sunglasses, wallet	OTP + secret detail vs hidden AI notes	Embeddings · ~$0
Tier 3	> $500	Laptop, jewellery, camera	Government ID + live selfie	Stripe Identity · $1.50
Tier 3+	Documents	Passport, ID, driver's licence	Tier 3 + MRZ match against intake scan	Stripe Identity + MRZ

Payment

Two taps on mobile.

• Stripe Checkout · Apple Pay / Google Pay native
• Find service charge — $29.99 (pickup at property) · split 60% property ($17.99) / 40% FindBack ($12.00)
• FindBack service charge — $69.99 + shipping (full concierge ship-to-door) · property keeps $17.99 finder's share, FindBack nets $52.00 + logistics margin
• Shipping billed at carrier cost + 20% FindBack margin (FindBack service only)
• Optional shipment insurance add-on
• Multi-currency, geo-priced, settles in USD
• Stripe Radar fraud scoring + auto dispute evidence

Shipping

One API. Every carrier.

• EasyPost rate-shop: Australia Post, Sendle, DHL, FedEx, UPS
• AI category → parcel dimensions/weight lookup (no staff input)
• Customs forms auto-generated for international
• DHL Document Service routed for passports automatically
• Live SMS tracking at every carrier scan

AI features — what to build, with what, in how long

Feature	What it does	Build time
Photo Auto-Tagging	GPT-4o / Claude Vision → structured JSON. 3min → 15s intake.	2 days
NL Claim Parser	Plain-English description → structured query.	1 day
Probabilistic Match Engine	Weighted multi-field scoring + semantic similarity.	5–7 days
Hidden Knowledge Check	Embedding similarity vs private intake notes (Tier 2).	1 day
Value Tier Estimation	Drives ID tier and insurance prompts.	0.5 days
Dimension Estimation	Category → parcel size/weight lookup. No staff input.	0.5 days
PMS Guest Match	Room number → most recent guest auto-proposed.	3 days / PMS
Proactive Loss Sweep	Nightly cron re-runs match engine across open reports.	1 day
Auto-Communication	AI-drafted, item-specific notification copy.	1 day
Fraud Pattern Detection	Rule engine v1 → ML model post-launch.	2 days
WhatsApp Intake Bot	Twilio WhatsApp → Vision pipeline → label PDF back in chat.	2–3 days
Return Rate Analytics	Per-hotel match rate, claim time, category mix.	1 day

90-day build plan — 2 engineers + CTO

Sprint 1

Wk 1–2

Schema, auth, intake form, Vision auto-tagging, item list. First live test.

Sprint 2

Wk 3–4

Consumer claim flow, NLP parser, basic match engine, OTP (Tier 1+2).

Sprint 3

Wk 5–6

Stripe Checkout (Apple Pay), EasyPost labels, hotel packing SMS, tracking.

Sprint 4

Wk 7–8

Probabilistic engine, hidden check, Stripe Identity, manager dashboard, 48h sweep.

Sprint 5

Wk 9–10

WhatsApp intake, insurance add-on, international + customs, NPS, self-serve onboarding.

Sprint 6

Wk 11–12

Pro tier billing, analytics, fraud rules, IMEI/passport pre-registration. 10 pilot hotels live.

Stack at a glance

Next.js PWA · Node/Postgres (Supabase) · OpenAI Vision + Embeddings · Stripe Checkout & Identity · EasyPost · Twilio SMS & WhatsApp · Railway hosting.Infra cost for first 500 hotels: ~$600–$900 USD/month.

07Business Model

A two-sided network with seven revenue lines.

Free or low-cost for institutional partners. Revenue from consumer transactions and premium services. Institutional incentives drive onboarding; consumer willingness-to-pay drives margin.

Revenue Stream	Description	Pricing
Find Service Charge	Consumer recovers item via pickup at the property. Flat fee split with the property/entity.	$29.99 flat · 60% property ($17.99) / 40% FindBack ($12.00)
FindBack Service Charge	Full concierge ship-to-door. FindBack manages identity, packaging, carrier rate-shop & tracking. Property keeps the finder's share.	$69.99 + shipping · $17.99 property / $52.00 FindBack + 20% logistics margin
Institutional SaaS (Pro)	Multi-location, analytics, PMS/POS integration	Free ≤50/mo · Pro $99–$299/mo/location
Shipping Insurance	Optional transit insurance at checkout	$3.50–$12 · 35–40% attach
Premium Consumer	Priority alerts, unlimited claims, concierge	$4.99/mo · $39.99/yr
Data & Analytics	Loss-pattern data for insurers, travel, smart-city	$20K–$150K/yr
White-Label Licensing	Platform under chain or carrier brand	$50K–$500K/yr
Charitable Disposition	Unclaimed items to charity / auction	5–15% of proceeds

Headline pricing — two transparent tiers

Find $29.99 · FindBack $69.99 + shipping.

Find service charge — $29.99 when the consumer picks up at the property. Split 60% to the property ($17.99) / 40% to FindBack ($12.00) — every hotel, airport, marina and venue earns a direct revenue share for every item their staff log and return.

FindBack service charge — $69.99 + shipping for full concierge ship-to-door. The property still keeps its $17.99 finder's share; FindBack nets $52.00 for identity verification, packaging, customs and tracking, plus a 20% margin on the logistics line via rate-shopped carriers (EasyPost, DHL, Sendle, FedEx, UPS, Australia Post).

Unit economics — per recovered item

$29.99

Find service charge

Pickup at property

$17.99

Property share

60% — paid on every recovered item

$12.00

FindBack net (Find)

40% of $29.99

$69.99

FindBack service charge

+ shipping · ship-to-door

$52.00

FindBack net (FindBack svc)

After $17.99 property finder's share

+20%

Logistics margin

On top of carrier pass-through

~$32

Blended FindBack net / item

50/50 pickup vs ship + logistics margin

Incremental revenue per property — ~200 lost items/year

A typical mid-size property logs ~200 lost items per year. Below is the recurring revenue each side captures at that volume, assuming a balanced 50% pickup / 50% ship mix.

$3,598

Property revenue / yr

200 × $17.99 finder's share

$6,400

FindBack net / yr per property

100 × $12 + 100 × $52

$9,998

Combined gross / yr per property

Excl. shipping margin & SaaS

< 3 mo

Payback period

Property + FindBack CAC

08Ideal Customer Profiles

Six verticals. One platform.

Each ICP has distinct item profiles, champions, and willingness-to-pay. Hospitality funds the cash engine while enterprise sales cycles run in parallel.

Primary launch

Hotels & Resorts

Target: 4–5★ hotels, 100+ rooms, Tier-1 cities first.
Pain: Staff time, guest complaints, liability, irregular shipping payments.
Wedge: Free tier removes procurement friction. Bottom-up via Dashback referrals + HITEC.
Opportunity: ~24K qualifying US hotels · ~2.5K AU · iLeftMyStuff covers ~8.7K leaving 15K+ unserved.

High value

Airports & Airlines

Target: Mid-size regional airports (10–30M pax/yr) and airlines.
Pain: TSA compliance, 90-day storage cost, multi-airline coordination.
Wedge: Passport & ID return SLA with government-certified return workflows.
Opportunity: ACI and IATA conference-led. White-label for airline brand alignment.

Long sales cycle

Municipal Governments

Target: Cities 250K+ population. US Sun Belt + AU capitals.
Pain: Manual logging, storage cost, no owner notification, liability.
Wedge: Civic service modernisation, not a startup pitch. RFP-based.
Opportunity: $25K–$150K/yr SaaS + per-item fees.

High volume

Public Transit

Target: MTA, BART, TfL, Sydney Metro, Singapore MRT, Tokyo Metro.
Pain: Paper logs, 60%+ items never reunited, storage as a cost centre.
Wedge: SaaS per-station + per-transaction. Auction/donation disposition.
Opportunity: Major metros worldwide.

Strategic

USPS & Postal Networks

Target: USPS (22 MRCs), Australia Post, Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, Canada Post.
Pain: Billions of unmatched parcels, fragmented claims, no AI matching.
Wedge: $500K–$5M/yr per postal service. World's largest lost-item inventory.
Opportunity: Year 2–3 federal contract target.

Viral channel

Event Venues & Stadiums

Target: Arenas 10K+, pro sports clubs, festival operators.
Pain: 500–2,000 logged items in a single night. Casual staff.
Wedge: QR-code instant intake. No integration required.
Opportunity: Bottom-up via venue operations managers.

09Go-to-Market

A viral loop, structurally embedded.

Every hotel transaction creates one consumer touchpoint at ~$0 CAC. 500 hotels = 50,000/month warm consumer leads.

Phase 1

Months 1–12

Hospitality blitz. Migrate Dashback. US launch via Chargerback displacement. UK/EU pilots.

Phase 2

Months 12–24

First airport, transit and municipal partners. Consumer native apps.

Phase 3

Months 24+

USPS pursuit. Series A. White-label with hotel chains and airlines.

The core viral loop

1
Hotel staff
Finds & logs item in 30s via phone camera (AI auto-tags).
2
Guest
Receives SMS/email: 'Your item has been found.' First brand exposure.
3
Guest
Claims via mobile PWA — no app required. Shares win on TripAdvisor.
4
Guest
Post-claim prompt: download FindBack. Consumer acquisition at $0 CAC.
5
Consumer
Reports future losses, pre-tags valuables. Data feeds AI.
6
Hotel
TripAdvisor uplift → GMs talk → organic B2B referrals.

CH-1

Dashback Network

CH-2

HITEC / AIME / AHICE

CH-3

PMS Marketplaces

CH-4

Government RFPs

CH-5

Displacement Campaigns

10Recovery Flows

Different items, different protocols.

Item-specific workflows codify fraud prevention, identity verification and compliance — built once, reused everywhere.

Lost Smartphone

Most common · highest match-rate item

1Staff photos phone. AI auto-detects brand, model, colour, case, IMEI.
2Cross-reference pre-registered IMEIs + recent claims + Find My pings.
3Instant SMS/email to matched owner.
4Identity verification: IMEI, serial, or selfie liveness check.
5Consumer pays + optional insurance. Pre-paid label generated.
64-hour premium or next-day standard pickup. Live tracking.

Lost Wallet / Cards

Enhanced fraud prevention

1Auto-flagged as high-priority sensitive item.
2Secure locked inventory with chain-of-custody at each handover.
3Visa/Mastercard lost-card API cross-reference (Year 2).
4Identity: full name + last 4 digits + photo ID. Video option.
5Priority 24-hour shipping. Prompt to freeze cards via bank partners.
6Upsell to Premium 'Wallet & ID Protection'.

Lost Passport / ID

Highest urgency · #1 premium driver

1AI reads passport MRZ line. Encrypted at rest, never transmitted.
2Optional embassy/consulate notification of secure custody.
3Cross-reference Dashback bookings + airline manifests + lost reports.
4Selfie matched against passport photo (AI face verification).
5Government-certified return: signature, customs, tracked at every node.
6#1 conversion driver to Premium subscription.

11Brand Architecture

Dashback stays. FindBack scales.

Dashback becomes the premium Australian execution brand. FindBack is the global intelligence network. 'Powered by FindBack' preserves trust while unlocking international positioning.

Dashback

Warm. Australian.

• Australian operations brand
• Hotels & hospitality
• Logistics & returns execution
• B2B2C (hotel-as-channel)
• dashback.com.au

FindBack

Smart. Global.

• Global platform brand
• Hotels + airports + transit + municipal + postal
• AI-powered technology platform
• B2B SaaS + B2C app + B2B2C viral loop
• findback.io

“FindBack” is a deliberate play on “Dashback” — same family suffix, complementary verb. Dash connotes speed and logistics; Find connotes intelligence and discovery. The .io domain positions FindBack as a tech product rather than a service.

12Ecosystem

Integrate everywhere. Embed everywhere.

Technology integrations

Opera CloudMewsCloudbedsAgilysysAU PostDHLFedExUPSSendleApple Find MyGoogle Find HubJumioOnfidoPersonaStripeTwilioSendGridWhatsApp Business

Strategic targets

Hotel Chains

IHG · Marriott · Hilton · Accor · Hyatt

Travel Insurance

Allianz Travel · World Nomads · Cover-More

Luggage Brands

Tumi · Samsonite · Away (co-branded 'FindBack Protected')

OTAs / Booking

Booking.com · Expedia · Airbnb (quality signal)

Corporate Travel

Navan · Concur · Amex GBT (employee benefit)

13Financial Projections

Clear path to ~$3M ARR by Year 3.

All figures USD. Conservative model — projections reflect a 40% haircut from upside case for realism. Year 1 gross opex ~$1.53M (pro-rated from the 18-month seed plan), ~$1.28M net of revenue; seed provides 18 months of runway plus contingency and Series A buffer.

Year 1

$250K

20 hotels · ~52% margin

Year 2

$1.05M

80 hotels + 1 airport · ~58% margin

Year 3

~$3M ARR

250 hotels + institutional · ~62% margin

Revenue mix (USD)

Revenue Stream	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Consumer Returns (Hotel)	$180,000	$560,000	$1,500,000
Consumer Returns (Airport/Transit)	$0	$130,000	$430,000
Institutional SaaS (Pro/Enterprise)	$40,000	$200,000	$520,000
Insurance Attachment	$20,000	$100,000	$270,000
Premium Consumer Subscription	$10,000	$60,000	$110,000
Data & Enterprise Licensing	$0	$0	$170,000
TOTAL REVENUE	$250,000	$1,050,000	~$3,000,000 ARR

Year 1 cost structure

Mirrors the seed allocation buckets, pro-rated 18→12 months. Same categories, same priorities — so seed deployment and Year 1 P&L tell one consistent story.

Category (aligned to seed allocation)	Year 1 Budget (USD)	Seed 18-mo equivalent
Salaries — 5 roles (CEO, CTO, CRO + 2 engineers)	$933,000	$1.40M
Marketing & Sales (FindBack.io launch, HITEC, hotel acquisition, PR)	$300,000	$450K
Operations (cloud, AI APIs, legal, compliance, G&A, insurance, payroll loads)	$300,000	$450K
TOTAL GROSS OPEX	$1,533,000	$2.30M
Less: Year 1 revenue offset	−$250,000	−$250K
NET YEAR 1 BURN	$1,283,000	$2.05M
Contingency (~20%) — held in seed, not Year 1 P&L	—	$450K
Series A runway buffer — held in seed, not Year 1 P&L	—	$750K

14Fundraising

$3M–$3.5M USD seed. Capital for acceleration, not validation.

Dashback has proven hotels will pay, guests will pay, and the workflow executes. The raise funds platform engineering, US entry and AI infrastructure — sized to a conservative, 40%-haircut plan.

Seed round

$3M–$3.5M

USD · 18 months runway

$1.40M

Salaries (5 roles, 18 months)

Founding CEO, CTO, CRO + 2 full-stack engineers. ~65% of gross burn — capital going into people, not overhead.

$450K

Marketing & Sales (18 months)

$300K annualised × 1.5. FindBack.io launch, HITEC 2026, hotel acquisition, PR and conferences.

$450K

Operations (18 months)

$300K annualised × 1.5. Cloud, AI APIs, legal, compliance, G&A, plus health insurance and regulatory payroll expenses (super, payroll tax, workers' comp, US benefits loading).

−$250K

Revenue offset

Year 1 conservative revenue applied against gross burn.

$750K

Series A runway buffer

~7 months at ~$117K/month beyond the 18-month plan — protects the round through Series A close.

$450K

Contingency (~20%)

True contingency on net burn — absorbs hiring slippage, FX and US-entry surprises without a bridge.

Series A · Month 24–30

$10M–$11M USD

Triggered by $900K–$1.5M revenue run-rate, 50 institutional partners globally, AI matching engine deployed. Funds US scale + airport/transit launch + USPS pursuit + consumer growth to 300K users.

Milestones to hit

Seed milestone (Month 12)	Series A milestone (Month 24)
20 hotel partners onboarded (Year 1)	80 hotels + 1 airport live
AI item tagging accuracy ≥ 92%	$900K–$1.5M revenue run-rate
Consumer NPS > 70 (hotel channel)	AI matching recall ≥ 78%
1 US city or airport PoC signed	1 major airline or transit authority signed

Mitigation

Multi-layer identity verification, AI fraud detection, insurance shifts liability.

16Roadmap

Five phases. 42 months. One platform.

Phase 0

Months 1–3

Platform build

Migrate Dashback. Launch hotel SaaS. Hire CTO + 2 engineers. Close seed.

Phase 1

Months 3–9

AU/US hotel launch

20 hotel partners onboarded (Year 1). AI item tagging live. Consumer PWA. 3 key tradeshows.

Phase 2

Months 9–18

AI matching + verticals

Probabilistic matching live. 80 hotels + 1 airport live. Native iOS/Android. UK/EU pilot.

Phase 3

Months 18–30

Scale + Series A

$900K–$1.5M revenue run-rate. 250 hotels + institutional partners. Insurance revenue at 15% of mix. Municipal contract. Series A. USPS exploration.

Phase 4

Months 30–42

Global platform

Series A deployed. Expand partner network. 500K+ consumers. Data revenue active.

17Team & Organisation

Founders with proof. Hires with reach.

Founding team

Founding CEO

TBD

Seed priority

Owns the relationships that open doors — enterprise sales, strategic partnerships, and key hires. Sets the product priorities that keep the team focused, and tells the story publicly that makes both hotels and travelers trust the brand. Also owns Operations, HR and Finance — the company's internal engine — ensuring hiring, cash, and day-to-day execution stay tight. Fundraising is simply the proof that all of it is working.

Founding CTO

TBD

Seed priority

A rare mix of proven tech success and deep hospitality background — someone who has shipped and scaled real platforms, and also understands hotel operations, PMS realities, and what front-desk and housekeeping teams will actually adopt. Owns the technical architecture and ensures the AI stack, platform, and integrations are built fast, scalably, and securely. Translates the CEO's product vision into a 2-engineer sprint plan that ships a working product in 90 days — while hiring and vetting every engineer to maintain the technical bar that determines whether FindBack scales or breaks under growth.

Founding CRO

Fred Edouard Dominioni

Confirm pending Seed funding and contractual agreement

Owns the full revenue engine and marketing — converting the CEO's enterprise relationships into signed contracts, building the repeatable sales playbook that works without the founder in the room, and driving the FindBack brand, positioning, demand generation and consumer marketing end-to-end. Ensures every hotel that onboards generates enough consumer transaction volume to prove the B2B2C unit economics before the Series A. More background at https://retreat.blue/.

Executive compensation & equity

Each Founding C-exec draws $220K USD/year until a successful Series A — deliberately lean to preserve runway and signal founder alignment.

Equity: Each Founding C-exec receives 20% equity in the newly formed US C-Corp (60% total across the 3 founders). Remaining cap table reserved for investors and the employee option pool. Vesting starts at month 7 (post the 6-month "honeymoon phase") over a standard 4-year schedule.

Key management principles

Extreme transparency & accountability. Open metrics, open decisions, open trade-offs. Every member of the founding team — and every hire after — must lift their own weight. No passengers, no politics, no hidden scorecards.
Equal dilution. Every founder is diluted equally on any future raise or cap-table change. No founder gets preferential anti-dilution — alignment stays clean from Seed through exit.
Founder exit clause. Any founder can be exited by a combined vote of the remaining co-founders and investors, with no claim against the company beyond equity already vested at the exit date. Protects the mission from underperformance or misalignment.

Hiring plan

M1–3

Founding CTO · 1× Full-Stack Engineer

M3–6

2nd Full-Stack Engineer

Conclusion

The most de-risked, highest-conviction opportunity in lost property technology.

Large market. Fragmented competition. Proven foundation. AI-native product. Viral B2B2C engine. Defensible network-effect moat.

support@dashback.com.au findback.io →