Burn Multiple
CRM & RetentionAlso: Burn Ratio · Net Burn Multiple
Quick definition
Burn multiple measures how much cash a company burns to generate each dollar of new annual recurring revenue (ARR). It's calculated as net burn divided by net new ARR over the same period. Investors use it as a capital efficiency check on growth spending. Lower numbers signal more efficient growth.
Read this next to churn rate and gross margin. A low multiple built on high churn isn't efficient, it's temporary.
How it varies across Australia
Burn multiple shifts sharply with company stage and growth rate. Early-stage businesses chasing product-market fit tend to run higher multiples than mature companies with predictable retention. What counts as efficient depends heavily on churn rate and gross margin, not on the multiple alone.
See capital efficiency benchmarks across Australian industries →What it actually means
Burn multiple answers a blunt question. For every extra dollar of monthly recurring revenue (MRR) a business adds to its annual recurring revenue (ARR) base, how much cash did it spend to get there?
It's a companion metric to customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV), but it looks at the whole business rather than a single customer. Where CAC tells you the cost of one acquisition, burn multiple tells you whether the entire growth engine, sales, marketing, product, support, is converting cash into durable revenue.
The number only means something alongside churn rate and gross margin. A business can post an impressive burn multiple by growing new logos fast while losing existing customers just as fast. That's not efficiency, it's a leaky bucket dressed up as a good ratio.
Investors reach for burn multiple because it's harder to game than growth rate alone. Growth rate ignores cost. Burn multiple forces the cost question into the same sentence as the growth claim.
A low burn multiple with high churn is not efficient growth. It's efficient churn.
How to calculate it
Burn Multiple = Net burn ÷ Net new ARR
Worked example. A company spends $900,000 more than it earns in a quarter (net burn) and adds $300,000 in net new ARR over the same quarter. Burn multiple = $900,000 ÷ $300,000 = 3.0. For every dollar of new ARR, the business burned three dollars of cash.
The Australian context
Australian venture-backed businesses have faced tighter capital markets since 2022, and burn multiple has become a standard line in board packs where it barely featured before. Local investors, with a smaller pool of follow-on capital than the United States market, tend to scrutinise the metric earlier in a company's life.
The complication for Australian SaaS businesses selling into the United States or United Kingdom is currency. Burn is usually incurred in Australian dollars while ARR often lands in foreign currency, and exchange rate movement alone can shift the multiple without any change in actual efficiency.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
What is a good burn multiple?
It depends heavily on stage and growth rate. Earlier-stage companies chasing product-market fit typically run higher multiples than mature businesses with stable retention. Judge your own trend over time rather than chasing a fixed target borrowed from a different stage of company.
How is burn multiple different from CAC?
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) measures the cost of winning one customer. Burn multiple measures the efficiency of the entire business, including product, support and overheads, at converting cash into net new annual recurring revenue (ARR). CAC is a component. Burn multiple is the whole picture.
Can burn multiple be negative?
Yes, if net new ARR is negative, meaning the business lost more revenue to churn and downgrades than it added in new sales. A negative burn multiple is a serious warning sign regardless of how much cash is left in the bank.
Why do investors care more about this now than a few years ago?
Growth-at-any-cost fell out of favour once capital became more expensive. Burn multiple forces growth rate and cost onto the same page, which makes it harder for a business to look impressive on revenue growth alone while quietly burning through runway.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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