16 Year Old Organic Travel App - 71% Year 1 Subscription Retention & 48% of Monthly Subs Active after 1 Year

This is a highly rated Travel app that was consistently featured in the top paid charts on Apple for the past 16 years now. The app has been featured in Apple Magazine in the past, which gave it lots of traction.

The app allows travelers and professionals to track their flights globally with real-time updates, clear displays of departure and arrival details, terminal and gate info, layover durations, and baggage claim guidance. The app is owned and operated by an indie developer that developed the iOS app, with them switching from a One-time Purchase a few years ago to a One-time Purchase with subscriptions now.

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The app offers One-time Purchases to begin, as the service costs the app owner for any user. This upfront fee gives users 3 months usage and then they need to activate a subscription to keep using the app. The app offers monthly and yearly subscriptions after the initial 3 month period is over, with the app owner not carrying out any testing on the pricing and subscription duration for this app.

They have this app as well as 3 other business related apps that all have high retention (83% Year 1 subscription retention for the others). The other 3 apps share a similar code base, so would need to be sold together.

Deal Terms:

• The app owner wants an asset deal
• Their preferred structure is more upfront
• They are open to selling the app separately or in a packaged deal with the other apps

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Overview & Highlights:

• Generated $155k in Proceeds LTM (Oct 24)
• 71% of annual subscriptions started in 2023 renewed in 2024
• Achieved $136k in EBIT LTM (Oct 24)
• Currently 5.77k active paying subscribers for the app (Oct 24)
• 48% of monthly subscriptions on average from 2023 are still active after 1 year (12 periods)

Future Roadmap:

• Implement Features: Implement connections in the app, which has been requested by users
• User Acquisition: Trial targeting relevant users with marketing
• Price Testing: Carry out testing on a range of prices to find the optimal set up
• Notifications: Improving notifications is feedback the app owner receives from users
• Affiliate Marketing: Add links to booking page for flights users find in the app

As well as this, the app owner has a portfolio of 3 other well performing apps, which they would like to sell too. These apps share the same codebase so would ideally need to be acquired together or as part of the deal with the app.

Here's the overview for the other apps:

• Generated $464k in Proceeds LTM Combined (Oct 24)
• Year 1 retention on subscriptions ranging from 83% - 86% for the portfolio (excluding the travel app.)
• Achieved $447k in EBIT LTM (Oct 24)
• Generated all of their proceeds organically since being launched

Please note that these apps have previous versions with much higher review counts, which you can find on the owner's app store account. The previous versions were OTP and some of the users have migrated over to his subscription version now. In the P&L for the combined portfolio, the flight service cost line is only applicable for the travel app, meaning the other 3 apps have a high EBIT margin.