Startup Burn Rate & Cash Runway Calculator 2026

Gross Burn Rate is total monthly cash expenditure (salaries, AWS/server costs, rent, marketing). Net Burn Rate is Gross Burn minus monthly revenue, representing the actual cash deficit burned each month.

Runway in months = cash in bank ÷ monthly net burn. With ₹2,00,00,000 in the bank and a net burn of ₹12,00,000 a month you have about 16 months. Two cautions for Indian founders: use net burn after revenue, not gross, or you will flatter the number; and remember that fundraising takes six months or more, so treat the point where you have nine to twelve months left as the moment to start, not the moment to panic.

Four leave the bank on fixed dates and are often missed in a monthly burn figure. Advance tax in four instalments — 15% by 15 June, 45% by 15 September, 75% by 15 December, 100% by 15 March. GST payable with GSTR-3B by the 20th. TDS deducted on salaries and vendor payments, deposited by the 7th of the next month. PF and ESI by the 15th. A team of 30 with Rs 3 lakh of monthly PF and Rs 5 lakh of TDS is Rs 8 lakh of burn that never shows up in a payroll line.

Begin at 9 to 12 months of runway left, because a seed or Series A round in India realistically takes 6 months from first meeting to money in the bank — 6 to 8 weeks of investor conversations, 4 to 6 weeks of due diligence, then term sheet, definitive agreements, and FEMA or FDI filings if a foreign investor is on the cap table. Starting at 4 months of runway means negotiating from weakness and usually costs you 10 to 15 percentage points of dilution.

Money leaves the bank months before it comes back. An exporter or SaaS company billing overseas pays GST on Indian inputs and files an RFD-01 refund that takes 60 to 90 days, sometimes longer with a deficiency memo. Clients deduct 10% TDS under Section 194J on professional fees, which you only recover when you file the return. Rs 10 lakh a month of invoices can mean Rs 1 lakh locked in TDS and lakhs more in unrefunded ITC — real cash out that no expense line records.

Venture-backed companies plan for 18 to 24 months because they are raising again. A bootstrapped or revenue-funded company should hold at least 6 months of fixed costs — salaries, rent, statutory dues — in cash, and preferably 12. The number that matters is months of fixed costs covered, not months of total spend: marketing and hiring can be cut in a week, but salaries, PF and a registered office lease cannot.