Bottom line
- Total investment $174K – $266K including a $45K franchise fee, 8.3% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $237K/year (median $217K).
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 46/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 209 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Code Ninjas unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
12%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Code Ninjas units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$272K
on $1.4M purchase
Total debt
$1.1M
SBA $0.7M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Code Ninjas franchisees operate brick-and-mortar coding/technology education centers serving children ages 7-14. Day-to-day operations include teaching programming courses, managing small class cohorts, handling student enrollment/billing, maintaining facilities, and executing local marketing. Revenue streams typically include class tuition, camps, birthday parties, and summer programs.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 11 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Code Ninjas presents moderate-to-cautionary risk: flat unit growth, undisclosed profitability metrics, and heavy upfront investment relative to average unit volumes warrant deep due diligence before committing.
Score breakdown · what drove the 46 / 100 rating
- 01MINORUnit count declining (-0.4% YoY) despite 245-unit system suggests market saturation or franchisee struggles
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 prevents accurate ROI assessment and profitability verification
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($174k-$266k) combined with modest average revenue ($237k) yields thin margins after 8.25% royalty
- 04MINORAverage revenue of $237k against $45k franchise fee means 5.3-year payback on franchise fee alone before operating costs
- 05MINOR10-year term is relatively long for children's educational/activity franchise with evolving market competition
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
92 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Code Ninjas · FDD (2026) PDF