Weave Communications, Inc. (WEAV) FY 2023 MD&A
This page reproduces the company's own Item 7 MD&A text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those identified above, under “Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and elsewhere herein. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless otherwise specified or the context otherwise requires, “Weave,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Weave Communications, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.
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We have elected to omit discussion of the earliest of the three years presented in the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Refer to “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 16, 2023, for year-over-year comparisons of the results of operation between the year ended December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021 as well as a discussion of 2021 performance metrics and cash flow activity, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Overview
Weave provides small- and medium-sized healthcare businesses (“SMBs”) with a single, vertically-tailored customer experience and payments software platform, helping them unify, modernize, and personalize every interaction with their patients and clients. Our customers are experts in their fields of care. Weave helps them run their practice more effectively by unifying a patchwork of point solutions into a single platform that helps them attract, engage, and retain their patients. Our platform includes messaging, reviews, payments, online scheduling, appointment reminders, digital forms, email marketing, insurance verification, physical and softphones, and more. Weave enables SMBs to offer flexible payment options including payment via text, email, online bill pay, terminals, and mobile tap-to-pay. Weave empowers healthcare practitioners and their office staff to focus on patient care and minimize time and effort spent on manual and mundane operational tasks.
The majority of our customers are dental, optometry, veterinary and other medical specialty practices, and through investment in our product development and integrations we are expanding our platform services to support several additional specialized medical verticals.
Supplemental Financial Information — Disaggregated Revenue and Cost of Revenue
To supplement our discussion of our consolidated results of operations, we have separated our revenue and cost of revenue into recurring and non-recurring categories to disaggregate revenue and costs of revenue that are one-time in nature from those that are term-based and renewable.
We generate revenue primarily from recurring subscription fees charged to access our platform, which also include recurring hardware fees. These recurring revenues accounted for 92% and 95% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. In addition, we provide recurring payment processing services through Weave Payments and derive revenue from transactions between our customers that utilize Weave Payments and their end consumers.
We also derive revenue associated with non-recurring installation fees for onboarding customers and from embedded leases on phone hardware. We utilize our onboarding services and phone hardware as customer acquisition tools and price them competitively to lower the barriers to entry for new customers adopting our platform. As a result, the variable cost associated with providing phone hardware and onboarding assistance has historically exceeded the related revenue, resulting in negative gross profit for each. The revenue and related costs associated with onboarding new customers are typically non-recurring and are primarily associated with the initial setup of a customer’s software and phone system. Revenue on phone hardware provided to our customers, deemed embedded lease revenue, is recognized over the related subscription period. The associated costs, which primarily represent depreciation expense on phones financed under finance lease arrangements, are incurred over the useful lives of the phone hardware. We consider the net costs of onboarding and hardware, in addition to our sales and marketing activities, to be core elements of our customer acquisition approach.
The table below sets forth the revenue and associated cost of revenue for our recurring subscription and payment processing services, as well as for our onboarding services and phone hardware:
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| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||
| Subscription and payment processing: | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 162,715 | $ | 136,592 | ||
| Cost of revenue | (38,194) | (35,008) | ||||
| Gross profit | $ | 124,521 | $ | 101,584 | ||
| Gross margin | 77 | % | 74 | % | ||
| Onboarding: | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 3,232 | $ | 1,288 | ||
| Cost of revenue | (8,710) | (9,612) | ||||
| Gross profit | $ | (5,478) | $ | (8,324) | ||
| Gross margin | (169) | % | (646) | % | ||
| Hardware: | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 4,521 | $ | 4,237 | ||
| Cost of revenue(1) | (7,473) | (8,656) | ||||
| Gross profit(1) | $ | (2,952) | $ | (4,419) | ||
| Gross margin | (65) | % | (104) | % |
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(1) Cost of revenue related to hardware represents depreciation of phone hardware over a 3-year useful life.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Our historical financial performance has been, and we expect our financial performance in the future to be, driven by our ability to attract new customers, retain and expand within our customer base, add new products and expand into new industry verticals.
Attract New Customers
Our ability to attract new customers is dependent upon a number of factors, including the effectiveness of our pricing and products, the sum total of the features and pricing of the alternative point solution patchwork, the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, the effectiveness of our channel partners in selling and marketing our platform and the growth of the market for a customer experience and payments software platform. Sustaining our growth requires continued adoption of our platform by new customers. We aim to add new customers through a combination of unpaid channels, such as recommendations and word of mouth, and paid channels, such as digital marketing, direct mail, professional events, brand marketing and our teams of sales representatives. Historically, our go-to-market strategy focused on increasing the number of locations with most of our customers having a single location; however, we now provide multi-office functionality on our platform to allow us to better service organizations with multiple locations. In addition to pursuing continued customer growth among small businesses, we intend to pursue opportunities to expand our customer base among medium-sized businesses, with a particular focus on our core specialty healthcare verticals. Our ability to expand among medium-sized businesses will depend upon our ability to successfully sell our platform to multi-location organizations and effectively retain them. As of December 31, 2023, we had more than 28,000 customers in the United States and Canada, spanning organizations across our end markets, and more than 31,000 customer locations under subscription.
Retain and Expand Within Our Customer Base
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Our ability to retain and increase revenue within our existing customer base is dependent upon a number of factors, including customer satisfaction with our platform and support, the sum total of the features and pricing of the alternative point solution patchwork, our ability to effectively enhance our platform by developing new applications and features and addressing additional use cases, and our ability to leverage and scale our core sales efforts and marketing capabilities to increase our penetration into our core specialty healthcare verticals. The deployment of the Weave phone system as part of the platform at each of our customers increases stickiness and customer loyalty. Historically, our subscriptions have provided our new customers with immediate access to the majority of our products and functionality. However, we have added additional add-on products in recent years, such as Weave Payments, which we are increasingly successful at cross-selling to our customer base. We intend to continue to invest in enhancing awareness of our platform, creating additional use cases, and developing more products, features and functionality.
Customer retention also impacts our future financial performance given its potential to drive improved gross margin. The initial onboarding costs as well as the cost of hardware, which is depreciated over three years, represent substantial cost of revenue elements during the first few years of a customer’s life. We believe our disaggregated revenue and cost of revenue financial data, particularly our subscription and payment processing gross margin, provide insight into the impact of customer retention on overall gross margin improvement. Our subscription and payment processing gross margin was 77% and 74% for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Add New Products
We continue to add new products and functionality to our platform, broadening our use cases and applicability for different customers. Our ability to cohesively deliver a deep product suite with as little friction as possible to customers is a key determinant of winning new customers. In short, our ability to add new SMB customers is dependent on the features and functionality we add to our platform for small businesses, particularly in our core specialty healthcare verticals. The depth of our platform’s functionality is dependent upon both our internally-developed technology and our platform partnerships and integrations. We expect our future success in winning new clients to be partially driven by our ability to continue to develop and deliver new, innovative products to SMBs in a timely manner.
Expand to New Industry Verticals
We believe we have built a flexible platform that encompasses the majority of the functionality needed for customer experience and engagement across industry verticals, and we have developed a repeatable playbook for assessing new industry verticals. Entering a new industry vertical includes establishing key partnerships as well as identifying, evaluating, developing, and launching a platform solution with vertical-specific functionality that is integrated with the primary systems of record in that vertical. We started in dental and have since successfully expanded to optometry and veterinary, among other areas. While we are focused on continued growth within our core specialty healthcare verticals and adjacent healthcare markets, we continue to evaluate additional expansion opportunities.
Key Business Metrics
In addition to our financial information that is presented in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”), we review several operating and financial metrics, including the following key metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions.
| December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | ||||
| Number of locations (at period end) | 31,002 | 27,193 | |||
| Dollar-based net retention rate | 95 | % | 99 | % | |
| Dollar-based gross retention rate | 92 | % | 94 | % |
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Number of Customer Locations
We believe the number of customer locations for each year provides us an indicator of our market penetration, the growth of our business and our potential future business opportunities. We measure locations as the total number of customer locations under subscription active on the Weave platform as of the end of each month. A single organization or customer with multiple divisions, segments, offices or subsidiaries is counted as multiple locations if they have entered into subscriptions for each location.
Dollar-Based Net Retention Rate
We believe our dollar-based net retention rate (“NRR”) provides insight into our ability to retain and grow revenue from our customer locations, as well as their potential long-term value to us. For retention rate calculations, we use adjusted monthly revenue (“AMR”), which is calculated for each location as the sum of (i) the subscription component of revenue for each month and (ii) the average of the trailing-three-month recurring payments revenue. Since payments revenue represents the revenue we recognize on payment processing volume, which is reported net of transaction processing fees, we believe the three-month average appropriately adjusts for short-term fluctuations in transaction volume. To calculate our NRR, we first identify the cohort of locations, or the Base Locations, that were active in a particular month, or the Base Month. We then divide AMR for the Base Locations in the same month of the subsequent year, or the Comparison Month, by AMR in the Base Month to derive a monthly NRR. AMR in the Comparison Month includes the impact of any churn, revenue contraction, revenue expansion, and pricing changes, and by definition does not include any new customer locations under subscription added between the Base Month and Comparison Month. We derive our annual NRR as of any date by taking a weighted average of the monthly net retention rates over the trailing twelve months prior to such date.
Dollar-Based Gross Retention Rate
We believe our dollar-based gross retention rate (“GRR”) provides insight into our ability to retain our customers, allowing us to evaluate whether the platform is addressing customer needs. To calculate our GRR, we first identify the Base Locations that were under subscription in the Base Month. We then calculate the effect of reductions in revenue from customer location terminations by measuring the amount of AMR in the Base Month for Base Locations still under subscription twelve months subsequent to the Base Month, or Remaining AMR. We then divide Remaining AMR for the Base Locations by AMR in the Base Month for the Base Locations to derive a monthly gross retention rate. We calculate GRR as of any date by taking a weighted average of the monthly gross retention rates over the trailing twelve months prior to such date. GRR reflects the effect of customer locations that terminate their subscriptions, but does not reflect changes in revenue due to revenue expansion, revenue contraction, or addition of new customer locations.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue primarily from recurring subscription fees charged to access our software and phone services platform, and recurring embedded lease revenue on hardware provided to customers. The majority of these subscription arrangements have contractual terms of month-to-month, with a small minority portion having contractual terms of 1-3 years. Subscription and hardware fees are prepaid and customers may elect to be billed monthly or annually, with the majority of our revenue coming from those that elect to be billed monthly. To incentivize annual payments, we may offer pricing concessions that apply ratably over the twelve-month subscription plan. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 39% and 41% of customer locations elected annual prepayments, respectively. Subscription revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the subscription agreement. Amounts billed in excess of revenue recognized are deferred.
In addition, we provide payment processing services and receive a revenue share from a third-party payment facilitator on transactions between our customers that utilize our payments platform and their
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end consumers. These payment transactions are generally for services rendered at customers’ business location via credit card terminals or through several card-not-present modalities, including “Text-to-Pay” functionality. As we act as an agent in these arrangements, revenue from payments services is recorded net of transaction processing fees and is recognized when the payment transactions occur.
We also collect non-recurring installation fees for onboarding customers, the revenue for which is recognized upon completion of the installation. Our customers may directly engage with third-party independent contractors to configure hardware, install the software and assist with upgrades, for which we do not derive any revenue.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists of costs related to providing our platform to customers and costs to support our customers. Direct costs associated with providing our platform include data center and cloud infrastructure costs, payment processing costs, amortization of finance lease right-of-use assets on phone hardware provided to customers, fees to application providers, voice connectivity and messaging fees and amortization of internal-use software development costs. Indirect costs included in costs of revenue include personnel-related expenses, such as salaries, benefits, bonuses and stock-based compensation expense, of our onboarding and customer support staff. Cost of revenue also includes an allocation of overhead costs for facilities and shared IT-related expenses, including depreciation expense.
As we acquire new customers and existing customers increase their use of our cloud-based platform, we expect that the dollar amount of our cost of revenue will continue to increase. However, our cost of revenue has been and will continue to be affected by a number of factors including increased regulatory fees on texting and phone calls, the quantity and aging of phones provided to customers, our stock-based compensation expense, and the timing of the amortization of internal-use software development costs, which could cause it to fluctuate as a percentage of revenue in future periods.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of sales and marketing, research and development, and general and administrative expenses. Personnel costs are the most significant component of operating expenses and consist of salaries, benefits, bonuses, stock-based compensation and sales commissions. Operating expenses also include allocated overhead costs for facilities and shared IT-related expenses, including depreciation expense.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses associated with our sales and marketing staff, including salaries, benefits, sales commissions, bonuses and stock-based compensation. Sales commissions paid on new subscriptions to our software, phone, and payments services are deferred and amortized over the expected period of benefit, which is determined to be three years. In addition to personnel-related expenses, marketing expenses consist of lead-generating and other advertising activities, in which we bring industry experts together with local practitioners in cities across the U.S. to help them grow their businesses and discuss various industry-based topics, as well as the cost of traveling to and attending trade shows.
We expect that our sales and marketing expenses will increase and continue to be our largest operating expense for the foreseeable future as we grow our business. As and to the extent in-person events and conferences continue to return to pre-pandemic levels of activity, we expect that our sales and marketing expenses will continue to increase compared to 2023. As a percentage of revenue, we anticipate sales and marketing expenses to decrease in 2024 as compared to 2023, and we expect these expenses to continue to decrease as a percentage of revenue over time.
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Research and Development
Research and development expenses include software development costs that are not eligible for capitalization and support our efforts to ensure the reliability, availability and scalability of our solutions. Our platform is software-driven, and its research and development teams employ software engineers in the continuous testing, certification and support of our platform and products. Accordingly, the majority of our research and development expenses result from employee-related costs, including salaries, benefits, bonuses, stock-based compensation and costs associated with technology tools used by our engineers.
We expect that our research and development expenses will increase as our business grows, particularly as we incur additional costs related to continued investments in our platform and products. However, we expect that our research and development expenses will remain fairly consistent or slightly decrease as a percentage of our revenue over time. In addition, research and development expenses that qualify as internal-use software development costs are capitalized and the amount capitalized may fluctuate significantly from period to period.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses for our finance, legal, human resources, facilities and administrative personnel, including salaries, benefits, bonuses and stock-based compensation. General and administrative expenses also include external legal, accounting, and other professional services fees, software and subscription services dedicated for use by our general and administrative functions, insurance and other corporate expenses.
We expect that our general and administrative expenses, including expenses for insurance, investor relations and fees for professional services, will increase in absolute dollars as our business grows but will decrease as a percentage of our revenue over time.
Interest Income
Interest income consists primarily of interest earned on our cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments.
Interest Expense
Interest expense results primarily from interest payments on our borrowings and interest on finance lease obligations. Interest on borrowings is based on a floating per annum rate at specified percentages above the prime rate. Interest on finance leases initiated prior to January 1, 2022 is based on our incremental borrowing rate at the time the agreements were initiated. On January 1, 2022, we adopted the new accounting guidance required by ASC 842 and the interest on all finance leases initiated going forward is based on the rate implicit within the lease agreement.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net primarily consists of gains and losses on short-term investments, foreign currency transactions, and sublease income.
Provision for (Benefit from) Income Taxes
Provision for income taxes consists primarily of income taxes related to foreign and state jurisdictions in which we conduct business. Because of the uncertainty of the realization of the deferred tax assets, we have a full valuation allowance for domestic net deferred tax assets, including net operating loss carryforwards.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 170,468 | $ | 142,117 | ||
| Cost of revenue(1) | 54,377 | 53,276 | ||||
| Gross profit | 116,091 | 88,841 | ||||
| Operating expenses: | ||||||
| Sales and marketing(1) | 70,765 | 65,378 | ||||
| Research and development(1) | 34,040 | 30,714 | ||||
| General and administrative(1) | 45,652 | 42,453 | ||||
| Total operating expenses | 150,457 | 138,545 | ||||
| Loss from operations | (34,366) | (49,704) | ||||
| Other income (expense): | ||||||
| Interest income | 2,196 | 1,155 | ||||
| Interest expense | (1,923) | (1,441) | ||||
| Other income (expense), net | 3,322 | 356 | ||||
| Loss before income taxes | (30,771) | (49,634) | ||||
| Provision for income taxes | (260) | (104) | ||||
| Net loss | $ | (31,031) | $ | (49,738) |
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(1)Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | 971 | $ | 723 | ||
| Sales and marketing | 4,233 | 3,436 | ||||
| Research and development | 5,590 | 4,576 | ||||
| General and administrative | 12,029 | 10,017 | ||||
| Total stock-based compensation | $ | 22,823 | $ | 18,752 |
See Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details.
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The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data expressed as a percentage of revenue for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | ||||
| (percentage of total revenue) | |||||
| Revenue | 100 | % | 100 | % | |
| Cost of revenue | 32 | 37 | |||
| Gross profit | 68 | 63 | |||
| Operating expenses: | |||||
| Sales and marketing | 42 | 46 | |||
| Research and development | 20 | 22 | |||
| General and administrative | 27 | 30 | |||
| Total operating expenses | 88 | 97 | |||
| Loss from operations | (20) | (35) | |||
| Other income (expense): | |||||
| Interest income | 1 | 1 | |||
| Interest expense | (1) | (1) | |||
| Other income (expense), net | 2 | — | |||
| Loss before income taxes | (18) | (35) | |||
| Provision for income taxes | — | — | |||
| Net loss | (18) | % | (35) | % |
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022
Revenue
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 170,468 | $ | 142,117 | $ | 28,351 | 20 | % |
Revenue increased by $28.4 million, or 20%, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the year ended December 31, 2022. Of the total increase, approximately $19.1 million, or 67%, was attributable to new customer locations acquired during the year ended December 31, 2023, and $9.2 million, or 33%, was attributable to existing customer locations under subscription as of December 31, 2022. Customer locations totaled 31,002 and 27,193 as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Cost of Revenue and Gross Margin
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | 54,377 | $ | 53,276 | $ | 1,101 | 2 | % | ||||||
| Gross margin | 68 | % | 63 | % |
The increase in cost of revenue was due primarily to an increase of $0.6 million in personnel-related costs, particularly related to merit increases and new hires, and a $0.5 million increase in direct costs to
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support customer usage and growth of our customer base, including cloud infrastructure costs and fees paid to application providers.
Our gross margin improvement is derived from a favorable customer mix as a greater portion of our customers had fully depreciated phone hardware, and from reductions in third-party costs incurred for specific platform features and overall data usage as part of our cost management efforts.
Sales and Marketing
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | $ | 70,765 | $ | 65,378 | $ | 5,387 | 8 | % |
The increase in sales and marketing expenses was attributable in part to an increase of $2.1 million in personnel-related expenses, driven largely by salary and commission plan adjustments, and stock-based compensation. We also increased demand generation expenses by $1.9 million, particularly with our direct-mail and digital media efforts. In addition, we incurred $1.4 million in additional event-related costs due to increased in-person trade show attendance.
Research and Development
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Research and development | $ | 34,040 | $ | 30,714 | $ | 3,326 | 11 | % |
The increase in research and development expenses was due to an increase of $3.3 million in personnel-related expenses, largely from salary adjustments and stock-based compensation, for employees enhancing our platform infrastructure and developing new product offerings.
General and Administrative
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | $ | 45,652 | $ | 42,453 | $ | 3,199 | 8 | % |
The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to a $4.7 million increase in personnel-related expenses, particularly from additional bonus incentives, salary adjustments, and stock-based compensation. We also experienced increases of $0.5 million in miscellaneous taxes and fees, $0.4 million in bad debt expense, and $0.3 million in dues and subscription costs. These increases were partially offset by a $1.2 million decrease in our director and officer liability insurance premiums, a $1.0
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million decrease in professional fees, and a $0.7 million increase in capitalized internal-use software costs.
Other Income (Expense), Net
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Interest income | $ | 2,196 | $ | 1,155 | ||||||||||
| Interest expense | (1,923) | (1,441) | ||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 3,322 | 356 | ||||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | $ | 3,595 | $ | 70 | $ | 3,525 | 5036 | % |
The increase in interest expense is due to increased average interest rates over the period, which increased the variable interest paid on our credit facility.
The increase in interest income is due to interest generated on our money market securities. The increase in other income (expense), net is largely due to realized gains on our short-term investments and, to a lesser extent, a rise in average interest rates over the period contributed to increases both interest and other income. In addition, Other income (expense), net for 2023 includes income from our office space sublease arrangement.
Provision for Income Taxes
| Year Ended December 31, | Change | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | Amount | Percentage | |||||||||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | $ | (260) | $ | (104) | $ | (156) | 150 | % |
Provision for income taxes increased by an immaterial amount due to increases in operations and other expenses in our foreign jurisdictions. We expect income tax expense to increase in conjunction with growth in our international subsidiaries in the long term.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP, we use free cash flow, free cash flow margin and Adjusted EBITDA, which are non-GAAP financial measures, to enhance the understanding of our U.S. GAAP financial measures, evaluate growth trends, establish budgets and assess operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered by the reader as substitutes for, or superior to, the financial statements and financial information prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. See below for a description of these non-GAAP
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financial measures, reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures and their limitations as an analytical tool.
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities | $ | 10,221 | $ | (12,766) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | $ | (7,739) | $ | (54,026) | ||
| Net cash used in financing activities | $ | (13,723) | $ | (7,207) | ||
| Free cash flow | $ | 6,531 | $ | (15,893) | ||
| Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities as a percentage of revenue | 6 | % | (9) | % | ||
| Free cash flow margin | 4 | % | (11) | % | ||
| Net loss | $ | (31,031) | $ | (49,738) | ||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (7,846) | $ | (27,203) |
Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow Margin
We define free cash flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, less purchases of property and equipment and capitalized internal-use software costs, and free cash flow margin as free cash flow as a percentage of revenue. We believe that free cash flow and free cash flow margin are useful indicators of liquidity that provide useful information to management and investors, even if negative, as they provide information about the amount of cash consumed by our combined operating and investing activities. For example, as free cash flow has in the past been negative, we have needed to access cash reserves or other sources of capital for these investments.
Adjusted EBITDA
We define EBITDA as earnings before interest expense, interest income, other income/expense, provision for income taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Our depreciation adjustment has included depreciation on operating fixed assets and has not included amortization of finance lease right-of-use assets on phone hardware provided to our customers. Our amortization adjustment has included the amortization of capitalized internal-use software costs. We further adjust EBITDA to exclude stock-based compensation expense, a non-cash item. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides management and investors consistency and comparability with our past financial performance and facilitates period-to-period comparisons of operations. Additionally, management uses Adjusted EBITDA to measure our financial and operational performance and prepare our budgets.
Limitations and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for financial information presented under U.S. GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP financial measures versus comparable financial measures determined under U.S. GAAP. For example, the non-GAAP financial information presented above may be determined or calculated differently by other companies and may not be directly comparable to that of other companies. In addition, free cash flow does not reflect our future contractual commitments and the total increase or decrease of our cash balance for a given period. Further, Adjusted EBITDA excludes some costs, namely, non-cash stock-based compensation expense. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the non-cash impact of stock-based compensation expense or working capital needs that will continue for the foreseeable future. All of these limitations could reduce the usefulness of these non-GAAP financial measures as analytical tools. Investors are encouraged to review the related U.S. GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures and to not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
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Free Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow Margin U.S. GAAP Reconciliation
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||
| Revenue | $ | 170,468 | $ | 142,117 | ||
| Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities | $ | 10,221 | $ | (12,766) | ||
| Less: Purchase of property and equipment | (1,691) | (1,895) | ||||
| Less: Capitalized internal-use software | (1,999) | (1,232) | ||||
| Free cash flow | $ | 6,531 | $ | (15,893) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | $ | (7,739) | $ | (54,026) | ||
| Net cash used in financing activities | $ | (13,723) | $ | (7,207) | ||
| Net cash used in operating activities as a percentage of revenue | 6 | % | (9) | % | ||
| Free cash flow margin | 4 | % | (11) | % |
Adjusted EBITDA U.S. GAAP Reconciliation
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (dollars in thousands) | ||||||
| Net loss | $ | (31,031) | $ | (49,738) | ||
| Interest expense | 1,923 | 1,441 | ||||
| Provision for income taxes | 260 | 104 | ||||
| Interest income | (2,196) | (1,155) | ||||
| Other income/expense, net | (3,322) | (356) | ||||
| Depreciation(1) | 2,441 | 2,609 | ||||
| Amortization(2) | 1,256 | 1,140 | ||||
| Stock-based compensation | 22,823 | 18,752 | ||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (7,846) | $ | (27,203) |
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(1) Does not include amortization of finance lease right-of-use assets on phone hardware provided to our customers.
(2) Represents amortization of capitalized internal-use software costs.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since inception, we have financed our operations primarily through cash generated from the sale of subscriptions to our platform, and the net proceeds received from issuances of our equity securities. We have generated losses from our operations as reflected in our accumulated deficit of $262.7 million as of December 31, 2023 and, prior to 2023, have generated negative cash flows from operating activities. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including revenue growth and costs incurred to support customer usage and growth in our customer base, and increased research and development expenses to support the growth of our business and related infrastructure. We expect our operating cash flows to further improve as we increase our operational efficiency and experience economies of scale.
As of December 31, 2023, our principal sources of liquidity were cash held as deposits in financial institutions and cash equivalents consisting of highly liquid investments in money market securities of $50.8 million, as well as $58.1 million in other short-term investments comprised primarily of treasury and commercial paper instruments.
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A substantial source of cash inflow from operating activities is our deferred revenue, which is included on our consolidated balance sheets as a liability. Deferred revenue consists of the unearned portion of billed fees for our subscriptions, which is recorded as revenue over the subscription term. We had $38.9 million of deferred revenue recorded as a current liability as of December 31, 2023. This deferred revenue will be recognized as revenue when all of the revenue recognition criteria are met.
We assess our liquidity primarily through our cash on hand as well as the projected timing of billings under contract with our paying customers and related collection cycles. We believe our current cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments, and amounts available under our senior secured credit facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months.
The following table shows a summary of our cash flows for the periods presented:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||
| Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities | $ | 10,221 | $ | (12,766) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (7,739) | (54,026) | ||||
| Net cash used in financing activities | (13,723) | (7,207) |
Operating Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash provided by operating activities was $10.2 million, primarily consisting of our net loss of $31.0 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $49.3 million, and net cash outflows of $8.1 million provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities. The drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $13.3 million increase in deferred contract costs, comprised primarily of sales commissions earned on new sales, a $3.7 million decrease in operating lease liabilities from payments made, an increase to accounts receivable of $1.4 million, and an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $0.7 million. These amounts were partially offset by a $4.9 million increase in accrued liabilities, $4.8 million increase in deferred revenue due to our prepay arrangements with our customers, and an increase of $1.3 million to accounts payable.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $12.8 million, primarily consisting of our net loss of $49.7 million adjusted for non-cash charges of $46.8 million, and net cash outflows of $9.9 million provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities. The drivers of the changes in operating assets and liabilities were a $12.3 million increase in deferred contract costs, comprised primarily of sales commissions earned on new sales, a $2.5 million decrease in operating lease liabilities from payments made, an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $0.1 million, an increase to accounts receivable of $1.0 million, and an increase of $0.3 million to accounts payable. These amounts were partially offset by a $4.6 million increase in deferred revenue due to our prepay arrangements with our customers, and a $1.8 million increase in accrued liabilities.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $7.7 million, primarily due to $66.2 million in purchases of short-term investments. Additionally, we purchased $1.7 million in furniture, equipment and leasehold improvements, and capitalized $2.0 million of personnel-related costs as internal-use software development.
Cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $54.0 million, primarily due to $50.9 million in purchases of short-term investments. Additionally, we purchased $1.9 million in furniture, equipment and leasehold improvements, and capitalized $1.2 million of personnel-related costs as internal-use software development.
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Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $13.7 million, due to $10.4 million from payments made for taxes related to the net share settlement of equity awards, $10.0 million from principal payments made on our line of credit, and $7.5 million from principal payments made on finance lease obligations. These cash outflows were partially offset by $12.9 million in proceeds received from employee stock option exercises, and proceeds of $1.3 million received from our employee stock purchase plan.
Cash used in financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $7.2 million, primarily due to $8.7 million from principal payments made on finance lease obligations. We also paid $0.7 million in offering costs related to our IPO in November 2021. These cash outflows were partially offset by $1.3 million in proceeds received from employee stock option exercises, and proceeds of $0.9 million received from our employee stock purchase plan.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected.
We believe that of our significant accounting policies, which are described in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in “Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following accounting policies involve a greater degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, these are the policies we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Deferred Contract Costs
Deferred contract costs are incremental costs that are associated with acquiring and fulfilling customer contracts and consist primarily of sales commissions and the associated payroll taxes and certain referral fees paid to independent third-parties. The costs incurred upon the execution of the contracts are primarily deferred and amortized over an expected benefit period, which we estimate to be three years. Significant judgment is used to determine the expected benefit period by taking into consideration the Company’s technology life cycle and an estimated customer relationship period, including expected contract renewals. There have been no changes to this estimated period of benefit during the reporting period.
Stock-Based Compensation
We issue stock options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to employees, consultants, and directors, and stock purchase rights granted under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”) to employees based on their estimated fair value on the date of the grant. For stock options and ESPP, the fair value is estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of RSUs is based on the closing market price of our common stock on the date of the grant. For stock options, the ESPP, and RSUs, the related stock-based compensation is recognized in the consolidated statements of operations using the straight-line attribution method. We recognize stock-based compensation expense over the requisite service period, which is the vesting period of the respective awards. Forfeitures are accounted for when they occur.
Prior to our IPO, the fair value of our common stock on the date of the grant was determined based on independent third-party valuations as there was no public market. Our first RSU grants were made
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effective November 12, 2021 in connection with our IPO and, as such, prior to the IPO we had not recognized stock-based compensation on RSUs.
Changes in the assumptions, which are subjective and generally require significant analysis and judgment to develop, can materially affect the valuation of our equity awards and impact how much stock-based compensation expense is recognized.
Income Taxes
We recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the respective tax bases of our assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using current enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which we expect the temporary differences to reverse. We evaluate the likelihood of any future benefit of deferred tax assets and, based on that evaluation, record a valuation allowance if we determine that a portion of that benefit will not be realized. Our valuation allowance is based on management’s judgment and estimates of future business performance and taxes to be paid. Actual results could differ and may materially impact our financial statements in future periods.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Refer to the notes to our consolidated financial statements within “Part II, Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more details on contractual obligations.
Our principal commitments consist of obligations under the Silicon Valley Bank Credit Facility (discussed below and within Note 11), operating leases for office space (Note 7), finance leases for phone equipment for our solution (Note 7), as well as non-cancellable purchase commitments (Note 10).
Indemnifications
Certain of our agreements with partners, resellers and customers include provisions for indemnification against liabilities should our platform contribute to a data compromise, particularly a compromise of protected health information (“PHI”). We have not incurred any costs as a result of such indemnification obligations historically and have not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2023.
Silicon Valley Bank Credit Facility
In August 2021, we established a revolving line of credit with Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) allowing for total borrowing capacity up to $50.0 million. The borrowing capacity is subject to reduction should we fail to meet certain metrics for recurring revenue and customer retention. Amounts outstanding on the line will accrue interest at the greater of prime rate plus 0.25% and 3.5%. In connection with our 2021 agreement with SVB, a previously outstanding $4.0 million note payable was converted to a deemed advance on the line of credit, and we drew down an additional $6.0 million from the line of credit resulting in a total outstanding balance of $10.0 million. We have made no additional draws on the line of credit since the finalization of our agreement with SVB. We are required to pay an annual fee of $0.1 million beginning on the effective date of the agreement, and continuing on the anniversary of the effective date. We are also required to pay a quarterly unused line fee of 0.15% per annum of the available borrowing amount should the outstanding principal balance drop below $10.0 million (calculated based on the number of days and based on the average available borrowing amount). The line of credit is collateralized by substantially all of our assets. This agreement includes financial covenants requiring that, at any time, if our total unrestricted cash and cash equivalents held at SVB, plus our short-term investments managed by SVB, is less than $100.0 million, we must at all times thereafter maintain a consolidated minimum $20.0 million in liquidity, meaning unencumbered cash and short-term investments plus available borrowing on the line of credit, and that we meet specified minimum levels of EBITDA, as adjusted for stock-based compensation and changes in our deferred revenue. In November 2023, the $10.0 million balance with SVB was repaid
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prior to its maturity. As of December 31, 2023, there was no outstanding balance on the line of credit, the full $50.0 million was available for borrowing, and we were in compliance with all SVB loan covenants.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We did not have during the periods presented, and we do not currently have, any off-balance sheet financing arrangements or any relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, including entities sometimes referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, that were established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes.
Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
For more information, see the sections titled “Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies—Accounting Pronouncements Adopted” and “—Accounting Pronouncements Pending Adoption” in Note 2 of our consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Emerging Growth Company Status
We are an “emerging growth company”, as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies.” We may take advantage of these exemptions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. We have elected to use the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards and as a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. We may take advantage of these exemptions up until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our IPO or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1.235 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700.0 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates (and we have been a public company for at least 12 months and have filed at least one annual report on Form 10-K) or we issue more than $1.0 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.