Dubber Corporation Limited (ASX: DUB) (‘Dubber’ or ‘the Company’), the leading global Unified Call Recording & Voice Intelligence cloud platform which provides innovative world leading products directly via Service Provider networks, today released its report on the Company’s operating activities along with the Appendix 4C for the quarter ended 31 March 2022.
Highlights within the Quarter:
- ARR increased by $5.1m QoQ to $55.1m (62% pcp)
- Revenue for 12 months to March 2022 was $33.7m consistent with reported ARR at March 2021
- Revenue increased by $900,000 QoQ to $9.25m (40% pcp)
- Cash receipts increased by $2.9m QoQ to $8.5m
- Net cash outflows decreased by $7.1m
- Dubber subscribers exceed 540,000
- Launch of Notes by Dubber at Mobile World Congress
- Finalised multiple network UCR agreement with TDC Nuuday of Denmark
- Established core infrastructure for acceleration of future growth
- Dubber is fully funded with in excess of $97.5m cash on hand
- A video update is available at the following link: Dubber Quarterly Update
Continued growth in key metrics, reduction in cash outflows, expansion of Total Addressable Market
The March quarter saw the Company continue to grow its customer base and revenues, scale its core infrastructure to accelerate future growth while reducing cash outflows.
Most of the Company’s activities were conducted in the UK, Europe and North America and saw shifts in foreign exchange rates. For reasons of comparative performance evaluation, a constant currency comparison has been added to applicable metrics.
Subscribers
In a quarter which is typically subject to seasonal fluctuations due to telecommunications service provider ’embargo’ periods, the Company added $5.1m to its Annualised Recurring Revenue, reflecting growth of circa 10% in the quarter via a combination of ‘standard’ SaaS and Foundation Partnership subscriptions. On an adjusted basis, which takes into account foreign exchange fluctuations, the Company has ARR of $55.1m. ($56.8m on a constant currency basis).
The Company’s ‘standard’ SaaS subscriptions grew organically by over 30,000 during the quarter and the Company was able to secure Foundation Partner agreements whereby a Dubber service is embedded as a standard feature of every subscription on a network. As previously stated, the Company continues a policy of not including Foundation Partner Program subscriptions in its overall numbers for reasons of consistency and commercial sensitivity. The Company will continue to re-assess its reporting of these subscriptions on an ongoing basis.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
The Company’s ARR is calculated as the next 12 months of subscription revenue net of any incentives. Demonstrating this, the Company reported an ARR number of $34m to the ASX on 29 April 2021, with actual revenue for the 12 months to March 31 2022 of $33.7m in-line.
The Company advises that its December 2021 Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) figure reported in the Company’s most recent investor presentation contained an item of professional services revenue, which was non-recurring, thereby creating an incorrect expectation of $450k of actual revenue in the March quarter. The reported ARR was correct. For commercial reasons, the Company reached an agreement with a major global service provider, whereby it would provide a subsidy in Q3 FY22 as part of offsetting cancellation costs associated with the migration of a substantial legacy recording customer base to Dubber. Quarterly revenue relating to this service provider is forecast to be in excess of $700k. The Company’s current reported ARR is unaffected and as previously stated is expected to generate ~$55.1m revenue over the next 12 months to 31 March 2023.
Revenue
Revenue for the quarter grew by over $900,000 to $9.25m ($9.85m on constant currency basis), an increase of 40% pcp. Total Operating Revenue for FY2021 was $20.33m, this has been surpassed in the third quarter with the Company recognising revenue in excess of $25.6m for FY2022 to date.
Cash Receipts, Net Outflows and Current Position
Cash receipts for the quarter were $8.5m ($9m on constant currency basis) to bring receipts for FY2022 to $23m.
The Company was able to significantly reduce its net cash outflows without impacting its underlying growth strategy. Net cash outflows were reduced by $7.1m compared with the previous quarter as a result of the combination of increased receipts and reduction of previously reported extraordinary items including those relating to the establishment of future growth infrastructure. The March quarter also included some extraordinary items over core operating costs and are outlined in Notes to Appendix 4c (below).
Closing cash balance at 31 March was in excess of $97.5m ($97.8m constant currency), providing excellent balance sheet strength and demonstrating that the Company’s long-term business plans remain fully funded.
The Company’s core operating cost structure does not relate to maintaining its current revenue levels but, rather, to enable future accelerated growth against its operating plan.
Use Case Diversity and Total Addressable Market
Dubber’s business plan disrupts traditional legacy recording models in that it is a uniquely scalable platform served from the source of the calls, the communications network, as opposed to on-premise, hosted and/or contact centre infrastructure. Dubber’s customers are the carriers of communication traffic, the Service Providers, and, once available, the Dubber services can be switched on immediately as a network service without any deployment delays or associated costs.
Dubber, therefore, has a substantially broader addressable market than legacy providers where there is a strong perception and reality that call recording is aimed primarily at compliance and regulatory requirements for the financial services sector. Dubber is capable of, and will continue, to serve this sector but its business philosophy and platform allows for the ability to capture all calls and convert those calls into a usable and content rich source of data.
To Dubber, call recording, as a standalone product, is merely one of the use cases in the long-term business model. To date the Company reports user numbers largely associated with call recording solutions, however its end user customer base is significantly broader than strict compliance, with financial services customers reflecting 11% of the total customer base, currently.
The expansion of business operations and delivery of advanced product offerings such as ‘Notes’ creates an opportunity whereby the total addressable market is the entire customer base of a connected network with the potential for multiple services in each account.
To date, Dubber has experienced zero ‘churn’ with regards to network connectivity and, almost without exception, the Dubber Platform is the only recording service connected to the networks with which we operate. Expansion of network footprint remains a priority for the Company, augmented by the continual release of additional revenue generating products and services to the core network capability.
Agreement with TDC Nuuday
During the quarter, the Company finalised an agreement with TDC Nuuday, the national carrier of Denmark. The agreement provides for the Dubber platform to be connected to multiple networks including mobile and Unified Communications, and the migration of existing recording users to the Dubber platform, delivering Unified Call Recording for Nuuday customers. The agreement also establishes a footprint for Dubber in the Nordics, an area of focus for additional expansion.
‘Notes’ by Dubber released at Mobile World Congress
A landmark event for Dubber was the release of ‘Notes’ which coincided with the Company’s attendance of Mobile World Congress, the premier annual event for mobile network operators. A common theme at the event was the appetite for carriers to seek innovative solutions which generate revenue and provide differentiation in a sector which has traditionally been underpinned by utility models relating to price and data usage.
‘Notes’ by Dubber, enables calls on a network to be transcribed with AI outcomes delivering a comprehensive capability which automates typical note taking requirements, providing speaker separation and identification, topics discussed, action items and calendar/meeting co-ordination. As a stand-alone product ‘Notes’ has appeal for all users of a network across all demographics, meaning that the Dubber platform services enjoy a Total Addressable Market of potentially every user on a given network.
The Dubber Platform has attained recognition as the industry standard and the desire to turn communication across an entire mobile network into a usable and previously untapped data source is a compelling proposition for mobile network operators. The Dubber Platform has a unique capability to deliver on these industry requirements and the Dubber brand resonates with carriers, representing proven reliability, capability and innovation.
‘Notes’ by Dubber was also a core product demonstration for Samsung at the event, highlighting the advanced user experience with the Samsung flip phone range.
‘Notes’ is a standalone product which is available as a Foundation Partner solution, an individual product or in conjunction with other Dubber services from the Dubber Platform, however, the underlying data is the fundamental asset from which Dubber’s network data capability can be expanded with unlimited use cases and revenue potential for the Company, its service provider partners, and their end user customers.
The ‘Notes’ launch is a landmark step towards the original business philosophy of the Company, namely that the Dubber Platform is capable of delivering ‘AI for every phone.’
Dubber’s Unique Position with Global Unified Communications Service Providers
Dubber continues to maintain a unique and valuable position in the Global Unified Communications sector where its products are offered as a standard feature of every Cisco Webex Calling subscription and a unique capability for Unified Recording via Microsoft Teams service providers.
The Company continues to benefit from this position in terms of its current and near-term user growth and aims to establish deeper commercial relationships with both Cisco and Microsoft accordingly.
Scaling the business
As previously reported, the Company has focussed on building its business operations to a scale which is commensurate with its opportunities and, indeed, its platform capability. During the quarter, the Company continued to successfully integrate the business operations of acquired companies Speik and Notiv, expanding the team and product capability. The Company has been successful in attracting world class talent to fill key roles, many of whom have held significant roles with major organisations including some of our service provider partners.
The Company’s business plan includes significant operating leverage from its single global cloud infrastructure which can deliver gross margin at ‘Cloud’ scale when utilisation is achieved.
The scaling of the business has not been achieved to maintain current and near-term recording revenues relating to that business mode but, rather, to accelerate Dubber’s future position as a global presence following the capital raise in July 2021.
The Company now comprises approximately 260 employees, up from 160 at the same time last year.
Notes to the Appendix 4C
Cash outflows for the quarter were subject to a decreased number of extraordinary items, in line with the Company’s upscaling of operations which included:
- Payment of $1.35m for PAYE relating to previous periods as per an agreed ‘Covid Relief’ payment structure. This appears in line 1.2(e) of the Appendix 4C attributed to Staff Costs
- Technical Consultants which appears in line 1.2(a) Research and Development
- Continued investment into footprint infrastructure including in Australia and the UK to accommodate new FTEs as shown in line 2.1(c) of the Appendix 4C
The amounts shown at line 6.1 of the Appendix 4C relate to director fees and salaries. The expenditure incurred on the activities described in this report are materially salaries and operating costs set out in the Appendix 4C.
Steve McGovern, CEO, Dubber:
“The Company was able to maintain its growth trajectory established in the last year, in a quarter which is typically seasonally challenging due, largely to Service Provider embargoes which restrict ‘adds, moves and changes’ to network infrastructure over the year end/new year period. Growth continues across the entire business when compared with the full year results for FY2021.
“Underpinning our financial results, we have built a core operating team which has strength across the business, including the successful integration of the Speik and Notiv business units and their teams. This will enable us to develop the Company towards our goal of becoming a significant global operator in our field. The commitment to the development of platform capability and release of additional revenue generating products will accelerate the Company’s performance against its original 5-year plan, which was largely based on continuing to sell recording services to additional carrier customers.
“We have largely borne the infrastructure costs associated with our growth plan and were able to significantly reduce cash outflows during the quarter, without restricting those plans. Our investments into cloud infrastructure in previous quarters should provide economies of scale which will enable greater gross margins as we increase our utilisation of the Dubber Platform.
“The over-riding belief of the Company is that we are well positioned, with great capability at scale, at a time when our Service Provider customers are seeking value added service revenue in the face of potentially stagnating or declining utility revenues.
“Service Providers carry enormous amounts of content rich data in their calls and communications. To date, this rich source of commercially valuable data has remained untapped. As Service Providers seek to derive value from that content, Dubber is uniquely positioned and fully funded with a technology and brand which has enabled us to establish ourselves in a market leading position.”
This ASX release has been approved for release to ASX by Steve McGovern, CEO & Managing Director.
