Highlights
Q4 FY21 Annualised Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $53.6 million increased 28.5% on Q4 FY20
Customer revenue retention was strong at 115.9% underpinning stable and sustainable ARR growth.
Continued customer growth with 51 net new customers onboarded in Q4 FY21 taking total customers to 801; growth of 27.1% on Q4 FY20.
Q4 FY21 cash receipts of $13.5 million; 18.9% higher than Q4 FY20.
Whispir is well-funded to accelerate its growth strategy with a cash and equivalents balance of $49.2 million.
Quarterly performance
Whispir continues to grow ARR, cash receipts and new customers as the structural shift towards digital stakeholder engagement continues across the globe.
Whispir’s Q4 FY21 ARR was $53.6 million representing an increase of 28.5% on the prior corresponding period (pcp) and 6.6% on the March quarter. This quarter on quarter growth was largely driven by existing customers increasing their usage on the Whispir platform.
Customer revenue retention was strong at 115.9% and underpins sustainable ARR growth.
Whispir onboarded 51 net new customers during the Quarter taking total customers to 801 at 30 June 2021; 27.1% growth on pcp. Customer cash receipts in Q4 FY21 were $13.5 million, up 18.9% on pcp reflecting strong underlying business growth and a reduction in receivables.
Operating cash outflows increased by $2.5 million or 22.1% on pcp, due to increased platform usage as well as increased staff costs, both of which reflect increased business activity during the Quarter and ongoing investment to support future growth. As a result, net operating cash outflow was $0.5 million, $0.4 million lower than pcp. Payments to related parties and their associates during the Quarter were $0.3 million. These payments represent Director fees, salaries and related expenses.
The Company enters FY22 in a strong financial position to continue funding its ongoing product development and customer growth – in particular in the attractive North American market – with a strong cash and equivalents balance of $49.2 million at 30 June 2021.
ASX Release Page 2 Commenting on the Quarter, Whispir CEO Jeromy Wells said, “The structural shift by organisations to digital stakeholder communication continues to gain momentum and we are seeing this through new customer sign-ups and increasing usage across our existing customer base.
“To capitalise on this growing demand, we are investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate the development of our data-led product roadmap. Sales and marketing activities also continue to be a focus as we support new and existing customers across all key regions, including our largest market opportunity in North America.”
Sales and channels
Whispir continues to leverage its channel partnerships to cost-effectively acquire new customers across its three key regions. In ANZ, Whispir onboarded a diverse set of new customers in Q4 FY21 including Victoria Police and Worksafe New Zealand. In Asia, OCBC Bank and Property Hub were onboarded. While in North America, where Whispir is focused on the underserved ‘small-to-medium’ enterprises, FPI were onboarded along with the City of Oak Hill.
Mr Wells said, “Our Australian and New Zealand customer base continues to outperform expectations. North America continues to gain momentum while COVID-19 has presented some challenges, and disruption, across parts of our operations in Asia. This isolated regional impact has led to a short-term delay in revenue activation from some newly acquired customers in the region.”
Product Roadmap
Whispir’s product roadmap is focused on building a competitive advantage. This is achieved by increasing engagement and enhancing messaging value for customers.
Throughout Q4 FY21 good progress was made in building prediction, detection and automation capabilities and enhancing platform functionality. The Company completed a range of projects that significantly enhance accuracy for message type prediction and tone of voice analysis and built an algorithm that allows the measurement of engagement across all channels.
Outlook
The Company remains focused on increasing customer numbers, platform usage and revenue performance across ANZ, Asia and North America in line with its long-term growth strategy.
Mr Wells concluded, “We’re focused on leveraging the accelerating structural shift to digital stakeholder communication and delivering upon our longer-term business objectives of scaling our global presence and increasing revenue contribution from our international markets.
“During Q4 Whispir delivered strong ARR and customer growth and made excellent progress across our product development pipeline. We saw business sentiment rebound in North America, as the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out program progressed and strong uptake across Australia and New Zealand. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in Asia temporarily dampened sentiment in the region but we maintain our strong conviction in this market’s growing appetite for digital investment.
“Looking ahead we see substantial opportunity for growth in the underserved North American SME market, and our capital raising earlier in the year positions us well to continue unlocking these opportunities in FY22.”
Whispir will announce its FY21 Results on 25 August 2021.
