FiscalNote Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Exceeds Previous Forecast and Reports Fourth Consecutive Quarter of Positive Adjusted EBITDA While Implementing Accelerated AI Product Strategy and Roadmap 

• Reports Q2 2024 total revenues of $29.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 million⁽¹⁾, both exceeding previously provided forecast
• Records fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, FiscalNote's first year of positive adjusted EBITDA on a trailing LTM basis
• Provides Q3 2024 forecast with total revenues of approximately $29 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2 million; continued focus on profitability, raises and tightens full year adjusted EBITDA forecast, with higher expected full year adjusted EBITDA margins
• Maintains commitment to invest in new products and product enhancements to drive higher customer engagement, retention rates, revenue growth and operating leverage anticipated in 2025
• Board of Directors continues to review all strategic options available to the Company to maximize shareholder value

FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:NOTE) ("FiscalNote" or the "Company"), a leading information services company using AI-driven enterprise SaaS technology to provide global political, legislative and regulatory policy and market intelligence, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024.

These quarterly results mark another quarter of exceeding expected results driven by a blue chip customer base, durable recurring revenue and high gross margins, which form the basis of the Company's increasing adjusted EBITDA and ongoing leadership in delivering AI-enabled policy and market information. The second quarter of 2024 represented a $6.1 million improvement in adjusted EBITDA year over year and marked the fourth straight quarter of adjusted EBITDA profitability for FiscalNote – its first year of positive adjusted EBITDA on a trailing LTM basis. The enhanced adjusted EBITDA profitability and the improved cash position from the previous quarter divestiture of Board.org position the Company strongly for investment and growth in the future.

"During the second quarter, we continued to execute on our accelerated AI product strategy and roadmap, including a new Copilot launch and a successful and impactful AI Product Day that reached both current and prospective customers as well as stakeholders from the investment community," said Tim Hwang, Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of FiscalNote. "We continue to assess avenues to leverage our market leading political, legislative, and regulatory policy data sets for the benefit of our global customers while we pursue our long term growth strategy of increased market share and improving revenue growth and sustained profitability."

Financial Highlights⁽²⁾

Q2 2024 vs. Q2 2023

[Note - All amounts for the three months ended June 30, 2023 include contributions from the Board.org business, which the Company divested on March 11, 2024.]

Second Quarter and Recent Operational Highlights

• Showcased the next stage of AI leadership and innovation during the "AI Product Day 2024" event which highlighted the Company's AI-powered products and accelerated product roadmap and strategy for 2024 and beyond.
• Introduced FiscalNote Copilot for Policy, the second innovative AI Copilot from the Company, designed to enable increased efficiency and impact on policy and legislative workflows for global government affairs professionals.
• Announced a new strategic partnership with Creolytix, integrating the Company's Dragonfly offering with Creolytix's platform to empower enterprises with world-class global intelligence in their risk management programs.
• Launched a new strategic partnership which will integrate FiscalNote's Risk Connector, Dragonfly, and Global Intelligence Copilot products with Empowered Systems' third-party risk management solution platform.
• Announced a series of new and expanded large customer contract agreements with a wide array of leading global corporate enterprises spanning diversified market sectors.
• Unveiled the integration of new AI enhancements to FiscalNote's Fireside offering - the leading all-in-one constituent relationship management SaaS platform - to optimize and streamline the management and responsiveness of lawmaker communications and casework.
• Launched the EU Transposition Tracker to enable global customers to monitor and take action on the transposition of critical EU Directives across the various member states.
• Announced the expansion of its award-winning Roll Call media property to now include data from Factba.se - the go-to trusted AI database for historical and current Presidential remarks - as well as the integration of StressLens, a groundbreaking innovation that equips customers with the real-time ability to decode the human element, to provide users with instant, AI-driven analysis of the Presidential candidates during the 2024 election campaign.
• FiscalNote's Dragonfly offering received Band 1 recognition for global-wide Political Risk in Chambers and Partners' Crisis and Risk Management Guide 2024 for the third consecutive year - one of only two global intelligence companies to attain the highest level of recognition.
• Published its third annual corporate Sustainability Overview for fiscal year 2023, "Our Progress Toward a Sustainable Future: FiscalNote's Sustainability & Social Impact Efforts."

Commenting on the quarter, FiscalNote Chief Financial Officer, Jon Slabaugh, said, "Our second quarter results exceeded our forecast, as we continued to both invest in our product strategy and extract operating efficiencies. Looking ahead, for the full year 2024 we raised and tightened our profitability forecast, reflecting the realization of continued operational efficiencies. At the same time, our results reflect the impact of our focus and reallocation of capital to higher returning products and customer segments to improve margins and profitability. To that end, we continue to make investments in new products and product enhancements, including those featured in our June AI Product Day, which we expect to drive higher customer engagement, retention rates, and revenue growth in 2025 and beyond."

Second Quarter Financial Performance

Revenue⁽²⁾

For Q2 2024, subscription revenue declined $2.4 million, or 8%, versus prior year, due primarily to the impact of the Board.org sale. Excluding the impact of Board.org, subscription revenue increased by $0.8 million, or 3%.

For Q2 2024, advisory, advertising, and other revenue decreased $1.3 million, or 38%, versus prior year, due primarily to the discontinuation of certain non-strategic products and related services. Excluding the impact of Board.org, advisory, advertising, and other revenue decreased $1.0 million, or 31%.

Key Performance Indicators⁽³⁾

*Pro forma RRR and Pro forma ARR adjusts prior periods for the impact of the divestiture of Board.org.

As of June 30, 2024, RRR declined $14 million, or 10%, versus prior year, principally due to the impact of the divestiture of Board.org. Excluding Board.org, RRR is flat compared to June 30, 2023.

As of June 30, 2024, ARR declined $11 million, or 9%, versus prior year, principally due to the impact of the divestiture of Board.org. Excluding Board.org, ARR increased approximately $2 million, or 2%, compared to June 30, 2023.

As of June 30, 2024, NRR was 98%, level with the prior year six month period as of June 30, 2023.

Operating Expenses⁽²⁾

In Q2 2024, operating expenses decreased versus prior year, primarily due to the sale of Board.org, ongoing operating efficiency measures instituted throughout 2023 and 2024, as well as the costs associated with sunset products. On a pro forma basis, excluding amortization expense, stock-based compensation, and the impact of the sale of Board.org, operating expenses decreased approximately $6 million, or 16%.

Financial Forecast

Continuing the Company's focus on profitable growth, the Company has updated its financial forecast for full year 2024 and issued its initial forecast for Q3 2024. In both instances, such forecasts reflect management's expectations based on the most recent information available. After FiscalNote marked the fourth straight quarter of adjusted EBITDA profitability, marking FiscalNote's first year of positive adjusted EBITDA results on a trailing LTM basis, the Company expects 2024 to deliver its first full calendar year of adjusted EBITDA profitability in the Company's history.

Full Year 2024

Q3 2024

The forecast raises and tightens full year Adjusted EBITDA as the Company continues to focus on reallocating resources towards higher returning sources of revenue and investments in improving retention rates, margins and profitability among our subscription customers. Additionally, the revision to total revenues for the full year reflects the impact to the second half of 2024 from recently experienced lower than expected rates of customer retention driven by a number of factors, including macroeconomic headwinds and delays in the launch of certain product enhancements. While these impacts have temporarily led to slower than expected ARR growth, the Company expects continued investments in product innovation and platform investments focused on improved customer experience to drive higher customer engagement, retention rates and, as a result, revenue growth and improved operating leverage as it progresses through the second half of 2024 and into 2025. The Company expects to accelerate growth rates in 2025 as it re-allocates sales and product resources to high-performing offerings and realizes the benefits of its recent product and organizational initiatives.

Strategic Review

As previously announced, following the formation by the Company's Board of Directors (the Board) of a Special Committee (the Committee) in November 2023, and receipt of inbound interest, the Board and the Committee along with their advisors continue to review the Company's ongoing plans and evaluate all strategic value-maximizing options available to the Company. There can be no assurance that the strategic review will result in any transaction or other outcome. The Company has not set a timetable for completion of the review and does not intend to disclose developments or provide updates on the progress or status of the review unless and/or until it deems further disclosure is appropriate or required. Centerview Partners LLC and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP continue to be retained by the Company as independent advisors to the Committee.

Conference Call, Presentation Supplement, and Webcast Information

The Company management will host a conference call at 5:00 pm ET today, Thursday, August 8, 2024, to discuss these financial results.

LIVE

• By phone
• Dial for the U.S. or Canada 1 (800) 715-9871 or for International 1 (646) 307-1963 and enter the conference ID 2431537.
• By webcast
• Visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

REPLAY

• By phone (available through Thursday, August 22, 2024)
• Dial for the U.S. or Canada 1 (800) 770-2030 or for International 1 (647) 362-9199 and enter the conference ID 2431537.
• By webcast
• Visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

Footnotes

About FiscalNote

FiscalNote (NYSE:NOTE) is a leader in policy and global intelligence. By uniquely combining data, technology, and insights, FiscalNote empowers customers to manage political and business risk. Since 2013, FiscalNote has pioneered technology that delivers critical insights and the tools to turn them into action. Home to CQ, Dragonfly, Oxford Analytica, VoterVoice, and many other industry-leading brands, FiscalNote serves thousands of customers worldwide with global offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. To learn more about FiscalNote and its family of brands, visit FiscalNote.com and follow @FiscalNote.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or FiscalNote's future financial or operating performance. For example, statements regarding FiscalNote's financial outlook for future periods, expectations regarding profitability, capital resources and anticipated growth in the industry in which FiscalNote operates are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "pro forma," "may," "should," "could," "might," "plan," "possible," "project," "strive," "budget," "forecast," "expect," "intend," "will," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue," or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include FiscalNote's ability to achieve and sustain organic growth; changes in FiscalNote's strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenue and losses, forecasts, projected costs, prospects and plans; FiscalNote's future capital requirements; FiscalNote's ability to service its repayment obligations and maintain compliance with covenants and restrictions under its existing debt agreements; demand for FiscalNote's services and the drivers of that demand; FiscalNote's ability to provide highly useful, reliable, secure and innovative products and services to its customers; FiscalNote's ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers, expand its products and service offerings with existing customers, expand into geographic markets or identify areas of higher growth; any cost reduction initiatives undertaken by FiscalNote; FiscalNote's ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and services, and subsequently grow acquired businesses; risks associated with international operations, including compliance complexity and costs, increased exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, political, social and economic instability, and supply chain disruptions; FiscalNote's ability to develop, enhance, and integrate its existing platforms, products, and services; FiscalNote's estimated total addressable market and other industry and performance projections; FiscalNote's reliance on third-party systems and data, its ability to integrate such systems and data with its solutions and its potential inability to continue to support integration; potential technical disruptions, cyberattacks, security, privacy or data breaches or other technical or security incidents that affect FiscalNote's networks or systems or those of its service providers; FiscalNote's ability to obtain and maintain accurate, comprehensive, or reliable data to support its products and services; FiscalNote's ability to introduce new features, integrations, capabilities, and enhancements to its products and services; FiscalNote's ability to maintain and improve its methods and technologies, and anticipate new methods or technologies, for data collection, organization, and analysis to support its products and services; competition and competitive pressures in the markets in which FiscalNote operates, including larger well-funded companies shifting their existing business models to become more competitive with FiscalNote; FiscalNote's ability to protect and maintain its brands; FiscalNote's ability to comply with laws and regulations in connection with selling products and services to U.S. and foreign governments and other highly regulated industries; FiscalNote's ability to retain or recruit key personnel; FiscalNote's ability to effectively maintain and grow its research and development team and conduct research and development; FiscalNote's ability to adapt its products and services for changes in laws and regulations or public perception, or changes in the enforcement of such laws, relating to artificial intelligence, machine learning, data privacy and government contracts; adverse general economic and market conditions reducing spending on our products and services; the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings; FiscalNote's ability to successfully establish and maintain public company-quality internal control over financial reporting; the ability to adequately protect FiscalNote's intellectual property rights; and the possibility that the strategic review undertaken by the Board of Directors does not result in any transaction or other outcome or that any outcome is disruptive to operations and impacts financial performance.

These and other important factors discussed in FiscalNote's SEC filings, including its most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, particularly the "Risk Factors" sections of those reports, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by FiscalNote and its management, are inherently uncertain. Nothing in this press release should be regarded as a representation by any person that the forward-looking statements set forth herein will be achieved or that any of the contemplated results of such forward-looking statements will be achieved. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. FiscalNote undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures to clarify and enhance our understanding, and aid in the period-to-period comparison, of our performance. Where applicable, we provide reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the corresponding most closely related GAAP measure. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure. While we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information, non-GAAP financial measures have limitations and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, their most comparable GAAP measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies due to potential differences in their financing and accounting methods, the book value of their assets, their capital structures, the method by which their assets were acquired and the manner in which they define non-GAAP measures.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin

We define Adjusted Gross Profit as Total Revenues minus cost of revenues, including amortization of capitalized software development costs and acquired developed technology, before amortization of intangible assets that are included in costs of revenues. We define Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as Adjusted Gross Profit divided by Total Revenues.

We use Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends. We believe these metrics are useful measures to us and to our investors to assist in evaluating our core operating performance because they provide consistency and direct comparability with our past financial performance and between fiscal periods, as the metrics eliminate the non-cash effects of amortization of intangible assets that may fluctuate for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. They should not be considered as replacements for gross profit and gross profit margin, as determined by GAAP, or as measures of our profitability. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using non-GAAP measures only for supplemental purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as presented herein are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP financial measures. EBITDA represents earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA reflects further adjustments to EBITDA to exclude certain non-cash items and other items that management believes are not indicative of ongoing operations. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by Total Revenues.

We disclose EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin herein because these non-GAAP measures are key measures used by management to evaluate our business, measure our operating performance and make strategic decisions. We believe that EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are useful for investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as management. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as substitutes for net income (loss), net income (loss) before income taxes, or any other operating performance measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. Using these non-GAAP financial measures to analyze our business would have material limitations because the calculations are based on the subjective determination of management regarding the nature and classification of events and circumstances that investors may find significant. In addition, although other companies in our industry may report measures titled EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin or similar measures, such non-GAAP financial measures may be calculated differently from how we calculate non-GAAP financial measures, which reduces their comparability. Because of these limitations, you should consider EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin alongside other financial performance measures, including net income and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin

The following table presents our calculation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin for the periods presented:

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

The following table presents our calculation of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin for the periods presented:

Key Performance Indicators

We monitor the following key performance indicators to evaluate growth trends, prepare financial projections, make strategic decisions, and measure the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts. Our management team assesses our performance based on these key performance indicators because it believes they reflect the underlying trends of our business and serve as meaningful measures of our ongoing operational performance.

Annual Recurring Revenue ("ARR")

Approximately 90% of our revenues are subscription based, which leads to high revenue predictability. Our ability to retain existing subscription customers is a key performance indicator that helps explain the evolution of our historical results and is a leading indicator of our revenues and cash flows for subsequent periods. We use ARR as a measure of our revenue trend and an indicator of our future revenue opportunity from existing recurring subscription customer contracts. We calculate ARR on a parent account level by annualizing the contracted subscription revenue, and our total ARR as of the end of a period is the aggregate thereof. ARR is not adjusted for the impact of any known or projected future customer cancellations, upgrades or downgrades, or price increases or decreases. The amount of actual revenue that we recognize over any 12-month period is likely to differ from ARR at the beginning of that period, sometimes significantly. This may occur due to timing of the revenue bookings during the period, cancellations, upgrades, or downgrades and pending renewals. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue as it is an operating metric and is not intended to be a replacement or forecast of revenue. Our calculation of ARR may differ from similarly titled metrics presented by other companies.

Run-Rate Revenue

Management also monitors Run-Rate Revenue, which we define as ARR plus non-subscription revenue earned during the last 12 months. We believe Run-Rate Revenue is an instructive indicator of our total revenue growth, incorporating the non-subscription revenue that we believe is a meaningful contribution to our business as a whole. Although our non-subscription business is non-recurring, we regularly sell different advisory services to repeat customers. The amount of actual subscription and non-subscription revenue that we recognize over any 12-month period is likely to differ from Run-Rate Revenue at the beginning of that period, sometimes significantly.

Net Revenue Retention ("NRR")

Our NRR, which we use to measure our success in retaining and growing recurring revenue from our existing customers, compares our recognized recurring revenue from a set of customers across comparable periods. We calculate our NRR for a given period as ARR at the end of the period minus ARR contracted from new clients for which there is no historical revenue booked during the period, divided by the beginning ARR for the period. We calculate NRR at a parent account level. Customers from acquisitions are not included in NRR until they have been part of our consolidated results for 12 months. Accordingly, the 2022 and 2023 Acquisitions are not included in our NRR for the three months ended June 30, 2023. Our calculation of NRR for any fiscal period includes the positive recurring revenue impacts of selling additional licenses and services to existing customers and the negative recognized recurring revenue impacts of contraction and attrition among this set of customers. Our NRR may fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the growing level of our revenue base, the level of penetration within our customer base, expansion of products and features, and our ability to retain our customers.

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