Artificial Intelligence

Appier records its first profitable year and forecasts profitable growth for 2023

Published

1 year ago

February 13, 2023

Wladimir P.

Highlights and achievements for fiscal year 2022
- Annual revenue increased to 19.4 billion yen with a 53% YoY growth rate, surpassing previous guidance of 19.2 billion yen
Full-year operating profit target reached one year ahead of schedule, with operating margins at 0.3% and improving by 9 percentage points YoY
Annual gross profit accelerated to 60% YoY, with a gross margin of 51.5%, more than tripled in the last 4 years
Revenue from US and EMEA markets increased over 7 times YoY and represented 12% of total revenues

Guidance for fiscal year 2023

Forecast of 31% (34% on FX neutral basis) increase in YoY revenue growth to 25.5 billion yen and gross profit growth is expected to surpass revenue growth at 35% YoY due to further gross margin improvement.
Increase in operating income by around 10 times to 535 million yen and further improve operating margin to 2.1%
Continuous geographic and vertical expansion, along with ROI-driven solutions and further product synergies for better up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, to be key growth drivers in FY23
Continued growth of AI trends to drive further business growth

Highlight and achievements of Q4 FY22

Revenue increased by 47% YoY and hit a historical high of 5.8 billion yen
Annual recurring revenue YoY growth rate further increased from 46% to 53%
Gross profit reached 56% YoY growth with a record-high gross profit of 3 billion yen
Attained both EBITDA margin and operating margin improvement of 6 percentage points YoY
Grew customers by 26% YoY, alongside a low customer churn rate of 0.62%

Closing out the year with a stellar performance

Appier Group Inc (TSE: 4180), henceforth referred to as Appier, today announced its fiscal and fourth-quarter earnings results for the year ended 31 December 2022. Appier closed out the fiscal year of 2022 achieving a full-year operating profit for the first time, one year ahead of schedule from its FY23 target, with a revenue increase of 53% YoY at 19.4 billion yen. This year marks growth acceleration for Appier for four years in a row, as annual gross profit more than tripled in the last four years to accelerate to 60% YoY. EBITDA margin rose to 7%, keeping the company on a strong trajectory toward its 2025 financial targets.

Appier’s strong performance was attributed to the continuous expansion of its customer base both regionally and vertically, alongside robust product synergies and successful customer retention through up-sell and cross-sell strategies. Northeast Asia (63%) continued to reach high growth despite a large revenue base, while revenues in Greater China (20%) were mainly driven by vertical growth. US and EMEA (12%) continue to be a key growth driver with a larger total addressable market (TAM), as it increased its revenue over 7 times YoY in the fiscal year.

The company’s further expansion to more diversified verticals led to stronger growth acceleration. The Digital Content (gaming, entertainment, e-books, and online streaming) vertical grew significantly with 10 percentage points YoY increase in FY22 to constitute 38% of total revenues, only second to Ecommerce (43%), then followed by Other Internet Services ^[1] (12%) and Consumer Brands and BFSI (7%). Strong demand from these digital-first industries will continue as they place digital strategies at the forefront of their transformation under the new normal post-COVID.

In addition to growing the total number of customers by 26% in FY22, Appier’s higher business efficiency also resulted in a higher customer Lifetime Value (LTV) at 64% YoY and a lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) at -12% YoY. The higher LTV was driven by a lower churn rate of customer revenue and higher gross profit per customer; while the lower CAC was driven by lower expenses on new customer acquisition and a higher number of net new customers.

The successful transfer from the Mothers segment to the Prime segment on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in December 2022 is also a significant testament to the sophisticated organization with strong growth and good corporate governance.

A strong quarter to close out a profitable year

Appier’s revenue in Q4 grew at a rate of 47% YoY to record a historical high of 5.8 billion yen, reaching a gross profit of 56% YoY growth. Operating margins reached 137 million yen, providing a strong tail end to close out a profitable fiscal year 2022. The company also retained a low customer churn rate of 0.62%.

“2022 has been a year of growth acceleration for Appier. We achieved full-year profitability one year ahead of schedule and tripled our revenue and gross profit in four years. These great results reflect that the market is responding well to the first-party data trends and our ROI-driven solutions powered by AI,” said Dr. Chih-Han Yu, CEO and Co-Founder, Appier. “2023 is an important year for exciting developments in AI. Supporting customers to gain the most value from AI trends and technologies through their digital transformation journeys remains a key priority for us. With the current trajectory that Appier is on, along with our core value of innovative technology enhancement, a customer-centric mindset, and prudent M&A approach, we are confident that we are on the right track to reach our targets this year.”

Strong business momentum for future growth

Appier’s 2023 guidance comes with forecasted annual revenue growth of 31% (34% on FX neutral basis) to reach 25.5 billion yen. The overall outlook for 2023 is optimistic, with annual gross profit growth of 35% YoY, an operating income increase of around 10 times to 535 million yen, and an EBITDA profit of 2.34 billion yen with a 72% YoY growth rate. The company also targets to achieve operating margins of 2.1% following its strong business momentum.

Looking ahead to FY23, Appier is confident about the future. The influence of first-party data trends and new technologies in AI, alongside the company’s strategic geographical and vertical expansions, and its focus on cutting-edge innovation, are set to consolidate demand for Appier’s solutions that turn customers’ marketing investments into measurable returns.

Generative AI: Enlarge the TAM from decision-making to content creation

The exponential growth of Generative AI and its potential has widened the space for MarTech applications. AI is not only empowering productivity through marketing automation and decision-making, but it is also tapping into the fields of idea generation to explore user insights and content creation to generate more creative materials for campaign usage. As Generative AI is expected to lead the next wave of AI accelerations and streamline marketing workflows, Appier keeps integrating advanced technologies to create cutting-edge solutions to bring value to customers and ensure that the company stays at the forefront of the AI SaaS space.

Artificial Intelligence

Saviynt Appoints James Ross as RVP-ANZ to Strategically Accelerate Growth in the Australia and New Zealand Region

Published

22 mins ago

May 21, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

saviynt-appoints-james-ross-as-rvp-anz-to-strategically-accelerate-growth-in-the-australia-and-new-zealand-region

LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Saviynt, a leading provider of cloud-native identity and governance platform solutions, today announced the appointment of James Ross as RVP-ANZ as the company has seen rapid growth in the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) region, with double digit growth year over year.

Saviynt has solidified its position as a key player in the cloud identity security landscape with its Identity Cloud. The company’s continued focus on innovation and client satisfaction has contributed significantly to building a safer Australia with prominent customers across the energy and utilities, finance, retail, energy, and transport and logistics sectors.
“James’ appointment as the Regional Vice President (RVP) for ANZ marks a strategic move to accelerate growth and solidify market presence in the region,” said Dan Mountstephen, SVP APAC at Saviynt. “With a proven track record of dynamic leadership at Collibra, ForgeRock, and CA Technologies, James brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. His visionary approach and collaborative spirit are poised to inspire and mobilize teams toward ambitious targets.”
Saviynt has consistently expanded its client base and deepened its relationships with existing customers through customized solutions and unparalleled support, cementing its reputation as a trusted partner in the region’s cybersecurity ecosystem. As RVP ANZ, Ross is set to foster key partnerships and implement agile strategies to propel the company towards new heights of success in the dynamic ANZ market.
“Joining Saviynt excites me because it’s an opportunity to help more organizations simplify their identity ecosystem in order to drive efficiencies and improved security posture. I am committed to leveraging Saviynt’s cutting-edge solutions to continue to broaden our partnerships in the region to improve our accessibility for customers, strengthen our regional delivery, whilst continuing to provide a great customer experience,” said Ross.
To learn more about Saviynt, please visit our website.
About Saviynt
Saviynt empowers enterprises to secure their digital transformation, safeguard critical assets, and meet regulatory compliance. With a vision to provide a secure and compliant future for all enterprises, Saviynt’s cutting-edge solutions have been recognized as industry leaders. For more information, please visit www.saviynt.com.
Press Contact
Jacklyn [email protected]
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Artificial Intelligence

Appdome Sweeps Cybersecurity Excellence Awards

Published

6 hours ago

May 21, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

Unified Mobile Defense Platform Recognized for Innovation and Leadership Across Nine Cybersecurity Categories
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Appdome, the mobile app economy’s one-stop shop for mobile defense, today announced it has received a total of nine (9) Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. The Appdome Unified Mobile App Defense Platform was awarded best in class across nine categories in recognition of the comprehensive breadth, depth and value of the Appdome platform to brands and enterprises alike.

“We congratulate Appdome on being recognized as an award winner in 9 categories of the 2024 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards,” said Holger Schulze, CEO of Cybersecurity Insiders and founder of the 600,000-member Information Security Community on LinkedIn, which organizes the 9th annual Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. “With over 600 entries across more than 300 categories, the awards are highly competitive. Appdome’s achievement reflects outstanding commitment to the core principles of excellence, innovation, and leadership in cybersecurity.”
Within a single pane of glass, Appdome delivers the most complete set of no-code, no-SDK, fully automated mobile defenses to mobile brands and enterprises, empowering mobile developers, cybersecurity, fraud and IT teams to deliver on any mobile cyber objective quickly and easily.
The nine (9) categories in which Appdome received a Cybersecurity Excellence Award are:
Mobile Security Platform: Appdome is the only enterprise-grade mobile security platform built for full mobile defense lifecycle management, visibility and control to brands and enterprises alike, including key features for build, test, release, monitor, response, and compliance automation. Mobile Security Automation: Appdome is the only mobile defense solution that uses machine learning to code and build over 300+ mobile app security, anti-fraud, anti-cheat, anti-malware, anti-bot, geo-compliance and other defenses in Android & iOS apps in the DevOps pipeline.Mobile Social Engineering Defense: The Appdome Social Engineering Prevention solution is the first of its kind to protect mobile users from voice phishing (Vishing) scams and other imposter scams, T.O.A.D. attacks, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), Gold Pickaxe, FaceID bypass and more without an SDK or external servers.Mobile Bot Defense: The Appdome MOBILEBot™ Defense solution is the first mobile anti-bot solution to come out of the box compatible with any industry standard web application firewall (WAF) on the market and provide multi-layered bot, credential stuffing and Account Take Over (ATO) defense without an SDK, external server, performance limits, or restrictions.Mobile Geo Compliance: Only the Appdome Mobile Geo-Compliance solution guarantees accurate and authentic geo location of mobile devices, applications and users without code or coding in the mobile app, without implementing an SDK and without deploying additional servers.Mobile XDR: The Appdome ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR solution is the only mobile attack and threat monitoring service that comes pre-packaged into the mobile defense lifecycle, requires no device agent, device profile, separate code, coding, SDK or server, and provides real-time detection and automated response across internal (employee facing) and external (consumer facing) Android & iOS apps.DevOps Mobile Security Tool: The Appdome platform’s fully integrated Security Release Management™ capabilities and Appdome Certified Secure™ mobile DevSecOps certification offer the only true enterprise-grade compliance assurance, audit and control for mobile defense at brands and enterprises, allowing quick verification that all security, anti-fraud and compliance objectives have been met. Mobile Application Security: With 300+ separate defenses for mobile apps, Appdome has the most comprehensive set of mobile application security features available in one product, fully compatible with all mobile Android & iOS apps.”Nine Cybersecurity Excellence Awards for Mobile Defense tells a very compelling story for the incredibly complex Dev, Sec, and Ops challenges organizations face detecting and defeating mobile-based risks and attacks,” said Chris Roeckl, Chief Product Officer at Appdome. “Point products make these challenges worse by adding complexity and overloading already taxed cyber and engineering teams. Appdome is the only platform simplifying work, bringing all these unique challenges under a single pane of glass, delivering 300+ protections and simultaneously resolving the security, fraud, resilience and compliance challenges brands and enterprises face.”
Learn more about the award-winning Appdome Platform at www.appdome.com or request a personalized demo at https://www.appdome.com/request-a-demo/appdome-home/
The full list of awards are available from the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards website https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/
About AppdomeThe Appdome mission is to protect every mobile app and mobile user in the world. Appdome provides the mobile industry’s only Unified Mobile App Defense platform, powered by a patented mobile coding engine, Threat-Events™ Threat-Aware UX/UI Control, and ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR. Using Appdome, mobile brands eliminate complexity, ship faster and save money by delivering 300+ Certified Secure™ mobile app security, anti-malware, anti-fraud, mobile anti-bot, anti-cheat, geo compliance, MiTM attack prevention, code obfuscation, social engineering and other protections in Android and iOS apps with ease, inside the mobile DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. Leading ﬁnancial, healthcare, government and m-commerce brands use Appdome to protect Android and iOS apps, mobile customers and mobile businesses globally. Appdome holds several patents including U.S. Patents 9,934,017 B2, 10,310,870 B2, 10,606,582 B2, 11,243,748 B2 and 11,294,663 B2. Additional patents pending.
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Artificial Intelligence

Courageous Whistleblowers Reclaim Derogatory Terms As Data Shows 80% of Financial Professionals Stay Silent on Suspected Internal Fraud, Fearing Retaliation

Published

8 hours ago

May 21, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

Enron whistleblower, Sherron Watkins, alongside stars of Apple TV’s The Big Conn, Sarah Carver and Jennifer Griffith, reclaim derogatory labels for whistleblowers Concerning new data shows more than half of financial professionals in the UK and US have spotted or suspected internal fraud in their workplaces, yet four out of five stay silent fearing retaliation 32% of professionals in finance have seen whistleblowers victimized behind their back or to their faceJACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — New data from fraud detection software company Medius shows more than half of financial professionals in the UK and US (56%) have spotted or suspected internal fraud in their workplaces yet four in five (81%) stayed silent. When asked why, 45% of professionals cited the fear of recrimination.

Whistleblowers Sherron Watkins, Sarah Carver and Jennifer Griffith have joined forces to reclaim the derogatory names they were called after reporting serious internal financial fraud.
To help empower others to come forward, the whistleblowers are reclaiming the terms “snitch”, “rat” and “traitor”.
Sherron Watkins is the former Vice President of Enron Corporation who alerted the CEO to accounting irregularities, warning the organization “‘might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.” Watkins received national acclaim for her courageous actions and TIME magazine named her along with two others as their Persons of the Year in 2002, calling them simply ‘The Whistleblowers.’
Sarah Carver and Jennifer Griffith are the stars of Apple TV’s The Big Conn after they exposed a fraud scheme of more than $550 million while employed at the Social Security Administration. In efforts to silence their disclosures, they experienced multiple acts of severe retaliation and were denied protection. Ultimately, both Carver and Griffith were forced from employment.
Concerns of repercussions are vindicated – the survey reveals the extent to which financial professionals in the UK and US have witnessed negative consequences for whistleblowers firsthand:
59% have seen whistleblowers subsequently left out of important decisions 33% have seen whistleblowers moved to a different team 32% have heard whistleblowers called derogatory names behind their backs or directly to their faceWhen asked what would encourage them to flag suspicious activity, 93% of workers surveyed would feel more comfortable doing so if they had more evidence, yet nearly half (48%) said the legal system simply does not adequately protect whistleblowers.
Jim Lucier, CEO at Medius, a leading global provider of cloud-based accounts payable automation and spend management solutions, said:
“White collar crime is on the rise and no organization is safe. Employees are the last line of defense against fraud but confidence to report suspicious activity is declining. AI anomaly-detection technology can provide employees with the evidence and assurances they need to be more forthcoming. Building a culture where employees feel comfortable to report their suspicions could save organizations millions in the long-run.”
Medius works with over 4,000 customers across 102 countries and processes $200 billion in annual spend. It uses the power of AI and automation to detect fraud the moment invoices are submitted safeguarding against bad actors and potential threats, internal and external.
Sherron Watkins, whistleblower who was called a “snitch”, said: “When someone is troubled by corporate wrongdoing and they attempt to sound the alarm, the pathway is uncharted, things happen organically. Normal rational people speak about their concerns with their closest friends and work colleagues, who often suggest staying safe saying “keep your head down, if you must report, go soft, nothing black and white.” Yet black and white evidence is what is needed to get the attention of those in power, either internally or with media or outside watchdog groups to prevent or stop fraudulent activity.”
Jennifer Griffith, whistleblower who was called a “traitor”, said: “Choosing to blow the whistle involves more than just the desire to right a wrong. It’s about protecting their employers from fraud. However, it’s more often than not seen as causing trouble for the employer, or as a self-serving action to get a financial reward. No one who chooses to blow the whistle expects to have their reputation attacked, their credibility impugned or to lose their job. The cost of ignoring a whistleblowers complaints are far greater than acknowledging that a problem exists and taking steps to fix it. It’s been 19 years since I blew the whistle and the problems that existed then with the Social Security Administration still exist today. We must do more to protect whistleblowers.”
Sarah Carver, whistleblower who was called a “rat”, said: “The government’s attempt to conceal the fraud resulted in exacerbated damage, whereas a more prudent approach would have entailed immediate acknowledgement and rectification upon initial disclosure. The retaliatory measures aimed at silencing me made me stronger and fight harder to find someone to listen and stop the fraud.”
Georgina Hallford-Hall, CEO of Whistleblowers UK, said: “Too many organisations talk the talk but fail to engage with whistleblowers often at great cost to both. Technology used properly can remove the fear that both organisations and whistleblowers have about dealing with whistleblowing because it removes the person and focuses on the concerns or malfeasance. WhistleblowersUK are calling on the UK government to introduce an Independent Office of the Whistleblower to protect everyone from discrimination setting standards that end stigmatisation and discrimination making it safe to speak up.”
The billboard advertising campaign runs on Wall Street from Saturday, 18th May to Friday, 24th May 2024.
For more information about how Medius can prevent fraud, visit: https://www.medius.com/whistleblowing/
Notes to Editor
Methodology
The research was conducted by Censuswide with 1500 financial professionals in the UK and US (aged 18+) between 04/22/24 – 05/07/24. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles and are members of The British Polling Council.
For more information, please contact:
Fight or Flight for [email protected] / +44 330 133 0985
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
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