M+E Daily

Veritone executives are optimistic that the company will continue to grow, both organically and through acquisitions, and expand into additional business segments, they said Feb. 3, during the webinar “Veritone Customer Showcase – AI Solutions for Media and Entertainment.”

The webinar started with an artificial intelligence-generated avatar version of Chad Steelberg, Veritone CEO and chairman, showcasing the strides that have been made in the company’s technology.

“We are taking a major step forward yet again for this company in terms of both growth and scale but also growing more organically and through strategic M&A,” according to Ryan Steelberg, Veritone president.

“Our current guidance for 2021 is going to show significant year-over-year growth of over 82 percent on a consolidated basis, and we’re going to end this year with a run rate that’s going to approach $180 million of revenue,” he told investors and other viewers.

The company also expects to report a profitable fourth quarter and positive cash flow for the quarter that “could have a meaningful impact for the entire year bottom line” of Veritone, he said.

Veritone’s aiWARE enterprise AI platform “continues to advance” with services being provided to businesses of all types and maturity, he noted.

The company has over 500 total employees that now includes a “significant presence in Israel, which we intend to invest in and staff and build into a world-class AI and development hub,” he told viewers.

Veritone, meanwhile, now has “hundreds of customers” across multiple vertical markets, he said.

New Financing to Help Growth

Recently, to help Veritone “continue to further accelerate our growth and provide us the means to look at future strategic acquisitions,” it raised about $175 million in the public markets, Ryan Steelberg disclosed.

Later in the webinar, Veritone CFO Michael Zemetra provided more details, saying the convertible financing deal with Bank of America and UBS was executed last week. Although it was “initially targeted at $150 million,” it was “subsequently upsized to $175 million,” he said.

The financing will help the company grow more aggressively by “accelerating our organic growth and growth from future acquisitions,” Zemetra said.

Strong Initial 2022 Momentum

“We’ve had great momentum so far this year,” according to Drew Hilles, SVP of commercial sales, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and enterprise at Veritone.

SaaS has seen year-to-date growth of 62%, while application growth was up 25% year over year and international growth was up 40%, he said, adding: “We’ve seen great traction internationally.”

Meanwhile, 21% of customers are using multiple Veritone services through aiWARE or applications, he noted.

“Our vision has always been to land and expand, and now we’re ready to explode in scale into more companies, larger accounts and new verticals,” he told viewers.

“We quickly expanded, via aiWARE, into more use cases [and] more media applications,” he noted, adding: “aiWARE allows us to operationalize in a company and that’s where we’re starting to see some real enterprise growth.”

Veritone is “getting into bigger accounts, Fortune 500 companies, Fortune 1000 companies and new verticals,” he said.

After focusing initially on the media and entertainment and government sectors, Veritone is “now scaling into” consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail, and “I look forward to sharing some of those successes with you next time,” he added.

PandoLogic Acquisition Update

Veritone announced in July it would acquire New York City-based PandoLogic, which operates an AI-powered, fully autonomous recruiting platform, in a cash-and-stock purchase of $150 million. PandoLogic’s talent acquisition software is used by many Fortune 100 companies, according to Veritone.

The acquisition closed in September.

PandoLogic shares the goal with Veritone of delivering better outcomes for people using AI, Terrance Baker, PandoLogic CEO, said during the Feb. 3 webinar.

“The synergies of our platforms are already being realized,” Brian Alger, SVP of corporate development and investor relations at Veritone, said when the company turned to provide a financial update during the webinar. “We see crossover opportunities into the Fortune 100 customers,” he added.

During the Q&A, Alger said Veritone was “very optimistic” about PandoLogic growth and expanding into more types of businesses, such as healthcare and small businesses.

More Projections

Providing additional financial forecasts, Veritone CFO Michael Zemetra told viewers: “We are projected to eclipse $100 million in annual revenue for the first time since our inception.”

While Government & Regulated Industries (GRI) growth was “modest” year over year in Veritone’s most recent quarter, he said it was “significant sequentially” compared to the prior quarter.”

Veritone has a “substantial pipeline of growth” in GRI and expects it “will become a more material part of our growth and revenue contribution,” he added.

The webinar also provided investors with an opportunity to hear from Veritone customers and partners, including details on how organizations including Audacy, Babbel and the San Francisco Giants are leveraging Veritone AI solutions to digitally transform their businesses.

The webinar will be provided again on Feb 8. To register, click here.