Blend Labs Q2 2023 Earnings Report $3.19 0.00 (0.00%) Closing price 04/9/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$3.20 +0.01 (+0.31%) As of 04/9/2025 06:37 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Blend Labs EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.16Consensus EPS -$0.19Beat/MissBeat by +$0.03One Year Ago EPSN/ABlend Labs Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$42.82 millionExpected Revenue$39.98 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$2.84 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/ABlend Labs Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2023Date8/9/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, August 9, 2023Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningsBlend Labs' Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryBLND ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Blend Labs Q2 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrAugust 9, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon and welcome to Blend's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Winnie Ling and I'm Head of Legal for the company. Leading today's call are Neema Gamsari, Co Founder and Head of Blend and Amir Jafari, our Head of Finance and Administration. After the prepared remarks, our team will take questions moderated by our Investor Relations Lead, Brian Mikileski. You can find the supplemental slides on our Investor Relations webpage at investor. Operator00:00:28Blend.com. During the call, We will refer to certain non GAAP measures which are reconciled to GAAP results in today's earnings release and in the appendix to our supplemental slides. Non GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for GAAP results. Also, certain statements made during today's conference call regarding Blend and its operations, In particular, its guidance for 2023 may be considered forward looking statements under federal securities laws. The company cautions you that forward looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties and a number of factors, many of which are beyond the company's control could cause actual results, events or circumstances to differ materially from those described in these statements. Operator00:01:12Please see the risk factors we have identified in our most recent 10 ks, 10 Qs and other SEC filings. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements if conditions change, except as required by law. I'll now turn the call over to Neema. Speaker 100:01:29Thanks, Winnie, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second quarter results exceeded expectations for the Q2 in a row, Demonstrating continued progress on our strategic priorities. Even amidst a tough market, we are deepening wallet share with our mortgage customers And our Blend Builder platform, a key driver of our growth strategy, is gaining traction, unlocking efficiencies and speeding time to revenue for both us And our customers. And with that, we're accelerating on our path to profitability. We outperformed the top end of our total company revenue guidance Following the strong performance in our mortgage suite of services as well as our growing revenue diversification as we begin to deploy our builder enabled consumer banking product lines to more customers. Speaker 100:02:15I'm also encouraged to see this translate into a pipeline of nearly 40 opportunities between our mortgage and consumer banking products, Even as market conditions remain dynamic. In Q2, we saw this increase as our customers began to crystallize their budgets for the upcoming year, Keeping our sales efforts in full swing. So far in 2023, we've deployed 18 consumer banking products. This translated into strong results from our Blend Platformer segment, which also exceeded the high end of our prior guidance and we improved our software margin meaningfully quarter over quarter on top of that. We have also taken significant steps to streamline and improve how we operate as a company and we're seeing these savings show up in our results in a meaningful way. Speaker 100:03:00As a result, in Q2, we surpassed the 50% operating loss reduction target we set last year And we did it 2 quarters ahead of our original goal. This is a testament to our focus on execution regardless of the operating environment. On top of that, there's more work being done on the efficiency side, which you may have seen from our additional cost reduction announcement effective today. We also achieved 2 sequential quarterly reductions of non GAAP operating expenses since the start of the year And have lowered our expense rate by nearly $100,000,000 on an annualized basis since this time last year. We did this all while maintaining the high quality of service and support our customers expect from Blend, and we're just getting started on leveraging the efficiencies that Blend Builder can provide us. Speaker 100:03:51To wrap up the highlights, we know that exceeding well in the current environment will pay dividends as market conditions improve. We have a great customer base that continues to grow and we continue to expand those customers' use of our products, all the while Blend Builder is live and enabling With that, let's cover our 3 company priorities for the year and how we're progressing on our mission Let's start with our first key strategic priority, Which is to support our mortgage customers through a very challenging period. Mortgage rates are at 23 year highs and origination volumes are sobering as a result. This is a real headwind for our customers and for Blend. But we aren't planning around a recovery. Speaker 100:04:38We are planning to be profitable in this type of environment. That leaves us with 2 things in our control on the revenue side. 1 is helping our customers grow market share by getting the most value they can out of our core product. And the second is providing accretive add ons to drive even more value per unit to our customers and more revenue to Blend. And we're seeing that play out in practice in our customer base today. Speaker 100:05:011st, many customers who leverage our technology to power their businesses continue to outperform the broader And as a result, they are taking more market share. We only report market share biannually due to lag in the metric and the timing of the measurements of the industry size, But you've seen us grow there. And because we continue to roll out new value add features like soft credit pulls and our Spanish language intake form and things like Condition sync which drive efficiency, our customers largely renew with us with more value and at higher prices. On top of that, our add on products such as Blend Close and Blend Income deliver meaningful improvements in cost and time to close rates. Especially in a margin pressured environment, these gains are front of mind for mortgage customers who want to deliver the highest quality experience at the lowest cost to their customers. Speaker 100:05:52And in aggregate, these things ultimately are reflected in our growing mortgage REIT revenue per transaction, Which increased to $93 in Q2 from $77 in the same period last year. So while short and medium term macro headwinds persist, We're focusing on what's in our control, driving adoption and utilization growth of our value add features, maintaining strong retention and growing our mortgage market share, All while continuing to set the foundation for our next generation mortgage products on the builder platform. But this is only one of our bright spots, which leads me to the 2nd big priority for the year, growing adoption of our builder enabled consumer banking products. In 2023 alone, as I said earlier, we've deployed 18 consumer banking products and 25 since Q2 of last year. And we're already seeing revenue growth from these rollouts in our consumer banking suite revenue. Speaker 100:06:47In addition, our customers are interested and they see the value and Blend Builder. We have an active backlog of over a dozen projects underway, which will continue to drive incremental growth as these rigs go live and ramp over time. And while we continue to see market environment lengthening our sales cycles, the level of pipeline that we see gives us a high degree of confidence And the long term outlook for Blend and Blend Builder and our ability to transform the banking space. And just as our builder platform generates value for our customers, there are also several other positive outcomes for our business. I'll let Amir cover this in more detail, But overall, we are seeing the benefits that a platform model has in improving the stability and diversification of our revenue profile and lengthening our customer relationships with us As they make longer and larger commitments. Speaker 100:07:38And that will become apparent in our growing remaining performance obligation. In all, over the past decade, we became a leader in innovation, establishing a stronghold in the mortgage market, Winning leading market share with quality financial institutions and expanding across the entire consumer banking portfolio, all while developing and strengthening The transformational Blend Builder platform that will propel our mission forward. And now as we enter our next chapter In which we shift from building to deploying, we are in a position to leverage the efficiency of the Blend Builder to deliver more innovation per dollar for our customers, Which brings me to our 3rd priority, our path to profitability. Now that Builder is scaled across many of our customers And as our primary internal development tool for new products, Blend is foundationally set up to be more efficient. We can innovate on Builder and order of magnitude faster and with marginal cost. Speaker 100:08:36As a quick example, one of our larger long time clients in the unsecured loan origination space Came to us with around 40 new feature enhancement requests as they try to navigate a complicated macro. We scoped the work to add this to our original platform and those 40 features would have taken 6 or more months to do across multiple people to implement. In addition, some of the requests were specific to that client, making it difficult to support because we have a standardized product. And so overall, this path would have taken significant resources and cost and led to a less than happy client. Fortunately, we had already been in the process of migrating that client to our builder platform and we scoped the 40 enhancement requests on the new platform ahead of that go live. Speaker 100:09:23Not only were many of these features simple configurations, but the one specific to that client were handled by our professional services team as configurations in their unique environment, Allowing us to keep our gold standard product suite standardized while offering the customer the flexibility they need. This meant that the entire request list or almost the entire request QuestList could be done in weeks and at a much, much lower cost. Our customers can be more successful, happier and at a lower cost with Blend. In short, Builder allows for a fundamental shift in our operating model. It has been a big investment to get here, But the leverage it gives us sets us up well for the next decade. Speaker 100:10:05So what does this mean practically? Well, today we announced a few key changes in support of this to further accelerate our path to profitability and make the most of that platform. First, this ability to build products faster and cheaper allows to deliver more innovation per dollar that we spend. And we have tightened our research and development spend going forward as a result. We believe we can do this without sacrificing innovation And in fact, in some areas, increase our pace of innovation and new product development. Speaker 100:10:35And as a side note for investors, Please come to our Investor Day in September, which is directly after our customer conference, Blend Forum, where we'll be announcing some new products. But we aren't stopping there. We're also reducing and focusing our sales and marketing spend around the Blend Builder platform and the related mortgage investors for our customers. We know sales efficiency matters and the market is tight and we're paying very close attention to how we spend our sales and marketing dollars Making sure we get the best ROI. And this overall simplified organization as a whole has meaningful effects on the required corporate support In our general and administrative functions, leading to further lowering costs in those areas. Speaker 100:11:17But while the reductions we are announcing today are sizable, They are targeted to the areas I just mentioned. And importantly, there are certain areas we're not touching. For example, our customer support and customer success teams Largely remaining intact and in some cases growing because we want to be responsive to customers who are navigating a very complicated macro situation. And professional service and integration are very important to work through the backlog of customer rollouts, which drive more value to them and more revenue to blend. I also want to address our title business. Speaker 100:11:52We have achieved a number of goals with this business over the past couple of years by digitizing key parts of the title process. We've also significantly improved the cost structure and operating model for title for turning it to positive gross margins despite record low volumes. With the steps we've undertaken to date, including today, we are on track to return the title business to positive non GAAP operating profit contribution within the next several quarters. This is now a more sustainable business for us with operating leverage potential as the refi market ultimately returns. We remain committed to our title business and our customers. Speaker 100:12:27And as a result of all of these efforts across Blend, we're even leaner and more focused today. We expect that these actions will further accelerate our path to profitability and we expect those savings to start materializing in our bottom line in Q3. And because of our overall long term foundational investments with Blend Builder, we believe we can not only be profitable with this expense base, But we can continue to innovate, grow our customer base and our product suite, ultimately expanding our addressable market even further. Now let me turn it over to Amir to talk through our key numbers for Q2 and our guidance for the next quarter. Speaker 200:13:06Thank you, Neema, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be joining you today to discuss our financial results for the Q2. As Neema highlighted, we delivered another great quarter executing ahead of our targets both for revenue and non GAAP operating loss. We are also continuing to take the necessary steps that allow us to both control our own future and ensure we achieve our long term goals, including our path to profitability. As I jump into the results, let me just remind you that unless otherwise stated, all results are non GAAP. Speaker 200:13:40Total company revenues in the 2nd quarter were $42,800,000 outperforming the top end of our outlook by 4%. We reported platform revenue of $30,300,000 which was 8% ahead of guidance. We credit this outperformance to 2 dimensions. First, our customer base is demonstrating resilience in a tougher origination environment by gaining share in a market where volumes were a little better than we expected. 2nd, our customers are demonstrating faster adoption and go live of Blend's add on products. Speaker 200:14:13Similar trends are benefiting our consumer banking suite revenue As our backlog converts to new deployments reaching go live at a time when the industry is seeing stronger than expected personal loan volumes. Our mortgage banking suite revenue declined by 17% year over year to $22,300,000 despite the origination environment declining 37 over the same period as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association. As we gain traction with the customers through Continued adoption of add on products, coupled with the customer renewals and new logos, we are generating improved mortgage suite revenue per transaction. Our fee per funded loan rose to $93 from $0.77 in the same period last year. Our consumer banking suite revenue totaled $5,800,000 in Q2, an increase of 27% as compared to the prior year period. Speaker 200:15:08This growth reflects new deployments and ramp ups on the Builder platform over the past year, particularly our home equity solution. We also generated $2,200,000 of professional services revenue, up 10% from last year due to fees associated with consumer banking deployments. We reported title revenue of $12,500,000 in line with our expectation amidst the challenging refinance environment. Moving on to gross profit. Total company non GAAP gross profit was $23,800,000 down only 8% from Last year against a 35% decline in total revenue. Speaker 200:15:44Non GAAP platform gross margins improved meaningfully, Reaching 74% compared with 61% a year prior. Looking specifically at Blend's platform performance, Gross profit on a dollar basis increased 9% despite a 37% decrease in market origination volume over the same period. This is strong evidence that our software platform business model combined with the cost optimization and efficiency programs we've undertaken are materially improving our ability to generate We also reported record non GAAP software gross margins of approximately 81% in the 2nd quarter, up from 73% for the same period last year. Our gross margin expansion reflects the benefit of increased higher margin consumer banking suite revenues as As well as the vendor optimizations we've implemented within our mortgage suite. Effectively, we are lowering the cost to power the origination of the same loan, While delivering more value for customers through add on products, which in turn is driving higher per loan funded loan rates. Speaker 200:16:49Q2 gross margin performance demonstrates that we remain well ahead of our target ranges for this year. While gross margins can fluctuate a bit quarter to quarter, Partly due to the differences in timing of certain expenses, we expect 2023 will remain strong and we believe 80% is an achievable run rate for our software business by next year. I also want to point out the progress we've made evolving our professional services model to realize the benefits of In our title segment, we made great progress this quarter to align the cost to deliver this service in a very low refinance volume environment. We achieved our goal of returning to positive gross margins in Q2 and have undertaken additional actions to further support our operating profitability goals for this business. As Neema mentioned, we've executed a business process redesign that focuses title on becoming a profitable entity that will operate sustainably and is ready for scale. Speaker 200:17:54Some of these undertakings include: 1st, reducing processing times by leveraging technology and workflow enhancements that translates to productivity gains measured by orders Process per associate second, implementing a flatter organization structure and reducing the span of control And third, optimizing our utilization of lower cost resources, including our in house offshore team. We believe these measures will return title to positive operating profit within the next several quarters even with the current market conditions. Non GAAP operating costs for the 2nd quarter totaled $41,600,000 compared with $65,300,000 in the previous year. We are delivering on our operational excellence goals at a faster rate than expected. The actions we announced in January of 2023 are now fully realized. Speaker 200:18:42We successfully executed against every target as now evident in our financial results. At the same time, as we've directed more organizational effort towards our platform strategy, we also launched a deeper examination into areas where we felt we have more opportunity You're seeing that in the restructuring initiatives we announced today, which are expected to reduce our operating expenses an additional 33,000,000 On an annualized basis. We're confident this was the right time to take these actions as we move expeditiously from Blend's first phase to Phase 2. As builder deployments accelerate, we are structuring our operating model to support customer growth, rapid deployment and outstanding service With a goal of achieving operating excellence across the company. Additionally, our builder platform enables us to continue our pace of innovation much more efficiently serving both our mortgage and consumer banking customers. Speaker 200:19:36I want to reiterate a point Neema made here as well. The changes that we have made were designed to not have any impact on the level of service our customers expect from us or the speed at which we can deploy these solutions for them. We have always wanted to align our success with our customers, and this remains core to us as we enter the second phase. We believe these changes have put our business in a position to maximize value for our customers and shareholders as the market conditions improve. Putting all of this together, our non GAAP loss from operations was $17,900,000 versus $39,500,000 in the prior year. Speaker 200:20:11This step function improvement reflects the velocity of our strategic actions as I described a moment ago. This surpasses our $20,000,000 net operating loss target for Q4 2023, 2 quarters ahead of the target we established this time last year. This achievement is a testament to our evolving operational focus and commitment to execution Regardless of the operating environment, this gives us strong confidence we are well on our way to reaching our next goal of becoming a profitable company next year. The business is positioned to benefit from higher revenue, better margins and now much greater financial leverage. I'm encouraged that as performance optimization becomes Core to our culture, we are finding new ways to do this better every day. Speaker 200:20:53This new culture and the ability to leverage the investment we made in our platform is what has enabled us to accelerate the The achievement of the ambitious operating loss targets we established last year and drive us to profitability faster than we had initially thought possible. We are making an incredible amount of progress, and we are excited to share more details about how this informs our long term outlook for Blend at our Investor Day in late September. Now turning to our balance sheet. Our cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities Inclusive of restricted cash totaled $278,000,000 as of the end of the second quarter. With the actions we've undertaken, we remain confident our business remains well I also want to note that our remaining performance obligations topped $50,000,000 this quarter at $53,200,000 at the end of Q2. Speaker 200:21:47As we've discussed on recent calls, our business model is evolving constructively as part of our broader transition to a platform first organization. Generally, as our customers add more products at renewal, they are increasingly entering into platform deals with longer and larger commitments. This strengthens the foundation of our customer relationships and importantly brings 2 primary economic benefits for Blend. First, we are increasing the stability of our future cash flows by adding a recurring SaaS like fee while retaining the upside associated with our consumption based model. 2nd, we believe this shift in payment terms should improve our overall free cash flow with more fees being paid in advance. Speaker 200:22:26We are at the beginning of this shift. And as we migrate to the platform model with more customers, you will see the growth in RPO and free cash flow benefits in our financial performance. We are encouraged by the stability of the business and the results we've seen to date. That said, industry and macro conditions related to the mortgage origination market remain highly uncertain And that is reflected in our guidance for Q3. We expect platform revenue to be between $27,000,000 $30,000,000 in Q3 2023. Speaker 200:22:54We expect our title business revenue to be between $11,000,000 $12,000,000 Our total company revenue outlook is prior quarter and a greater than 50% improvement year over year. We expect to continue to see sequential improvement in our operating loss through the balance of this year And believe our strong business performance and cost actions we've undertaken have accelerated us reaching our non GAAP profitability goal earlier in 2024 than originally planned. With that, let me turn the call back to Neema for his closing remarks. Speaker 300:23:40Thanks, Amir. We are exiting this quarter feeling energized About our position and our opportunity. I'm proud of the accelerated progress we've made on our 2023 priorities and our path to profitability. We still have more work to do. And while we cannot control the market, we can control how we deliver for customers to help them optimize performance and build for the future. Speaker 300:24:04If we continue to focus on this objective, we will strengthen Blend's business and performance as well. With that, thank you again for joining. Brian, we are now ready for questions. Speaker 400:24:19Thank you, Neema and Amir for your remarks. We'll now turn to the Q and A portion of the call. Our first question comes from Michael Ng of Goldman Sachs. You can unmute and please go ahead. Speaker 500:24:32Hey, good afternoon. Thank you very much for the question. I just have 2 both on gross margins. You saw a lot of gross margin trends in the quarter, 81% in software, and you talked about the higher margin consumer banking suite and vendor optimizations in mortgage. I was just wondering if you could expand on both those points. Speaker 500:24:55Is there something inherent in consumer banking that Gives it a higher margin than mortgage. And then within the vendor optimizations, are you just using Different or less expensive like API tools, what exactly is that vendor optimization? And then I have a second question, Which is just about the trajectory of gross margins for the rest of the year. Amir, you talked about 80% software gross margins for next year, But is this 81% gross margin for the rest of the year a good way to think about the back half? Thanks. Speaker 200:25:37Thanks, Michael. I think a few follow ups that will just help give you a little bit of clarity for the questions. The best way to think about what we did on gross margins and the It's more so from just a structural shift that we're able to execute against with Builder, 1st and foremost. So that ties it to your question with regards to what we see in the consumer banking space and the margin upside that we're seeing from a mix perspective. For the follow-up aspect of it with regards To just vendors, it's not so much that we're changing the APIs. Speaker 200:26:05It's just we're continuing to optimize how the we our shift in essence, this one notion that we talk about from Phase 1 Phase 2 in the platform, it enables us to actually allow us to be lower cost in certain aspects of the business, which also then enable us to drive higher margins. The last part of your question, yes, I think again to the prepared remarks, what we stated is we feel very comfortable that in 2024 we'll be able to execute at these levels on a Speaker 100:26:32System basis? Yeah. Just and just one note from a product perspective, Michael. On the consumer banking side, there are fewer the products That are offered in terms of how banks offer these products are simpler, and so there's fewer vendors that we bundle in together. So, yes, it's structurally higher margin, But our mortgage product has, you know, additional margin opportunity as well as we optimize the vendors under the hood. Speaker 500:26:54Great. Thank you, Neema. Thanks, Sameer. Speaker 400:26:59Our next question comes from Matt Stottler with William Blair. You can unmute and please go ahead. Speaker 600:27:06Hey there, thanks for taking the questions. Just 2 for me. 1, good to see the revenue per transaction in mortgage suite increase year over year. I was down a little bit sequentially, so I'd love to just get some color on the dynamics that can influence that in a quarterly basis, how You're thinking about that in the second half of the year. The second question would be, just an update on attach rate with newer products like blended income. Speaker 600:27:31An update there would Speaker 200:27:36Let me start with the PFO just to help. I think what you're seeing is really just Movements from a timing and a mix perspective quarter over quarter. What we stated last quarter is that we expect it to be in the mid to high 80s. We're again, we're executing ahead of that. We're seeing strong adoption of the value add on solutions that we're providing just given the value that they add. Speaker 200:27:54So that's what's driving the upside on the 93. And And then for the second part of the question, if you can just repeat that one more time and I'll answer it. Speaker 600:28:03Sure. Just looking for an update on the attach rate that you're seeing with newer products Blend income, Speaker 200:28:08you know Speaker 600:28:09what that's looking like in the installed base at this point and where that can go? Speaker 200:28:12Yes, absolutely. Well, I think again, we haven't shared the attach rate very specific To blend income, but what you're able to see is the follow through of blend income and also what we do, for example, with Close and some of our other solutions, The ability to actually allow us to attach to what we do in terms of renewals with our existing mortgage customers, it's those two outcomes together that are actually driving an increase in our funded loan rates And to the first part of your question. So we're seeing stronger attract just adoption in general. We're seeing it come through in terms of the results and what you saw this quarter in terms of the 90s week. Speaker 600:28:45Got it. Thank you. Speaker 400:28:48Our next question comes from Joe Mears from Truist. You please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 700:28:54Hey guys, thanks for taking the question. I appreciate it. Earlier in the quarter, you announced the availability of Soft credit functionality, noting that it saves lenders $50 per file. I'm just curious how How this is trending so far? Do you have any early customer feedback and if there's any pricing uplift from this feature? Speaker 100:29:15It's a feature that's built into our platform today, and it's just a you know, we always try to add new functionality for our customers, and that's what creates more value for them. And ultimately, When it comes to renewal time, if we're creating more value, they're often willing to renew with us at higher rates. So you're kind of seeing that in our customer base today. So we don't charge extra for that feature. And it's very important. Speaker 100:29:36What basically, the thing it solves is Not only cost, but additionally, it's also a conversion because there's this concept called trigger leads in the industry. It's a hot topic in the Mortgage Bankers Association Where when you get your credit pulled for a mortgage somewhere, you'll probably get 25 other calls from other lenders trying to sell you something. And by using soft credit during that prequalification, preapproval shopping phase, we're able to help the customer get they what they want, the consumer get what they want, which is an approval, Without bombarding them with hundreds of calls and maybe tearing them away from the lender that applied they applied with. And so it's been a really important feature for our customer base. We're going to continue to investing in our products and our customer base to make sure they're getting the value they need to get through this really tough cycle. Speaker 700:30:24That's great. And I bet the consumer will appreciate not getting bombarded as well. Just as a follow-up, How are you thinking about the product portfolio in a higher for longer interest rate environment? I appreciate that the consumer portion Very, very strongly. But if you're cutting R and D with this new cost savings, are you going to be able to continue To develop new products on Speaker 100:30:50the consumer side, how are Speaker 700:30:51you guys thinking about that? Thanks so much. Speaker 100:30:54Yes. I want to go back to something I said in the prepared remarks, which is that Blend Builder is a fundamental structural shift in how we can build things. And it's really only this year that we're starting to see those benefits or maybe late last year we started. But because we're able to make changes, and I gave that example of a customer that Had 40 new feature requests. I mean, any company taking on 40 new feature requests would be it would be a bear and you couldn't do all of them and you'd have to get it on your roadmap. Speaker 100:31:22And note the speed at which we're able to iterate on Blend Builder because we've made the DNA of any lending product or account opening product drag and drop, Because we've been able to do that or at least many pieces of it, almost all the pieces of it, it just allows us to innovate more with less. And, like, I think the real show of strength for a company is how much you can get done per dollar or per, you know, per unit of energy spent, And that's something that we're really gearing towards going forward. So no, actually, I think our innovation will speed up and I gave it a plug during the prepared remarks. Please come to the Investor Day, If you can, it's going to be following our customer forum, which is late September, and we're going to be announcing some really great new product features and new products For our customer base who they need to see this kind of innovation from us to continue to bet on us and so we're going to keep innovating. Speaker 700:32:16Thanks again. Speaker 400:32:20Our next question comes from David Unger with Wells Fargo. You can please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 700:32:40Just wondering how AI Copilot is going with the customers, any initial observations you can share with us in terms of productivity gains with the banks? Thanks. Speaker 100:32:49Yes. We haven't launched anything formally there. I do think lending and banking where A lot of the recent innovation in AI has been around how you can understand using natural language. You can understand the natural language that a person puts in And really understand the intent of that question, that natural language, and then use that to eventually formulate a response. I think because most people interact with their bank, A lot of times in person or on the phone and especially with the name mortgage on person or on the phone quite a bit, and that's using natural language. Speaker 100:33:21AI is sort of uniquely positioned to help here. And so we're excited. We're not ready to share anything broadly yet, but We're excited about the space and we think it can be used in our customer base and drive material benefit in how they can serve their customers, the end consumer who wants to be able to interact However they want to interact with their bank and we can help enable that over time. Speaker 400:33:49Our final question comes from Brian Tomascello with KBW. Brian, you can please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 800:33:56Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Just unpacking the cost reductions a bit more, Amir, how long should we expect these to take to phase in and any updated timing on cash flow breakeven Beyond operating income breakeven. And I guess just thinking about the uncertain volume environment next year, do you feel like you've cut as much as you can here or are there Speaker 200:34:29Thanks, Ryan. I'll try to get through each of them. Let me know if there's something I missed. First, in terms of just the phasing, it's immediate, So there is no phasing. You'll see the, in essence, the outcomes flow through instantaneously. Speaker 200:34:422nd, with regards to the cash flow breakeven, We shared obviously in the last call that we were accelerating our path to profitability by a full year from 2025 to 2024. You can again, our targets are To allow our operating profit to match what we target from a free cash flow perspective. And so I think our intention is to have a very similar timeline. 3rd, with regard to just Speaker 100:35:06the Speaker 200:35:09other components that you asked, I think For us, and if you can remind me your last question, Ryan, really quick because I want to answer both of them. Speaker 800:35:17Well, just to clarify, I mean, the cash flow breakeven target, I think, would be inclusive of the 30 or so million of financing costs. So, just wanted to clarify that What the timing looks like there from a breakeven perspective? And then just the last question was if if there's any other levers you're willing to pull depending on how the mortgage Volume environment shakes out, next year. You know, if you feel like, you know, you could cut me further. Speaker 200:35:44Yeah, absolutely. It was the leverage one that I missed. Thank you. First, I think, again, the actions that we've taken, that allow us to achieve our path to profitability, which we spoke to, at an even accelerated rate. And that implies that even if the mortgage volumes We're to remain at these levels. Speaker 200:35:57We feel very confident with our future and the targets that we've set, just period for us. And that's how we've kind of, And Essence rolled this out. The second part of that with regards to levers, what we said in Q1 and really we're reemphasizing now is we will continue to look for Different ways to to become more efficient. The level of focus that we have internally today from the lens of operational excellence are going to are not going to stop. We're going to continue down this path. Speaker 200:36:23So we'll continue to look at those. And Ryan, let me know if I missed anything. Speaker 800:36:30No, I just I just had another follow-up. I can squeeze 1 in would be just around the capital structure. I believe you've alluded to in the past, but just any thoughts Being opportunistic with a potential restructuring or negotiation around the term loan or the put option with the title business, Anything that you could explore there to alleviate some of those overhangs or do you feel like now you're on a path just in terms of organic execution You know, to have those be manageable from here. Speaker 200:37:00Yeah. The answer to both, Ryan. I think we feel very strong about where we are as a company and where we've positioned ourselves. We'll always be strategic in terms of not just how we listen and explore options, but also the actions that we take. We recognize the difference right now From what we guide to from a net operating loss perspective to, in essence, your question about free cash flow, the biggest driver there is obviously our interest expense. Speaker 200:37:22And so that's Top of mind for us. We have a great partner in Blue Isle, Ryan. And so look, we are going to stay very strategic. We'll explore options. But it's Well, again, I think what's more important to the question you're asking is we feel very good about where we are today to be able to sustain with or without this type of optionality in frontRead moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallBlend Labs Q2 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Blend Labs Earnings HeadlinesBlend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) Shares Could Be 36% Below Their Intrinsic Value EstimateApril 7 at 7:10 AM | finance.yahoo.comBlend and Prove Partner to Accelerate Digital Onboarding with Advanced ID VerificationApril 3, 2025 | businesswire.comElon Musk is helping print “new gold”MIT scientists just developed a brand-new metal… A metal that’s shaping up to be, not only the biggest breakthrough in artificial intelligence… but in human technology. It’s so valuable that some are referring to it as the “new gold”.April 10, 2025 | True Market Insiders (Ad)Seven of the Top 10 Credit Unions Partner with BlendApril 1, 2025 | businesswire.comIs Blend Labs Inc. (BLND) the Best Technology Penny Stock to Buy Right Now?April 1, 2025 | msn.comIs Blend Labs Inc. (BLND) the Best Cloud Computing Stock to Buy Under $10?March 30, 2025 | finance.yahoo.comSee More Blend Labs Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Blend Labs? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Blend Labs and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Blend LabsBlend Labs (NYSE:BLND) engages in the provision of cloud-based software platform solutions for financial services firms in the United States. It operates in two segments, Blend Platform and Title365. The company's Blend Builder Platform offers a suite of products that powers digital-first consumer journeys for mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and deposit accounts; and offers mortgage products to facilitate the homeownership journey for consumers comprising close, income verification for mortgage, homeowners' insurance, and realty. It also offers verification components to automate confirmation tasks that are needed to underwrite a loan or approve the opening of a new deposit account; decisioning components to reduce the need for human intervention by automatically applying business rules throughout an application workflow configured by a financial services firm; workflow intelligence components to manage data collection and automate tasks throughout the loan origination process; and marketplace components to enable consumers to shop for products and services presented at the precise moment of need during an application for a loan. In addition, the company, through its subsidiary, offers title search procedures for title insurance policies, escrow, and other closing and settlement services, as well as other trustee services; and provides professional and consulting services. It serves banks, credit unions, fintechs, and non-bank mortgage lenders. 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There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon and welcome to Blend's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Winnie Ling and I'm Head of Legal for the company. Leading today's call are Neema Gamsari, Co Founder and Head of Blend and Amir Jafari, our Head of Finance and Administration. After the prepared remarks, our team will take questions moderated by our Investor Relations Lead, Brian Mikileski. You can find the supplemental slides on our Investor Relations webpage at investor. Operator00:00:28Blend.com. During the call, We will refer to certain non GAAP measures which are reconciled to GAAP results in today's earnings release and in the appendix to our supplemental slides. Non GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for GAAP results. Also, certain statements made during today's conference call regarding Blend and its operations, In particular, its guidance for 2023 may be considered forward looking statements under federal securities laws. The company cautions you that forward looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties and a number of factors, many of which are beyond the company's control could cause actual results, events or circumstances to differ materially from those described in these statements. Operator00:01:12Please see the risk factors we have identified in our most recent 10 ks, 10 Qs and other SEC filings. We are not undertaking any commitment to update these statements if conditions change, except as required by law. I'll now turn the call over to Neema. Speaker 100:01:29Thanks, Winnie, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second quarter results exceeded expectations for the Q2 in a row, Demonstrating continued progress on our strategic priorities. Even amidst a tough market, we are deepening wallet share with our mortgage customers And our Blend Builder platform, a key driver of our growth strategy, is gaining traction, unlocking efficiencies and speeding time to revenue for both us And our customers. And with that, we're accelerating on our path to profitability. We outperformed the top end of our total company revenue guidance Following the strong performance in our mortgage suite of services as well as our growing revenue diversification as we begin to deploy our builder enabled consumer banking product lines to more customers. Speaker 100:02:15I'm also encouraged to see this translate into a pipeline of nearly 40 opportunities between our mortgage and consumer banking products, Even as market conditions remain dynamic. In Q2, we saw this increase as our customers began to crystallize their budgets for the upcoming year, Keeping our sales efforts in full swing. So far in 2023, we've deployed 18 consumer banking products. This translated into strong results from our Blend Platformer segment, which also exceeded the high end of our prior guidance and we improved our software margin meaningfully quarter over quarter on top of that. We have also taken significant steps to streamline and improve how we operate as a company and we're seeing these savings show up in our results in a meaningful way. Speaker 100:03:00As a result, in Q2, we surpassed the 50% operating loss reduction target we set last year And we did it 2 quarters ahead of our original goal. This is a testament to our focus on execution regardless of the operating environment. On top of that, there's more work being done on the efficiency side, which you may have seen from our additional cost reduction announcement effective today. We also achieved 2 sequential quarterly reductions of non GAAP operating expenses since the start of the year And have lowered our expense rate by nearly $100,000,000 on an annualized basis since this time last year. We did this all while maintaining the high quality of service and support our customers expect from Blend, and we're just getting started on leveraging the efficiencies that Blend Builder can provide us. Speaker 100:03:51To wrap up the highlights, we know that exceeding well in the current environment will pay dividends as market conditions improve. We have a great customer base that continues to grow and we continue to expand those customers' use of our products, all the while Blend Builder is live and enabling With that, let's cover our 3 company priorities for the year and how we're progressing on our mission Let's start with our first key strategic priority, Which is to support our mortgage customers through a very challenging period. Mortgage rates are at 23 year highs and origination volumes are sobering as a result. This is a real headwind for our customers and for Blend. But we aren't planning around a recovery. Speaker 100:04:38We are planning to be profitable in this type of environment. That leaves us with 2 things in our control on the revenue side. 1 is helping our customers grow market share by getting the most value they can out of our core product. And the second is providing accretive add ons to drive even more value per unit to our customers and more revenue to Blend. And we're seeing that play out in practice in our customer base today. Speaker 100:05:011st, many customers who leverage our technology to power their businesses continue to outperform the broader And as a result, they are taking more market share. We only report market share biannually due to lag in the metric and the timing of the measurements of the industry size, But you've seen us grow there. And because we continue to roll out new value add features like soft credit pulls and our Spanish language intake form and things like Condition sync which drive efficiency, our customers largely renew with us with more value and at higher prices. On top of that, our add on products such as Blend Close and Blend Income deliver meaningful improvements in cost and time to close rates. Especially in a margin pressured environment, these gains are front of mind for mortgage customers who want to deliver the highest quality experience at the lowest cost to their customers. Speaker 100:05:52And in aggregate, these things ultimately are reflected in our growing mortgage REIT revenue per transaction, Which increased to $93 in Q2 from $77 in the same period last year. So while short and medium term macro headwinds persist, We're focusing on what's in our control, driving adoption and utilization growth of our value add features, maintaining strong retention and growing our mortgage market share, All while continuing to set the foundation for our next generation mortgage products on the builder platform. But this is only one of our bright spots, which leads me to the 2nd big priority for the year, growing adoption of our builder enabled consumer banking products. In 2023 alone, as I said earlier, we've deployed 18 consumer banking products and 25 since Q2 of last year. And we're already seeing revenue growth from these rollouts in our consumer banking suite revenue. Speaker 100:06:47In addition, our customers are interested and they see the value and Blend Builder. We have an active backlog of over a dozen projects underway, which will continue to drive incremental growth as these rigs go live and ramp over time. And while we continue to see market environment lengthening our sales cycles, the level of pipeline that we see gives us a high degree of confidence And the long term outlook for Blend and Blend Builder and our ability to transform the banking space. And just as our builder platform generates value for our customers, there are also several other positive outcomes for our business. I'll let Amir cover this in more detail, But overall, we are seeing the benefits that a platform model has in improving the stability and diversification of our revenue profile and lengthening our customer relationships with us As they make longer and larger commitments. Speaker 100:07:38And that will become apparent in our growing remaining performance obligation. In all, over the past decade, we became a leader in innovation, establishing a stronghold in the mortgage market, Winning leading market share with quality financial institutions and expanding across the entire consumer banking portfolio, all while developing and strengthening The transformational Blend Builder platform that will propel our mission forward. And now as we enter our next chapter In which we shift from building to deploying, we are in a position to leverage the efficiency of the Blend Builder to deliver more innovation per dollar for our customers, Which brings me to our 3rd priority, our path to profitability. Now that Builder is scaled across many of our customers And as our primary internal development tool for new products, Blend is foundationally set up to be more efficient. We can innovate on Builder and order of magnitude faster and with marginal cost. Speaker 100:08:36As a quick example, one of our larger long time clients in the unsecured loan origination space Came to us with around 40 new feature enhancement requests as they try to navigate a complicated macro. We scoped the work to add this to our original platform and those 40 features would have taken 6 or more months to do across multiple people to implement. In addition, some of the requests were specific to that client, making it difficult to support because we have a standardized product. And so overall, this path would have taken significant resources and cost and led to a less than happy client. Fortunately, we had already been in the process of migrating that client to our builder platform and we scoped the 40 enhancement requests on the new platform ahead of that go live. Speaker 100:09:23Not only were many of these features simple configurations, but the one specific to that client were handled by our professional services team as configurations in their unique environment, Allowing us to keep our gold standard product suite standardized while offering the customer the flexibility they need. This meant that the entire request list or almost the entire request QuestList could be done in weeks and at a much, much lower cost. Our customers can be more successful, happier and at a lower cost with Blend. In short, Builder allows for a fundamental shift in our operating model. It has been a big investment to get here, But the leverage it gives us sets us up well for the next decade. Speaker 100:10:05So what does this mean practically? Well, today we announced a few key changes in support of this to further accelerate our path to profitability and make the most of that platform. First, this ability to build products faster and cheaper allows to deliver more innovation per dollar that we spend. And we have tightened our research and development spend going forward as a result. We believe we can do this without sacrificing innovation And in fact, in some areas, increase our pace of innovation and new product development. Speaker 100:10:35And as a side note for investors, Please come to our Investor Day in September, which is directly after our customer conference, Blend Forum, where we'll be announcing some new products. But we aren't stopping there. We're also reducing and focusing our sales and marketing spend around the Blend Builder platform and the related mortgage investors for our customers. We know sales efficiency matters and the market is tight and we're paying very close attention to how we spend our sales and marketing dollars Making sure we get the best ROI. And this overall simplified organization as a whole has meaningful effects on the required corporate support In our general and administrative functions, leading to further lowering costs in those areas. Speaker 100:11:17But while the reductions we are announcing today are sizable, They are targeted to the areas I just mentioned. And importantly, there are certain areas we're not touching. For example, our customer support and customer success teams Largely remaining intact and in some cases growing because we want to be responsive to customers who are navigating a very complicated macro situation. And professional service and integration are very important to work through the backlog of customer rollouts, which drive more value to them and more revenue to blend. I also want to address our title business. Speaker 100:11:52We have achieved a number of goals with this business over the past couple of years by digitizing key parts of the title process. We've also significantly improved the cost structure and operating model for title for turning it to positive gross margins despite record low volumes. With the steps we've undertaken to date, including today, we are on track to return the title business to positive non GAAP operating profit contribution within the next several quarters. This is now a more sustainable business for us with operating leverage potential as the refi market ultimately returns. We remain committed to our title business and our customers. Speaker 100:12:27And as a result of all of these efforts across Blend, we're even leaner and more focused today. We expect that these actions will further accelerate our path to profitability and we expect those savings to start materializing in our bottom line in Q3. And because of our overall long term foundational investments with Blend Builder, we believe we can not only be profitable with this expense base, But we can continue to innovate, grow our customer base and our product suite, ultimately expanding our addressable market even further. Now let me turn it over to Amir to talk through our key numbers for Q2 and our guidance for the next quarter. Speaker 200:13:06Thank you, Neema, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be joining you today to discuss our financial results for the Q2. As Neema highlighted, we delivered another great quarter executing ahead of our targets both for revenue and non GAAP operating loss. We are also continuing to take the necessary steps that allow us to both control our own future and ensure we achieve our long term goals, including our path to profitability. As I jump into the results, let me just remind you that unless otherwise stated, all results are non GAAP. Speaker 200:13:40Total company revenues in the 2nd quarter were $42,800,000 outperforming the top end of our outlook by 4%. We reported platform revenue of $30,300,000 which was 8% ahead of guidance. We credit this outperformance to 2 dimensions. First, our customer base is demonstrating resilience in a tougher origination environment by gaining share in a market where volumes were a little better than we expected. 2nd, our customers are demonstrating faster adoption and go live of Blend's add on products. Speaker 200:14:13Similar trends are benefiting our consumer banking suite revenue As our backlog converts to new deployments reaching go live at a time when the industry is seeing stronger than expected personal loan volumes. Our mortgage banking suite revenue declined by 17% year over year to $22,300,000 despite the origination environment declining 37 over the same period as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association. As we gain traction with the customers through Continued adoption of add on products, coupled with the customer renewals and new logos, we are generating improved mortgage suite revenue per transaction. Our fee per funded loan rose to $93 from $0.77 in the same period last year. Our consumer banking suite revenue totaled $5,800,000 in Q2, an increase of 27% as compared to the prior year period. Speaker 200:15:08This growth reflects new deployments and ramp ups on the Builder platform over the past year, particularly our home equity solution. We also generated $2,200,000 of professional services revenue, up 10% from last year due to fees associated with consumer banking deployments. We reported title revenue of $12,500,000 in line with our expectation amidst the challenging refinance environment. Moving on to gross profit. Total company non GAAP gross profit was $23,800,000 down only 8% from Last year against a 35% decline in total revenue. Speaker 200:15:44Non GAAP platform gross margins improved meaningfully, Reaching 74% compared with 61% a year prior. Looking specifically at Blend's platform performance, Gross profit on a dollar basis increased 9% despite a 37% decrease in market origination volume over the same period. This is strong evidence that our software platform business model combined with the cost optimization and efficiency programs we've undertaken are materially improving our ability to generate We also reported record non GAAP software gross margins of approximately 81% in the 2nd quarter, up from 73% for the same period last year. Our gross margin expansion reflects the benefit of increased higher margin consumer banking suite revenues as As well as the vendor optimizations we've implemented within our mortgage suite. Effectively, we are lowering the cost to power the origination of the same loan, While delivering more value for customers through add on products, which in turn is driving higher per loan funded loan rates. Speaker 200:16:49Q2 gross margin performance demonstrates that we remain well ahead of our target ranges for this year. While gross margins can fluctuate a bit quarter to quarter, Partly due to the differences in timing of certain expenses, we expect 2023 will remain strong and we believe 80% is an achievable run rate for our software business by next year. I also want to point out the progress we've made evolving our professional services model to realize the benefits of In our title segment, we made great progress this quarter to align the cost to deliver this service in a very low refinance volume environment. We achieved our goal of returning to positive gross margins in Q2 and have undertaken additional actions to further support our operating profitability goals for this business. As Neema mentioned, we've executed a business process redesign that focuses title on becoming a profitable entity that will operate sustainably and is ready for scale. Speaker 200:17:54Some of these undertakings include: 1st, reducing processing times by leveraging technology and workflow enhancements that translates to productivity gains measured by orders Process per associate second, implementing a flatter organization structure and reducing the span of control And third, optimizing our utilization of lower cost resources, including our in house offshore team. We believe these measures will return title to positive operating profit within the next several quarters even with the current market conditions. Non GAAP operating costs for the 2nd quarter totaled $41,600,000 compared with $65,300,000 in the previous year. We are delivering on our operational excellence goals at a faster rate than expected. The actions we announced in January of 2023 are now fully realized. Speaker 200:18:42We successfully executed against every target as now evident in our financial results. At the same time, as we've directed more organizational effort towards our platform strategy, we also launched a deeper examination into areas where we felt we have more opportunity You're seeing that in the restructuring initiatives we announced today, which are expected to reduce our operating expenses an additional 33,000,000 On an annualized basis. We're confident this was the right time to take these actions as we move expeditiously from Blend's first phase to Phase 2. As builder deployments accelerate, we are structuring our operating model to support customer growth, rapid deployment and outstanding service With a goal of achieving operating excellence across the company. Additionally, our builder platform enables us to continue our pace of innovation much more efficiently serving both our mortgage and consumer banking customers. Speaker 200:19:36I want to reiterate a point Neema made here as well. The changes that we have made were designed to not have any impact on the level of service our customers expect from us or the speed at which we can deploy these solutions for them. We have always wanted to align our success with our customers, and this remains core to us as we enter the second phase. We believe these changes have put our business in a position to maximize value for our customers and shareholders as the market conditions improve. Putting all of this together, our non GAAP loss from operations was $17,900,000 versus $39,500,000 in the prior year. Speaker 200:20:11This step function improvement reflects the velocity of our strategic actions as I described a moment ago. This surpasses our $20,000,000 net operating loss target for Q4 2023, 2 quarters ahead of the target we established this time last year. This achievement is a testament to our evolving operational focus and commitment to execution Regardless of the operating environment, this gives us strong confidence we are well on our way to reaching our next goal of becoming a profitable company next year. The business is positioned to benefit from higher revenue, better margins and now much greater financial leverage. I'm encouraged that as performance optimization becomes Core to our culture, we are finding new ways to do this better every day. Speaker 200:20:53This new culture and the ability to leverage the investment we made in our platform is what has enabled us to accelerate the The achievement of the ambitious operating loss targets we established last year and drive us to profitability faster than we had initially thought possible. We are making an incredible amount of progress, and we are excited to share more details about how this informs our long term outlook for Blend at our Investor Day in late September. Now turning to our balance sheet. Our cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities Inclusive of restricted cash totaled $278,000,000 as of the end of the second quarter. With the actions we've undertaken, we remain confident our business remains well I also want to note that our remaining performance obligations topped $50,000,000 this quarter at $53,200,000 at the end of Q2. Speaker 200:21:47As we've discussed on recent calls, our business model is evolving constructively as part of our broader transition to a platform first organization. Generally, as our customers add more products at renewal, they are increasingly entering into platform deals with longer and larger commitments. This strengthens the foundation of our customer relationships and importantly brings 2 primary economic benefits for Blend. First, we are increasing the stability of our future cash flows by adding a recurring SaaS like fee while retaining the upside associated with our consumption based model. 2nd, we believe this shift in payment terms should improve our overall free cash flow with more fees being paid in advance. Speaker 200:22:26We are at the beginning of this shift. And as we migrate to the platform model with more customers, you will see the growth in RPO and free cash flow benefits in our financial performance. We are encouraged by the stability of the business and the results we've seen to date. That said, industry and macro conditions related to the mortgage origination market remain highly uncertain And that is reflected in our guidance for Q3. We expect platform revenue to be between $27,000,000 $30,000,000 in Q3 2023. Speaker 200:22:54We expect our title business revenue to be between $11,000,000 $12,000,000 Our total company revenue outlook is prior quarter and a greater than 50% improvement year over year. We expect to continue to see sequential improvement in our operating loss through the balance of this year And believe our strong business performance and cost actions we've undertaken have accelerated us reaching our non GAAP profitability goal earlier in 2024 than originally planned. With that, let me turn the call back to Neema for his closing remarks. Speaker 300:23:40Thanks, Amir. We are exiting this quarter feeling energized About our position and our opportunity. I'm proud of the accelerated progress we've made on our 2023 priorities and our path to profitability. We still have more work to do. And while we cannot control the market, we can control how we deliver for customers to help them optimize performance and build for the future. Speaker 300:24:04If we continue to focus on this objective, we will strengthen Blend's business and performance as well. With that, thank you again for joining. Brian, we are now ready for questions. Speaker 400:24:19Thank you, Neema and Amir for your remarks. We'll now turn to the Q and A portion of the call. Our first question comes from Michael Ng of Goldman Sachs. You can unmute and please go ahead. Speaker 500:24:32Hey, good afternoon. Thank you very much for the question. I just have 2 both on gross margins. You saw a lot of gross margin trends in the quarter, 81% in software, and you talked about the higher margin consumer banking suite and vendor optimizations in mortgage. I was just wondering if you could expand on both those points. Speaker 500:24:55Is there something inherent in consumer banking that Gives it a higher margin than mortgage. And then within the vendor optimizations, are you just using Different or less expensive like API tools, what exactly is that vendor optimization? And then I have a second question, Which is just about the trajectory of gross margins for the rest of the year. Amir, you talked about 80% software gross margins for next year, But is this 81% gross margin for the rest of the year a good way to think about the back half? Thanks. Speaker 200:25:37Thanks, Michael. I think a few follow ups that will just help give you a little bit of clarity for the questions. The best way to think about what we did on gross margins and the It's more so from just a structural shift that we're able to execute against with Builder, 1st and foremost. So that ties it to your question with regards to what we see in the consumer banking space and the margin upside that we're seeing from a mix perspective. For the follow-up aspect of it with regards To just vendors, it's not so much that we're changing the APIs. Speaker 200:26:05It's just we're continuing to optimize how the we our shift in essence, this one notion that we talk about from Phase 1 Phase 2 in the platform, it enables us to actually allow us to be lower cost in certain aspects of the business, which also then enable us to drive higher margins. The last part of your question, yes, I think again to the prepared remarks, what we stated is we feel very comfortable that in 2024 we'll be able to execute at these levels on a Speaker 100:26:32System basis? Yeah. Just and just one note from a product perspective, Michael. On the consumer banking side, there are fewer the products That are offered in terms of how banks offer these products are simpler, and so there's fewer vendors that we bundle in together. So, yes, it's structurally higher margin, But our mortgage product has, you know, additional margin opportunity as well as we optimize the vendors under the hood. Speaker 500:26:54Great. Thank you, Neema. Thanks, Sameer. Speaker 400:26:59Our next question comes from Matt Stottler with William Blair. You can unmute and please go ahead. Speaker 600:27:06Hey there, thanks for taking the questions. Just 2 for me. 1, good to see the revenue per transaction in mortgage suite increase year over year. I was down a little bit sequentially, so I'd love to just get some color on the dynamics that can influence that in a quarterly basis, how You're thinking about that in the second half of the year. The second question would be, just an update on attach rate with newer products like blended income. Speaker 600:27:31An update there would Speaker 200:27:36Let me start with the PFO just to help. I think what you're seeing is really just Movements from a timing and a mix perspective quarter over quarter. What we stated last quarter is that we expect it to be in the mid to high 80s. We're again, we're executing ahead of that. We're seeing strong adoption of the value add on solutions that we're providing just given the value that they add. Speaker 200:27:54So that's what's driving the upside on the 93. And And then for the second part of the question, if you can just repeat that one more time and I'll answer it. Speaker 600:28:03Sure. Just looking for an update on the attach rate that you're seeing with newer products Blend income, Speaker 200:28:08you know Speaker 600:28:09what that's looking like in the installed base at this point and where that can go? Speaker 200:28:12Yes, absolutely. Well, I think again, we haven't shared the attach rate very specific To blend income, but what you're able to see is the follow through of blend income and also what we do, for example, with Close and some of our other solutions, The ability to actually allow us to attach to what we do in terms of renewals with our existing mortgage customers, it's those two outcomes together that are actually driving an increase in our funded loan rates And to the first part of your question. So we're seeing stronger attract just adoption in general. We're seeing it come through in terms of the results and what you saw this quarter in terms of the 90s week. Speaker 600:28:45Got it. Thank you. Speaker 400:28:48Our next question comes from Joe Mears from Truist. You please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 700:28:54Hey guys, thanks for taking the question. I appreciate it. Earlier in the quarter, you announced the availability of Soft credit functionality, noting that it saves lenders $50 per file. I'm just curious how How this is trending so far? Do you have any early customer feedback and if there's any pricing uplift from this feature? Speaker 100:29:15It's a feature that's built into our platform today, and it's just a you know, we always try to add new functionality for our customers, and that's what creates more value for them. And ultimately, When it comes to renewal time, if we're creating more value, they're often willing to renew with us at higher rates. So you're kind of seeing that in our customer base today. So we don't charge extra for that feature. And it's very important. Speaker 100:29:36What basically, the thing it solves is Not only cost, but additionally, it's also a conversion because there's this concept called trigger leads in the industry. It's a hot topic in the Mortgage Bankers Association Where when you get your credit pulled for a mortgage somewhere, you'll probably get 25 other calls from other lenders trying to sell you something. And by using soft credit during that prequalification, preapproval shopping phase, we're able to help the customer get they what they want, the consumer get what they want, which is an approval, Without bombarding them with hundreds of calls and maybe tearing them away from the lender that applied they applied with. And so it's been a really important feature for our customer base. We're going to continue to investing in our products and our customer base to make sure they're getting the value they need to get through this really tough cycle. Speaker 700:30:24That's great. And I bet the consumer will appreciate not getting bombarded as well. Just as a follow-up, How are you thinking about the product portfolio in a higher for longer interest rate environment? I appreciate that the consumer portion Very, very strongly. But if you're cutting R and D with this new cost savings, are you going to be able to continue To develop new products on Speaker 100:30:50the consumer side, how are Speaker 700:30:51you guys thinking about that? Thanks so much. Speaker 100:30:54Yes. I want to go back to something I said in the prepared remarks, which is that Blend Builder is a fundamental structural shift in how we can build things. And it's really only this year that we're starting to see those benefits or maybe late last year we started. But because we're able to make changes, and I gave that example of a customer that Had 40 new feature requests. I mean, any company taking on 40 new feature requests would be it would be a bear and you couldn't do all of them and you'd have to get it on your roadmap. Speaker 100:31:22And note the speed at which we're able to iterate on Blend Builder because we've made the DNA of any lending product or account opening product drag and drop, Because we've been able to do that or at least many pieces of it, almost all the pieces of it, it just allows us to innovate more with less. And, like, I think the real show of strength for a company is how much you can get done per dollar or per, you know, per unit of energy spent, And that's something that we're really gearing towards going forward. So no, actually, I think our innovation will speed up and I gave it a plug during the prepared remarks. Please come to the Investor Day, If you can, it's going to be following our customer forum, which is late September, and we're going to be announcing some really great new product features and new products For our customer base who they need to see this kind of innovation from us to continue to bet on us and so we're going to keep innovating. Speaker 700:32:16Thanks again. Speaker 400:32:20Our next question comes from David Unger with Wells Fargo. You can please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 700:32:40Just wondering how AI Copilot is going with the customers, any initial observations you can share with us in terms of productivity gains with the banks? Thanks. Speaker 100:32:49Yes. We haven't launched anything formally there. I do think lending and banking where A lot of the recent innovation in AI has been around how you can understand using natural language. You can understand the natural language that a person puts in And really understand the intent of that question, that natural language, and then use that to eventually formulate a response. I think because most people interact with their bank, A lot of times in person or on the phone and especially with the name mortgage on person or on the phone quite a bit, and that's using natural language. Speaker 100:33:21AI is sort of uniquely positioned to help here. And so we're excited. We're not ready to share anything broadly yet, but We're excited about the space and we think it can be used in our customer base and drive material benefit in how they can serve their customers, the end consumer who wants to be able to interact However they want to interact with their bank and we can help enable that over time. Speaker 400:33:49Our final question comes from Brian Tomascello with KBW. Brian, you can please unmute and go ahead. Speaker 800:33:56Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Just unpacking the cost reductions a bit more, Amir, how long should we expect these to take to phase in and any updated timing on cash flow breakeven Beyond operating income breakeven. And I guess just thinking about the uncertain volume environment next year, do you feel like you've cut as much as you can here or are there Speaker 200:34:29Thanks, Ryan. I'll try to get through each of them. Let me know if there's something I missed. First, in terms of just the phasing, it's immediate, So there is no phasing. You'll see the, in essence, the outcomes flow through instantaneously. Speaker 200:34:422nd, with regards to the cash flow breakeven, We shared obviously in the last call that we were accelerating our path to profitability by a full year from 2025 to 2024. You can again, our targets are To allow our operating profit to match what we target from a free cash flow perspective. And so I think our intention is to have a very similar timeline. 3rd, with regard to just Speaker 100:35:06the Speaker 200:35:09other components that you asked, I think For us, and if you can remind me your last question, Ryan, really quick because I want to answer both of them. Speaker 800:35:17Well, just to clarify, I mean, the cash flow breakeven target, I think, would be inclusive of the 30 or so million of financing costs. So, just wanted to clarify that What the timing looks like there from a breakeven perspective? And then just the last question was if if there's any other levers you're willing to pull depending on how the mortgage Volume environment shakes out, next year. You know, if you feel like, you know, you could cut me further. Speaker 200:35:44Yeah, absolutely. It was the leverage one that I missed. Thank you. First, I think, again, the actions that we've taken, that allow us to achieve our path to profitability, which we spoke to, at an even accelerated rate. And that implies that even if the mortgage volumes We're to remain at these levels. Speaker 200:35:57We feel very confident with our future and the targets that we've set, just period for us. And that's how we've kind of, And Essence rolled this out. The second part of that with regards to levers, what we said in Q1 and really we're reemphasizing now is we will continue to look for Different ways to to become more efficient. The level of focus that we have internally today from the lens of operational excellence are going to are not going to stop. We're going to continue down this path. Speaker 200:36:23So we'll continue to look at those. And Ryan, let me know if I missed anything. Speaker 800:36:30No, I just I just had another follow-up. I can squeeze 1 in would be just around the capital structure. I believe you've alluded to in the past, but just any thoughts Being opportunistic with a potential restructuring or negotiation around the term loan or the put option with the title business, Anything that you could explore there to alleviate some of those overhangs or do you feel like now you're on a path just in terms of organic execution You know, to have those be manageable from here. Speaker 200:37:00Yeah. The answer to both, Ryan. I think we feel very strong about where we are as a company and where we've positioned ourselves. We'll always be strategic in terms of not just how we listen and explore options, but also the actions that we take. We recognize the difference right now From what we guide to from a net operating loss perspective to, in essence, your question about free cash flow, the biggest driver there is obviously our interest expense. Speaker 200:37:22And so that's Top of mind for us. We have a great partner in Blue Isle, Ryan. And so look, we are going to stay very strategic. We'll explore options. But it's Well, again, I think what's more important to the question you're asking is we feel very good about where we are today to be able to sustain with or without this type of optionality in frontRead moreRemove AdsPowered by