PLAID,Inc.

Business Details

Under the mission of "maximizing human value through data," the company provides the CX (customer experience) platform "KARTE" via the cloud to businesses operating websites and smartphone apps. It offers a one-stop solution encompassing real-time behavioral data analysis for individual user visualization, and the execution and verification of personalization initiatives, with a customer base spanning industries such as e-commerce, finance, human resources, and real estate. Approximately 83% of revenue consists of subscription revenue, providing a stable revenue model.

Recent Overview

FY2026 (ending December 2026) becomes a 15-month period due to a change in fiscal year-end, and the full-year year-on-year change rate is not disclosed

On May 15, 2026, the company announced a partial correction to its Q2 (interim period) financial results summary for FY2026 (ending December 2026). It was discovered that errors had occurred in the calculation of the year-on-year change rates for both the full year and the quarter, and the related figures were corrected. Following the correction, the full-year forecast is revenue of ¥20,577 million, adjusted operating profit of ¥2,387 million, and operating profit of ¥2,183 million. Due to the change in fiscal year-end, the current consolidated fiscal year spans 15 months, from October 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026, and the full-year year-on-year change rate is not stated. Cumulative Q3 adjusted operating profit is forecast to decline 21.4% year-on-year, and operating profit is forecast to decline 29.1%. The company itself continues to disclose that full-year results may fluctuate significantly depending on the progress of hiring.

Key Products

Growth Drivers

• Increase in customer unit price driven by upselling progress among existing customers (End of FY2025 (ended September 2025): ¥1,347 thousand per company, +19.5% year-on-year)
• Continued expansion of ARR (End of FY2025 (ended September 2025): ¥12,166 million, +20.6% year-on-year)
• New customer acquisition through strengthened marketing activities and partner company collaboration
• Expansion of KARTE's areas of use from marketing into areas such as customer support
• Strengthening of the enterprise DX promotion framework and formation of new markets utilizing generative AI through the consolidation of CloudFit as a subsidiary
• Both product revenue and service revenue on an increasing trend year-on-year (FY2025 (ended September 2025))
• Substantial scale expansion to full-year revenue of ¥20,577 million due to the change in fiscal year-end (15-month period)

Risks

• Risk of margin decline due to increased costs from strengthened sales efforts and headcount expansion (Cumulative Q3 operating profit forecast down 29.1%)
• Possibility that full-year results may fluctuate significantly depending on hiring progress (as disclosed by the company itself)
• Rapid pace of change in the domestic digital marketing market environment and shifting client needs
• Risk of impairment of goodwill (¥677 million, provisional) associated with the CloudFit acquisition and related PMI risk
• Declining trend in the ratio of subscription revenue to total revenue (84.1% at end of FY2024 (ended September 2024) → 82.9% at end of FY2025 (ended September 2025))
• Rising financial leverage due to increased long-term borrowings (equity ratio 49.3% → 41.3%)
• Difficulty in year-on-year comparison due to the change in fiscal year-end (15-month period), complicating performance evaluation by investors
• Disclosure process risk indicated by the correction announcement of numerical errors in the financial results summary (miscalculation of change rates)