Thinkific Announces Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results and Provides Outlook for the Third Quarter

Second quarter revenue up 38% to $12.6 million on strong ARPU growth;
Adjusted EBITDA loss improves to $7.0 million

Surpassed $50 million ARR milestone in Q2

Thinkific reports in U.S. dollars and in accordance with IFRS

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 4, 2022 /CNW/ - Thinkific Labs Inc. ("Thinkific" or the "Company") (TSX: THNC), a leading cloud-based software platform that enables entrepreneurs and established businesses of all sizes to create, market, and sell online learning products, today announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022.

"We continued to execute against our product-led growth strategy, and our results were consistent with our expectations. ARPU continues to drive revenue growth, increasing 18% to $126 per month versus a year ago," said Greg Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Thinkific. "There is a large and growing market opportunity in front of us," continued Mr. Smith.  "I am confident that our product roadmap, disciplined investments, and appropriate cost structure will both enable our growth strategy and ensure our return to profitability.

"Of course, our financial and operational performance are the result of the success of our Creators.  We continue to be fanatical about supporting their success.  We believe the strength of our current suite of products, as well as our product pipeline, will enable the success of our Creators. Most recently, this includes tools that help our Creators "Sell More", so they can more effectively scale and monetize their passion," concluded Mr. Smith.

Second Quarter Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased 38% to $12.6 million compared with the second quarter of 2021, driven by year-over-year growth in total Paying Customers and increasing ARPU⁽¹⁾.
  
  
• Gross margin was 76%, in line with second quarter of 2021, driven by efficiencies within the Customer Support team, which were partially offset by lower margins on Thinkific Payments revenue.
  
  
• Net loss for the second quarter of 2022 was $10.1 million, compared to a net loss of $5.3 million in the second quarter of 2021.
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ loss of $7.0 million was driven primarily by continued investments in Sales & Marketing (S&M), and Research & Development (R&D). While Adjusted EBITDA loss increased relative to the same period last year, it decreased on a sequential basis as a result of our restructuring, completed at the end of the first quarter of 2022.
  
  
• Total Paying Customers⁽¹⁾ grew 14% to 33.3 thousand in the second quarter of 2022, consistent with the first quarter of 2022, and our expectations.
  
  
• ARPU⁽¹⁾ increased 18%, to $126 per month compared with $107 in the second quarter of 2021, primarily driven by customer upgrades, new Thinkific Plus customers, increasing adoption of Thinkific Payments, as well as changes to our pricing strategy.
  
  
• ARR⁽¹⁾ exceeded the $50.0 million mark, up 32% to $50.3 million from $38.1 million in the second quarter of 2021, as we continued to attract new Creators to our Platform, and existing Creators upgraded to higher-tier plans. ARR also benefited from pricing changes introduced in the second quarter of 2022.
  
  
• Thinkific Payments continued to be well received by Creators. Gross Payments Volume⁽¹⁾ ("GPV"), which is the total value of GMV⁽¹⁾ processed using Thinkific Payments, for the second quarter, was $14.3 million. This represented 15% of the $97.9 million in GMV processed during the second quarter of 2022.
  
  
• Continued to demonstrate financial strength, with a strong balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $105.3 million at the end of the second quarter of 2022.

"Our Adjusted EBITDA loss this quarter of $7.0 million was a significant improvement from recent trends," commented Corinne Hua, CFO of Thinkific.  "As we continue to grow the top-line, we will be disciplined on our spend, and focus our investments in a prudent manner. The tough decision we took earlier this year to reduce our team was the right one, and we are seeing the results of our improved cost structure."

(1) Key Performance Indicators. See definition in "Key Performance Indicators".

(2) Non-IFRS measure. See "Non-IFRS Measures" and the reconciliation to the most directly comparable IFRS measure.

Second Quarter Operational Highlights

• Introduced TCommerce, building on our passion for helping Creators sell their learning products. TCommerce brings together Thinkific's selling tools and business management functions under one brand, powered by Thinkific Payments. These features help Creators build robust business models through product enhancements that include:
  
  
• Sustainable income opportunities with improved subscription selling tools including the capabilities to configure, upsell, pause, resume and manage subscriptions.
  
  
• Improved coupon redemption, new reporting features, and 3D Secure Strong Authentication.
  
  
• Flexible payment methods including the introduction of Apple Pay and Google Pay to provide customers with easier and faster checkout.
  
  
• Delivered on our product-led growth strategy with the introduction of new features that are focused on making it easier for Creators to launch a learning business. This includes our new Creator welcome flow and automated app recommendations that surface the right solutions for our Creators as they launch and scale their business.
  
  
• Improved our value-based approach to pricing, simplifying our pricing and packaging strategy, and improving visibility for Thinkific Creators of their monthly fees.
  
  
• Released first-of-its-kind online learning 'Trends Report' revealing key trends in the knowledge economy from top Creators. The report highlighted that online content creation is the most popular type of business entrepreneurs aspire to launch.

Highlights Subsequent to Quarter End

• Introduced Bulk Selling features to our Plus customers. The Bulk Selling feature is a game changer for Creators focused on B2B sales, empowering them to sell and manage volume licenses for their learning products.
  
  
• The fourth annual 'Think in Color' Summit, was held on July 27, 2022. The virtual summit which unites powerful, yet underrepresented, communities in the Creator Economy, attracted thousands of entrepreneurs and SMB participants. A speaker lineup of 100% women of color delivered personal insights on all aspects of creating, marketing, and scaling online courses and digital product-based businesses.

Other Corporate Developments

• Announced changes to the Board of Directors. Melanie Kalemba joined the Board, effective June 8, 2022, while Board Member Lisa Shields resigned effective August 4, 2022. Ms. Kalemba brings extensive experience focused on business development, sales and operations across a variety of high-tech and e-commerce companies to the Board of Directors. Ms. Shields was a guiding force during the IPO process and provided expertise during the release and launch of Thinkific Payments.

Outlook

Thinkific is at the centre of the knowledge economy, and gives businesses everything they need to build, market, and sell online courses and other learning products, and to run their business seamlessly under their own brand, on their own site.

Thinkific expects continued growth in revenue in the third quarter of 2022, driven largely by ARPU expansion, as well as new Paying Customers. Customer upgrades to higher priced plans, new Thinkific Plus customers, higher penetration of Thinkific Payments, and our revised pricing strategies all contribute to ARPU growth.

Our expectations for the third quarter of 2022 are:

• revenue of $13.1 - $13.3 million, representing year-over-year growth of 32% - 34%
• adjusted EBITDA loss in the range of $6.4 million to $7.0 million.

Actual results may differ materially from Thinkific's financial outlook as a result of, among other things, the factors described under "Forward-Looking Statements" below.

Quarterly Conference Call and Webcast Information

A conference call will be held at 2:30 PM PT (5:30 PM ET) on August 4, 2022 to discuss Thinkific's second quarter financial and operational results. To participate in the call, please dial 1.888.664.6383 (US/Canada toll-free) or 1.416.764.8650 (International/Toronto). For those unable to participate, a replay will be available commencing at 4:30 PM PT (7:30 PM ET) on August 4, 2022 by dialing 1.888.390.0541 (US/Canada toll-free) or 1.416.764.8677 (International/Toronto). The passcode is 593677#. The replay will expire at 8:59 pm PT (11:59 pm ET) on August 11, 2022. The conference call will also be available via webcast on the Investor Relations section of Thinkific's website at investors.thinkific.com/events-and-presentations.

Thinkific's unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes, and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended June 30, 2022 are available on the Company's website at www.thinkific.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Thinkific

Thinkific (TSX:THNC) makes it simple for entrepreneurs and established businesses of any size to scale and generate revenue by teaching what they know. Our Platform gives businesses everything they need to build, market, and sell online courses and other learning products, and to run their business seamlessly under their own brand, on their own site. Thinkific's 50,000+ active creators earn hundreds of millions of dollars in direct course sales while teaching tens of millions of students. Thinkific is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with a distributed team.

For more information, please visit www.thinkific.com.

Non-IFRS Measures

The information presented within this press release includes "Adjusted EBITDA" and certain industry metrics. The "Adjusted EBITDA" is not a recognized measure under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, this measure is provided as additional information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further understanding of our results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, it should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. We also use certain industry metrics: "Annual Recurring Revenue", "Paying Customers", "Average Revenue per User", "Gross Merchandise Volume" and "Gross Payments Volume". These industry metrics are unaudited and are not directly derived from our financial statements. The non-IFRS measure and industry metrics are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures and industry metrics in the evaluation of issuers. Our management also uses the non-IFRS measure and industry metrics in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation.

"Adjusted EBITDA" is defined as net income (loss) excluding taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (or EBITDA), as adjusted for stock-based compensation, foreign exchange loss (gain), net finance (income) expense, restructuring costs and transaction-related costs. Adjusted EBITDA does not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with IFRS, and is subject to important limitations.

Please refer to "Reconciliation to IFRS from Non-IFRS measures" in this press release for more information.

Key Performance Indicators

We monitor the following industry metrics to help us evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions: "Annual Recurring Revenue" or "ARR", "Average Revenue per User" or "ARPU", "Gross Merchandise Volume" or "GMV",  "Paying Customers" and "Gross Payments Volume" or "GPV". Our key performance indicators may be calculated in a manner different than similar key performance indicators used by other companies.

"Paying Customers" is the count of unique Thinkific subscribers on paid plans as of period end, excluding all trial and free customers, and including both monthly and annual subscribers.

"ARPU" is the average monthly Revenue per Paying Customer in the quarter. ARPU is calculated by taking the average Revenue for each month in the quarter and dividing this by the average number of Paying Customers for the same quarter.

"ARR" is the annual value of all current Paying Customer subscriptions at the end of the period, with the number of Paying Customers multiplied by 12 times the average monthly subscription plan fee in effect on the last day of that period.

"GMV" is the total dollar value of all transactions of course sales, membership subscriptions, or other products or services by our Creators, facilitated through our platform during the period, net of refunds. GMV does not include transactions for course sales, membership subscriptions, or other products or services processed by APIs or certain apps where the Company does not record the transaction value.

"GPV" is the total dollar value of GMV processed through Thinkific Payments.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements and forward–looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada. Forward-looking statements and information may relate to our future financial outlook and anticipated events or results and may include information regarding our financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "trends", "directional indicator", "indicator", "future success", "expects", "is expected", "opportunity", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "outlook", "forecasts", "projection", "scalability", "trajectory", "prospects", "strategy", "intends", "anticipates", "adoption", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or, "will", "occur" or "be achieved", and similar words or the negative of these terms and similar terminology. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to statements regarding our financial position, managements ability to effectively invest, increase business efficiencies necessary to build and maintain a sustainable cost structure; business strategy, budgets, operations, investments, financial results, plans and objectives including potential path to profitability, industry trends; growth in our industry; our growth rates and growth strategies; addressable markets for our solutions; expected effectiveness to our business resulting from changes to pricing tiers; advances in and expansion of our offered platform service; the development, success and effectiveness of new products, features, and services such as TCommerce, Bulk Sell App and automated App recommendations; effectiveness of our marketing efforts including the 'Think In Color' Summit; expectations regarding our revenue and the revenue generation potential of our platform and other products, including Thinkific Payments and Thinkific App Store; revenue; Adjusted EBITDA; and Thinkific's commitment towards strong corporate governance, the expected benefits from the collective experience of the company's board directors, their experience and skill set as a member of the board of directors and the expected benefits that board directors may bring to position the company for greater success and value creation in the future.

Forward-looking statements and information are based on our opinions, estimates and assumptions that, while considered by the Company to be appropriate and reasonable as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the Company's ability to execute on its growth strategies; the impact of changing conditions in the global e-learning market in which the Company operates; fluctuations in currency exchange rates and volatility in financial markets; changes in attitudes, financial condition and demand of our target market; developments and changes in applicable laws and regulations; and such other factors discussed in greater detail under the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Information Form ("AIF").

Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions, which are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the Company's control and many of which, regarding future business decisions, are subject to change. Assumptions or factors underlying the Company's expectations regarding forward-looking statements or information contained in this press release include, among others: our ability to continue investing in infrastructure to support our growth and brand recognition; our ability to continue maintaining, innovating, improving and enhancing our technological infrastructure and functionality, performance, reliability, design, security and scalability of our Platform (as defined in our AIF); our ability to maintain existing relationships with Creators (as defined in our AIF) and to continue to expand our Creators' use of our platform; our ability to acquire new Creators; our ability to maintain existing material relationships on similar terms with service providers, suppliers, partners and other third parties; our ability to build our market share and enter new markets and industry verticals; the continued development, rollout, integration and success of new products, features, and services, including TCommerce, Thinkific Payments and Thinkific App Store; our ability to retain key personnel; our ability to maintain and expand geographic scope; our ability to execute on our expansion and growth plans; our ability to obtain and maintain existing financing on acceptable terms; currency exchange and interest rates; the impact of competition; the changes and trends in our industry or the global economy; and the changes in laws, rules, regulations, and global standards. The foregoing list of assumptions cannot be considered exhaustive.

If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates or assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results or future events might vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information provided herein. The opinions, estimates or assumptions referred to above and described in greater detail in "Summary of Factors Affecting our Performance" and in the "Risk Factors" section of our 2021 Annual Information Form, which are available under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, should be considered carefully by prospective investors. Although we have attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to us or that we presently believe are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future results. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date made. The forward-looking information contained in this press release represents our expectations as of the date specified herein, and are subject to change after such date. However, we disclaim any intention or obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

All of the forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking information should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed.

THINKIFIC LABS INC.
Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Financial Position (unaudited)
(expressed in U.S. dollars)

	June 30, 2022	December 31, 2021
	$	$
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	105,306,892	126,054,833
Trade and other receivables	2,115,542	1,392,391
Prepaid expenses and other assets	3,331,839	2,769,924
Contract acquisition assets	256,465	159,326
Total current assets	111,010,738	130,376,474
Property and equipment	1,650,265	766,568
Lease right-of-use assets	2,243,267	754,320
Contract acquisition assets	584,496	407,659
Intangible assets	107,157	98,985
Total assets	115,595,923	132,404,006
Liabilities and shareholders' equity
Current liabilities
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	4,380,581	3,286,321
Lease liabilities	456,825	515,348
Deferred revenue	8,203,161	6,628,749
Total current liabilities	13,040,567	10,430,418
Lease liabilities	1,828,610	359,917
Total liabilities	14,869,177	10,790,335
Shareholders' equity
Share capital	146,065,525	145,583,011
Contributed surplus	5,593,820	4,865,646
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(38,113)	(38,113)
Accumulated deficit	(50,894,486)	(28,796,873)
Total shareholders' equity	100,726,746	121,613,671
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	115,595,923	132,404,006

THINKIFIC LABS INC.
Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Loss and Comprehensive Loss (unaudited)
(expressed in U.S. dollars)

	Three months ended June 30,		Six months ended June 30,
	2022	2021	2022	2021
	$	$	$	$
Revenue	12,619,987	9,127,936	24,405,119	17,431,210
Cost of revenue	2,991,716	2,147,939	6,144,356	3,816,726
Gross profit	9,628,271	6,979,997	18,260,763	13,614,484
Operating expenses
Sales and marketing	6,513,131	4,558,608	12,703,033	7,657,762
Research and development	7,128,260	4,565,565	15,077,959	7,100,922
General and administrative	3,942,481	3,160,433	9,100,319	5,138,604
Restructuring	—	—	2,287,885	—
Total operating expenses	17,583,872	12,284,606	39,169,196	19,897,288
Operating loss	(7,955,601)	(5,304,609)	(20,908,433)	(6,282,804)
Other income (expenses)
Foreign exchange gain (loss)	(2,408,017)	(58,958)	(1,516,058)	(56,011)
Finance income (expense)	252,914	50,300	326,878	39,895
Total other income (expenses)	(2,155,103)	(8,658)	(1,189,180)	(16,116)
Net loss and comprehensive loss
	(10,110,704)	(5,313,267)	(22,097,613)	(6,298,920)
Loss per share
Basic and diluted	$          (0.13)	$          (0.11)	$          (0.28)	$          (0.14)

THINKIFIC LABS INC.
Condensed Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)
(expressed in U.S. dollars)

		Six months ended June 30,
		2022	2021
		$	$
Cash from (used in):
Operating activities
Net loss		(22,097,613)	(6,298,920)
Items not affecting cash and cash equivalents:
Depreciation and amortization		551,166	284,317
Stock-based compensation		1,166,701	1,405,659
Unrealized foreign exchange loss		1,553,736	81,958
Finance expense		42,926	20,738
Changes in non-cash working capital:
Trade and other receivables		(723,151)	(124,689)
Prepaid expenses and other assets		(577,708)	(1,762,435)
Investment tax credits, net		—	(242,311)
Contract acquisition assets		(372,499)	(293,796)
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities		926,289	85,388
Deferred revenue		1,574,412	954,280
Cash used in operating activities		(17,955,741)	(5,889,811)
Investing activities
Investment in property and equipment		(1,110,398)	(41,283)
Investment in intangible assets		(11,986)	(104,660)
Cash used in investing activities		(1,122,384)	(145,943)
Financing activities
Proceeds from issuance of shares upon IPO		—	148,616,696
Share issuance costs		—	(9,829,901)
Operating lease payments		(266,017)	(265,362)
Exercise of stock options		240,332	7,599
Cash used in financing activities		(25,685)	138,529,032
Effect of foreign exchange on cash and cash equivalents		(1,644,131)	(31,970)
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents		(20,747,941)	132,461,308
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period		126,054,833	9,066,016
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period		105,306,892	141,527,324

Reconciliation from IFRS to Non-IFRS Measures (unaudited)
(expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars)

	Three months ended June 30,		Six months ended June 30,
	2022 $	2021 $	2022 $	2021 $
Net loss and comprehensive loss	(10,111)	(5,313)	(22,098)	(6,299)
Stock-based compensation	645	1,146	1,167	1,406
Depreciation and amortization	277	144	551	284
Foreign exchange (gain) loss	2,408	59	1,516	56
Finance (income) expense	(253)	(50)	(327)	(40)
Restructuring costs ^(1)	—	—	2,875	—
Transaction-related costs ^(2)	—	21	—	115
Adjusted EBITDA	(7,034)	(3,994)	(16,316)	(4,478)

(1)    Represents restructuring costs in the first quarter of 2022, primarily relating to employee compensation.  

(2)    Represents costs related to our IPO, and consists of professional, legal, consulting, and accounting fees that are non-recurring, would otherwise not have been incurred, and are not indicative of continuing operations.

SOURCE Thinkific Labs Inc.

Media: Josh Stanbury [email protected]; IR: Janet Craig [email protected]