Kubient, Inc. (NASDAQ:KBNT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Jack Vander Aarde: Makes sense. Got you. Understood. Well, it’s better to have cash now than to have to go out and get it. So that’s an incremental positive in my view. So, I appreciate that. And maybe just one more for me on €“ in general. Obviously, we’re a very €“ you name it that we’re in a tough macro environment for a multitude of reasons, Josh touched on the Silicon Valley Bank fallout as well. But just in terms of the advertising market overall in the first half of 2023 and then kind of as you look into back half 2023, 2024. Just what are your €“ just some thoughts on that are directly applicable to what Kubient’s going after? How is that market environment is playing out relative to where you were maybe a few months ago? Thanks.

Paul Roberts: I think what you’re seeing is a lot more sharpening of the pencil on the CMO side of the world where any money that they are deploying throughout the remainder of this year, they want to be able to stand up at the end of the year to their Board and their CEO and explain that they got a very strong return. So, I think the days of let’s test new environments, let’s test new things might be little harder. I think where KAI really benefits is because we have a technology that can show with data, here’s what we actually saved you. Here is if you went out and spend $10 million this quarter on media, we were able to get this money back into your budget by helping you not buy the fraud or by helping you optimize your campaign.

So our conversations are typically lead with, yes, it is very important not to show at the box, but let’s look at this more realistic application. Maybe you’re spending $1 million a day on media, and we could put $100,000 of that back into your pocket. That’s meaningful savings that you’re going to be able to report at the end of the quarter or end of the year to your Board, let them know that you did take cost-cutting measures by using a technology partner like Kubient.

Jack Vander Aarde: Fantastic. It makes a lot of sense. I think that’s all the questions I have. I’ll hop back in the queue. I appreciate the update.

Paul Roberts: Great. Thanks, Jack.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question is coming from Ben Jen with 1435 Capital. You may proceed.

Ben Jen: Hi Paul, thanks for the quarterly update. Thanks for the update in terms of €“ and congratulations on your patent for KAI. Just some questions regarding the M&A requirement for ad tech. Do you see more acquisitions happening in the near future? Is this something that Kubient can focus on or lean more towards throughout 2023?

Paul Roberts: Hey Ben, thanks for joining the call, and obviously, the question as well. So what we’re really hearing out there is that there’s going to be more consolidation this year. I’ve seen this happen once or twice in my career when you see a contraction of cash that’s being invested. A lot of companies over the last few years have been spending money and raising capital purely for growth, not really paying attention to hitting that positive revenue number. So you’re going to see some very large-scale companies that need some sort of support, whether that be a company like a Kubient with a public vehicle with KAI as a product differentiator. And also, as I mentioned earlier to Jack, having that cash on hand, it really helps a lot of companies somewhat weather the storm and get through the year through their strategy planning.