COUCHBASE, INC. You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Some of the information contained in this discussion and analysis or set forth elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including information with respect to our plans and strategy for our business, includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. You should review the sections titled "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" for a discussion of forward-looking statements and important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis. The last day of our fiscal year isJanuary 31 . Our fiscal quarters end onApril 30 ,July 31 ,October 31 andJanuary 31 . Our fiscal years endedJanuary 31, 2021 and 2022 are referred to herein as fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022, respectively.
Overview
Couchbase provides a leading modern database for enterprise applications. Our mission is to empower enterprises to build, manage and operate modern mission-critical applications. Enterprises rely onCouchbase to power the core applications their businesses depend on, with the highest performance, reliability, scalability and agility requirements and for which there is no tolerance for disruption or downtime. Any compromise of these requirements could cause these applications to fail-stopping or delaying package delivery for shipping companies, interrupting reservations for travel companies or causing product shortages in stores for retailers. Our database is versatile and works in multiple configurations, from cloud to multi- or hybrid-cloud to on-premise environments to the edge in truly distributed environments with flexibility in and between those environments. We have architected our database to fuse the trusted strengths of relational databases with the flexibility, performance and scale of NoSQL in the cloud. Our cloud-native platform provides a powerful modern database that serves the needs of both enterprise architects and application developers. Combined with our performance at scale, we believe this power enables customers to run their most important applications with the effectiveness they require, with the efficiency they desire and in the modern infrastructure environments they demand. With nearly every aspect of our lives being transformed by digital innovation, enterprises are charged with building applications that enable delightful and meaningful customer experiences. Enterprises are increasingly reliant on applications, which in turn rely on databases to store, retrieve and operationalize data into action. Today, applications are operating at a scale, speed and dynamism unheard of just a decade ago. There is an increasing diversity of application types, modalities and delivery and consumption models, and the volume, velocity and variety of data on which they rely is growing at an exponential rate. Consequently, the demand on enterprises and their databases is growing exponentially. While legacy database technologies were built to the highest performance and reliability requirements of their generation, they are approaching the limits for which they were designed. The underlying architecture of these technologies has not changed significantly, while the requirements of the applications they need to support are changing dramatically. Legacy database technologies are buckling under the pressure of digital transformation, as they were not built to update and respond in microseconds, enable rich, customized user experiences and perform without latency. We designedCouchbase to give enterprises a database for the modern cloud world. Our platform combines the best capabilities of a relational database, like SQL transactions and ACID guarantees, with the flexibility and scalability of a NoSQL database. This allows enterprises to confidently accelerate strategic initiatives such as more quickly moving business-critical applications into the cloud, improving application flexibility and increasing developer agility. For our customers, we facilitate a seamless transition from legacy relational databases to our modern database resulting in better application scalability, user experience and security at the pace that works for them. We deliver this modern database as both a customer-managed product and as a fully-managed DBaaS that is managed byCouchbase . Our DBaaS, called Couchbase Capella, supports a broad set of use cases, reducing a customer's need to buy, deploy and manage additional databases or supporting technologies. We sell our platform through our direct sales force and our growing ecosystem of partners. Our platform is broadly accessible to a wide range of enterprises, as well as governments and organizations. We have customers in a range of industries, including retail and e-commerce, travel and hospitality, financial services and insurance, software and technology, gaming, media and entertainment and industrials. We focus our selling efforts on the largest global enterprises with the most complex data requirements, and we have introduced a new cloud-based managed offering for enterprises looking for a turnkey version of our platform. 27
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We have achieved significant growth over our operating history. For the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, our revenue was$74.6 million and$57.7 million , respectively, representing period-over-period growth of 29%. As ofJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, our annual recurring revenue ("ARR") was$145.2 million and$115.2 million , respectively, representing period-over-period growth of 26%. For the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, our net loss was$35.2 million and$29.1 million , respectively, as we continued to invest in the growth of our business to capture the massive opportunity that we believe is available to us. Our Business Model We generate the substantial majority of our revenue from sales of subscriptions, which accounted for 92% and 95% for the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. We derive substantially all of our subscription revenue from the Enterprise Edition of ourCouchbase platform, which includes Couchbase Server, our flagship product, and Couchbase Mobile. TheCouchbase platform is generally licensed per node, which we define as an instance ofCouchbase running on a server. Our subscription pricing is based on the computing power and memory per instance, as well as the chosen service level. We offer three different support levels: the Platinum level offers 24/7 support and the shortest response time of 30 minutes; the Gold level offers 24/7 support with a response time of 2 hours; and the Silver level offers7am-5pm local time support, 5 days a week. These response times are for incidences of the highest severity level, which we identify as level P1. The initial response time for levels P2 and P3, which are less severe, are longer. The non-cancelable term of our subscription arrangements typically ranges from one to three years but may be longer or shorter in limited circumstances and is typically billed annually in advance. The timing and billing of large, multi-year contracts can create variability in revenue and deferred revenue between periods. We also derive subscription revenue from Couchbase Capella, our fully-managed DBaaS. Couchbase Capella is licensed using an on-demand consumption model or an annual credit model, which removes the need to license different node types separately. Couchbase Capella pricing delivers superior customer flexibility relative to other Cloud Service Providers ("CSPs") as on-demand pricing allows customers to pay only for what they use based on hourly pricing and the credits purchased through our annual credit model expire only at the end of a 12-month period, rather than ratably throughout the year. We also provide automatic conversion to on-demand consumption when credits expire or are exhausted. Couchbase Capella credits can be purchased upfront to provide cost savings with volume discounts available based on credit quantity. We offer three pricing levels for Couchbase Capella, based on the support response time. Revenue from Couchbase Capella was not material for the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021. We also generate revenue from services, which represented 8% and 5% of our total revenue for the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Our services revenue is derived from our professional services related to the implementation or configuration of our platform and training. We have invested in building our services organization because we believe it plays an important role in customer success, ensuring that our customers fulfill their digital transformation agendas while leveraging our platform, accelerating our customers' realization of the full benefits of our platform and driving increased adoption of our platform. Our go-to-market strategy is focused on large enterprises recognized as leaders in their respective industries who are attempting to solve complicated business problems by digitally transforming their operations. As a result,Couchbase powers some of the largest and most complex enterprise applications worldwide. Through our highly instrumented "sell-to" go-to-market motion, we have built a direct sales organization that understands the strategic needs of enterprises as well as a marketing organization that emphasizes our enablement of digital transformation through our no-compromises approach to performance, resiliency, scalability, agility and total cost of ownership ("TCO") savings. We complement our "sell-to" go-to-market motion with a "buy-from" go-to-market motion, which is focused on targeting the application developer community to drive adoption of our platform. To accomplish this, we have and plan to continue to invest in Couchbase Capella, our fully-managed DBaaS offering, We also offer free Community Editions of some of our products, free trials of our Enterprise Edition of Couchbase Server and Couchbase Capella products and a web browser-based demonstration version of Couchbase Server to further accelerate application developer adoption. We believe these offerings lead to future purchases of the Enterprise Edition. While our Community Edition includes the core functionality of Couchbase Server, it is not suited for mission-critical deployments, as it offers only limited functionality around the scaled performance and security that enterprises require and no direct customer support fromCouchbase .
We also continuously grow and cultivate our cloud provider partner and
technology provider ecosystem. A significant portion of our revenue in the six
months ended
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We employ a land-and-expand model centered around our platform offerings, which have a rapid time to production and time to value for our customers, and our sales and customer success organizations, which proactively guide customers to realize strategic and transformative use cases and drive greater adoption of our platform and services. Our marketing organization is focused on building our brand reputation and awareness. Our marketing initiatives drive awareness and demand forCouchbase products, starting at the top of the sales funnel with trial experiences. As part of these efforts, we host Couchbase Connect, a technical conference for application developers and enterprise architects, which showcases compelling customer testimonials and various use cases of our platform. Our Couchbase Connect event also provides application developers with helpful resources to help them learn more about our platform, including access to on-demand instructional workshops. We invest in developer relations and in building a developer community to connect users and contributors as well as foster increased sharing, learning and discovery about our platform. These multifaceted initiatives support and empower our community of users who are passionate about and experts inCouchbase technology to share their knowledge with a broader developer audience. We also offerCouchbase Playground , allowing application developers to accessCouchbase's API, andCouchbase Academy , which includes role-specific training courses. Application developers are also able to collaborate and discuss specific topics related to our platform on our forum.
Impact of COVID-19
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate its impact have caused societal and economic disruption and financial market volatility, resulting in business shutdowns and reduced business activity. In addition, recessionary fears, inflation concerns and rising interest rates as a result of government actions to combat inflation in light of the economic recovery has impacted and may continue to impact business spending and the economy as a whole. We believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has previously had a negative impact on our business and results of operations. Despite the impacts described above, we have seen continued growth in our business. We believe that this growth may accelerate as our investments in Couchbase Capella continue to gain traction and as existing and prospective COVID-19 impacted customers continue to recover. More broadly, we believe the COVID-19 pandemic has the longer term potential to accelerate the trend of enterprises seeking to modernize and re-architect their mission-critical applications and the building of new applications to allow them to function in the cloud. The constraining of IT budgets could also further accelerate the adoption and expansion of our platform, as it can effectively support mission-critical applications while providing significant TCO benefits. See the section titled "Risk Factors-Risks Related to Our Industry and Business-The global COVID-19 pandemic has harmed and could continue to harm our business and results of operations" for more information regarding risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Continuing to Acquire New Customers
We grow our subscription revenue by acquiring new customers. The size of our customer base may vary from period to period for several reasons, including the length of our sales cycle, the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts, enterprise application development cycles and the corresponding adoption rates of modern applications that require database solutions like ours. Additionally, our revenue has and will vary as new customers purchase our products due to the fact that we recognize a portion of such subscription revenue upfront. As digital transformation continues to accelerate, we believe thatCouchbase Capella, our fully-managed DBaaS offering, will become increasingly popular as a result of its compelling pricing model, ease of operation, lower TCO, time to market and flexibility. We will continue to offer Couchbase Capella and provide flexible, highly available and differentiated economical options to capture new customers.
Continuing to Expand Within Existing Customers
A significant part of our growth has been, and we expect will continue to be,
driven by expansion within our existing customer base. Growth of our revenue
from our existing customers results from increases in the scale of their
deployment for existing use cases, or when customers utilize our platform to
address new use cases. In addition, our professional services organization helps
customers deploy new use cases and optimize their existing implementations. Our
revenue from our subscription offerings varies depending on the scale and
performance requirements of our customers' deployments. We are focusing on
growing our subscription revenue, particularly from enterprises, while
delivering professional services and training to support this growth. We have
been successful in expanding our existing customers' adoption of our platform as
demonstrated by our dollar-based net retention rate of over 115% in seven of the
past eight quarters.
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Our dollar-based net retention rate for any period equals the simple arithmetic
average of our quarterly dollar-based net retention rate for the four quarters
ending with the most recent fiscal quarter. To calculate our dollar-based net
retention rate for a given quarter, we start with the ARR ("Base ARR")
attributable to our customers ("Base Customers") as of the end of the same
quarter of the prior fiscal year. We then determine the ARR attributable to the
Base Customers as of the end of the most recent quarter and divide that amount
by the Base ARR.
Continuing to Invest in Growth
We expect to continue to invest in our offerings, personnel, geographic presence and infrastructure in order to drive future growth, as well as to pursue adjacent opportunities. We expend research and development resources to drive innovation in our proprietary software to constantly improve the functionality and performance of our platform and to increase the deployment models available to our customers. We anticipate continuing to increase our headcount to ensure that our product development organization drives improvements in our product offerings, our sales and marketing organization can maximize opportunities for growing our business and revenue and our general and administrative organization efficiently supports the growth of our business as well as our effective operation as a public company.
Key Business Metrics
Annual Recurring Revenue
We define ARR as of a given date as the annualized recurring revenue that we would contractually receive from our customers in the month ending 12 months following such date. Based on historical experience with customers, we assume all contracts will be automatically renewed at the same levels unless we receive notification of non-renewal and are no longer in negotiations prior to the measurement date. ARR also includes revenue from consumption-based cloud credits of Couchbase Capella products. ARR for Couchbase Capella products is calculated by annualizing the prior 90 days of actual consumption, assuming no increases or reductions in usage. ARR excludes revenue derived from the use of cloud products only based on on-demand arrangements and services revenue. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue, and does not represent our revenue under the generally accepted accounting principles inthe United States ("GAAP") on an annualized basis, as it is an operating metric that can be impacted by contract start and end dates and renewal dates. ARR is not intended to be a replacement for forecasts of revenue. Although we seek to increase ARR as part of our strategy of targeting large enterprise customers, this metric may fluctuate from period to period based on our ability to acquire new customers and expand within our existing customers. We believe that our ARR is an important indicator of the growth and performance of our business. We updated our definition of ARR beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 to include revenue from consumption-based cloud credits of Couchbase Capella products by annualizing the prior 90 days of actual consumption, assuming no increases or reductions in usage. The reason for this change is to better reflect the ARR forCouchbase Capella products following the launch of Couchbase Capella in fiscal 2022. ARR for periods prior to the first quarter of fiscal 2023 has not been adjusted to reflect this change as it is not material to any period previously presented. As of July 31, 2022 2021 (in millions) ARR$ 145.2 $ 115.2 Customers We calculate our total number of customers at the end of each period. We include in this calculation each customer account that has an active subscription contract with us or with which we are negotiating a renewal contract at the end of a given period. Each party with which we enter into a subscription contract is considered a unique customer and, in some cases, a single organization may be counted as more than one customer. Our customer count is subject to adjustments for acquisitions, consolidations, spin-offs and other market activity. We believe that our number of customers is an important indicator of the growth of our business and future revenue trends. As of July 31, 2022 2021 Customers 632 558 30
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Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, we believe certain non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. We use certain non-GAAP financial measures, collectively, to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, may be helpful to investors because they provide consistency and comparability with past financial performance and meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our business, results of operations or outlook. Non-GAAP financial measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only, have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and may be different from similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release), and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business. We define the non-GAAP financial measures below as their respective GAAP measures, excluding expenses related to stock-based compensation expense and employer taxes on employee stock transactions. We use these non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with GAAP measures to assess our performance, including in the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial performance. Beginning with the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we have excluded employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, which is a cash expense, from our non-GAAP results. These payroll taxes have been excluded from our non-GAAP results because they are tied to the timing and size of the exercise or vesting of the underlying equity awards, and the price of our common stock at the time of vesting or exercise may vary from period to period independent of the operating performance of our business. Prior period non-GAAP financial measures have not been adjusted to reflect this change, and the effect of this change is not material for any period previously presented.
Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin
We define non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin as gross profit and
gross margin, respectively, excluding stock-based compensation expense and
employer taxes on employee stock transactions. We use non-GAAP gross profit and
non-GAAP gross margin in conjunction with GAAP financial measures to assess our
performance, including in the preparation of our annual operating budget and
quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies
and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial
performance.
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
(dollars in thousands)
Total revenue $ 39,791 $
29,699
$ 35,010 $
26,174
258 54 474 103
Add: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions 22 - 24 -
Non-GAAP gross profit $ 35,290 $ 26,228 $ 65,710 $ 50,840
Gross margin 88.0% 88.1% 87.4% 88.0%
Non-GAAP gross margin 88.7% 88.3% 88.0% 88.2%
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Non-GAAP Operating Loss and Non-GAAP Operating Margin
We define non-GAAP operating loss and non-GAAP operating margin as loss from
operations and operating margin, respectively, excluding stock-based
compensation expense and employer taxes on employee stock transactions. We use
non-GAAP operating loss and non-GAAP operating margin in conjunction with GAAP
measures to assess our performance, including in the preparation of our annual
operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our
business strategies and to communicate with our board of directors concerning
our financial performance.
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
(dollars in thousands)
Total revenue $ 39,791 $ 29,699 $ 74,644 $ 57,654
Loss from operations $ (15,233) $ (13,990) $ (34,221) $ (28,099)
Add: Stock-based compensation expense 6,727 1,981 12,177 3,810
Add: Employer taxes on employee stock 147 - 280 -
transactions
Non-GAAP operating loss $ (8,359)$ (12,009) $ (21,764) $ (24,289) Operating margin (38) % (47) % (46) % (49) % Non-GAAP operating margin (21) % (40) % (29) % (42) %
Non-GAAP Net Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss Per Share
We define non-GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders as net loss
attributable to common stockholders, excluding stock-based compensation expense
and employer taxes on employee stock transactions. We use non-GAAP net loss
attributable to common stockholders and non-GAAP net loss per share attributable
to common stockholders in conjunction with GAAP measures to assess our
performance, including in the preparation of our annual operating budget and
quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies
and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial
performance.
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
(in thousands, except per share data)
Net loss attributable to common
stockholders $ (15,369) $
(15,908)
6,727 1,981 12,177 3,810
Add: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions 147 - 280 -
Non-GAAP net loss attributable to common
stockholders$ (8,495) $
(13,927)
stockholders$ (0.34) $ (1.76)$ (0.79) $ (4.16) Non-GAAP net loss per share attributable to common stockholders$ (0.19) $ (1.54)$ (0.51) $ (3.66) Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted 44,648 9,045 44,459 7,696 32
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Free Cash Flow
We define free cash flow as cash used in operating activities less additions to property and equipment, which includes capitalized internal-use software costs. We believe free cash flow is a useful indicator of liquidity that provides our management, board of directors and investors with information about our future ability to generate or use cash to enhance the strength of our balance sheet and further invest in our business and pursue potential strategic initiatives. For the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 and 2021, our free cash flow included cash paid for our unused Credit Facility (as defined below) and interest on our long-term debt of less than$0.1 million and$0.5 million , respectively. Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31, 2022 2021 2022 2021 (
in thousands)
Net cash used in operating activities
(20) (2,476) (250)
Free cash flow $ (9,332) $
(16,006)
5,687 1,668 (39,142) 4,902
activities
Net cash provided by financing activities 753 216,339 6,892 216,347
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We derive revenue from sales of subscriptions and services. Our subscription
revenue is primarily derived from term-based software licenses to our platform
sold in conjunction with post-contract support ("PCS"). PCS bundled with
software licenses includes internet, email and phone support, bug fixes and the
right to receive unspecified software updates and upgrades released when and if
available during the subscription term. The software license and PCS revenue is
presented as "License" and "Support and other," respectively, in our condensed
consolidated statements of operations. License revenue is recognized upon
transfer when our customer has received access to our software. PCS revenue, or
"Support," is recognized ratably over the term of the arrangement beginning on
the date when access to the subscription is made available to our customer. The
non-cancelable term of our subscription arrangements typically ranges from one
to three years but may be longer or shorter in limited circumstances. "Other"
revenue was not material for the periods presented. Our services revenue is
derived from our professional services related to the implementation or
configuration of our platform and training. Services revenue is recognized over
time based on input measures for professional services and upon delivery for
training.
We expect our revenue may vary from period to period based on, among other
things, the timing and size of new subscriptions, the proportion of term license
contracts that commence within the period, the rate of customer renewals and
expansions and timing and delivery of professional services and training.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of subscription revenue primarily consists of personnel-related costs
associated with our customer support organization, including salaries, bonuses,
benefits and stock-based compensation, expenses associated with software and
subscription services dedicated for use by our customer support organization,
third-party cloud infrastructure expenses, amortization of costs associated with
capitalized internal-use software related to Couchbase Capella and allocated
overhead. There is no cost of revenue associated with our license revenue. We
expect our cost of subscription revenue to increase in absolute dollars as our
subscription revenue increases and as we continue to amortize capitalized
internal-use software costs related to Couchbase Capella.
Cost of services revenue primarily consists of personnel-related costs
associated with our professional services and training organization, including
salaries, bonuses, benefits and stock-based compensation, costs of contracted
third-party partners for professional services, expenses associated with
software and subscription services dedicated for use by our professional
services and training organization, travel-related expenses and allocated
overhead. We expect our cost of services revenue to fluctuate from period to
period depending on the timing and delivery of professional services and
training.
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Gross Profit and Gross Margin
Our gross profit and gross margin have been and will continue to be affected by various factors, including the average sales price of our subscriptions and services, the mix of subscriptions and services we sell and the associated revenue, the mix of geographies into which we sell and transaction volume growth. We expect our gross profit and gross margin to fluctuate in the near term depending on the interplay of these factors, and for gross margin to decline modestly in the long term as we introduce additional platform capabilities and product offerings and continue to expand our client base outside ofthe United States .
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses. Personnel-related costs are the most significant component of operating expenses and consist of salaries, bonuses, benefits, sales commissions and stock-based compensation expenses.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel-related costs, expenses associated with software and subscription services dedicated for use by our research and development organization, depreciation and amortization of property and equipment and allocated overhead. We expect that our research and development expenses will increase in absolute dollars as we continue to invest in the features and functionalities of our platform. We expect research and development expenses to fluctuate as a percentage of revenue in the near term, but to decrease as a percentage of revenue over the long term as we achieve greater scale in our business.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel-related costs, expenses associated with software and subscription services dedicated for use by our sales and marketing organization, costs of general marketing and promotional activities, amortization of deferred commissions, fees for professional services related to sales and marketing, travel-related expenses and allocated overhead. We expect that our sales and marketing expenses will increase in absolute dollars as we continue to expand our sales and marketing efforts to attract new customers and deepen our engagement with existing customers. We expect sales and marketing expenses to fluctuate as a percentage of revenue in the near term as we continue to invest in growing the reach of our platform through our sales and marketing efforts, but to decrease as a percentage of revenue over the long term as we achieve greater scale in our business.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel-related costs associated with our finance, legal, human resources and other administrative personnel. In addition, general and administrative expenses include non-personnel costs, such as fees for professional services such as external legal, accounting and other professional services, expenses associated with software and subscription services dedicated for use by our general and administrative organization, certain taxes other than income taxes and allocated overhead. We expect to incur additional expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including costs to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to companies listed on a national securities exchange, costs related to compliance and reporting obligations and increased expenses for insurance, investor relations and professional services. We expect that our general and administrative expenses will increase in absolute dollars as we continue to invest in the growth of our business and operate as a publicly-traded company. We expect general and administrative expenses to fluctuate as a percentage of revenue in the near term, but to decrease as a percentage of revenue over the long term as we achieve greater scale in our business.
Interest Expense
Interest expense consists primarily of interest on borrowings and unused credit facility fees related to our Credit Facility.
Other Income (Expense), Net
Other income (expense), net consists primarily of foreign currency gains and
losses related to the impact of transactions denominated in a foreign currency
and interest income.
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Provision for Income Taxes
Provision for income taxes consists primarily of income taxes in certain foreign jurisdictions in which we conduct business. We recorded a full valuation allowance against ourU.S. deferred tax assets as we have determined that it is not more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be realized. The cash tax expenses are impacted by each jurisdiction's individual tax rates, laws on the timing of recognition of income and deductions and availability of NOLs and tax credits. Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected to the extent earnings are lower than anticipated in countries that have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries that have higher statutory rates.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our condensed consolidated statements of operations for the periods indicated (in thousands):
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
Revenue:
License $ 6,382 $ 4,416 $ 11,389 $ 8,694
Support and other 30,677 23,613 57,651 45,800
Total subscription revenue 37,059 28,029 69,040 54,494
Services 2,732 1,670 5,604 3,160
Total revenue 39,791 29,699 74,644 57,654
Cost of revenue:
Subscription(1) 2,521 2,072 4,917 4,124
Services(1) 2,260 1,453 4,515 2,793
Total cost of revenue 4,781 3,525 9,432 6,917
Gross profit 35,010 26,174 65,212 50,737
Operating expenses:
Research and development(1) 14,341 12,623 28,762 25,164
Sales and marketing(1) 27,473 22,263 54,316 42,897
General and administrative(1) 8,429 5,278 16,355 10,775
Total operating expenses 50,243 40,164 99,433 78,836
Loss from operations (15,233) (13,990) (34,221) (28,099)
Interest expense (25) (252) (50) (497)
Other income (expense), net 261 (77) (295) 7
Loss before income taxes (14,997) (14,319) (34,566) (28,589)
Provision for income taxes 372 151 637 480
Net loss $ (15,369) $ (14,470) $ (35,203) $ (29,069) (1)Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
(in thousands)
Cost of revenue-subscription $ 141 $ 30 $ 263 $ 57
Cost of revenue-services 117 24 211 46
Research and development 2,087 569 3,986 1,139
Sales and marketing 2,463 688 4,450 1,229
General and administrative 1,919 670 3,267 1,339
Total stock-based compensation expense
The following table sets forth our condensed consolidated statements of operations data expressed as a percentage of revenue:
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Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 2022 2021
Revenue:
License 16 % 15 % 15 % 15 %
Support and other 77 80 77 79
Total subscription revenue 93 94 92 95
Services 7 6 8 5
Total revenue 100 100 100 100
Cost of revenue:
Subscription 6 7 7 7
Services 6 5 6 5
Total cost of revenue 12 12 13 12
Gross profit 88 88 87 88
Operating expenses:
Research and development 36 43 39 44
Sales and marketing 69 75 73 74
General and administrative 21 18 22 19
Total operating expenses 126 135 133 137
Loss from operations (38) (47) (46) (49)
Interest expense * (1) * (1)
Other income (expense), net 1 * * *
Loss before income taxes (38) (48) (46) (50)
Provision for income taxes 1 1 1 1
Net loss (39) % (49) % (47) % (50) %
* Represents less than 1%
Note: Certain figures may not sum due to rounding.
Comparison of Three and Six Months Ended
Revenue
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change
(dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands)
Revenue
License $ 6,382 $ 4,416 $ 1,966 45 % $ 11,389 $ 8,694 $ 2,695 31 %
Support and other 30,677 23,613 7,064 30 % 57,651 45,800 11,851 26 %
Total subscription revenue 37,059 28,029 9,030 32 % 69,040 54,494 14,546 27 %
Services 2,732 1,670 1,062 64 % 5,604 3,160 2,444 77 %
Total revenue $ 39,791 $ 29,699 $ 10,092 34 % $ 74,644 $ 57,654 $ 16,990 29 %
Subscription revenue increased by $9.0 million , or 32%, during the three months
ended July 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in subscription revenue was due to an increase in revenue from existing
customers and new customers, as we increased our customer base from 558
customers as of July 31, 2021 to 632 customers as of July 31, 2022 .
Approximately 92% of the increase in revenue was attributable to growth from
existing customers, and the remaining increase was attributable to new
customers.
Subscription revenue increased by $14.5 million , or 27%, during the six months
ended July 31, 2022 compared to the six months ended July 31, 2021 . The increase
in subscription revenue was due to an increase in revenue from existing
customers and new customers. Approximately 92% of the increase in revenue was
attributable to growth from existing customers, and the remaining increase was
attributable to new customers.
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Services revenue increased by
Services revenue increased by$2.4 million , or 77%, during the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the three months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in services revenue was primarily due to an increase in the number of professional services hours performed.
Cost of Revenue, Gross Profit and Gross Margin
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change
(dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands)
Cost of revenue:
Subscription $ 2,521 $ 2,072 $ 449 22 % $ 4,917 $ 4,124 $ 793 19 %
Services 2,260 1,453 807 56 % 4,515 2,793 1,722 62 %
Total cost of revenue $ 4,781 $ 3,525 $ 1,256 36 % $ 9,432 $ 6,917 $ 2,515 36 %
Gross profit $ 35,010 $ 26,174 $ 65,212 $ 50,737
Gross margin 88.0 % 88.1 % 87.4 % 88.0 %
Headcount (at period end) 53 59 53 59
Cost of subscription revenue increased by $0.4 million , or 22%, during the three
months ended July 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in cost of subscription revenue was primarily due to an increase of
$0.4 million related to the computing infrastructure costs associated with
Couchbase Capella.
Cost of subscription revenue increased by $0.8 million , or 19%, during the six
months ended July 31, 2022 compared to the six months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in cost of subscription revenue was primarily due to an increase of
$0.7 million related to the computing infrastructure costs associated with
Couchbase Capella.
Cost of services revenue increased by $0.8 million , or 56%, during the three
months ended July 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in cost of services revenue was primarily due to an increase of $0.5
million in contracted third-party professional services and an increase of $0.2
million in personnel-related costs associated with fluctuations in headcount.
Cost of services revenue increased by $1.7 million , or 62%, during the six
months ended July 31, 2022 compared to the six months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in cost of services revenue was primarily due to an increase of $1.0
million in contracted third-party professional services and an increase of $0.5
million in personnel-related costs associated with fluctuations in headcount.
Gross margin decreased during the three and six months ended
Research and Development
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change
(dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands)
Research and development $ 14,341 $ 12,623 $ 1,718 14 % $ 28,762 $ 25,164 $ 3,598 14 %
Percentage of revenue 36 % 43 % 39 % 44 %
Headcount (at period end) 254 241 254 241
Research and development increased by $1.7 million , or 14%, during the three
months ended July 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to an increase
of $0.9 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount
and an increase of $0.6 million associated with computing infrastructure costs
dedicated for use by our research and development organization.
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Research and development increased by$3.6 million , or 14%, during the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the six months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in research and development expenses was primarily due to an increase of$2.5 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount and an increase of$0.9 million associated with computing infrastructure costs dedicated for use by our research and development organization. Sales and Marketing Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31, 2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change (dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands) Sales and marketing$ 27,473 $ 22,263 $ 5,210 23 %$ 54,316 $ 42,897 $ 11,419 27 % Percentage of revenue 69 % 75 % 73 % 74 % Headcount (at period end) 297 278 297 278 Sales and marketing increased by$5.2 million , or 23%, during the three months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the three months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to an increase of$3.2 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount and an increase of$0.7 million in travel-related costs. There was an additional increase of$0.5 million in sales and marketing program expenses primarily associated with costs of general marketing and promotional activities as we continue to expand our sales and marketing efforts to attract new customers and deepen our engagement with existing customers. Sales and marketing increased by$11.4 million , or 27%, during the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the six months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to an increase of$6.9 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount and an increase of$1.7 million in travel-related costs. There was an additional increase of$1.0 million in sales and marketing program expenses primarily associated with costs of general marketing and promotional activities as we continue to expand our sales and marketing efforts to attract new customers and deepen our engagement with existing customers. General and Administrative Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31, 2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change (dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands) General and administrative$ 8,429 $ 5,278 $ 3,151 60 %$ 16,355 $ 10,775 $ 5,580 52 % Percentage of revenue 21 % 18 % 22 % 19 % Headcount (at period end) 68 55 68 55 General and administrative increased by$3.2 million , or 60%, during the three months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the three months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to an increase of$2.0 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount and an increase of$1.2 million in additional professional fees and other corporate expenses associated with being a publicly traded company. General and administrative increased by$5.6 million , or 52%, during the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 compared to the six months endedJuly 31, 2021 . The increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to an increase of$3.5 million in personnel-related costs associated with increased headcount and an increase of$1.9 million in additional professional fees and other corporate expenses associated with being a publicly traded company. Interest Expense Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31, 2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change (dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands) Interest expense $ (25)$ (252) $ 227 (90) % $ (50)$ (497) $ 447 (90) %
Interest expense decreased during the three and six months ended
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Other Income (Expense), Net
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change
(dollars in thousands) (dollars in thousands)
Other income (expense), net $ 261 $ (77) $ 338 (439) % $ (295) $ 7 $ (302) (4314) %
Other income (expense), net increased by $0.3 million during the three months
ended July 31, 2022 compared to the three months ended July 31, 2021 . The
increase in other income (expense), net was attributable to higher interest
income driven by higher short-term investment balances and higher yield in the
current period.
Other income (expense), net decreased by $0.3 million during the six months
ended July 31, 2022 compared to the six months ended July 31, 2021 . The decrease
in other income (expense), net was primarily driven by an increase of
$0.8 million in unrealized and realized foreign currency losses due to
remeasurement of monetary assets denominated in non-functional currencies. This
was partially offset by an increase of $0.5 million in interest income primarily
driven by higher short-term investment balances and higher yield in the current
period.
Provision for Income Taxes
Three Months Ended July 31, Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021 $ Change % Change 2022 2021 $ Change % Change
(dollars in thousands)
(dollars in thousands)
Loss before income taxes
5 % $ (34,566) $ (28,589) $ (5,977) 21 %
Provision for income taxes 372 151 $ 221 146 % 637 480 $ 157 33 %
Effective tax rate (2.5) % (1.1) % (1.8) % (1.7) %
The changes in provision for income taxes during the three and six months ended
July 31, 2022 compared to the three and six months ended July 31, 2021 were not
material.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have financed our operations through subscription revenue from customers accessing our platform and services revenue, and inJuly 2021 , we completed our initial public offering ("IPO") with net proceeds totaling$214.9 million . We also have a Credit Facility to obtain up to$40.0 million in debt financing. We have incurred losses and generated negative cash flows from operations for the last several years, including fiscal 2021 and 2022 and the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 . As ofJuly 31, 2022 , we had an accumulated deficit of$377.2 million . As ofJuly 31, 2022 , we had$192.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. We believe our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, availability under the Credit Facility, which is described in Note 7 of our notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements, and cash provided by sales of subscriptions to our platform and sales of our services will be sufficient to meet our projected operating requirements and cash expenditures for at least the next 12 months. As a result of our revenue growth plans, both domestically and internationally, we expect that losses and negative cash flows from operations may continue in the future. Our future cash requirements will depend on many factors, including our subscription revenue growth rate, subscription renewals, billing timing and frequency, the timing and extent of spending to support development efforts, the expansion of sales and marketing activities, the introduction of new and enhanced platform features and functionality and the continued market adoption of our platform. We may in the future pursue acquisitions of businesses, technologies, assets and talent. We may be required to seek additional equity or debt financing. In the event that additional financing is required from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital or generate cash flows necessary to expand our operations and invest in new technologies, our competitive position could weaken, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. 39
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We typically invoice our subscription customers annually in advance. Therefore, a substantial source of our cash is from such prepayments, which are included on our condensed consolidated balance sheets as deferred revenue. Deferred revenue consists of billed fees for our subscriptions, prior to satisfying the criteria for revenue recognition, which are subsequently recognized as revenue in accordance with our revenue recognition policy. As ofJuly 31, 2022 , remaining performance obligations, including both deferred revenue and non-cancelable contracted amounts, were$166.5 million . We expect to recognize revenue of$103.1 million on these remaining performance obligations over the next 12 months, with the remaining balance recognized thereafter.
Cash Flows
The following table shows a summary of our cash flows for the periods presented:
Six Months Ended July 31,
2022 2021
(in thousands)
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities $ (16,262) $ (19,175)
Investing activities $ (39,142) $ 4,902
Financing activities $ 6,892 $ 216,347
Operating Activities
Cash used in operating activities for the six months ended July 31, 2022 of
$16.3 million primarily consisted of our net loss of $35.2 million , adjusted for
non-cash charges of $24.8 million and net cash outflows of $5.8 million from
changes in our operating assets and liabilities. The primary drivers of the
changes in operating assets and liabilities include a $7.7 million increase in
deferred commissions related to increased sales during the period, a $7.3
million decrease in accounts receivable related to timing of billings and
collections, a $5.6 million decrease in accrued compensation primarily due to
the timing of bonus payments and purchases under our employee stock purchase
plan, an increase of $3.5 million in accounts payable, a $2.1 million decrease
in deferred revenue due to timing of billings, and an increase of $1.2 million
in prepaid expenses and other assets.
Cash used in operating activities for the six months ended July 31, 2021 of
$19.2 million primarily consisted of our net loss of $29.1 million , adjusted for
non-cash charges of $11.6 million and net cash outflows of $1.7 million from
changes in our operating assets and liabilities. Changes in operating assets and
liabilities primarily reflected a $15.8 million decrease in accounts receivable
related to timing of billings and collections and a $7.3 million decrease in
deferred revenue due to timing of billings. Additionally, there was an increase
of $7.1 million in deferred commissions related to increased sales during the
period and an increase of $5.8 million in prepaid expenses offset by an increase
in accounts payable of $4.6 million and a decrease of $1.7 million in other
accrued liabilities.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities for the six months ended
Cash provided by investing activities for the six months endedJuly 31, 2021 of$4.9 million consisted of maturities of short-term investments net of purchases of$5.2 million offset by additions to property and equipment of$0.3 million .
Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities for the six months endedJuly 31, 2022 of$6.9 million was primarily due to$3.5 million in proceeds from the issuance of common stock under our employee stock purchase plan, and$3.4 million in proceeds from the issuance of common stock upon exercises of stock options. Cash provided by financing activities for the six months endedJuly 31, 2021 of$216.3 million primarily consisted of proceeds from the completion of our IPO of$214.9 million , net of underwriters' discounts and commissions, and proceeds from stock option exercises of$4.3 million offset by the payment of deferred offering costs of$2.8 million . 40
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Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Our contractual obligations consist of purchase obligations and operating lease commitments. Purchase obligations include agreements to purchase goods or services that are enforceable and legally binding on us and that specify all significant terms, including fixed or minimum quantities to be purchased; fixed, minimum or variable price provisions and the approximate timing of the transaction. These obligations relate to third-party cloud infrastructure agreements and subscription arrangements. Our operating lease commitments relate primarily to our office facilities. For further information on our commitments and contingencies, refer to Note 9 in our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. There has been no material change in our contractual obligations and commitments other than in the ordinary course of business since our fiscal year endedJanuary 31, 2022 . See our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year endedJanuary 31, 2022 , which was filed with theSEC onMarch 31, 2022 , for additional information regarding our contractual obligations.
Indemnification Agreements
In the ordinary course of business, we enter into agreements of varying scope and terms pursuant to which we agree to indemnify customers, vendors, lessors and other business partners with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of the breach of such agreements, services to be provided by us or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. Additionally, we entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and officers that require us, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors or officers. The Company has not incurred material costs to defend lawsuits or settle claims related to these indemnification agreements nor are we aware of any such claims that could reasonably be expected to incur material costs.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by management. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected. There have been no significant changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates as compared to those described in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year endedJanuary 31, 2022 , which was filed with theSEC onMarch 31, 2022 .
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 2 to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements.
JOBS Act Accounting Election
We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the JOBS Act. The JOBS Act
provides that an "emerging growth company" can take advantage of an extended
transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This
provision allows an "emerging growth company" to delay the adoption of some
accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private
companies. We have elected to use the extended transition period under the JOBS
Act until the earlier of the date we (i) are no longer an "emerging growth
company" or (ii) affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the extended
transition period provided in the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial
statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised
accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
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