Third Quarter Revenue of $740.2 million, up 65% Year-Over-Year.
Third Quarter Revenue Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate of 131%
Twilio Inc. (NYSE: TWLO) (LTSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform, today reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2021.
'We delivered another quarter of strong growth at scale in the third quarter as companies continue to turn to Twilio in this digital-first world,' said Jeff Lawson, Twilio's co-founder and CEO. 'We are extremely excited about the next generation of our customer engagement platform, and our newest pillar, Twilio Engage, which will allow companies of all sizes and in any industry to build and optimize hyper-personalized marketing campaigns on every channel for customer acquisition, conversion and retention.'
Third Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights
Revenue of $740.2 million for the third quarter of 2021, up 65% year-over-year, including $52.3 million from Twilio Segment, and $23.6 million from Zipwhip.
GAAP loss from operations of $232.3 million for the third quarter of 2021, compared with GAAP loss from operations of $112.3 million for the third quarter of 2020.
Non-GAAP income from operations of $8.2 million for the third quarter of 2021 compared with non-GAAP income from operations of $7.3 million for the third quarter of 2020.
GAAP net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, of $1.26 based on 177.2 million weighted average shares outstanding in the third quarter of 2021, compared with GAAP net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, of $0.79 based on 147.5 million weighted average shares outstanding in the third quarter of 2020.
Non-GAAP net income per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted, of $0.01 based on 185.0 million non-GAAP weighted average shares outstanding in the third quarter of 2021, compared with non-GAAP net income per share attributable to common stockholders, diluted, of $0.04 based on 161.3 million weighted average shares outstanding in the third quarter of 2020.
Key Metrics and Recent Business Highlights
More than 250,000 Active Customer Accounts as of September 30, 2021, compared to 208,000 Active Customer Accounts as of September 30, 2020. Active Customer Accounts as of September 30, 2021 include Twilio Segment customer accounts.
Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate was 131% for the third quarter of 2021, compared to 137% for the third quarter of 2020. Twilio Segment and Zipwhip results do not impact the calculation of this metric in either period.
7,381 employees as of September 30, 2021.
Dual-listed on the Long-Term Stock Exchange, a U.S. national securities exchange, and a coalition of long term-focused companies and investors.
Announced Twilio Engage, a first-of-its-kind growth automation platform that helps marketers deliver exceptional omnichannel campaigns fit for the digital era.
Announced Twilio Live, enabling businesses to build immersive audio and video streaming experiences that scale to millions.
Introduced Twilio Messaging X, the next generation messaging platform to power the next decade of messaging evolution.
Outlook
Twilio is initiating guidance for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2021. This guidance includes the revenue contribution from Twilio Segment and Zipwhip.
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Executive Leadership Updates
The Company also announced that on October 25, 2021, George Hu informed the Company of his intention to resign from his position as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Hu agreed to serve as Chief Operating Officer until October 27, 2021, following which he will remain at the Company as a strategic advisor to help with the transition until January 3, 2022. Mr. Hu will transition his go-to-market responsibilities to Marc Boroditsky, Twilio's Chief Revenue Officer, effective October 27, 2021.
The Company also announced that effective October 27, 2021, Khozema Shipchandler, who has served as the Company's Chief Financial Officer since November 1, 2018, has been appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Shipchandler will continue to serve as the principal financial officer of the Company.
Conference Call Information
Twilio posted prepared remarks on its investor relations website at https://investors.twilio.com, and will host a Q&A conference call today, October 27, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. (PT) / 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss its third quarter 2021 financial results. Investors and analysts should register for the call in advance by visiting http://www.directeventreg.com/registration/event/7041688. A live webcast of the conference call, as well as a replay of the call, will be available on the investor relations website. Following the completion of the call through 11:59 p.m. (ET) on November 3, 2021, a replay will be available by dialing (800) 585-8367 (United States) or +1 (416) 621-4642 (non-U.S.) and entering passcode 7041688.
Twilio uses its investor relations website, its Twitter feed (@twilio), and the Twitter feed of Twilio's Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Lawson (@jeffiel), as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
About Twilio Inc.
Millions of developers around the world have used Twilio to unlock the magic of communications to improve any human experience. Twilio has democratized communications channels like voice, text, chat, video and email by virtualizing the world's communications infrastructure through APIs that are simple enough for any developer to use, yet robust enough to power the world's most demanding applications. By making communications a part of every software developer's toolkit, Twilio is enabling innovators across every industry - from emerging leaders to the world's largest organizations - to reinvent how companies engage with their customers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and the accompanying conference call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as 'may,' 'can,' 'will,' 'would,' 'should,' 'expects,' 'plans,' 'anticipates,' 'could,' 'intends,' 'target,' 'projects,' 'contemplates,' 'believes,' 'estimates,' 'predicts,' 'forecasts,' 'potential' or 'continue' or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about: Twilio's outlook for the quarter ending December 31, 2021, Twilio's expectations regarding its products and solutions, including but not limited to Twilio Engage, Twilio Live, and Twilio Messaging X, Twilio's expected business benefits and financial impacts from its acquisitions, including Segment and Zipwhip, and Twilio's expected business benefits and financial impacts from its partnerships and investments, including the associated transactions. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.
The outcome of the events described in these forward-looking statements is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause Twilio's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things: adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; changes in the market for communications; the impact of COVID-19 on Twilio and its customers and partners; Twilio's ability to adapt its products to meet evolving market and customer demands and rapid technological change; Twilio's ability to comply with modified or new industry standards, laws and regulations applying to its business; Twilio's ability to generate sufficient revenues to achieve or sustain profitability; Twilio's ability to retain customers and attract new customers; Twilio's ability to effectively manage its growth; Twilio's ability to compete effectively in an intensely competitive market; Twilio's ability to successfully integrate its acquisitions and risks that the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; risks that the anticipated benefits of Twilio's partnerships and investments may not be fully realized and Twilio's ability to close the transactions associated with such partnerships and investments; the impact of recent and future privacy changes on certain third party platforms on the Company and its customers; and our ability to manage changes in network service provider fees that we pay in connection with the delivery of communications on our platform and the impact of those fees on our gross margin.
The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to additional risks, uncertainties, and factors, including those more fully described in Twilio's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 filed on July 30, 2021. Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results will be included in the subsequent periodic and current reports and other filings that Twilio makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Moreover, Twilio operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks and uncertainties may emerge that could have an impact on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
Forward-looking statements represent Twilio's management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. Twilio undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To provide investors and others with additional information regarding Twilio's results, the following non-GAAP financial measures are disclosed:
Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin. For the periods presented, Twilio defines non-GAAP gross profit and non-GAAP gross margin as GAAP gross profit and GAAP gross margin, respectively, adjusted to exclude, as applicable, certain expenses as presented in the table below.
Non-GAAP Operating Expenses. For the periods presented, Twilio defines non-GAAP operating expenses (including categories of operating expenses) as GAAP operating expenses (and categories of operating expenses) adjusted to exclude, as applicable, certain expenses as presented in the table below.
Non-GAAP Income from Operations and Non-GAAP Operating Margin. For the periods presented, Twilio defines non-GAAP income from operations and non-GAAP operating margin as GAAP loss from operations and GAAP operating margin, respectively, adjusted to exclude, as applicable, certain expenses as presented in the table below.
Non-GAAP Tax Rate. Twilio utilizes a fixed long-term projected non-GAAP tax rate in order to provide better consistency across the interim reporting periods by eliminating the effects of items that can vary in size and frequency. For fiscal 2020, Twilio used a projected non-GAAP tax rate of 25%. For fiscal 2021, Twilio uses a projected non-GAAP tax rate of 22%, which reflects currently available information, as well as other factors and assumptions. The non-GAAP tax rate could be subject to change for a variety of reasons, including changes in tax laws and regulations, significant changes in Twilio's geographic earnings mix, or other changes to Twilio's strategy or business operations. Twilio will re-evaluate its long-term rate as appropriate.
Non-GAAP Net (Loss) Income Attributable to Common Stockholders and Non-GAAP Net (Loss) Income Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders, Basic and Diluted. For the periods presented, Twilio defines non-GAAP net (loss) income attributable to common stockholders and non-GAAP net (loss) income per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, as GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders and GAAP net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted, respectively, adjusted to exclude, as applicable, certain expenses presented in the table below.
Twilio's management uses the foregoing non-GAAP financial information, collectively, to evaluate its ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. Twilio's management believes that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors because it provides consistency and comparability with past financial performance, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of results of operations, and assists in comparisons with other companies, many of which use similar non-GAAP financial information to supplement their GAAP results. Non-GAAP financial information is presented for supplemental informational purposes only, should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and may be different from similarly-titled non-GAAP measures used by other companies. Whenever Twilio uses a non-GAAP financial measure, a reconciliation is provided to the most closely applicable financial measure stated in accordance with GAAP. 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.
With respect to Twilio's guidance as provided under 'Outlook' above, Twilio has not reconciled its expectations as to non-GAAP income from operations to GAAP loss from operations or non-GAAP net (loss) income per share to GAAP net loss per share because stock-based compensation expense cannot be reasonably calculated or predicted at this time. Accordingly, a reconciliation is not available without unreasonable effort.
Operating Metrics
Twilio reviews a number of operating metrics to evaluate its business, measure performance, identify trends, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions. These include the number of Active Customer Accounts and Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate.
Number of Active Customer Accounts. Twilio believes that the number of Active Customer Accounts is an important indicator of the growth of its business, the market acceptance of its platform and future revenue trends. Twilio defines an 'Active Customer Account' at the end of any period as an individual account, as identified by a unique account identifier, for which Twilio has recognized at least $5 of revenue in the last month of the period. Twilio believes that use of its platform by customers at or above the $5 per month threshold is a stronger indicator of potential future engagement than trial usage of its platform or usage at levels below $5 per month. A single organization may constitute multiple unique Active Customer Accounts if it has multiple account identifiers, each of which is treated as a separate Active Customer Account.
Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate. Twilio's ability to drive growth and generate incremental revenue depends, in part, on the Twilio's ability to maintain and grow its relationships with existing Active Customer Accounts and to increase their use of the platform. An important way in which Twilio has historically tracked performance in this area is by measuring the Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate for Active Customer Accounts. Twilio's Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate increases when such Active Customer Accounts increase their usage of a product, extend their usage of a product to new applications or adopt a new product. Twilio's Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate decreases when such Active Customer Accounts cease or reduce their usage of a product or when Twilio lowers usage prices on a product. As Twilio's customers grow their businesses and extend the use of its platform, they sometimes create multiple customer accounts with Twilio for operational or other reasons. As such, when Twilio identifies a significant customer organization (defined as a single customer organization generating more than 1% of revenue in a quarterly reporting period) that has created a new Active Customer Account, this new Active Customer Account is tied to, and revenue from this new Active Customer Account is included with, the original Active Customer Account for the purposes of calculating this metric. Twilio believes that measuring Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate provides a meaningful indication of the performance of the Company's efforts to increase revenue from existing customers.
To calculate the Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate, Twilio first identifies the cohort of Active Customer Accounts that were Active Customer Accounts in the same quarter of the prior year. The Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate is the quotient obtained by dividing the revenue generated from that cohort in a quarter, by the revenue generated from that same cohort in the corresponding quarter in the prior year. When Twilio calculates Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate for periods longer than one quarter, it uses the average of the applicable quarterly Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rates for each of the quarters in such period.
TWILIO INC. 
