Avidxchange Holdings Inc (AVDX) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the AvidXchange Holdings Inc third quarter 2021 earnings call. Joining us on the call today is Mike Praeger, AvidXchange Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Joel Wilhite, AvidXchange's Chief Financial Officer; and Subhaash Kumar, AvidXchange's Head of Investor Relations.

大家早安，感謝您參加我們的 AvidXchange Holdings Inc 2021 年第三季財報電話會議。今天加入我們電話會議的是 AvidXchange 聯合創始人兼執行長 Mike Praeger； Joel Wilhite，AvidXchange 財務長；以及 AvidXchange 投資人關係主管 Subhaash Kumar。

Before we begin today's call, management has asked me to relay the forward-looking statements disclaimer that is included at the end of today's press release. This disclaimer emphasizes the major uncertainties and risks inherent in the forward-looking statements that the company will make this afternoon. Please keep these uncertainties and risks in mind as the company discuss future strategic initiatives, potential market opportunities, operational outlook and financial guidance during today's call.

在我們開始今天的電話會議之前，管理層要求我轉達今天新聞稿末尾包含的前瞻性聲明免責聲明。該免責聲明強調了該公司今天下午將做出的前瞻性陳述所固有的主要不確定性和風險。當公司在今天的電話會議上討論未來的策略舉措、潛在的市場機會、營運前景和財務指導時，請牢記這些不確定性和風險。

Also, please note that the company undertakes no duty to update or revise forward-looking statements. Today's call will also include a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures. As that term is defined in Regulation G, non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information presented in compliance with GAAP. Accordingly, at the end of today's press release, the company has provided a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

另請注意，該公司不承擔更新或修改前瞻性陳述的義務。今天的電話會議也將討論非公認會計準則財務指標。正如 G 條例中對該術語的定義，非 GAAP 財務指標不應孤立地考慮或取代根據 GAAP 提供的財務資訊。因此，在今天的新聞稿結束時，該公司提供了這些非公認會計原則財務指標與根據公認會計原則編制的財務結果的調節表。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Mike Praeger.

現在，我將把電話轉給 Mike Praeger。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Joel Wilhite and I are excited to discuss AvidXchange's third quarter 2024 results. Our third quarter results were all around solid across all the key metrics, including revenue growth, margin expansion, positive GAAP net income, free cash flow and a solid balance sheet. In addition, we made good on our commitment to return cash to shareholders as part of our $100 million share repurchase program.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。Joel Wilhite 和我很高興討論 AvidXchange 的 2024 年第三季業績。我們第三季的業績在所有關鍵指標上都很穩健，包括收入成長、利潤率擴張、正的 GAAP 淨利潤、自由現金流和穩健的資產負債表。此外，作為 1 億美元股票回購計畫的一部分，我們兌現了向股東返還現金的承諾。

Joel will talk more about the quarterly financial results in a moment, but one of the highlights of the quarter was the underlying trend data we are seeing. In particular, we saw our transactions retained in our network or our transaction retention, as we call it, a key same-store metric inflecting positively from a pattern of acceleration in the past two years over compared to sequential time periods. In addition, we saw our top-of-funnel activity strongly support our new customer buyer logo additions. I will further expand on these observations later during my prepared remarks.

喬爾稍後將詳細討論季度財務業績，但該季度的亮點之一是我們看到的基本趨勢數據。特別是，我們看到我們的交易保留在我們的網路中，或者我們稱之為交易保留，這是一個關鍵的同店指標，與連續時間段相比，過去兩年的加速模式產生了積極的影響。此外，我們看到我們的漏斗頂部活動強烈支持我們添加新客戶買家徽標。稍後我將在準備好的發言中進一步闡述這些觀察。

When talking about the large greenfield market opportunity that we believe is ahead of us, it is understandable to sometimes lose perspective given the noise and impact of the current macroeconomic dynamics. Judging the future trajectory of the business opportunity over the next five-plus years within the accounts payable and payments automation space, based on a fixed point in time, we believe, undervalues the large and strategic value of both our market opportunity and competitive moat we are building, particularly on the B2B payments automation front for middle market companies.

當談到我們認為擺在我們面前的大型綠地市場機會時，考慮到當前宏觀經濟動態的噪音和影響，有時失去視角是可以理解的。我們認為，根據固定時間點來判斷未來五年多應付帳款和支付自動化領域的業務機會的未來軌跡，低估了我們的市場機會和競爭護城河的巨大戰略價值。公司的B2B 支付自動化方面。

This B2B payments opportunity appears to have reached a pivotal point. In fact, it appears so mission-critical that Mastercard, which is a strategic investor and partner of AvidXchange, has rearchitected its organizational structure across three vectors, with B2B payments being one of the three directly reporting to their CEO, Michael Maddock.

這個 B2B 支付機會似乎已經到了一個關鍵點。事實上，它的任務至關重要，以至於AvidXchange 的戰略投資者和合作夥伴萬事達卡已經在三個領域重新建構了其組織結構，其中B2B 支付是直接向其執行長Michael Maddock 報告的三個領域之一。

With the younger generation of CFO, treasurers and controllers focused on productivity and profitability, especially more so given the cost of capital has reverted to more normalized levels, Mastercard believes these future generations of finance leaders are looking for tools from manatees on to unlock the opportunity for buyer and supplier customers.

隨著年輕一代的財務長、財務主管和財務主管關註生產力和盈利能力，尤其是考慮到資本成本已恢復到更正常化的水平，萬事達卡相信，這些未來幾代的財務領導者正在尋找從海牛開始的工具來釋放機會對於買方和供應商客戶。

As such, Mastercard remains bullish and committed to advancing card adoption across the B2B landscape, to paraphrase Michael Maddock, who recently opined on B2B invoice payments at a recent investor conference. As the leading middle-market focused B2B accounts payable automation and payments player in the market, we believe AvidXchange is sitting at the epicenter to capitalize on these trends referred to by Mastercard.

因此，萬事達卡仍然看好並致力於推動銀行卡在 B2B 領域的採用，正如 Michael Maddock 所說，他最近在最近的一次投資者會議上就 B2B 發票支付發表了看法。作為市場上專注於中間市場的 B2B 應付帳款自動化和支付領域的領先廠商，我們相信 AvidXchange 正處於利用萬事達卡提到的這些趨勢的中心。

We do not believe that there is another pure-play publicly traded B2B accounts payable automation and payments company in the industry focused on the middle market segment that has the domain expertise as well as the technology, integration, data, operational and licensed stack honed over more than two decades, nor is there a pure play across the middle market that has a scale of revenues, the breadth of industry verticals, as well as the breadth and library of accounting system integration as AvidXchange does today.

我們認為，業內沒有另一家專注於中間市場領域的純粹公開交易的 B2B 應付賬款自動化和支付公司，擁有該領域的專業知識以及經過磨練的技術、集成、數據、運營和許可堆棧。多年來，也沒有一家純粹的中間市場公司能夠像今天的AvidXchange 那樣具有收入規模、垂直行業廣度以及會計系統整合的廣度和庫。

This is due to AvidXchange's early mover status in the accounts payable and payments automation space, and the realization early on that the success imperative in the space of building a true two-sided payment network, driving industry monetization penetration, would estate a differentiated value proposition uniquely curated for our 8,000 buyer/customers and over 1.2 million supplier/customers that we have today. Our AvidPay network creates a virtuous cycle of not only buyer customers attracting supplier customers and vice versa, but also accounts payable automation customers adopting payment solutions and vice versa.

這是由於 AvidXchange 在應付帳款和支付自動化領域處於先行者地位，並且很早就意識到，在構建真正的雙向支付網絡領域取得成功、推動行業貨幣化滲透，將產生差異化的價值主張為我們今天擁有的8,000 名買家/客戶和超過120 萬名供應商/客戶精心策劃。我們的 AvidPay 網路創造了一個良性循環，不僅買家客戶吸引供應商客戶，反之亦然，而且應付帳款自動化客戶採用支付解決方案，反之亦然。

Our talented team is delivering rapid material and quantifiable value in both current cost efficiency, productivity and future scalability of our customers' back-office AP payment initiatives, which advances our future growth and fuels our profit potential. I believe the best way to make the narrative around the benefits of accounts payable and payment automation tangible is to continue showcasing customer success stories shared by middle market finance leaders seeking our solution to drive productivity for their organizations.

我們才華橫溢的團隊正在為客戶後台 AP 支付計劃的當前成本效率、生產力和未來可擴展性提供快速的物質和可量化價值，這將促進我們未來的成長並激發我們的利潤潛力。我相信，讓應付帳款和支付自動化的好處變得切實可行的最佳方式是繼續展示中間市場財務領導者分享的客戶成功故事，這些領導者尋求我們的解決方案來提高其組織的生產力。

One such is Orthodontic Partners, which is part of the emerging dental subvertical within our fast-growing health care facilities vertical market. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Orthodontic Partners provides accounting and administrative services to over 30 orthodontic practices across 15 states on its NetSuite accounting platform allowing their back-office staff to focus on their core competencies. Our solution set was a perfect fit for their growing set of challenges in processing invoices manually, which numbered in the hundreds on a weekly basis.

Orthodontic Partners 就是其中之一，它是我們快速成長的醫療保健機構垂直市場中新興牙科垂直市場的一部分。Orthodontic Partners 總部位於密西根州大急流城，透過其 NetSuite 會計平台為 15 個州的 30 多家正畸診所提供會計和管理服務，使後台員工能夠專注於自己的核心能力。我們的解決方案集非常適合他們在手動處理發票方面面臨的日益增長的挑戰，每週處理的發票數量達到數百張。

This created significant downstream challenges for Orthodontic Partners leading to delays, loss checks and challenges in routing approvals to promote and traveling approvers. Due to AvidXchange's deeply embedded accounts payable integration partnership with NetSuite, Orthodontic Partners was able to streamline their invoice and payment processing without leaving the native NetSuite application and user experience. This resulted in increased productivity for Orthodontic Partners across its procure-to-pay cycle, making thousands of invoices easily available and speeding up the invoice approval workflow across their 30 offices.

這給正畸合作夥伴帶來了重大的下游挑戰，導致延誤、損失檢查以及晉升和旅行審批者的路線審批方面的挑戰。由於 AvidXchange 與 NetSuite 建立了深入的應付帳款整合合作夥伴關係，Orthodontic Partners 能夠簡化其發票和付款處理，而無需離開本機 NetSuite 應用程式和使用者體驗。這提高了 Orthodontic Partners 從採購到付款週期的工作效率，輕鬆提供數千張發票，並加快了 30 個辦事處的發票審批工作流程。

Matt Standards, an accounts payable specialist with the Orthodontic Partners put it best when he said, with AvidXchange, we get more critical tasks accomplished which gives us more time to focus on other strategic business initiatives that normally we would have the bandwidth for.

Orthodontic Partners 的應付帳款專家Matt Standards 說得最好，他說，透過AvidXchange，我們完成了更多關鍵任務，這讓我們有更多時間專注於其他戰略業務計劃，而這些計劃通常是我們有足夠時間處理的。

Turning now to some of the performance highlights and metrics from the third quarter of 2024 that underscore our value proposition and demonstrate our continued strong execution. Revenue for the quarter was just under $113 million or over 14% year-over-year growth. The growth in the quarter was led by a combination of quarterly rebound in transaction volume, aided by transaction retention and transaction yield growth strategies.

現在轉向 2024 年第三季的一些業績亮點和指標，它們強調了我們的價值主張並展示了我們持續強勁的執行力。該季度營收略低於 1.13 億美元，年增超過 14%。本季的成長得益於交易量的季度反彈，以及交易保留和交易收益率成長策略的幫助。

Non-GAAP gross margins, meanwhile, continued their upward trajectory coming in at 74.5% or up 450 basis points to close to the top end of our 72% to 75% non-GAAP gross margin target ahead of our 2025 expectations that we set over a year ago during our last Investor Day. Our continued focus on automation, AI, sourcing and standardization, which are still somewhat in the early stages, continue to bear significant fruit. Along with solid operating expense discipline, which led to 100% plus year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA profitability, adjusted EBITDA margins for the quarter reached roughly 21%.

同時，非 GAAP 毛利率持續呈上升趨勢，達到 74.5%，即上升 450 個基點，接近我們設定的 72% 至 75% 非 GAAP 毛利率目標的上限，超出了我們設定的 2025 年預期一年前，在我們的最後一個投資者日期間。我們對自動化、人工智慧、採購和標準化的持續關注雖然仍處於早期階段，但仍持續取得顯著成果。嚴格的營運費用紀律導致調整後 EBITDA 獲利能力年增 100% 以上，本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到約 21%。

Our important transaction yield metric, which is total revenues over total transactions, was up more than 8% to reach $5.59 per transaction. It is worth reminding investors that transaction yield is a metric that we have consistently messaged since our IPO as a primary metric we focus on across our leadership team as it demonstrates the power and effectiveness of our AvidXchange Business Flywheel.

我們重要的交易收益指標（即總收入與總交易量之比）增長了 8% 以上，達到每筆交易 5.59 美元。值得提醒投資者的是，自首次公開募股以來，我們一直將交易收益率作為我們領導團隊關注的主要指標，因為它展示了我們 AvidXchange Business Flywheel 的力量和有效性。

With that overview, I'm excited to cover key topics in two parts that we will shed light into the various initiatives that we believe will fuel our future growth. Number one, the first part being our top-of-funnel activity and other sales key metrics, which provides insights into the sales setup for 2025 and beyond. And second, I will discuss strategic partnerships, which will further drive gears two and three of our AvidXchange Business Flywheel.

透過這項概述，我很高興能分成兩部分討論關鍵主題，我們將闡明我們相信將推動我們未來成長的各種舉措。第一，第一部分是我們的漏斗頂部活動和其他銷售關鍵指標，它提供了 2025 年及以後銷售設定的見解。其次，我將討論策略合作夥伴關係，這將進一步推動我們 AvidXchange 業務飛輪的第二和第三個齒輪。

Let's start with our top of funnel and other underlying indicators driving our go-to-market motion. The picture for the comparable nine-month period of 2024 versus 2023 by vertical was encouraging as we saw the HOA, or Homeowners Association Management, market construction, health care, et cetera, show moderate improvements, while real estate, education and media continue to exhibit strong growth momentum. Recall earlier in the year, we highlighted that the strategic changes we have been making in our go-to-market motions, those changes encompass greater discipline around allocation of investment dollars as well as changes in our mix of marketing channels and personnel.

讓我們從我們的漏斗頂部和其他推動我們進入市場的基本指標開始。2024 年與 2023 年 9 個月的縱向情況令人鼓舞，因為我們看到 HOA（房主協會管理、市場建設、醫療保健等）顯示出適度的改善，而房地產、教育和媒體繼續增長展現出強勁的成長勢頭。回想今年早些時候，我們強調了我們在進入市場的動議中所做的策略變革，這些變化包括對投資資金分配的更嚴格紀律以及我們行銷管道和人員組合的變化。

For instance, we mentioned that we would be more targeted in the selection of trade shows and industry user conferences that we attend, which would result in potentially fewer, but much more highly qualified leads. The same framework was applied to lead and demand generation channels, including reallocating resources to partnerships to drive higher-quality and more actionable needs versus broadly spreading our resources across digital marketing channels.

例如，我們提到，我們將更有針對性地選擇參加的貿易展覽和行業用戶會議，這將導致潛在客戶數量減少，但品質更高。相同的框架適用於潛在客戶和需求產生管道，包括將資源重新分配給合作夥伴，以推動更高品質和更具可操作性的需求，而不是在數位行銷管道中廣泛分散我們的資源。

The result of this go-to-market adoption has been what we believe is a favorable trade-off between the quantity and quality of comparable top-of-funnel leads, which showed up in improved close rates, shorter sales cycles and buyer customer growth count encouragingly pacing ahead of 2023 levels.

我們認為，這種進入市場的採用的結果是可比較的漏斗頂部潛在客戶的數量和質量之間的有利權衡，這體現在成交率提高、銷售週期縮短和買家客戶增長方面令人鼓舞的是，我們的步伐超過了2023 年的水準。

Now shifting to the second part of the key topics I would like to talk about, about the four years of the AvidXchange Business Flywheel. We recently signed some additional notable strategic partnerships which we believe will advance years two and three of our Business Flywheel, both of which drive transaction volumes onto our platform to be monetized.

現在轉到我想談的關鍵主題的第二部分，關於 AvidXchange Business Flywheel 的四年。我們最近簽署了一些其他值得注意的策略合作夥伴關係，我們相信這將推進我們業務飛輪的第二年和第三年，這兩者都推動我們平台上的交易量實現貨幣化。

As you know, we have a verticalization go-to-market strategy, given the structure of the middle market, which we believe that over 50% of middle market companies highly align themselves to vertical industries that have either unique accounting or business process that require them to use vertical-specific ERP accounting systems to run their business and financial operations.

如您所知，考慮到中間市場的結構，我們有一個垂直化進入市場策略，我們相信超過 50% 的中間市場公司與具有獨特會計或業務流程的垂直行業高度一致，這些行業需要他們使用特定於垂直行業的ERP 會計系統來運營其業務和財務運營。

One of the emerging verticals in which we operate is health care facilities, which is around 5% of our buyer customer base today and is attractive in high-growth segment of the market. This vertical is comprised of many sub-verticals or sub domains, including long-term and elderly care centers, dental centers, veterinary centers and so on. In addition to the elderly care centers, we have been growing our portfolio of dental centers using our accounts payable and payment automation offerings.

我們經營的新興垂直產業之一是醫療保健設施，目前約占我們買家客戶群的 5%，在高成長的市場領域具有吸引力。這個垂直行業由許多子垂直行業或子領域組成，包括長期和老年護理中心、牙科中心、獸醫中心等。除了老年護理中心之外，我們還利用應付帳款和支付自動化產品來擴大牙科中心的投資組合。

That effort has just received a major boost with the addition of a formalized referral partnership with one of the leading global distributors of health care products and technology solutions, which also happens to house a dental support organization practice, or DSO, as its called in the industry. This large and rapidly growing player selected AvidXchange due to our marquee client list of DSO providers, proven track record in the DSO market space and the strength of our purpose-built value proposition.

隨著與全球領先的醫療保健產品和技術解決方案分銷商之一建立正式的推薦合作夥伴關係，這項努力得到了重大推動，該分銷商也恰好擁有牙科支持組織實踐（DSO），正如其在行業。由於我們的 DSO 供應商客戶名單、在 DSO 市場領域的良好業績記錄以及我們專門構建的價值主張的優勢，這家快速增長的大型企業選擇了 AvidXchange。

A dental support organization provides back office support function to dental offices, ranging from staffing, procurement and spend management to functions around the office of the CFO. The DSO market is large and fragmented, with some estimates putting the number of DSOs at over 3,000 and approximately 135,000 individual dental offices just in the US market alone. Through our accounts payable and payment automation solutions, we are positioned to capitalize on this growing DSO market, in which DSO entities currently manage around 30% of the 135,000 dental offices under the DSO structure today.

牙科支援組織為牙科診所提供後台支援功能，從人員配置、採購和支出管理到財務長辦公室的職能。DSO 市場規模龐大且分散，據估計，僅在美國市場，DSO 的數量就超過 3,000 家，個人牙科診所的數量約為 135,000 家。透過我們的應付帳款和支付自動化解決方案，我們能夠充分利用這個不斷增長的 DSO 市場，其中 DSO 實體目前管理 DSO 結構下 135,000 家牙科診所中的約 30%。

Given our proven track record in the DSO space, which is propelling the referenceable base of DSO clients in our portfolio, we are well positioned to capitalize on this market. As this national DSO provider ramps sales headcount around its DSO practice, AvidXchange will be its preferred referral partner on invoice and payment solutions. Not only do we believe our value proposition has a strong product and market fit for the DSO industry, we believe that DSOs create a fertile ground for us to pursue other equally attractive opportunities around care adjacencies, such as ambulatory surgical centers, veterinary vendor care centers, radiology centers, et cetera.

鑑於我們在 DSO 領域的良好記錄，這推動了我們投資組合中 DSO 客戶的參考基礎，我們處於充分利用這個市場的地位。隨著這家全國性 DSO 供應商圍繞其 DSO 實踐增加銷售人員數量，AvidXchange 將成為其在發票和支付解決方案方面的首選推薦合作夥伴。我們不僅相信我們的價值主張具有強大的產品和市場契合DSO 行業的優勢，而且我們相信DSO 為我們創造了肥沃的土壤，讓我們能夠在護理週邊地區尋求其他同樣有吸引力的機會，例如門診手術中心、獸醫供應商護理中心、放射中心等。

Also under gears two and three of our Business Flywheel, we recently forced some strong strategic significant bank seller relationships. For context, we have executed a channel-led white label reseller bank partnerships with super regional and money center banks, such as KeyBank, Fifth Third and Bank of America. Leveraging this credibility and standing up these three major bank partnerships over the last decade, we've embarked on a sales strategy to broaden and deepen our bank partnership portfolio and recently signed three premier diversified regional and independently community banks, including Cadence Bank and Orange Bank & Trust, two of which we can announce publicly.

此外，在我們的業務飛輪的第二和第三檔下，我們最近強制建立了一些強大的策略性重要銀行賣方關係。就背景而言，我們與 KeyBank、Fifth Third 和 Bank of America 等超級區域和貨幣中心銀行建立了以通路為主導的白標經銷商銀行合作夥伴關係。憑藉這種信譽並在過去十年中維護這三大銀行的合作夥伴關係，我們開始實施銷售策略，以擴大和深化我們的銀行合作夥伴關係組合，並於最近簽署了三家一流的多元化區域和獨立社區銀行，包括Cadence Bank 和Orange Bank和信任，其中兩個我們可以公開宣布。

These banks with the footprint largely across the Northeast and Southeast quarters of the US, both have combined total of roughly 50,000 commercial customers across these markets. With the reseller partnerships slated to go live over the next three quarters, we are excited to empower these banks with our suite of accounts payable and payment automation capabilities for their middle market customer base. Success with these new partnerships could be self-replicating by helping us penetrate the thousands of these other regional and community banks in the coming years.

這些銀行的業務主要分佈在美國東北部和東南部地區，在這些市場上總共擁有約 50,000 名商業客戶。隨著經銷商合作夥伴關係計劃在未來三個季度上線，我們很高興能夠為這些銀行提供我們的應付帳款和支付自動化功能套件，以滿足他們的中間市場客戶群的需要。這些新合作關係的成功可以自我複製，幫助我們在未來幾年滲透到數千家其他區域和社區銀行。

In closing, we are proud of our strong third quarter operating and financial results, which is leading us to upwardly revise our 2024 business outlook. These results were strong across the board. The discipline we have demonstrated in executing the levers that are within our control are second to none. And having seen an inflection in our transaction retention trends, we are encouraged granted that it's one quarter's worth of data, and retention trends are still sub-100% versus the 14% to 15% normalized range we've seen in the past.

最後，我們對第三季強勁的營運和財務表現感到自豪，這促使我們上調了 2024 年的業務前景。這些結果在各方面都很強勁。我們在執行我們控制範圍內的槓桿時所表現出的紀律是首屈一指的。在看到我們的交易保留趨勢發生變化後，我們感到很鼓舞，因為這是四分之一的數據，並且保留趨勢仍然低於100%，而我們過去看到的標準化範圍為14% 到15% 。

Our portfolio of new product innovation and enhancements, such as Payment Accelerator 2.0, our new pay platform and spend management offerings are sequenced for scaling. There are sizable strategic partnerships that we've announced over the last 18 months, including AppFolio, Buildium and M3. You couple that with the innovation pipeline that we have in leveraging AI across our vast library of integrations to accelerate the creation of ERP integrations as well as deploying AI across the operational value chain, we believe we are well positioned to deliver a heavy payload of greater value to our customers and improve growth outcomes for our business.

我們的新產品創新和增強產品組合（例如支付加速器 2.0、我們的新支付平台和支出管理產品）已按順序擴展。在過去 18 個月裡，我們宣布了相當規模的策略夥伴關係，包括 AppFolio、Buildium 和 M3。再加上我們在龐大的整合庫中利用人工智慧來加速ERP 整合的創建以及在整個營運價值鏈中部署人工智慧的創新管道，我們相信我們已經做好了充分準備，能夠提供更大的有效負載。

Of course, we are mindful of the macro crosscurrents and the potential for headwinds that test us. But we also strongly believe that our vision of a long runway of growth opportunity in the accounts payable automation and payments industry, which we consider to be in its infancy of adoption. We remain focused on closing 2024 on a strong note and believe we are set up for a strong trajectory in 2025.

當然，我們注意到宏觀的逆流和考驗我們的潛在逆風。但我們也堅信，我們對應付帳款自動化和支付產業長期成長機會的願景，我們認為該產業正處於採用的起步階段。我們仍然致力於以強勁的勢頭結束 2024 年，並相信我們已為 2025 年的強勁發展軌跡做好了準備。

I want to provide a special thanks to all of our AvidXchange team members for their hard work, dedication and relentless focus in executing our operational and strategic priorities that drive value for our customers. creates opportunities for their professional growth and builds long-term value for all of our shareholders.

我要特別感謝所有 AvidXchange 團隊成員的辛勤工作、奉獻精神和不懈的專注，執行我們的營運和策略優先事項，為客戶創造價值。為他們的職業發展創造機會，並為我們所有股東創造長期價值。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to my partner, Joel Wilhite.

我想將電話轉給我的合作夥伴喬爾威爾希特 (Joel Wilhite)。

Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to talk to you today about our strong third quarter 2024 financial results, which reflect disciplined operational execution as well as a positive inflection in transaction retention trends, which have been decelerating amid continued macro choppiness. Overall, we delivered a solid quarter of year-over-year financial performance across the board. I'll expand on that in a moment, but let's see how we track relative to implied expectations.

謝謝麥克，大家早安。我今天很高興與您談論我們強勁的 2024 年第三季財務業績，這反映了嚴格的營運執行以及交易保留趨勢的積極變化，而交易保留趨勢在持續的宏觀波動中一直在減速。整體而言，我們在整個季度的財務表現較去年同期表現穩健。我稍後會對此進行擴展，但讓我們看看我們如何追蹤相對於隱含期望的情況。

Relative to the implied third quarter 2024 business outlook and excluding float and political revenue contribution, revenues came in above our implied expectations, driven largely by higher total transaction volume, partly helped by better transaction retention trends. Gross margin performance remained strong due mostly to ongoing progress on unit cost initiatives and, to a minor extent, due to lower performance bonus accruals.

相對於隱含的2024 年第三季業務前景（不包括浮動收入和政治收入貢獻），收入高於我們的隱含預期，這主要是由於總交易量增加，部分原因是更好的交易保留趨勢。毛利率表現依然強勁，主要是由於單位成本計劃的持續進展，以及在較小程度上由於應計績效獎金下降。

That, together with sustained operating expense leverage, aided by a slightly lower annual performance bonus accruals, we drove significant adjusted EBITDA outperformance relative to expectations. It's worth pointing out that this continues our streak of delivering adjusted EBITDA profit expansion, excluding the impact of float and political revenues. Equally noteworthy, we delivered our second GAAP net income quarter since going public in 2021.

再加上持續的營運費用槓桿，以及年度績效獎金應計額略低的幫助，我們推動調整後的 EBITDA 表現顯著優於預期。值得指出的是，這延續了我們實現調整後 EBITDA 利潤擴張的勢頭，排除浮動和政治收入的影響。同樣值得注意的是，我們公佈了自 2021 年上市以來的第二個 GAAP 淨利季度。

Before I walk through year-over-year financial performance, I want to point out that in the third quarter of 2023, we had a favorable out-of-period adjustment related to a deferred revenue cleanup of $1.5 million, which was favorable to third quarter 2023 revenues, gross profit, adjusted EBITDA and net income. With regard to revenue, specifically, the $1.5 million contribution was split roughly between software and services revenues of approximately $1.1 million and $0.5 million, respectively.

在介紹同比財務業績之前，我想指出，在 2023 年第三季度，我們進行了與 150 萬美元遞延收入清理相關的有利的期外調整，這對第三季度是有利的。 、毛利、調整後EBITDA 和淨利。具體而言，就收入而言，150 萬美元的貢獻大致分為軟體和服務收入，分別約為 110 萬美元和 50 萬美元。

Now turning to year-over-year results. Total revenue increased by 14.3% to $112.8 million in Q3 of '24 over the third quarter of 2023. Adjusting for the out-of-period adjustment, year-over-year third quarter 2024 revenue growth would have been 16.1%. More than three quarters of the revenue growth was driven by a combination of pay yield expansion and the addition of new buyer invoice and payment transactions. The remaining revenue growth this quarter was driven by higher year-over-year float and political revenues.

現在轉向同比結果。24 年第三季總營收較 2023 年第三季成長 14.3%，達到 1.128 億美元。調整期外調整後，2024 年第三季營收年增將為 16.1%。超過四分之三的收入成長是由支付收益率擴張以及新買家發票和支付交易的增加共同推動的。本季剩餘收入成長是由年比浮存金和政治收入增加所推動的。

Our strong revenue growth also resulted in total transaction yield expanding to $5.59 in the quarter, up 8.5% from $5.15 in Q3 of 2023. Without the out-of-period adjustment in the year-ago quarter, total year-over-year transaction yield growth would have been 10.2%. More than three quarters of the increase was driven by software and pay yield and higher payments transaction mix, with the remainder due to float and political revenues.

我們強勁的營收成長也導致本季總交易殖利率擴大至 5.59 美元，比 2023 年第三季的 5.15 美元成長 8.5%。如果沒有去年同期的期外調整，總交易殖利率年增將為 10.2%。超過四分之三的成長是由軟體和支付收益率以及更高的支付交易組合推動的，其餘部分是由於浮動收入和政治收入。

Software revenue of $30.7 million, which accounted for 27.2% of our total revenue in the quarter, increased 6% in Q3 of 2024 over Q3 of 2023. Without the out-of-period adjustment in the year ago quarter, software revenue growth would have been 10.4%. The increase in software revenues was driven by a combination of growth in total transactions and certain subscription-based revenues.

2024 年第三季軟體營收為 3,070 萬美元，佔本季總營收的 27.2%，比 2023 年第三季成長 6%。如果沒有去年同期的期外調整，軟體營收成長率將為 10.4%。軟體收入的成長是由交易總額的成長和某些基於訂閱的收入共同推動的。

Payment revenue of $80.7 million, which accounted for 71.6% of our total revenue in the quarter, increased 17.8% in Q3 of '24 over Q3 of '23. Payment revenue reflects the contribution of interest revenues, which were $12.7 million in Q3 of '24 versus $10.6 million in Q3 of '23. Political media revenue in the current quarter was approximately $2 million and negligible in the same period a year ago. Excluding the impact of float and political revenues from both comparable periods, payment revenues grew 14.8%, driven by a combination of an increase in pay yield, greater payment mix and payment transaction volume increase of 9.4%.

支付收入為 8,070 萬美元，佔本季總營收的 71.6%，24 年第三季比 23 年第三季成長了 17.8%。支付收入反映了利息收入的貢獻，24 年第三季為 1,270 萬美元，而 23 年第三季為 1,060 萬美元。本季政治媒體收入約 200 萬美元，與去年同期相比可忽略不計。排除兩個可比時期浮動收入和政治收入的影響，在支付收益率增加、支付組合擴大以及支付交易量增長 9.4% 的共同推動下，支付收入增長了 14.8%。

On a GAAP basis, gross profit of $76.4 million increased by 22.5% in Q3 of 2024 over the same period last year, resulting in a 67.7% gross margin for the quarter compared to 63.2% in Q3 of '23. Non-GAAP gross margin increased 450 basis points to 74.5% in Q3 of 2024 over the same period last year, and 500 basis points increase without the out-of-period adjustment, with the lion's share of the increase driven mostly by unit cost efficiencies and yield expansion and, to a minor extent, by lower annual performance bonus accruals.

以 GAAP 計算，2024 年第三季毛利為 7,640 萬美元，較去年同期成長 22.5%，導致該季度毛利率為 67.7%，而 2023 年第三季毛利率為 63.2%。2024 年第三季度，非 GAAP 毛利率較去年同期成長 450 個基點，達到 74.5%，未經期外調整則成長 500 個基點，其中大部分成長主要由單位成本效率推動和產量擴張，以及在較小程度上，年度績效獎金應計額的降低。

I'm pleased to say that the third quarter of 2024 non-GAAP gross margin was in the upper end of the 72% to 75% range targeted for 2025 as projected during the company's June 2023 Investor Day.

我很高興地說，2024 年第三季的非 GAAP 毛利率處於公司 2023 年 6 月投資者日期間預計的 2025 年目標 72% 至 75% 範圍的上限。

Moving on to our operating expenses. On a GAAP basis, total operating expenses were $81.1 million, an increase of 4.6% in Q3 of 2024 over Q3 of last year. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation, increased as well by 5.3% to $60.7 million in the third quarter of 2024 from the comparable prior year period, with the increase driven by a range of investments in product, technology, sales initiatives and headcount, partially offset by slightly lower annual performance bonus accruals.

繼續我們的營運費用。以 GAAP 計算，2024 年第三季總營運費用為 8,110 萬美元，較去年第三季成長 4.6%。以非公認會計準則計算，2024 年第三季的營運費用（不包括折舊和攤銷以及股票薪資）也比去年同期增加了 5.3%，達到 6,070 萬美元，這一增長是由一系列因素推動的產品、技術、銷售計畫和員工人數的投資，部分被略低的年度績效獎金應計額所抵銷。

On a percentage of revenue basis, operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation, or non-GAAP OpEx, declined to 53.8% in the third quarter of 2024 from 58.4% in the comparable prior year period. I'm equally pleased to say that third quarter 2024 non-GAAP OpEx as a percentage of revenues in the quarter was also in the $50 million to 55% range targeted for 2025 as projected during the company's June 2023 Investor Day.

以收入百分比計算，營運費用（不包括折舊、攤提和股票薪酬，或非 GAAP 營運支出）從去年同期的 58.4% 下降至 2024 年第三季的 53.8%。我同樣高興地指出，2024 年第三季非 GAAP 營運支出佔本季收入的百分比也處於公司 2023 年 6 月投資者日期間預計的 2025 年目標 5000 萬美元至 55% 的範圍內。

Overall, the year-over-year percent of revenue decline largely highlights expense discipline and significant operating leverage across G&A, sales and marketing as well as R&D, even after stripping out the contribution of float and political revenue.

總體而言，收入年減的百分比在很大程度上凸顯了支出紀律以及一般管理費用、銷售和行銷以及研發方面的顯著營運槓桿，即使在剔除浮存金和政治收入的貢獻之後也是如此。

Now I'll talk about each component of the change in operating expenses on a non-GAAP basis. Non-GAAP sales and marketing costs increased by $2.2 million or 12.6% to $19.7 million in Q3 of 2024 over Q3 of last year, with the increased investments in sales and marketing spend to support our continued growth, partially offset by slightly lower bonus accruals.

現在我將討論按非公認會計準則計算的營運費用變化的各個組成部分。與去年第三季相比，2024 年第三季的非GAAP 銷售和行銷成本增加了220 萬美元，即12.6%，達到1,970 萬美元，為支持我們的持續成長而增加了銷售和行銷支出投資，但應計獎金略有下降部分抵銷了這一成本。

Non-GAAP research and development costs increased slightly by $374,000 or 1.7% to $22.1 million in Q3 of '24 over Q3 of last year. The increase was due to continued reinvestment in our products and platform, including spend management, pay offering and payment accelerator, partially offset by slightly lower bonus accruals.

與去年第三季相比，2024 年第三季非 GAAP 研發成本小幅增加了 374,000 美元或 1.7%，達到 2,210 萬美元。這一增長是由於對我們的產品和平台的持續再投資，包括支出管理、薪酬提供和支付加速器，但部分被應計獎金略有下降所抵消。

Non-GAAP G&A costs increased slightly by $481,000 or 2.6% to $18.9 million in Q3 of 2024 versus Q3 of last year net of slightly lower bonus accruals. As a percentage of revenues, G&A costs continue to trend lower as we continue to leverage public company costs across a larger revenue base. Our GAAP net income was $4 million for the third quarter of 2024 versus a GAAP net loss of $8.1 million in the third quarter of 2023, with the $12.1 million positive swing in net income, driven largely by a combination of strong revenue flow-through, solid gross profit increase in expense control, leading to a significant positive swing in operating income, coupled with higher net interest income due to reduced borrowing costs and partial debt paydown.

與去年第三季相比，2024 年第三季非 GAAP G&A 成本小幅增加 481,000 美元或 2.6%，達到 1,890 萬美元（扣除應計獎金略有減少）。隨著我們繼續在更大的收入基礎上利用上市公司成本，一般管理費用佔收入的百分比繼續呈下降趨勢。2024 年第三季我們的 GAAP 淨利潤為 400 萬美元，而 2023 年第三季 GAAP 淨虧損為 810 萬美元，淨利潤正向波動 1,210 萬美元，這主要是由於強勁的收入流轉、費用控制帶來的毛利穩健成長，導致營業收入大幅正向波動，加上借貸成本降低和部分債務償還導致淨利息收入增加。

GAAP earnings per share for the third quarter was $0.02, a $0.06 positive swing from the same comparable period last year. Both third quarter 2023 GAAP net income and earnings per share reflect $1.5 million and approximately [$0.01], respectively, of previously discussed favorable contribution. On a non-GAAP basis, our net income in the third quarter of 2024 almost tripled to $15.7 million versus $5.8 million in the same year ago period, with non-GAAP earnings per share more than doubling to $0.07 versus $0.03 in the same year ago third quarter.

第三季 GAAP 每股收益為 0.02 美元，較去年同期上漲 0.06 美元。2023 年第三季 GAAP 淨利和每股盈餘分別反映了先前討論的有利貢獻 150 萬美元和約 [0.01 美元]。以非GAAP 計算，我們2024 年第三季的淨利潤幾乎增長了兩倍，達到1570 萬美元，而去年同期為580 萬美元，非GAAP 每股收益增加了一倍多，達到0.07 美元，去年同期為0.03 美元第三季。

Both third quarter 2023 non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share reflect $1.1 million and approximately $0.01, respectively, of previously discussed favorable contribution. All of the net income performance was driven by the aforementioned factors. On a non-GAAP basis, Q3 2024 adjusted EBITDA was $23.3 million versus $11.4 million in Q3 of 2023, largely due to the aforementioned factors. Third quarter of 2023 adjusted EBITDA also included a favorable out-of-period adjustment in the year ago period related to deferred revenue cleanup of $1.5 million.

2023 年第三季非 GAAP 淨利和非 GAAP 每股盈餘分別反映了先前討論的有利貢獻 110 萬美元和約 0.01 美元。所有淨利表現均由上述因素驅動。根據非公認會計原則，2024 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 2,330 萬美元，而 2023 年第三季為 1,140 萬美元，這主要是由於上述因素。2023 年第三季調整後的 EBITDA 還包括去年同期與 150 萬美元遞延收入清理相關的有利的期外調整。

Now turning to the balance sheet for a moment. I want to touch on a few key items. We ended the quarter with a strong corporate cash position of $394.3 million of cash and marketable securities against an outstanding note payable balance of $13.9 million. At quarter end, our new credit facility, which consists of $150 million revolver, with a $150 million accordion feature as well, remained undrawn. During the quarter, the company utilized $25.1 million of cash from its balance sheet to purchase 3.1 million of its own shares at an average price of $8.05, under its $100 million share repurchase program announced August 2024.

現在暫時轉向資產負債表。我想談幾個關鍵事項。本季結束時，我們的企業現金狀況強勁，現金和有價證券為 3.943 億美元，而未償付票據餘額為 1,390 萬美元。截至季末，我們的新信貸額度（包括 1.5 億美元左輪手槍和 1.5 億美元手風琴功能）仍未提取。根據 2024 年 8 月宣布的 1 億美元股票回購計劃，該公司在本季度利用資產負債表中的 2,510 萬美元現金以平均價格 8.05 美元購買了 310 萬股自己的股票。

Corporate cash, meanwhile, was split roughly two-third in deposit accounts and one-third among money market funds, commercial paper and time deposit instruments. The weighted average maturity on the corporate cash was roughly 26 days, while the effective interest rate on our corporate cash position for the third quarter was roughly 5%. Customer cash at quarter end remained unchanged sequentially at approximately $1.2 billion, with an interest rate of roughly 4.9% for the quarter.

同時，企業現金約三分之二分配在存款帳戶中，三分之一分配在貨幣市場基金、商業票據和定期存款工具。公司現金的加權平均期限約為 26 天，而第三季公司現金部位的實際利率約為 5%。季末客戶現金與上一季持平，約 12 億美元，本季利率約 4.9%。

Turning to our updated 2024 business outlook. We now expect total revenue for the year to be in the range of $437 million to $439 million. Our 2024 revenue outlook reflects approximately $50 million of interest revenues from customer funds, a $1 million increase from our previous 2024 outlook and versus $41 million earned in 2023. Also, we now anticipate political media revenue contribution of approximately $6.5 million versus our previous expectations of $9 million.

轉向我們更新的 2024 年業務展望。我們目前預計今年的總收入將在 4.37 億美元至 4.39 億美元之間。我們的 2024 年收入展望反映了來自客戶資金的約 5,000 萬美元的利息收入，比我們先前 2024 年的展望增加了 100 萬美元，而 2023 年的收入為 4,100 萬美元。此外，我們現在預計政治媒體收入貢獻約為 650 萬美元，而我們先前的預期為 900 萬美元。

As we've mentioned before, this is our first presidential cycle under FastPay. Recall, we acquired FastPay in 2021. And for context, in 2022, during the midterm election cycle, the political arm of FastPay generated roughly $8.5 million in revenues.

正如我們之前提到的，這是我們在 FastPay 領導下的第一個總統週期。回想一下，我們在 2021 年收購了 FastPay。就背景而言，2022 年中期選舉週期期間，FastPay 的政治部門創造了約 850 萬美元的收入。

Similarly, we now expect non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA profit ranging between $78 million and $79 million for the year, up from our previous range between $73 million and $75 million. We also expect 2024 non-GAAP diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.24 to $0.25.

同樣，我們現在預計今年非 GAAP 調整後 EBITDA 利潤範圍為 7,800 萬美元至 7,900 萬美元，高於之前的 7,300 萬美元至 7,500 萬美元範圍。我們也預計 2024 年非 GAAP 攤薄每股收益將介於 0.24 美元至 0.25 美元之間。

With that, I'd like to turn the call back over to the operator and open up the line for Q&A. Operator?

這樣，我想將電話轉回接線員並打開問答線。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Dave Koning, Baird.

戴夫·科寧，貝爾德。

Yeah. Guys, great job. And maybe if I could just start off. The yield in the payments segment was up very nicely sequentially and I think calms a lot of fears on the supplier acceptance side. Is it fair to say, I guess, a, maybe you're not seeing as much supplier acceptance pushback maybe as you have in the past? And then maybe as we kind of look forward, can this yield continue to grow kind of in the future?

是的。夥計們，幹得好。也許如果我能開始的話。支付領域的收益率連續上升得非常好，我認為平息了供應商接受度方面的許多擔憂。我想，也許您沒有看到像過去那麼多的供應商接受阻力，這樣說是否公平？也許正如我們所期待的那樣，這種產量在未來還能繼續成長嗎？

Yeah. Great question, Dave, and thanks for that. Look, here's what I would just say. I've said before, be careful reading too much into kind of a bp up or bp down in PPV yield. Remember, we're really focused on the north star metric for us, overall total transaction yield, simply total revenues over total transactions. We're comfortable with the monetization strategy and suppliers are going to continue to make decisions around the optimal way to get paid. But we're pleased with the quarter, pleased with the overall yield and revenue results.

是的。很好的問題，戴夫，謝謝你。聽著，這就是我要說的。我之前說過，要小心過度解讀 PPV 收益率的上升或下降。請記住，我們真正關注的是北極星指標，即整體總交易收益率，即總收入除以總交易量。我們對貨幣化策略感到滿意，供應商將繼續圍繞最佳的付款方式做出決策。但我們對這個季度感到滿意，對整體產量和收入結果感到滿意。

Will Nance, Goldman Sachs.

威爾·南斯，高盛。

You had some a bit of commentary on some of the trends you're seeing on top of funnel in some of the verticals that have been seeing some choppier performance. I was just wondering if you could kind of expand on that and the nature of some of the activity that you're seeing? And then just separately, just commentary on transaction retention, nice to see the acceleration in transactions this quarter. What are you kind of seeing kind of under the hood? And what's kind of your latest thinking in terms of kind of where we are and the kind of reset and business spend that we've witnessed over the last year or so?

您對在一些垂直領域的漏斗頂部看到的一些趨勢進行了一些評論，這些垂直領域的表現有些波動。我只是想知道您是否可以對此以及您所看到的一些活動的性質進行擴展？然後分別對交易保留進行評論，很高興看到本季交易的加速。你在幕後看到了什麼？對於我們所處的位置以及我們在過去一年左右目睹的重置和業務支出的類型，您的最新想法是什麼？

Yeah. So Will, I don't know if that's a two or three or four part question, but we'll tackle it. So yes, first of all, on the kind of just top of funnel, to go under the hood on that one first. I would say kind of point to all the strategies that we've been talking about executing over the last couple of quarters related to adjustments on top of funnel, I think we're seeing paying off. And particularly this quarter, I would highlight kind of five areas of strength. One, continued strong momentum in real estate vertical, financial services, HOA, emerging markets, led by kind of health care facilities.

是的。威爾，我不知道這是一個兩部分、三個部​​分還是四部分的問題，但我們會解決它。所以，是的，首先，在漏斗的頂部，先深入了解那個漏斗的內部情況。我想說的是，我們在過去幾季中一直在討論執行的所有與漏斗頂部調整相關的策略，我認為我們正在看到回報。特別是在這個季度，我會強調五個優勢領域。一、房地產垂直、金融服務、HOA、新興市場持續強勁勢頭，以醫療保健設施類為主導。

And then the fifth one being existing customers. And within existing customers, we've seen nice activity related to both construction and real estate and construction. It's continued to be led by movement to our Titanium SaaS offering within the construction vertical. And I would say within those five areas of strength, the results that we're seeing are paying off in terms of, one, being really pleased with new logo growth as that continues to kind of trend ahead of last year and the shortening of our average sales cycle and continued strong close rates. So that's, I think, the kind of the under the hood related to top of funnel and maybe Joe can tackle the second part.

第五個是現有客戶。在現有客戶中，我們看到了與建築、房地產和建築相關的良好活動。它繼續由建築物垂直領域內的 Titanium SaaS 產品的發展所引領。我想說，在這五個優勢領域中，我們看到的結果正在得到回報，一是對新徽標的增長感到非常滿意，因為這種趨勢繼續領先於去年，並且我們的平均銷售週期和持續強勁的成交率。所以，我認為，這就是與漏斗頂部相關的幕後工作，也許喬可以解決第二部分。

Yeah. Well, I'll just address super briefly your question around the overall transaction growth improvement, and we were pleased with that, both invoice and payment retention levels improved modestly for us in the quarter. I just want to be clear, one quarter's worth of data, right, so one quarter doesn't necessarily make a trend, but we were encouraged. We did see that, that improvement was relatively broad-based across the verticals. And just a reminder, we're still sub-100% overall total transaction retention, but very encouraged with what we saw in the quarter.

是的。好吧，我將簡單地回答您關於整體交易成長改善的問題，我們對此感到滿意，本季我們的發票和付款保留水平均略有改善。我只是想澄清一下，四分之一的數據，對吧，所以四分之一不一定會形成趨勢，但我們受到了鼓舞。我們確實看到，這種改進在各個垂直領域都相對廣泛。提醒一下，我們的總交易保留率仍然低於 100%，但我們對本季所看到的情況感到非常鼓舞。

Ramsey El-Assal, Barclays.

拉姆齊·阿薩爾，巴克萊銀行。

Can you give us any preliminary thoughts on '25, especially as it pertains to kind of growth next year for things like political media, interest revenues? What are the key drivers that we should be thinking through as we try to tighten up our models next year?

您能否給我們一些關於 25 年的初步想法，特別是它涉及明年政治媒體、利息收入等方面的成長？當我們明年嘗試收緊我們的模型時，我們應該考慮哪些關鍵驅動因素？

Yeah. Great question, Ramsey. And not surprised to take the question, but we're certainly focused on finishing the year strong. And we'll provide more, obviously, specific guidance when we report the year in February. What I would say is that we still think like we're in the early days of a really big opportunity. The market is large and unpenetrated. That remains true, a lot of conviction, and still see ourselves as the leader in the market with a really strong moat.

是的。很好的問題，拉姆齊。回答這個問題並不奇怪，但我們當然專注於以強勁的表現結束這一年。當我們在二月報告這一年時，我們顯然會提供更多、更具體的指導。我想說的是，我們仍然認為我們正處於一個真正巨大機會的早期階段。市場很大，但尚未滲透。這仍然是事實，我們充滿信心，並且仍然認為我們是市場的領導者，擁有真正強大的護城河。

But to your point, there's a couple of things that we're looking at that would impact '25 growth. We need to see -- we need to get back to our net transaction expansion. That 104%, 105% overall total transaction retention rate needs to be expansion. Today, it's still sub-100%. And then also, there's no political contribution next year. And with Fed cutting rates, we would expect to have headwinds from a float perspective. So a number of puts and takes that will play into '25 growth. But we're focused on finishing this year strong and we'll update you in February.

但就您的觀點而言，我們正在研究一些會影響 25 世紀成長的因素。我們需要看到──我們需要回到淨交易擴張的狀態。104%、105%的整體總交易保留率需要擴大。今天，它仍然低於 100%。而且，明年也沒有政治捐款。隨著聯準會降息，從浮動利率的角度來看，我們預期會遇到阻力。因此，一些調整和調整將影響 25 世紀的成長。但我們的重點是今年表現強勁，我們將在二月向您通報最新情況。

Sanjay Sakhrani, KBW.

桑傑·薩赫拉尼 (Sanjay Sakhrani)，KBW。

Just wanted to get a little bit more color on the improving EBITDA margins, sort of what's driving some of those improved margins and how we should think about that going forward?

只是想對 EBITDA 利潤率的提高有更多的了解，是什麼推動了利潤率的提高，以及我們應該如何看待未來的發展？

Yeah, great question. I'll take that one. We're pleased with the sort of 20%-plus EBITDA margins we're seeing in the business, and we just -- that, to us, just reaffirms the opportunity. Even in the middle of this macro kind of choppiness that we're seeing impact our overall total transactions and revenue, we're actually ahead of schedule on our gross margin results in that 75% range. We think this business is 80% gross margin business with 30% EBITDA margin. So you can see the operating expense leverage in addition to the gross margin expansion. And hopefully, it's obvious that you see just good, strong operating discipline. That's what we're focused on.

是的，很好的問題。我會接受那個。我們對業務中 20% 以上的 EBITDA 利潤率感到滿意，對我們來說，這再次確認了機會。即使我們看到這種宏觀波動影響了我們的總交易量和收入，但我們的毛利率實際上已經提前達到了 75% 的水平。我們認為這項業務的毛利率為 80%，EBITDA 利潤率為 30%。因此，除了毛利率擴張之外，您還可以看到營業費用槓桿。希望您能明顯看到良好、嚴格的營運紀律。這就是我們關注的重點。

Andrew Bauch, Wells Fargo.

安德魯·鮑赫，富國銀行。

Just wondering if you visit the top-of-funnel comments that you made before. I know that in the past, you've mentioned that election uncertainty was kind of leading to some pent-up demand and some hesitancy in decision-making around AP automation. And how do you kind of anticipate this to play itself out? And if there's a way to kind of frame what has been held back that you think could kind of snap back now that we have this clarity?

只是想知道您是否訪問了之前發表的漏斗頂部評論。我知道，您過去曾提到，選舉的不確定性在某種程度上導致了一些被壓抑的需求，以及圍繞美聯社自動化決策的一些猶豫。您預計這件事會如何發展？如果有一種方法可以框架那些被抑制的東西，你認為現在我們已經有了這樣的清晰性，可以恢復到原來的狀態？

Yeah. Good question, Andrew. And you probably have as much of a silver ball on that as I do. But what I would say is that when I look at kind of that number one metric of transactions retained on the network, we talked about, which is kind of the building block of our growth algorithm. First of all, it's a general concern about general economy. And second of all, what we hear about is just the unknowns related to the results of the presidential election, what that may result in terms of policies.

是的。好問題，安德魯。你可能跟我一樣有這樣的想法。但我想說的是，當我查看網路上保留的交易的第一個指標時，我們談到了，這是我們成長演算法的建構塊。首先，這是對整體經濟的普遍擔憂。其次，我們聽到的只是與總統選舉結果相關的未知因素，以及這可能對政策產生什麼影響。

The good news is that one, I think, is resolved. And certainly, that will take some of that risk off the table from the standpoint now. People know who the presence is going to be and what policies may result from that. And then the third element is just the rate environment. And I think we're getting more and more clarity on what that may look like.

好消息是，我認為這個問題已經解決了。當然，從現在的角度來看，這將消除一些風險。人們知道誰會出席，以及由此可能產生什麼政策。第三個要素就是利率環境。我認為我們越來越清楚這可能會是什麼樣子。

So I'm actually probably in the optimistic camp of the combination of those elements being positive catalysts for customers to return their discretionary spend, go back to the platform or begin kind of increasing their discretionary spend, maybe is a better way of saying it. Historically, when we've seen these type of dynamics and when people start having confidence -- CFOs, controllers, finance leaders, having confidence in kind of the go-forward market, we've seen some of that scarcity spend return pretty quickly to the platform historically. So we're hopeful. But certainly, it's kind of a watch and see as certainly Q4 plays out as we go into next year.

因此，我實際上可能處於樂觀陣營，認為這些因素的結合是積極的催化劑，促使客戶返還其可自由支配支出，返回平台或開始增加可自由支配支出，也許是更好的說法。從歷史上看，當我們看到這種類型的動態，當人們開始有信心——財務長、財務主管、財務負責人，對未來的市場有信心時，我們就會看到一些稀缺支出很快就會恢復到原來的水準。所以我們充滿希望。但當然，這是一種觀察，隨著我們進入明年，第四季肯定會發揮作用。

Bryan Keane, Deutsche Bank.

布萊恩‧基恩，德意志銀行。

Congrats on the solid quarter here in progress. Joel, just thinking about the growth rate for the quarter, it was -- on the top line, it was up 14% in change and even then included the $1.5 million adjustment from the deferred -- on third quarter deferred revenue cleanup. So I'm just trying to figure out the fourth quarter implied guide to us looks like 9% to 11%. And just thinking about the pluses and minuses going from third quarter to fourth quarter, maybe you could highlight for us.

恭喜本季的進展順利。喬爾，只要考慮本季的成長率，就收入而言，成長了 14%，即便如此，也包括了第三季遞延收入清理中的 150 萬美元的遞延調整。所以我只是想弄清楚第四季度對我們的隱含指導看起來是 9% 到 11%。只要想想從第三季到第四季的優缺點，也許你可以為我們強調一下。

Yeah. You bet, Bryan. Thanks for the question. Maybe first, just broadly to set, a simple way to think about our revised guidance is we're really just taking the beat. If you take political and float out, we're really just taking the beat up on a full year basis at the midpoint a couple of million dollars. And then if you think about Q3 to Q4, I guess what I would just say keep in mind, there's a little bit of seasonality there when you think about that sequential shift from Q3 to Q4. And what you'll see is it's very consistent with what we saw in '22 and '23.

是的。你敢打賭，布萊恩。謝謝你的提問。也許首先，從廣義來說，思考我們修訂後的指導方針的一個簡單方法是，我們實際上只是在搶節奏。如果你考慮政治因素並退出，我們實際上只是在全年中承受了幾百萬美元的打擊。然後，如果您考慮第三季度到第四季度，我想我要記住的是，當您考慮從第三季度到第四季度的順序轉變時，存在一點季節性。您將看到，這與我們在 22 年和 23 年看到的非常一致。

Craig Maurer, FT Partners.

克雷格‧毛雷爾，《金融時報》合夥人。

Just wanted to dig a little deeper into the transaction yield. With your talk about inflection in terms of transaction retention trends that points to perhaps a stronger environment. On the supplier side, has there been any change in terms of how suppliers are looking to get paid at all? We talked about sort of caps at which suppliers are willing to accept sort of higher take rate payment options last quarter. So any change to that? And I know this is noncore, but what drove the lower political ad spend assumption for the year, because that seems kind of counterintuitive to what we've seen in the environment?

只是想更深入地了解交易收益率。您談到的交易保留趨勢的變化可能表明環境更加強勁。在供應商方面，供應商尋求付款的方式是否有任何變化？上個季度我們討論了供應商願意接受較高接受率付款選項的上限。那麼有什麼改變嗎？我知道這不是核心，但是什麼推動了今年政治廣告支出下降的假設，因為這似乎與我們在環境中看到的情況有點違反直覺？

Yeah. So on the yield question, Craig, I certainly spent a lot of time last quarter talking about that. And what I would say is that what we've seen is no significant changes in supplier behavior. Again, we're within kind of 1 basis points up and down between the last quarter and this quarter. But we are encouraged with kind of our overall strategies being successful. And those strategies are that we make many different value propositions by creating payment modalities that are particular to either the group of suppliers or even a potential individual enterprise supplier.

是的。因此，關於收益率問題，克雷格，上個季度我確實花了很多時間談論這個問題。我想說的是，我們看到供應商行為沒有重大改變。同樣，上季與本季之間的上下波動幅度在 1 個基點之內。但我們對整體策略的成功感到鼓舞。這些策略是，我們透過創建特定於供應商群體甚至潛在個體企業供應商的支付方式來提出許多不同的價值主張。

Payment modality is a combination of the speed of the payment, the price of the payment, the level of remittance data and the level of automation. So certainly, we're leaning into our STP, or straight through process, tools as it relates to the enterprise segment and working on different value propositions. At the same time, we continue to see really robust growth of new, smaller suppliers, small business suppliers being added to the network that are predominantly selecting virtual card as their primary payment acceptance methods.

支付方式是支付速度、支付價格、匯款資料水準和自動化水準的組合。因此，我們當然會傾向於使用與企業細分市場相關的 STP（即直通式流程）工具，並致力於不同的價值主張。同時，我們繼續看到新的小型供應商和小型企業供應商的強勁成長被添加到網路中，這些供應商主要選擇虛擬卡作為主要的付款接受方式。

So we're kind of seeing our strategies kind of play out. And I think the key is having lots of different payment modalities. And as we indicated today, we go to market with roughly 25 different payment modalities and growing. So that's certainly been kind of a key strategy related to that monetization question.

所以我們看到我們的策略正在發揮作用。我認為關鍵是有很多不同的支付方式。正如我們今天所指出的，我們進入市場時提供了大約 25 種不同的支付方式，而且還在增加。因此，這肯定是與貨幣化問題相關的關鍵策略。

The second one, kind of maybe extension of that is on the political side. And as we indicated, this was our first political cycle ourselves. And so we certainly kind of had an extrapolation of what we've seen in the midterm cycle. And I think what we've seen, as you've indicated, is certainly lots of overall spending activity. However, the one thing that is the big driver as it relates to kind of our monetization is the mix of payments. So when you think of the media sector, they're -- because paper check is really not a very viable payment mechanism, you really are left with three main payment mechanisms: virtual card, our AvidPay Direct offering and then what we call kind of basic ACH.

第二個可能是政治方面的延伸。正如我們所指出的，這是我們自己的第一個政治週期。因此，我們當然對中期週期所看到的情況進行了推論。我認為，正如您所指出的，我們所看到的肯定是大量的整體支出活動。然而，與我們的貨幣化相關的最大驅動因素是支付組合。因此，當您想到媒體產業時，因為紙本支票確實不是一種非常可行的支付機制，所以您實際上只剩下三種主要支付機制：虛擬卡、我們的AvidPay Direct 產品以及我們所說的某種支付機制。

And what we've seen compared to the midterm cycle is differences in mix between those three payment modalities that were slightly different than we had been kind of probably expecting based on what we saw two years ago and four years ago related to the mix. And what that -- those changes were, were a greater percentage of spend being directed towards digital channels. Digital channels being Google, YouTube, x, Meda, Facebook, TikTok as examples. And those typically to more of the non-monetizable basic ACH type category.

與中期週期相比，我們看到這三種支付方式之間的組合存在差異，這與我們根據兩年前和四年前所看到的與組合相關的情況所預期的略有不同。這些變化意味著更大比例的支出流向了數位管道。數位管道包括 Google、YouTube、x、Meda、Facebook、TikTok 等。這些通常屬於不可貨幣化的基本 ACH 類型類別。

So -- and we also saw some examples of actually increased activity on our AvidPay Direct or within the media vertical, it's called our FastPay Direct offering. So just different changes of mix between different payment types is, I think, is what we see is all playing out in this particular cycle.

因此，我們也看到了 AvidPay Direct 或媒體垂直領域內活動實際增加的一些例子，這就是我們的 FastPay Direct 產品。因此，我認為，不同支付類型之間的組合變化就是我們所看到的在這個特定週期中發生的一切。

Jamie Friedman, Susquehanna.

傑米·弗里德曼，薩斯奎哈納。

And let me echo my congratulations. Mike, I was just wondering if you are still comfortable with those very, very long-term five-year type projections that you put out in June of 2023, especially the rule of 40, 50-plus and the 30% adjusted margin? And again, this is a very long-term question, nothing about next year. Is there anything structurally that would, at this point, think that you would vary from those long-term objectives?

請容許我表達我的祝賀。麥克，我只是想知道您是否仍然對您在 2023 年 6 月提出的那些非常非常長期的五年型預測感到滿意，尤其是 40、50+ 和 30% 調整後利潤的規則？再說一次，這是一個非常長期的問題，與明年無關。在這一點上，是否有任何結構性因素會認為您會偏離這些長期目標？

Yeah. So great question, Jamie. And what I'm ever do is I'm going to ask Joel to maybe provide the first part of the question, and I can -- I'm sorry, I should say, and I can provide some commentary to that.

是的。這是一個很好的問題，傑米。我要做的就是請喬爾提供問題的第一部分，我可以——我應該說，很抱歉，我可以對此提供一些評論。

Yeah. Maybe I'll just start. Look, I want to be balanced. We had -- we're really proud of the quarter that we had. And you can see the progress we're making on all the profitability and efficiency measures, even in the middle of this kind of macro period. And it's super encouraging to see overall total transaction growth inflect in the quarter, but it's just a quarter. And so if you think about what the '25 midterm targets that we set out at Investor Day, you have to think about that through a lens of the macro environment is an uncertainty, right? And not to mention kind of the sort of the interest rate dynamic.

是的。也許我會開始。聽著，我想要保持平衡。我們對這個季度感到非常自豪。你可以看到我們在所有獲利能力和效率指標上取得的進展，即使是在這種宏觀時期的中期。看到本季總交易量成長出現變化真是令人鼓舞，但這只是一個季度。因此，如果您考慮我們在投資者日制定的 25 年中期目標，您必須從宏觀環境的角度考慮這是一種不確定性，對嗎？更不用說利率動態了。

So we're super focused on operating this highly profitable continuing to grow business through a macro environment that generates meaningful cash flow. We still believe that the long-term targets, right, that 80% gross margin, 30% EBITDA. I think the shape and the timing could play out differently. It just depends on what we see from a macro perspective. And we'll get clear on that when we give guidance in February.

因此，我們非常專注於透過產生有意義的現金流的宏觀環境來經營這項高利潤的持續成長業務。我們仍認為長期目標是對的，即80%的毛利率，30%的EBITDA。我認為形式和時機可能會有所不同。這只是取決於我們從宏觀角度來看。當我們在二月份提供指導時，我們會明確這一點。

Yeah. And maybe it's a good time just to remind everybody of kind of that growth as it relates to the growth algorithm, it's really in three buckets, right? The first bucket is getting back to that transactions retained in the network. That's usually a 5%-ish same-store growth benefit that we see year in, year out. The second one is our continued kind of new buyer sales logo growth that we've benchmarked being -- needs to be kind of 10% plus.

是的。也許現在是提醒大家這種成長的好時機，因為它與成長演算法有關，它其實分成三個部分，對嗎？第一個桶子是回到網路中保留的交易。這通常是我們年復一年看到的 5% 左右的同店成長效益。第二個是我們的新買家銷售標誌持續成長，我們的基準是—需要 10% 以上。

And then the third one is all our yield enhancements that relate to the investments we're making in new innovation -- Payment Accelerator 2.0, Spend Management, our Pay platform enhancements and new marketplace. So -- and that provides typically another 5 percentage-points of kind of growth yield enhancements. So those are kind of the building blocks that certainly will play out over that long-term period.

第三個是我們所有與新創新投資相關的收益提升——支付加速器 2.0、支出管理、支付平台增強和新市場。因此，這通常會帶來另外 5 個百分點的成長收益率提升。因此，這些都是肯定會在長期內發揮作用的基石。

Darrin Peller, Wolfe Research.

達林佩勒，沃爾夫研究中心。

Nice results. Can we just go back to the environment for a minute. I mean when we think about just TPV and transaction growth trends you're seeing today, if you could just help frame if you think the market is one that's stable or improving or maybe healthy but still on pause? Mike, I know we've talked quite a bit about how these customers always need the tech to help. But are you seeing any kind of inflection in demand right now, first?

不錯的結果。我們可以回到環境一分鐘嗎？我的意思是，當我們只考慮您今天看到的 TPV 和交易成長趨勢時，您是否可以幫助確定您是否認為市場是穩定或改善或可能健康但仍處於暫停狀態？麥克，我知道我們已經討論過很多關於這些客戶如何總是需要技術幫助的問題。但您現在首先看到需求有任何變化嗎？

Yeah. I mean what I would say, certainly, we had a positive quarter. We're encouraged by customer engagement activity. I don't know if I would call out any significant changes in demand that we've seen. I think it's been consistent to what we've seen. And remember, kind of our building blocks as we kind of go through the year, Q4 is always kind of our strongest quarter. And as we kind of -- and a lot of that relates to the increased demand gen coming out of the summer. And we continue to see that.

是的。我想說的是，當然，我們有一個積極的季度。我們對客戶參與活動感到鼓舞。我不知道我是否會指出我們所看到的需求方面的任何重大變化。我認為這與我們所看到的一致。請記住，在我們度過這一年的過程中，第四季度始終是我們最強勁的季度。正如我們所說，這在很大程度上與夏季後需求的增加有關。我們繼續看到這一點。

So I wouldn't necessarily think there's been kind of a significant change. Certainly, I think we've seen on some of our transactions retained in the network, some positive kind of rebound or activity there. And that's super positive as it relates to kind of transaction volume. And I think we just really are encouraged by the addition of new buyer customers and engagement. And particularly, I've been on the field significantly over the last couple of weeks, in particular, attending both the MRI and the AppFolio user conferences, and just really encouraged with just the engagement of customers that we have related to these offerings.

所以我不一定認為發生了重大變化。當然，我認為我們已經看到網路中保留的一些交易出現了某種積極的反彈或活動。這是非常積極的，因為它與交易量有關。我認為我們真的對新買家客戶的增加和參與度感到鼓舞。特別是，過去幾週我一直在該領域工作，特別是參加 MRI 和 AppFolio 用戶會議，並且我們與這些產品相關的客戶的參與確實受到了鼓勵。

And just if you think about it from -- if you're the CFO of a real estate company, a multifamily real estate company and using AppFolio to run your -- to basically run your business, and now you want to expand your business process to include accounts payable and payment automation. And you raise your hand and say, okay, now I'm ready to kind of extend my platform.

如果您想一想，如果您是房地產公司、多戶房地產公司的 CFO，並使用 AppFolio 來經營您的業務，現在您想要擴展您的業務流程包括應付帳款和付款自動化。然後你舉手說，好吧，現在我準備好要擴展我的平台了。

That's a very different kind of qualified lead than somebody doing a Google search. And so what we're seeing is really pleased with kind of that evolution of top of funnel move more towards partner-led demand gen, and it's created higher quality, shorter-sales cycles and slightly higher close rates. And so we think that's kind of a positive kind of evolution to the go-to-market motion that we've had. But I think it's more driven by us than it is maybe the macro economy.

與進行谷歌搜尋的人相比，這是一個非常不同的合格潛在客戶。因此，我們所看到的非常令人高興的是，漏斗頂部的演變更多地轉向合作夥伴主導的需求生成，並且它創造了更高的品質、更短的銷售週期和略高的成交率。因此，我們認為這是我們已經採取的進入市場行動的一種積極的演變。但我認為這更多是由我們推動的，而不是宏觀經濟。

Okay. That's helpful. I guess just one quick follow-up. In respect to the one-timers and some of the adjustments in deferred revenue cleanup, maybe just help us how we should think about what's an appropriate run rate growth or yield expansion to consider for fourth quarter '24? And then maybe even into '25, if possible also.

好的。這很有幫助。我想這只是一個快速跟進。關於一次性收入和遞延收入清理的一些調整，也許只是幫助我們如何思考 24 年第四季適當的運行率成長或收益率擴張是多少？如果可能的話，甚至可能進入 25 年。

Yeah. I mean maybe, first of all, just to kind of clarify. A year ago in the third quarter, we had a one time $1.5 million deferred revenue benefit, okay? And so in some of my comments, I kind of removed that benefit in a year-over-year comparison. That's not on the run rate. That was a year ago. And so -- and just to be clear, there was about a 50 bps last year gross margin impact to that and about 140 bps on EBITDA margin impact to that last year. So two benefits last year, gross margin and EBITDA, but just onetime non-recurring.

是的。我的意思是，也許，首先，只是為了澄清。一年前的第三季度，我們一次性獲得了 150 萬美元的遞延收入福利，好嗎？因此，在我的一些評論中，我在逐年比較中刪除了這一好處。這不在運行率上。那是一年前的事了。因此，需要明確的是，去年毛利率受到約 50 個基點的影響，而 EBITDA 利潤率則受到約 140 個基點的影響。所以去年有兩個好處，毛利率和 EBITDA，但只是一次性的、非經常性的。

Your question about what can we expect going forward, I would just go back to our long-term targets, right? We're we're ahead of where we thought we would be 450 -- upwards of 450 basis points of year-over-year expansion. We continue to see headroom to continue to move that forward and closer to 80%. Maybe not linearly and maybe not exactly the same level of expansion that we've seen so far, but continued improvement is what we see ahead of us in both gross margin and EBITDA margin percentages.

你問我們未來可以期待什麼，我只想回到我們的長期目標，對吧？我們領先於我們預期的 450 個基點——比去年同期擴張超過 450 個基點。我們仍然認為有空間繼續推動這一目標並接近 80%。也許不是線性的，也可能不是我們迄今為止所看到的完全相同的擴張水平，但我們看到毛利率和 EBITDA 利潤率將持續改善。

Dominick Gabriele, Compass Point.

多明尼克·加布里埃爾，《指南針點》。

I was just curious if you could talk about the average ticket size growth year-over-year and what you're seeing there? And also, if you talk about the pent-up demand, did you see that on the -- is that potential on the investment for your products? Or is it more in restocking of inventories? Where would you expect that to play out?

我只是好奇您能否談談平均門票規模的逐年增長以及您在那裡看到的情況？而且，如果你談論被壓抑的需求，你是否看到了──你的產品投資有潛力嗎？還是更多的是補充庫存？您希望這會在哪裡發生？

Okay. You bet. Maybe I'll take the first. I mean look, overall, we were really encouraged in the quarter. I wouldn't point to any particular dynamics around ticket size. I mean just good inflection in that overall total transaction growth and pretty distributed across the verticals. And then maybe I'll -- Mike, I'll let you take the second part of that.

好的。你打賭。也許我會選擇第一個。我的意思是，總體而言，我們在本季度確實受到了鼓舞。我不會指出與門票規模有關的任何特定動態。我的意思是整體交易成長的良好變化，並且在各個垂直領域的分佈相當均勻。然後也許我會——麥克，我會讓你聽第二部分。

Yeah. I think as it relates to kind of that retention, transaction network and that discretionary spend that drives getting back to that, I think our normalized target of roughly 105%. What we see in those categories are typically marketing-related expenses, professional services, consulting, preventive maintenance, capital project type of activity. And so I think getting back to those numbers, it means that our buyer customers are now kind of increasing that level of spend in those type of categories back to what I'd consider both normalized levels.

是的。我認為，由於它與保留率、交易網絡以及推動回到這一目標的可自由支配支出有關，我認為我們的標準化目標約為 105%。我們在這些類別中看到的通常是與行銷相關的費用、專業服務、諮詢、預防性維護、資本項目類型的活動。因此，我認為回到這些數字，這意味著我們的買家客戶現在正在將此類類別的支出水準增加到我認為的標準化水準。

And perhaps there might be a little bit of a catch-up in some of the categories related to preventive maintenance, things of that nature. And we've seen examples of that in historical cycles as well. But those are the areas that we expect to kind of see that rebound in terms of those transactions retained in the network. So these are existing customers that are on our platform today and they're just, over the last year or so or three, four quarters, have been more aggressively managing the discretionary spend. And so that's what we're expecting to come back at some point.

也許在某些與預防性維護相關的類別中，這種性質的事情可能會有所趕上。我們在歷史週期中也看過這樣的例子。但我們預計這些領域的網路中保留的交易將會出現反彈。因此，這些是今天在我們平台上的現有客戶，他們只是在過去一年左右或三、四個季度中更加積極地管理可自由支配支出。這就是我們期望在某個時候回歸的情況。

James Faucette, Morgan Stanley.

詹姆斯‧福賽特，摩根士丹利。

I want to touch on some of your partnerships and other applications, particularly like AppFolio, M3, Buildium, et cetera. How are you thinking about potential growth contribution from them? And where we may see those initiatives later this year and next? I mean I'm just wondering if we could get a point or two of growth uplift from these initiatives in '25, what kind of timing we should be thinking about?

我想談談你們的一些合作夥伴關係和其他應用程序，特別是 AppFolio、M3、Buildium 等。您如何看待他們的潛在成長貢獻？今年稍後和明年我們可能會在哪裡看到這些舉措？我的意思是，我只是想知道我們是否可以從 25 年的這些舉措中獲得一兩個點的成長提升，我們應該考慮什麼樣的時機？

Yeah. So good question, James. Related to kind of that partner growth, and I'll take a couple of the ones that we've been talking about over the last few quarters, AppFolio, M3 as examples. This is going to directly target solely to our kind of partner-related strategy, driving higher qualified leads through our partner channel. And AppFolio in particular, really encouraging. Because if you think about it, really every one of AppFolio's main competitors is already a strategic partner of AvidXchange. And so they put -- this really puts them on par with -- on the strategic landscape front.

是的。問得好，詹姆斯。與合作夥伴成長相關，我將以過去幾季我們一直在討論的幾個合作夥伴為例，例如 AppFolio、M3。這將直接針對我們與合作夥伴相關的策略，透過我們的合作夥伴管道推動更高品質的銷售線索。尤其是 AppFolio，確實令人鼓舞。因為如果你仔細想想，實際上 AppFolio 的每個主要競爭對手都已經是 AvidXchange 的策略夥伴。因此，他們在策略佈局方面投入了——這確實使他們處於同等地位。

We know that playbook really well, and our new demand gen lead activity today is 2x plus what it was a year ago coming from the AppFolio channel. When we take that same lens to M3, we're seeing about 3x the activity on the M3 channel that we saw a year or so ago. So those are great kind of barometers related to the impact of these new partner and the resulting customers. Now one thing is related to kind of timing and when it impacts the year and the revenue generation of it. Remember, we still have to go through kind of, on average, a 30- to 60-day setup configuration process.

我們非常了解這個劇本，今天我們來自 AppFolio 頻道的新需求產生領先活動是一年前的 2 倍。當我們用同樣的鏡頭觀察 M3 時，我們看到 M3 頻道上的活動量大約是一年前的 3 倍。因此，這些都是與這些新合作夥伴和由此產生的客戶的影響相關的很好的晴雨表。現在有一件事與時間安排以及它何時影響年份及其創收有關。請記住，我們仍然需要經歷平均 30 到 60 天的設定配置流程。

And then on the invoice side, there's usually a two billing cycle adoption rate for the invoices to get to kind of our targeted 100%. And then the payment side to get to our kind of targeted kind of full adoption, we see that takes probably another six months to get to the full adoption period. So when we get to certainly the second half of any calendar year, we're really building the book for the following calendar. And so we look forward to the impact of both AppFolio and M3 in our '25 year.

然後在發票方面，通常有兩個計費週期的發票採用率才能達到我們的 100% 目標。然後支付方面要達到我們的目標全面採用，我們發現可能還需要六個月才能達到完全採用期。因此，當我們進入任何日曆年的下半年時，我們實際上是在為下一個日曆編寫這本書。因此，我們期待 AppFolio 和 M3 在 25 年的影響。

Tien-Tsin Huang, JPMorgan.

黃天進，摩根大通。

I just want to ask on some of the new products. I know you mentioned in the release here, Payment Accelerate 2.0, Payment 2.0 platform and spend management, which we're really interested in. Any change, Mike, in expectation for these products and how they might layer into '25, for example, are they on time, change in excitement, that kind of thing?

我只是想問一些新產品。我知道您在這裡的新聞稿中提到了支付加速2.0、支付2.0平台和支出管理，我們對此非常感興趣。麥克，對這些產品的期望有什麼變化，以及它們如何融入 25 世紀，例如，它們是否準時，興奮程度的變化，諸如此類的事情？

Yeah. So when I think of kind of our innovation pipeline, there's kind of that four that I typically reference. And what I would say is that kind of this is more kind of timing. I'll give you a rank of timing when we see to impact. But Payment Accelerator 2.0 probably leads the pack in terms of overall opportunity. It's in market today. We've been careful in how we've been scaling it and excited to have it be more of a material part of our overall financial profile as we go into '25.

是的。因此，當我想到我們的創新管道時，我通常會參考這四個創新管道。我想說的是，這更像是一種時機。當我們看到影響時，我會給你一個時間順序。但支付加速器 2.0 可能在整體機會方面處於領先地位。今天已經上市了。我們在擴大規模方面一直很謹慎，並且很高興在進入 25 年後它成為我們整體財務狀況的重要組成部分。

The next one is our Pay platform. And this is more of an iterative kind of process that we continue to advance. And the benefit of it is we continue to be able to add and manage more payment modalities, the combination of speed, price, remittance data and level of automation with different suppliers. And that -- we expect that to continue to support our strategies as it relates to continue to add new payment modalities throughout next year.

下一個是我們的支付平台。這更多的是我們不斷推進的迭代過程。這樣做的好處是我們能夠繼續添加和管理更多的支付方式，結合不同供應商的速度、價格、匯款數據和自動化水平。我們預計這將繼續支持我們的策略，因為它涉及到明年繼續增加新的支付方式。

The third one is spend management. And I kind of -- my mental kind of picture for spend management is it's about a year behind the impact that our Payment Accelerator 2.0 product is having. So we're going to begin introducing it to our initial set of customers here probably over the next 90 days or so and then use next year to really get some of those initial customer learnings and look for kind of it to begin to have more material impact as we go into '26.

第三個是支出管理。我對支出管理的想像是，我們的支付加速器 2.0 產品所產生的影響大約落後一年。因此，我們可能會在接下來的 90 天左右開始將其介紹給我們的初始客戶群，然後利用明年真正獲得一些初始客戶的了解，並尋找其中的內容以開始獲得更多材料當我們進入26 世紀時的影響。

And then right behind that is kind of our marketplace strategies initiatives that we're -- it's in its early stages that we're continuing to work on in terms of how it may impact the different types of purchasing that happens across our nine different verticals. So that's kind of our big innovation kind of roster related to where we're investing and kind of the timing of impact that we expect them to have.

緊隨其後的是我們的市場策略舉措——它處於早期階段，我們正在繼續研究它如何影響我們九個不同垂直領域中發生的不同類型的購買。這就是我們的大型創新名單，與我們的投資方向以及我們期望它們產生影響的時間有關。

Rufus Hone, BMO Capital.

魯弗斯·霍恩 (Rufus Hone)，BMO 資本。

I wanted to come back to the comments you made about the gross margin, and you mentioned the path potentially towards 80%. I guess where are you in terms of realizing the benefits from automation and AI that you referenced in the prepared remarks? Are you starting to see those gross margin tailwinds slow at all? Or do you think there are additional levers for you to pull to keep driving down unit costs?

我想回到您對毛利率的評論，您提到了可能達到 80% 的路徑。我想您在實現您在準備好的評論中提到的自動化和人工智慧的好處方面處於什麼位置？您是否開始看到毛利率成長放緩了？或者您認為還有其他手段可以幫助您降低單位成本？

Yeah. No, great question, Rufus. We've talked about the way our formula for continuing to see gross margin expansion is a mix of steady continued yield expansion and discipline around unit costs. Year-over-year, if you look at simply take kind of back end to non-GAAP cost of revenue per transaction, right, like looking at that high level of unit cost that you can see, you've seen that we've gone from 154 in the year ago quarter to 143 this quarter.

是的。不，很好的問題，魯弗斯。我們已經討論過我們繼續實現毛利率擴張的公式是穩定持續的收益率擴張和單位成本紀律的結合。與去年同期相比，如果你簡單地看一下每筆交易的非公認會計準則收入成本的後端，對吧，就像看看你可以看到的高水平的單位成本一樣，你已經看到我們已從去年同期的 154 個增加到本季的 143 個。

So -- and the way we got there are the things that we've talked about, standardization of processes, automation, AI has played a role even before it was necessarily referred to as AI. So we're sort of making good progress. I think but we're not done. And I think you can continue to expect continued gross margin expansion. Again, maybe not at the exact same pace and certainly not linearly, but we feel good about those profitability targets that we've put out there.

因此，我們所討論的事情，流程標準化，自動化，人工智慧甚至在被稱為人工智慧之前就已經發揮了作用。所以我們正在取得良好的進展。我想，但我們還沒完成。我認為您可以繼續預期毛利率將持續成長。再說一遍，也許不是完全相同的速度，當然也不是線性的，但我們對我們在那裡提出的獲利目標感到滿意。

Alex Markgraff, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Alex Markgraff，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Mike, could you maybe touch on cross-border a little bit and some of the progress you've made here in the last couple of years? And then maybe just comment on the Mastercard move, commercial cross-board introduction as of recently and just the fact it creates opportunities for you all?

麥克，您能否談談跨境以及您在過去幾年中取得的一些進展？然後也許只是評論萬事達卡的舉動、最近的商業跨界引入以及它為你們所有人創造機會的事實？

Yes. So it's good. We haven't talked about cross-border in a few quarters. What I would say is related to the cross-border, it's a capability that we've added now probably two years ago to our platform. And wise is our kind of integration partner that we utilized related to our cross-border strategy. And what I would say that we're seeing some of the results that we expect to see.

是的。所以這很好。我們已經有幾個季度沒有談論跨國了。我想說的是與跨國相關的功能，這是我們大約兩年前添加到我們平台上的功能。明智的是我們利用與跨國策略相關的整合合作夥伴。我想說的是，我們正在看到一些我們期望看到的結果。

One of the things I tried to do at the time to remind everybody is, remember, we go to market in nine different industry verticals, that if you look at each one of those nine verticals, they're not verticals that really lend itself to large degrees of cross-border attractions. They're very localized to regional markets, for the most part, is our verticals are.

我當時試圖提醒大家的一件事是，記住，我們進入九個不同產業垂直市場的市場，如果你仔細觀察這九個垂直產業中的每一個，就會發現它們並不是真正適合的垂直產業。它們非常本地化於區域市場，在很大程度上，是我們的垂直市場。

And so we just don't have the type of large-scale demand for cross-border that we would have if we had maybe other types of verticals, maybe manufacturing would be one that would have more of a cross-border type demand to it. And so it's not an area that we focus on from a really a growth vector because it's driven really by customer payment demand and where their suppliers are located. And what we see is, on average, 95% plus of the suppliers that are in our network are US domestic suppliers.

因此，如果我們有其他類型的垂直產業，我們就沒有那種大規模的跨境需求，也許製造業將是一個有更多跨境類型需求的產業。因此，這並不是我們真正關注的成長向量領域，因為它實際上是由客戶支付需求及其供應商所在地所驅動的。我們發現，我們網路中平均 95% 以上的供應商都是美國國內供應商。

Timothy Chiodo, UBS.

提摩西‧奇奧多，瑞銀集團。

So Mike, you were talking a little bit about some of the bank partnerships. Obviously, you've had fifth third, KeyBank, Bank of America, and you talked about the three more that you just signed. But given this is an important distribution channel and that there are 10,000-plus banks in the US, I was hoping you could just take a moment to just talk a little bit about the landscape and what the other 10,000 banks or so are doing?

麥克，你剛才談到了一些銀行合作夥伴關係。顯然，你已經有了第五個，KeyBank，美國銀行，你還談到了你剛剛簽署的另外三個。但鑑於這是一個重要的分銷管道，而且美國有 10,000 多家銀行，我希望您能花點時間談談情況以及其他 10,000 家左右的銀行正在做什麼？

Yeah. So these -- so one of the -- I just want to make sure I clarify, Tim. When we talk about kind of our banks, we have two different kind of the strategies. One is we have banks actually as customers. We now are approaching about 1,500 banks that actually use AvidXchange to manage their internal accounts payable and payments for the bank.

是的。所以這些——所以其中之一——我只是想確保我澄清了，蒂姆。當我們談論我們的銀行類型時，我們有兩種不同的策略。一是我們實際上有銀行作為客戶。我們現在正在聯繫大約 1,500 家銀行，他們實際上使用 AvidXchange 來管理銀行的內部應付帳款和付款。

And then we have the channel partnership, which I think is what you're referring to, related to how we engage. And we feel that's an important part of our overall go-to-market strategy. We want to be both highly aligned with a customer's accounting system, and we want to be highlighted with where a customer may do their banking related to how we engage with those customers.

然後我們有通路夥伴關係，我想這就是你所指的，與我們如何參與有關。我們認為這是我們整體進入市場策略的重要組成部分。我們希望與客戶的會計系統高度一致，並且我們希望強調客戶可以在哪裡進行銀行業務以及我們與這些客戶的互動方式。

One of the things that we did start out with back when we started the bank channel was going on a path of more of the white label type of experience. And what we've kind of learned is they're hard. They're hard to execute. It requires a big investment by both our partner bank as well as AvidXchange to support them. And some of the change management that has to occur at the bank is pretty significant related to creating specialized sales forces to sell software versus traditional treasury type products.

當我們開始銀行管道時，我們所做的事情之一就是走上更多白標類型體驗的道路。我們了解到，它們很難。他們很難執行。它需要我們的合作夥伴銀行以及 AvidXchange 進行大量投資來支持他們。銀行必須進行的一些變革管理與創建專門的銷售團隊來銷售軟體（與傳統的財務類型產品相比）非常重要。

And so what we've learned is that it's actually easier to go to market with more of a reseller type of structure rather than white label. And so we've seen nice growth of our reseller banks. We're approaching -- we have north of 20-plus reseller type banks today, highlighted three of them on today's call. Super excited about Cadence, Orange Bank and Trust.

因此，我們了解到，實際上，採用更多經銷商類型的結構而不是白標更容易進入市場。因此，我們看到我們的經銷商銀行取得了良好的成長。我們正在接近——今天我們有 20 多家經銷商類型銀行，其中在今天的電話會議上強調了其中三家。對 Cadence、Orange Bank 和 Trust 非常興奮。

And collectively together, the three new ones that I highlighted, have roughly about 50,000 customers. So that is, again, a nice way to increase kind of our go-to-market TAM approach to focus on customers that are already banking with these banks and have a certain level of engagement that's certainly similar to the engagement that we see on the accounting system side.

我強調的三家新公司總共擁有約 5 萬名客戶。因此，這又是一種很好的方法，可以增強我們進入市場的 TAM 方法，以專注於已經在這些銀行開展業務並具有一定程度參與度的客戶，這肯定類似於我們在會計系統方面。

So that's why we're kind of excited about it, and we've been focused on kind of the ERP partnerships in the last couple of quarters. But while that's been going on, we've been making nice progress on the bank partner side. And I thought it'd be worth highlighting a few of those recent relationships on today's call.

這就是為什麼我們對此感到興奮，並且在過去幾個季度我們一直專注於 ERP 合作夥伴關係。但在這種情況發生的同時，我們在銀行合作夥伴方面也取得了不錯的進展。我認為值得在今天的電話會議上強調一些最近的關係。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mike Praeger for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 Mike Praeger 發表閉幕詞。

Great. Well, thank you again, everyone, for your interest in AvidXchange. Amid the current macro choppiness, I'm very proud of our disciplined execution and strong financial performance with the inflection of transaction-retained trends being noteworthy. As I said before, I'm particularly excited about the future. Given the pipeline of product innovations, our industry-leading ERP and accounting system integration partnerships, along with the bank partnerships that we highlighted on this call, that progress should propel forward years of our Business Flywheel and drive long-term value creation for our investors.

偉大的。好吧，再次感謝大家對 AvidXchange 的興趣。在當前宏觀動盪的情況下，我對我們嚴格的執行力和強勁的財務表現感到非常自豪，其中交易保留趨勢的變化值得注意。正如我之前所說，我對未來感到特別興奮。考慮到產品創新的管道、我們行業領先的ERP 和會計系統整合合作夥伴關係，以及我們在本次電話會議中強調的銀行合作夥伴關係，這些進展將推動我們的業務飛輪向前發展，並為我們的投資者創造長期價值。

With that, we look forward to sharing our continued progress on our next earnings call.

因此，我們期待在下一次財報電話會議上分享我們的持續進展。

This conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may disconnect.

本次會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您可以斷開連線。