The drop in receipts obviously came as a shock to some. Volume on the day would suggest a lot of short-term traders were in for a scalp on good news and exited when it didn't eventuate.
Personally, I don't buy into the hysteria. Frustrating for sure, more so for Ian who has to cop the flack, and IMHO, a lot of unfounded criticism. He has explained why. He has also said that a sub-par quarter will be followed by an uptick next quarter, which is what has previously happened. It's a function of the way large US customers are onboarded, the time it can take in some instances, and the way some US companies do business. It's not an insurmountable problem. It's just the ebb and flow of a business in the early stages of global expansion. At the moment they are on track to bill circa $10M receipts for the year. Should the current overall growth trajectory continue, what happens in back half of this calendar year?
Leaving all that aside, a few other BD fundamentals to look forward to.
In the September quarterly under MINING we had this snippet:
A successful paid PoC completed during the quarter for a global Tier 1 mining company has progressed to the next phase. After successfully proving Pointerra3D Analytics capability to extract single features reliably and repeatedly from SLAM (Simultaneous Location And Mapping) LiDAR data the scope has been expanded to include additional features as well as change monitoring/detection indicators in the underground environment and will help build out a comprehensive sector solution that can be marketed to mining and extractive industries operations globally.
Clearly this was Emesent, expanded upon in the current Quarterly:
As detailed in previous updates, the emergence of SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping) technology has been a key driver in growth for Pointerra as reality capture, in particular 3D point clouds, becomes cheaper and easier. Emesent (emesent.com) are an Australian company that have cemented themselves as a global leader in the provision of SLAM based LiDAR and drone autonomy technology through their Hovermap system. In order to streamline the flow of data from the Emesent desktop software into Pointerra3D the respective engineering teams have commenced work on building direct integration between the two.
The integration of Emesent Aura Desktop Application and Pointerra3D will give users a streamlined workflow from capture to Analytics and Answers. Integration has been a logical path for both organisations for some time and has been accelerated at the request of a number of mutual customers that recognise the value of a combined solution. The integration will bring together two ‘best of breed’ solutions to deliver a seamless workflow from capture to analytics and answers.
Work will be ongoing throughout Q3 FY23 with testing via select customers to be undertaken. The partnership opens a number of exciting commercial opportunities including the joint pursuit of key prospects and hardware/software bundles.
For anyone who hasn't done so, take a look at Emesent, and their customer base. Exciting commercial opportunities indeed:
In other developing news, from the previous Quarterly:
In addition to the pursuits in Australia and North America the sales team are now engaged with major rail companies in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Aside from Germany being very specific, as opposed to saying EU, those who have been around a while will recall Pointerra saying they were working with the largest rail operator in North America. Some time ago I asked Ian how this was going. He said they were so big - rail networks in the tens of thousands of kilometres - and like any very large organisation they moved at glacial pace. Also, their needs were very specific. The above update, with opportunities being pursued in the UK and Germany, suggests this work is ongoing and product development is reaching industry maturity, presumably with the end goal of achieving a commercial outcome. In time.
Scoping work on adopting Pointerra3D for creating, managing, and analysing digital twins to support Port and Airport facilities continued during the quarter. Specifically, discussions with the Port of Seattle and Dallas Fort Worth airport are advancing in maturity. These sites are major transport hubs in the US with significant budgets for infrastructure upgrades over the next decade.
Linear asset feature extractions using Pointerra3D Analytics for both road and rail remains a key focus for the development team. As the maturity of these tools converges on those which are widely accepted within the Utility Sector, there will be a significant uptick in adoption from an industry hungry for more efficient ways to manage their critical infrastructure.
What did we get this Quarterly on roads?
Pointerra3D has been selected by Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) via a competitive tender process as the preferred solution to host a 60TB library of 3D point cloud and 360⁰ imagery data covering MRWA’s transport network.
I'd suggest this is one of the competitive tenders mentioned in the previous quarterly.
Lastly, Amazon. To suggest Pointerra haven't proved themselves is ludicrous. The speed from POC in 12 sites, to the rapidly expanded work in 200 sites moving to 700 and from there to what is shaping up as a global rollout for a total digital twin solution inside and outside for all Amazon's distribution facilities is beyond impressive. What more validation of the company, management and technology do you need?
The latest US$1.3M contract with FPL is the result of a four-year partnership that began in 2018. It now extends to and its parent company, NYSE listed US energy giant NextEra Energy, where Pointerra3D is deployed to support NextEra’s renewables operation across the country.
If Pointerra have proved anything, it's that there is a huge amount of ongoing work on which they invariably deliver a commercial outcome.
BTW, this post isn't an attempt to gloss over the criticisms that have already been canvassed on this thread. Rather, to highlight some of the impressive commercial achievements and progress Pointerra has made, and continues to make, in pursuit of building a global best-of-breed profitable business.
There will be stumbles along the way. There always are. We all have them in our personal lives. It doesn't mean that the company isn't on track to achieve all its goals, and more.
All it takes is time. If a particular investment doesn't suit a particular time frame, the solution is easy. Find a better one that does.
ACV might not be the ideal metric, but it's what we've got and have to work with. I'm looking forward to the Feb update with further news of contract renewals and new subscriptions.
(20min delay)
