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51Talk Online Education Group Announces Second Quarter 2024 Results

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SINGAPORE, Aug. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — 51Talk Online Education Group (“51Talk” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: COE), a global online education platform with core expertise in English education, announced its unaudited results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Second Quarter 2024 Financial and Operating Highlights

Gross billings1 for the second quarter of 2024 were US$15.9 million, a 61.3% growth from the second quarter of 2023.

Net revenues were US$11.0 million for the second quarter of 2024, a 75.1% increase from US$6.3 million for the second quarter of 2023.

The number of quarterly active students with attended lesson consumption was approximately 54,400 in the second quarter of 2024, representing a 83.2% increase from approximately 29,700 for the second quarter of 2023.

Key Financial and Operating Data

For the three months ended

June 30,

June 30,

Y-o-Y

2023

2024

Change

Net Revenues (in US$ millions)

6.3

11.0

75.1 %

Gross Margin

78.4 %

78.1 %

-0.3ppt

Gross Billings (in US$ millions)

9.8

15.9

61.3 %

Active students with attended lesson consumption2
(in thousands)

29.7

54.4

83.2 %

“We have achieved strong growth in Q2, exceeding our Q2 guidance, and anticipate sustained momentum in the foreseeable future, as reflected in our Q3 guidance. Our strategic investments across a diverse portfolio of markets are yielding positive results, propelling us towards our objective of becoming a globally leading EdTech company.” stated Jack Jiajia Huang, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of 51Talk.

“Through our localization efforts, we have gained a deeper understanding of individual markets, allowing us to meet specific local needs. This approach has improved our product market fit. Additionally, we actively explore new market opportunities that align with our strategic direction and existing product offerings.”

“Our strategy hinges on global expansion based on local needs and platform strength enabled by AI. We make targeted investments to enhance team efficiency and local customer experience, aiming to drive higher retention rates and more customer referrals.” Jack Jiajia Huang concluded.

1 Gross billings for a specific period, which is one of the Company’s key operating data, is defined as the total amount of cash received and receivable from third party payment platforms for the sale of course packages and services in such period, net of the total amount of refunds in such period. The gross billings data included herein was from the Company’s business system and converted with quarterly corresponding exchange rate, which may lead to differences with bank records

2 An “active student with attended lesson consumption” for a given period refers to a student who attended at least one paid lesson, excluding those students who only attended paid live broadcasting lessons or trial lessons.

Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Net Revenues and Gross Margin

Net revenues for the second quarter of 2024 were US$11.0 million, a 75.1% increase from US$6.3 million for the same quarter last year. The number of active students with attended lesson consumption was approximately 54,400 in the second quarter of 2024, a 83.2% increase from 29,700 for the same quarter last year.

Cost of revenues for the second quarter of 2024 was US$2.4 million, a 77.3% increase from US$1.4 million for the same quarter last year. The increase was primarily due to the increase in total service fees paid to teachers, mainly resulting from an increased number of paid lessons.

Gross profit for the second quarter of 2024 was US$8.6 million, a 74.5% increase from US$4.9 million for the same quarter last year.

Gross margin for the second quarter of 2024 was 78.1%, compared with 78.4% for the same quarter last year.

Operating Expenses

Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$11.0 million, a 39.7% increase from US$7.9 million for the same quarter last year. The increase was mainly due to the increase in sales and marketing expenses.  

Sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$7.3 million, a 43.6% increase from US$5.1 million for the same quarter last year. The increase was mainly due to higher sales personnel costs related to increases in the number of sales and marketing personnel. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$7.3 million, a 44.0% increase from US$5.1 million for the same quarter last year.

Product development expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$0.9 million, a 22.6% increase from US$0.7 million for the same quarter last year. The increase was primarily due to higher product development personnel costs. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, non-GAAP product development expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$0.8 million, a 25.7% increase from US$0.7 million for the same quarter last year. 

General and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$2.8 million, a 35.8% increase from US$2.1 million for the same quarter last year. The increase was primarily due to higher general and administrative personnel costs. Excluding share-based compensation expenses, non-GAAP general and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were US$2.6 million, a 35.4% increase from US$1.9 million for the same quarter last year.

Loss from Operations

Operating loss for the second quarter of 2024 was US$2.4 million, compared with operating loss of US$3.0 million for the same quarter last year.

Non-GAAP operating loss for the second quarter of 2024 was US$2.2 million, compared with non-GAAP operating loss of US$2.8 million for the same quarter last year.

Net loss attributable to the Company’s ordinary shareholders

Net loss attributable to the Company’s ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2024 was US$1.2 million, compared with net loss of US$2.9 million for the same quarter last year.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses of US$0.2 million, non-GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2024 was US$1.0 million, compared with non-GAAP net loss of US$2.7 million for the same quarter last year.

Basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2024 was US$0.004, compared with basic and diluted net loss per share of US$0.01 for the same quarter last year.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses of US$0.2 million, non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2024 was US$0.003, compared with non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders of US$0.01 for the same quarter last year.

Basic and diluted net loss per American depositary share (“ADS”) attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2024 was US$0.22, compared with basic and diluted net loss per ADS of US$0.51 for the same quarter last year. Each ADS represents 60 Class A ordinary shares.

Excluding share-based compensation expenses of US$0.2 million, non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter of 2024 was US$0.18, compared with non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of US$0.48 for the same quarter last year.

Balance Sheet

As of June 30, 2024, the Company had total cash, cash equivalents and time deposits of US$21.0 million, compared with US$23.4 million as of December 31, 2023.

The Company had advances from students3 of US$34.5 million as of June 30, 2024, compared with US$27.2 million as of December 31, 2023.

3 “Advances from students” is defined as the amount of obligation to transfer goods or service to students or business partners for which consideration has been received from students in advance. The deposits from students are also presented in the total amount of “advances from students”

Outlook

For the third quarter of 2024, the Company currently expects net gross billings to be between $17.0 million and $18.0 million, which would represent a sequential growth of 7.2% to 13.5%.

The foregoing outlook is based on current market conditions and reflects the Company’s current and preliminary estimates of market and operating conditions and customer demand, which are all subject to change.

Conference Call

The Company’s management will host an earnings conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on August 23, 2024 (8:00 PM Singapore/Hong Kong time on August 23, 2024).

Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

United States (toll free):

1-888-346-8982

International:

1-412-902-4272

Singapore (toll free):

800-120-6157

Mainland China (toll free):

4001-201203

Hong Kong (toll free):

800-905945

Hong Kong (local toll):

852-301-84992

Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for “51Talk Online Education Group.”

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company’s investor relations website at http://ir.51talk.com.

A replay of the conference call will be accessible until August 30, 2024, by dialing the following telephone numbers:

United States (toll free):

1-877-344-7529

International:

1-412-317-0088

Replay Access Code:

1167367

About 51Talk Online Education Group

51Talk Online Education Group (NYSE American: COE) is a global online education platform with core expertise in English education. The Company’s mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The Company’s online and mobile education platforms enable students to take live interactive English lessons, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.  

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In evaluating its business, 51Talk considers and uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the SEC as supplemental metrics to review and assess its operating performance: non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses, non-GAAP product development expenses, non-GAAP general and administrative expenses, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income/(loss), non-GAAP net income/(loss), non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders, and non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders per share and per ADS. To present each of these non-GAAP measures, the Company excludes share-based compensation expenses. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned “Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures” set forth at the end of this press release.

51Talk believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance by excluding share-based compensation expenses that may not be indicative of its operating performance from a cash perspective. 51Talk believes that both management and investors benefit from these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to 51Talk’s historical performance. 51Talk computes its non-GAAP financial measures using the same consistent method from quarter to quarter and from period to period. 51Talk believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision-making. A limitation of using non-GAAP measures is that these non-GAAP measures exclude share-based compensation expenses that have been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in the 51Talk’s business. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying table at the end of this press release provides more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking” statements pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “aims”, “future”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “estimates”, “likely to” and similar statements. Among other things, 51Talk’s quotations from management in this announcement, as well as 51Talk’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. 51Talk may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about 51Talk’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: 51Talk’s goals and strategies; 51Talk’s expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and platform; 51Talk’s ability to retain and increase its student enrollment; 51Talk’s ability to offer new courses; 51Talk’s ability to engage, train and retain new teachers; 51Talk’s future business development, results of operations and financial condition; 51Talk’s ability to maintain and improve infrastructure necessary to operate its education platform; competition in the online education industry in its international markets; the expected growth of, and trends in, the markets for 51Talk’s course offerings in its international markets; relevant government policies and regulations relating to 51Talk’s corporate structure, business and industry; general economic and business condition in the Philippines, its international markets and elsewhere; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in 51Talk’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and 51Talk does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

 

51TALK ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands)

 As of

Dec. 31,

Jun. 30,

2023

2024

US$

US$

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

21,298

16,686

Time deposits

2,091

4,311

Inventory

29

Prepaid expenses and other current
assets

6,394

10,424

Total current assets

29,783

31,450

Non-current assets

Property and equipment, net

138

181

Intangible assets, net

92

86

Right-of-use assets

723

1,413

Deferred tax assets

72

69

Other non-current assets

348

340

Total non-current assets

1,373

2,089

Total assets

31,156

33,539

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’
DEFICITS

Current liabilities

Advances from students

27,214

34,497

Accrued expenses and other current
liabilities

6,189

6,353

Amounts due to related parties

4,077

3,620

Lease liabilities

590

820

Taxes payable

1,060

741

Total current liabilities

39,130

46,031

Non-current liabilities

Lease liabilities

41

519

Other non-current liabilities

176

274

Total non-current liabilities

217

793

Total liabilities

39,347

46,824

Total shareholders’ deficits

(8,340)

(13,617)

Noncontrolling interests

149

332

Total deficits

(8,191)

(13,285)

Total liabilities and shareholders’
deficits

31,156

33,539

 

51TALK ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP

UNAUDITED INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands except for number of shares and per share data)

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

Jun. 30,

Mar. 31,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

2023

2024

2024

2023

2024

US$

US$

US$

US$

US$

Net revenues

6,260

9,446

10,960

11,812

20,406

Cost of revenues

(1,354)

(2,128)

(2,400)

(2,596)

(4,528)

Gross profit

4,906

7,318

8,560

9,216

15,878

Operating expenses

Sales and marketing expenses

(5,109)

(7,728)

(7,335)

(9,550)

(15,063)

Product development expenses

(694)

(945)

(851)

(1,356)

(1,796)

General and administrative expenses

(2,053)

(2,589)

(2,789)

(3,812)

(5,378)

Total operating expenses

(7,856)

(11,262)

(10,975)

(14,718)

(22,237)

Loss from operations

(2,950)

(3,944)

(2,415)

(5,502)

(6,359)

Interest income

36

82

63

69

145

Other (expenses)/income, net

(45)

141

1,131

(120)

1,272

Loss before income tax benefit/(expenses)

(2,959)

(3,721)

(1,221)

(5,553)

(4,942)

Income tax benefit/(expenses)

61

(22)

(41)

52

(63)

Net loss

(2,898)

(3,743)

(1,262)

(5,501)

(5,005)

Net loss attributable to noncontrolling
interests

(19)

(15)

(34)

Net loss attributable to the Company’s
ordinary shareholders

(2,898)

(3,724)

(1,247)

(5,501)

(4,971)

Weighted average number of ordinary shares
used in computing basic and diluted loss per
share

340,329,892

345,124,338

346,701,530

339,836,750

345,913,731

 

51TALK ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE LOSS

(In thousands except for number of shares and per share data)

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

Jun. 30,

Mar. 31,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

2023

2024

2024

2023

2024

US$

US$

US$

US$

US$

 Net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders

Basic and diluted

(0.01)

(0.01)

(0.00)

(0.02)

(0.01)

 Net loss per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders

Basic and diluted

(0.51)

(0.65)

(0.22)

(0.97)

(0.86)

Share-based compensation expenses are included in the operating expenses as follows:

Sales and marketing expenses

(37)

(29)

(31)

(85)

(60)

Product development expenses

(36)

(33)

(24)

(90)

(57)

General and administrative expenses

(126)

(225)

(180)

(246)

(405)

 

51TALK ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures to the Most Comparable GAAP Measures

(In thousands except for number of shares and per share data)

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

Jun. 30,

Mar. 31,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

2023

2024

2024

2023

2024

US$

US$

US$

US$

US$

Sales and marketing expenses

(5,109)

(7,728)

(7,335)

(9,550)

(15,063)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(37)

(29)

(31)

(85)

(60)

Non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses

(5,072)

(7,699)

(7,304)

(9,465)

(15,003)

Product development expenses

(694)

(945)

(851)

(1,356)

(1,796)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(36)

(33)

(24)

(90)

(57)

Non-GAAP product development
expenses

(658)

(912)

(827)

(1,266)

(1,739)

General and administrative expenses

(2,053)

(2,589)

(2,789)

(3,812)

(5,378)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(126)

(225)

(180)

(246)

(405)

Non-GAAP general and administrative
expenses

(1,927)

(2,364)

(2,609)

(3,566)

(4,973)

Operating expenses

(7,856)

(11,262)

(10,975)

(14,718)

(22,237)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(199)

(287)

(235)

(421)

(522)

Non-GAAP operating expenses

(7,657)

(10,975)

(10,740)

(14,297)

(21,715)

Loss from operations

(2,950)

(3,944)

(2,415)

(5,502)

(6,359)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(199)

(287)

(235)

(421)

(522)

Non-GAAP loss from operations

(2,751)

(3,657)

(2,180)

(5,081)

(5,837)

 

51TALK ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures to the Most Comparable GAAP Measures

 (In thousands except for number of shares and per share data)

For the three months ended

For the six months ended

Jun. 30,

Mar. 31,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

Jun. 30,

2023

2024

2024

2023

2024

US$

US$

US$

US$

US$

Income tax benefit/(expenses)

61

(22)

(41)

52

(63)

Less: Tax impact of Share-based compensation
expenses

Non-GAAP income tax benefit/(expenses)

61

(22)

(41)

52

(63)

Net loss attributable to the Company’s ordinary
shareholders

(2,898)

(3,724)

(1,247)

(5,501)

(4,971)

Less: Share-based compensation expenses

(199)

(287)

(235)

(421)

(522)

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to the
Company’s ordinary shareholders

(2,699)

(3,437)

(1,012)

(5,080)

(4,449)

Weighted average number of ordinary shares used
in computing basic and diluted loss per share

340,329,892

345,124,338

346,701,530

339,836,750

 

345,913,731

Non-GAAP net loss per share attributable to ordinary shareholders

Basic and Diluted

(0.01)

(0.01)

(0.00)

(0.01)

(0.01)

Non-GAAP net loss per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders

Basic and Diluted

(0.48)

(0.60)

(0.18)

(0.90)

(0.77)

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/51talk-online-education-group-announces-second-quarter-2024-results-302229388.html

SOURCE 51Talk Online Education Group

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U.S. Quartz Workers: Strong Safeguard Remedies Needed to Save 100,000 American Manufacturing Jobs

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WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Quartz Manufacturers Alliance for America (QMAA) released a powerful video featuring quartz manufacturing workers from across the country calling for free and fair trade policies to save 100,000 American jobs. QMAA, a coalition of leading U.S.-based quartz slab manufacturers, are calling for strong safeguard remedies after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found a huge flood of foreign imports had caused tremendous injury to the domestic quartz industry.

QMAA members are urging the Trump Administration to build on the ITC’s strong recommendation and address this major flood of quartz imports with a Tariff of 50% and a Reshoring Import Cap of 141 million square feet on imported quartz surface products. This will ensure a reshoring of the good-paying U.S. quartz manufacturing jobs stolen by companies who cheat U.S. trade law, distort competition and are decimating U.S. quartz manufacturing. Together, these trade remedies will provide the relief necessary to save the 100,000 jobs supported by the U.S. quartz industry.

The video features workers from LX Hausys, Guidoni USA and Cambria Company and is available here:
Save 100,000 American Quartz Jobs

Quotes from QMAA Quartz Manufacturing Workers
“This facility used to be a Husqvarna plant. Husqvarna closed down due to cheap foreign imports. There were over 1,000 people working here and all of a sudden…I’m worried I may see the same thing take place again.”
-Raymond Mack, Production Operator, Guidoni USA, Helena-McRae, GA

“Foreign countries, mainly China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, have been circumventing and cheating the American market. We believe in the industry. We believe in the American working power. We just want to level the playing field, make it fair for everyone and everyone will benefit.”
– Daniel Vas de Melo SA, Business Development Manager, Guidoni USA, McRae-Helena, GA

“In order for us to continue to compete, we need a strong Tariff and Import Cap on imported quartz surfaces. That will ensure we can play on an even playing field. That’s all we’re asking for. I would hate to see cheap, imported quartz have a negative impact on families such as mine and the other families that we employ here.”
– Mike Morici, Vice President – LX Hausys, Adairsville, GA

“The surge of foreign imports has shocked the U.S. economy, and the market for surfaces. It’s taken prices down to unsustainably low levels for any domestic supplier. The result of that is we’re not producing as much as we should, we can’t hire as many people as we would like to, and we can’t grow our business in the way that we and our peers in the U.S. want to grow.”
– Andrew Eich, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cambria

“As these foreign imports flood the market, we lose the ability to create and sustain jobs that ensure good paying conditions for manufacturing workers. There will be over 100,000 jobs that have the strong potential to go away.”
– Jack Sundry, SVP Core and Lexus – Cambria, Southern Minnesota

Background
In September 2025, QMAA filed a Global Safeguard petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under Section 201 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The ITC’s thorough investigation found serious injury to the domestic industry caused by a massive import surge designed to undercut American businesses. Quartz imports have surged by 78.3% within the past five years, leading to a nearly 20% decline in domestic production, factory closures and major job reductions.

A final safeguard decision from the United States Trade Representative is expected by Aug. 1, 2026.

About the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance for America:
QMAA is a coalition of U.S.-based, American quartz slab manufacturing factories, united with other industry leaders to support and strengthen the American quartz industry. QMAA is committed to ensuring a free and fair, competitive marketplace born of free enterprise that provides the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for American quartz slab manufacturing factories and their valued workers. We also believe this effort will have a positive impact throughout the entire quartz surfacing industry, including to the strong benefit of American stone fabrication shops and upstream suppliers of quartz minerals and resin. Learn more at: https://www.qmaa.org/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-quartz-workers-strong-safeguard-remedies-needed-to-save-100-000-american-manufacturing-jobs-302833444.html

SOURCE Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America

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Databricks and Microsoft expand partnership to help enterprises bring business context to enterprise AI

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Databricks and Microsoft extend strategic partnership through the 2030s to scale enterprise AIDatabricks deepens its bet on Azure, growing its use of Azure Databricks to run its own core business operations and analytics, while both companies advance native integration across the Microsoft stack, including Databricks Genie and Microsoft 365Databricks increases its use of Microsoft Azure Cobalt to improve performance and efficiency

REDMOND, Wash. and SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Microsoft Corp. and Databricks on Wednesday announced an expansion of their decade-long strategic partnership, extending into the 2030s. Databricks will deepen its use of Azure Databricks to run core business operations and build its unified lakehouse, while leveraging Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency. Microsoft will also continue integrating Databricks Data and AI platform across its products, bringing capabilities like Genie, Databricks’ AI co-worker, directly into customer workflows. Together, the companies are helping enterprises build AI grounded in their own business context with the cost efficiency, control and choice needed to scale successfully.

Enterprises want AI that understands their customers, products, operations, metrics and business processes, all while running securely where work happens. Yet, most still struggle to connect AI to trusted business knowledge, govern models and agents consistently, and control costs. Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers close that gap: 

“For nearly a decade, Databricks and Microsoft have helped enterprises innovate with data and AI,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co‑Founder and CEO of Databricks. “Today, our partnership is stronger than ever. With Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway deeply integrated across Microsoft’s products, we’re helping enterprises unify their data and ground AI in business knowledge. This lets customers get the full benefits of agents and models while controlling costs and ensuring governance.”

“The next generation of AI will be defined by how effectively organizations turn their unique knowledge into intelligence,” said Judson Althoff, CEO, Microsoft Commercial Business. “Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers connect data, AI and business context to accelerate decision-making and drive measurable impact. With Databricks deepening its investment in Azure Databricks and Azure Cobalt-powered infrastructure, customers will benefit from greater performance, efficiency and scale for their most demanding workloads. Databricks’ decision to run its own core business operations on Azure Databricks also gives customers confidence in a platform proven at enterprise scale.”

Databricks runs core business operations on Azure Databricks 

As part of this latest deal, Databricks deepens its commitment to Azure, running its own core business operations and analytics on Azure Databricks, using the very platform it delivers to customers at scale.

Advancing performance with Azure Cobalt

Databricks will also expand its use of Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency for agentic and data-intensive workloads. Databricks currently uses Cobalt 100 and plans to adopt Cobalt 200, which delivers up to 50% better performance and includes memory encryption enabled by default.

Deep integrations for Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway with Microsoft product stack

By combining the Databricks Data + AI Platform with Azure’s global scale, customers can accelerate AI transformation while maintaining control and reliability. As a native Azure service, Azure Databricks makes its AI capabilities available directly within customers’ existing Microsoft environment, grounding and operating agents on enterprise data with Genie and Genie Ontology, and governing models, agents and cost through Unity AI Gateway. Deeply integrated across the Microsoft ecosystem spanning Microsoft Entra, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure security, Microsoft OneLake, Power BI, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Foundry, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot, these capabilities bring governed, real-time data and AI into business workflows, giving organizations the context, control, choice and cost efficiency needed to drive impact.

Continued investment is evident from our recent announcements with Databricks at Data + AI Summit in June.

Customer impact with Azure Databricks

The deepened collaboration strengthens support for joint customers running data, analytics and AI workloads on Azure Databricks, delivering improved performance, security, AI governance and enterprise readiness. Thousands of customers, including Banco Bradesco, the Cincinnati Reds, Electrolux, SMBC and Unilever, already use Azure Databricks to run critical workloads and scale AI with confidence.

Read more on the proven business value of the Databricks and Microsoft partnership on the Microsoft Azure blog.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including AT&T, Bayer, BMW Group, HSBC, T-Mobile, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

 

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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

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Harness and Kong Expand Strategic Partnership to Deliver Comprehensive API and AI Security

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Joint solution extends proven API gateway security to the AI era — with automated AI discovery and runtime AI protection

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harness, the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, and Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership to address the growing security challenges posed by AI-driven architectures, autonomous agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) deployments.

According to The State of AI-Native Application Security 2025 report, as enterprises race to deploy AI at scale, 62% have no visibility into where LLMs are in use across their environment, and 74% say AI sprawl will outpace API sprawl when it comes to risk — making embedded, infrastructure-level security more critical than ever. And companies are now deploying agents into their operations at an exponentially increasing rate, making it a necessity to protect the agents themselves and the systems interacting with those agents.

The two companies are extending their joint solution from Kong API Gateway to also include Kong AI Gateway, bringing Harness’s AI security intelligence directly into the AI infrastructure layer and enabling enterprises to discover, monitor, and protect every agent, AI asset, LLM-powered service, and MCP-connected workflow that traverses it.

A Proven Foundation: Harness and Kong API Gateway

Harness and Kong have been jointly trusted by enterprises to deliver best-in-class API security for years. The existing Harness and Kong API Gateway integration provides:

Comprehensive API traffic visibility and behavioral analysis across all Kong-managed servicesReal-time detection and blocking of API threats, including OWASP API Security Top 10 risks, credential stuffing attacks, and business logic abuseContinuous sensitive data tracking to identify PII exposure and regulatory riskZero-friction deployment alongside existing Kong configurations

This new offering of the AI Gateway solution applies the same level of security depth to AI infrastructure, ensuring that security teams are not left behind as their organizations adopt AI and agentic operations.

“Our partnership with Harness has given joint customers production-grade API security that works with the way they build, not against it,” said Ken Kim, Senior Vice President, Business Development at Kong Inc. “Extending to include Kong AI Gateway is a natural next step. The same enterprises are now moving AI into production through our gateway and need the same depth of visibility and control they’ve come to rely on for their APIs for all AI traffic types including LLM, MCP, and A2A. That’s exactly what this delivers and is crucial for organizations scaling in the agentic era.”

The New Frontier: Kong AI Gateway and Harness AI Security

As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, the attack surface has fundamentally shifted. AI agents, LLM-powered microservices, and MCP-enabled integrations introduce new vectors that traditional security tools were not designed to address. Unlike traditional software, AI agents are non-deterministic — the same agent can behave differently on consecutive runs, making it impossible to secure them the way you’d secure a static API. The new Harness and Kong AI Gateway integration directly tackles these challenges across two critical domains: AI discovery and AI protection.

AI Discovery
Harness automatically inventories every AI asset, API, MCP server, tool, prompt, and resource routed through Kong AI Gateway — providing security teams with a continuously updated catalog of their AI attack surface. No manual documentation. No blind spots.

AI Protection
Harness applies behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to AI traffic in real time, identifying prompt injection attacks, data exfiltration through AI responses, jailbreaking, malicious code in prompts, and other AI-specific threats. Enterprises gain the same depth of observability and protection for their agents and AI workloads that they already rely on for traditional APIs, with full prompt and response details available for incident investigation and inline policy enforcement through Kong AI Gateway.

“Shadow AI has become the defining security blind spot for enterprises today. Traditional tools were built for static code and predictable systems, not for adaptive AI models, agent-to-agent communication, and MCP-connected workflows that evolve continuously,” said Rahul Sood, GM of Application Security at Harness. “This integration of Harness AI Security with Kong puts security intelligence directly into the connectivity layer where AI traffic flows. Joint customers now have the visibility and control they need to move fast without losing sight of what’s happening across their AI infrastructure.”

Availability

The Harness and Kong API Gateway integration is generally available today for all joint customers. The Kong AI Gateway integration, including AI Discovery and AI Protection, is also generally available now. Joint customers can contact their account team or request a demo.

About Harness
Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, enabling engineering teams to build, test, and deliver software faster and more securely. Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the platform brings intelligent automation to every stage of the software delivery lifecycle after code — removing toil and freeing developers from manual, repetitive work. Companies like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels use Harness to accelerate releases by up to 75%, cut cloud costs by 60%, and achieve 10x efficiency across DevOps. Based in San Francisco, Harness is backed by Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

About Kong

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.

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SOURCE Harness

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