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Couchbase Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results

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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE), the cloud database platform company, today announced financial results for its second quarter ended July 31, 2024.

“I’m pleased with our hard work and execution in the quarter,” said Matt Cain, Chair, President and CEO of Couchbase. “We delivered revenue and operating loss results that exceeded the high end of our outlook, generated strong new business and new logos, and saw a meaningful increase in our Capella mix. I remain highly confident in our outlook and ability to achieve our objectives in fiscal 2025.”

Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Highlights

Revenue: Total revenue for the quarter was $51.6 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year. Subscription revenue for the quarter was $49.3 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year.Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Total ARR as of July 31, 2024 was $214.0 million, an increase of 18% year-over-year, or 19% on a constant currency basis. See the section titled “Key Business Metrics” below for details.Gross margin: Gross margin for the quarter was 87.5%, compared to 86.3% for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 88.3%, compared to 87.2% for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. See the section titled “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the tables titled “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results” below for details.Loss from operations: Loss from operations for the quarter was $21.0 million, compared to $21.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $4.1 million, compared to $9.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2024.Cash flow: Cash flow used in operating activities for the quarter was $4.9 million, compared to cash flow used in operating activities of $0.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2024. Capital expenditures were $1.0 million during the quarter, leading to negative free cash flow of $5.9 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $1.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2024.Remaining performance obligations (RPO): RPO as of July 31, 2024 was $215.8 million, an increase of 27% year-over-year.

Recent Business Highlights

Announced the general availability of Capella Columnar, an exciting milestone for Couchbase with strong uptake and positive feedback from early adopters across various industries. Columnar helps organizations streamline the development of adaptive applications by enabling real-time data analysis alongside operational workloads within a single database platform.Announced the general availability of Couchbase Mobile with vector search, which makes it possible for businesses to offer similarity and hybrid search in their applications on mobile and at the edge. With Capella Columnar and vector search capabilities in one cloud database platform, Couchbase helps businesses reduce cost and simplify operations, while enabling developers to create trustworthy adaptive applications.Introduced Capella Free Tier, a workspace which empowers developers to work faster by enabling the development of next generation, production-ready applications on Couchbase. Developers now have the access and convenience they need to build on applications without worrying about an end date.Announced the appointment of Josh Harbert as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. In this role, Harbert will lead all marketing and sales development efforts, driving brand momentum, demand creation, market leadership and growth initiatives. He brings over 20 years’ experience in the enterprise software industry and a proven track record of accelerating growth and achieving strategic outcomes in both private and public companies.

Financial Outlook

For the third quarter and full year of fiscal 2025, Couchbase expects:

Q3 FY2025 Outlook

FY2025 Outlook

Total Revenue

$50.3-51.1  million

$205.1-209.1 million

Total ARR

$218.5-221.5 million

$235.5-240.5 million

Non-GAAP Operating Loss

$5.5-4.5 million

$24.5-19.5 million

The guidance provided above is based on several assumptions that are subject to change and many of which are outside our control. If actual results vary from these assumptions, our expectations may change. There can be no assurance that we will achieve these results.

Couchbase is not able, at this time, to provide GAAP targets for operating loss for the third quarter or full year of fiscal 2025 because of the difficulty of estimating certain items excluded from non-GAAP operating loss that cannot be reasonably predicted, such as charges related to stock-based compensation expense. The effect of these excluded items may be significant.

Conference Call Information

Couchbase will host a live webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (or 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, to discuss its financial results and business highlights. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 877-407-8029 from the United States, or +1 201-689-8029 from international locations. The live webcast and a webcast replay can be accessed from the investor relations page of Couchbase’s website at investors.couchbase.com.

About Couchbase

Modern customer experiences need a flexible database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase’s mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and run modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Couchbase Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers – all with best-in-class price performance. 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications. For more information, visit www.couchbase.com and follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @couchbase.

Couchbase has used, and intends to continue using, its investor relations website and the corporate blog at blog.couchbase.com to disclose material non-public information and to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, you should monitor our investor relations website and the corporate blog in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, we believe certain non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance. We use certain non-GAAP financial measures, collectively, to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, may be helpful to investors because they provide consistency and comparability with past financial performance and meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our business, results of operations or outlook. Non-GAAP financial measures are presented for supplemental informational purposes only, have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP, and may be different from similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. In addition, other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate similarly-titled non-GAAP financial measures differently or may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison. Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures (provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release), and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

Non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating loss, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net loss and non-GAAP net loss per share: We define these non-GAAP financial measures as their respective GAAP measures, excluding expenses related to stock-based compensation expense, employer payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, restructuring charges and impairment of capitalized internal-use software. We use these non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with GAAP measures to assess our performance, including in the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies and to communicate with our board of directors concerning our financial performance.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we excluded the impairment of capitalized internal-use software, a non-cash operating expense, from our non-GAAP results as it is not reflective of ongoing operating results. This impairment charge related to certain previously capitalized internal-use software that we determined would no longer be placed into service. Prior period non-GAAP financial measures have not been adjusted to reflect this change as we did not incur impairment of capitalized internal-use software in any prior period presented.

Free cash flow: We define free cash flow as cash used in operating activities less additions to property and equipment, which includes capitalized internal-use software costs. We believe free cash flow is a useful indicator of liquidity that provides our management, board of directors and investors with information about our future ability to generate or use cash to enhance the strength of our balance sheet and further invest in our business and pursue potential strategic initiatives. 

Please see the reconciliation tables at the end of this press release for the reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP results.

Key Business Metrics

We review a number of operating and financial metrics, including ARR, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate business plans and make strategic decisions.

We define ARR as of a given date as the annualized recurring revenue that we would contractually receive from our customers in the month ending 12 months following such date. Based on historical experience with customers, we assume all contracts will be renewed at the same levels unless we receive notification of non-renewal and are no longer in negotiations prior to the measurement date. For Capella products, ARR in a customer’s initial year is calculated as the greater of: (i) initial year contract revenue as described above or (ii) annualized prior 90 days of actual consumption; and ARR for subsequent years is calculated with method (ii). ARR excludes services revenue.

Prior to fiscal 2025, ARR excluded on-demand revenue and, for Capella products in a customer’s initial year, ARR was calculated solely on the basis of initial year contract revenue. The reason for these changes is to better reflect ARR where usage rates or timing of purchases may be uneven and to better align with how ARR is used to measure the performance of the business. ARR for prior periods has not been adjusted to reflect this change as it is not material to any period previously presented.

ARR should be viewed independently of revenue, and does not represent our revenue under GAAP on an annualized basis, as it is an operating metric that can be impacted by contract start and end dates and renewal dates. ARR is not intended to be a replacement for forecasts of revenue. Although we seek to increase ARR as part of our strategy of targeting large enterprise customers, this metric may fluctuate from period to period based on our ability to acquire new customers, expand within our existing customers and consumption dynamics. We believe that ARR is an important indicator of the growth and performance of our business.

We also attempt to represent the changes in the underlying business operations by eliminating fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates within the current period. We calculate constant currency growth rates by applying the applicable prior period exchange rates to current period results.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, quotations of management, the section titled “Financial Outlook” above and statements about Couchbase’s market position, strategies and potential market opportunities. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and, in some cases, can be identified by terms such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “potential,” “remain,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including factors beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: our history of net losses and ability to achieve or maintain profitability in the future; our ability to continue to grow on pace with historical rates; our ability to manage our growth effectively; intense competition and our ability to compete effectively; cost-effectively acquiring new customers or obtaining renewals, upgrades or expansions from our existing customers; the market for our products and services being highly competitive and evolving, and our future success depending on the growth and expansion of this market; our ability to innovate in response to changing customer needs, new technologies or other market requirements, including new capabilities, programs and partnerships and their impact on our customers and our business; our limited operating history, which makes it difficult to predict our future results of operations; the significant fluctuation of our future results of operations and ability to meet the expectations of analysts or investors; our significant reliance on revenue from subscriptions, which may decline and, the recognition of a significant portion of revenue from subscriptions over the term of the relevant subscription period, which means downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations; and the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic factors. Further information on risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from forecasted results are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that we may file from time to time, including those more fully described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. Additional information will be made available in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2024 that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should be read in conjunction with this press release and the financial results included herein. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

 

Couchbase, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share data)
(unaudited)

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenue:

License

$                  5,242

$                  4,798

$                12,101

$                  9,741

Support and other

44,051

36,156

86,230

69,755

Total subscription revenue

49,293

40,954

98,331

79,496

Services

2,296

2,185

4,585

4,639

Total revenue

51,589

43,139

102,916

84,135

Cost of revenue:

Subscription(1)

4,455

3,845

8,412

7,518

Services(1)

2,008

2,064

3,733

4,313

Total cost of revenue

6,463

5,909

12,145

11,831

Gross profit

45,126

37,230

90,771

72,304

Operating expenses:

Research and development(1)

17,370

16,292

35,217

31,675

Sales and marketing(1)

36,168

32,348

73,923

64,901

General and administrative(1)

12,636

10,459

25,219

20,084

Restructuring(1)

46

Total operating expenses

66,174

59,099

134,359

116,706

Loss from operations

(21,048)

(21,869)

(43,588)

(44,402)

Interest expense

(29)

(18)

(29)

(43)

Other income, net

1,741

1,255

3,272

2,688

Loss before income taxes

(19,336)

(20,632)

(40,345)

(41,757)

Provision for income taxes

559

19

545

769

Net loss

$              (19,895)

$              (20,651)

$              (40,890)

$              (42,526)

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

$                  (0.39)

$                  (0.44)

$                  (0.81)

$                  (0.92)

Weighted-average shares used in computing
     net loss per share, basic and diluted

50,822

46,714

50,311

46,285

_______________________________

(1)

Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cost of revenue—subscription

$                     301

$                     236

$                     567

$                     429

Cost of revenue—services

109

149

250

294

Research and development

4,214

3,614

8,207

6,382

Sales and marketing

6,162

4,032

11,385

7,273

General and administrative

5,370

4,086

10,374

7,014

Restructuring

1

Total stock-based compensation expense

$                16,156

$                12,117

$                30,783

$                21,393

 

Couchbase, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands)
(unaudited)

As of July 31,
2024

As of January 31,
2024

Assets

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

$                62,607

$                41,351

Short-term investments

93,526

112,281

Accounts receivable, net

31,263

44,848

Deferred commissions

13,187

15,421

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

10,092

10,385

Total current assets

210,675

224,286

Property and equipment, net

7,053

5,327

Operating lease right-of-use assets

3,497

4,848

Deferred commissions, noncurrent

13,603

11,400

Other assets

1,119

1,891

Total assets

$              235,947

$              247,752

Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

Current liabilities

Accounts payable

$                  5,031

$                  4,865

Accrued compensation and benefits

14,123

18,116

Other accrued expenses

3,373

4,581

Operating lease liabilities

2,670

3,208

Deferred revenue

81,906

81,736

Total current liabilities

107,103

112,506

Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent

1,170

2,078

Deferred revenue, noncurrent

1,031

2,747

Total liabilities

109,304

117,331

Stockholders’ equity

Preferred stock

Common stock

Additional paid-in capital

658,165

621,024

Accumulated other comprehensive income

27

56

Accumulated deficit

(531,549)

(490,659)

Total stockholders’ equity

126,643

130,421

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$              235,947

$              247,752

 

Couchbase, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)
(unaudited)

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cash flows from operating activities

Net loss

$                (19,895)

$                (20,651)

$                (40,890)

$                (42,526)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used
      in operating activities

  Depreciation and amortization

363

745

763

1,635

  Stock-based compensation, net of amounts
  capitalized

16,156

12,117

30,783

21,393

  Amortization of deferred commissions

4,184

4,702

8,280

9,242

  Non-cash lease expense

765

776

1,530

1,548

  Foreign currency transaction losses (gains)

8

249

291

165

  Other

(589)

(1,030)

(1,413)

(1,776)

  Changes in operating assets and liabilities

Accounts receivable

3,130

9,811

13,295

7,537

Deferred commissions

(5,179)

(4,322)

(8,249)

(9,146)

Prepaid expenses and other assets

412

(1,523)

443

(118)

Accounts payable

938

(3,713)

146

1,745

Accrued compensation and benefits

5,188

2,306

(3,991)

(1,754)

Other Accrued Expenses

(294)

(615)

(1,107)

(1,871)

Operating lease liabilities

(782)

(897)

(1,625)

(1,723)

Deferred revenue

(9,255)

1,526

(1,547)

7,949

Net cash used in operating activities

(4,850)

(519)

(3,291)

(7,700)

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchases of short-term investments

(18,351)

(56,494)

(37,805)

(64,315)

Maturities of short-term investments

34,000

50,697

58,144

70,120

Additions to property and equipment

(1,067)

(1,071)

(2,062)

(2,359)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing
activities

14,582

(6,868)

18,277

3,446

Cash flows from financing activities

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

842

2,733

4,136

4,650

Proceeds from issuance of common stock under
ESPP

1,795

847

Net cash provided by financing activities

842

2,733

5,931

5,497

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash,
cash equivalents and restricted cash

58

(149)

(204)

(252)

Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and
restricted cash

10,632

(4,803)

20,713

991

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at
beginning of period

51,975

46,783

41,894

40,989

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end
of period

$                  62,607

$                  41,980

$                  62,607

$                  41,980

Reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents, and
restricted cash within the consolidated balance
sheets to the amounts shown above:

Cash and cash equivalents

$                  62,607

$                  41,437

$                  62,607

$                  41,437

Restricted cash included in other assets

543

543

Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

$                  62,607

$                  41,980

$                  62,607

$                  41,980

 

Couchbase, Inc.
Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results
(in thousands, except per share data)
(unaudited)

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Reconciliation of GAAP gross profit to
non-GAAP gross profit:

Total revenue

$               51,589

$               43,139

$            102,916

$               84,135

Gross profit

$               45,126

$               37,230

$               90,771

$               72,304

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

410

385

817

723

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

28

21

98

31

Non-GAAP gross profit

$               45,564

$               37,636

$               91,686

$               73,058

Gross margin

87.5 %

86.3 %

88.2 %

85.9 %

Non-GAAP gross margin

88.3 %

87.2 %

89.1 %

86.8 %

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Reconciliation of GAAP operating
expenses to non-GAAP operating
expenses:

GAAP research and development

$                17,370

$                16,292

$                35,217

$                31,675

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(4,214)

(3,614)

(8,207)

(6,382)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

(170)

(123)

(479)

(231)

Non-GAAP research and development

$                12,986

$                12,555

$                26,531

$                25,062

GAAP sales and marketing

$                36,168

$                32,348

$                73,923

$                64,901

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(6,162)

(4,032)

(11,385)

(7,273)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

(421)

(330)

(1,103)

(450)

Non-GAAP sales and marketing

$                29,585

$                27,986

$                61,435

$                57,178

GAAP general and administrative

$                12,636

$                10,459

$                25,219

$                20,084

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(5,370)

(4,086)

(10,374)

(7,014)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

(172)

(59)

(327)

(88)

Non-GAAP general and administrative

$                  7,094

$                  6,314

$                14,518

$                12,982

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Reconciliation of GAAP operating loss to
non-GAAP operating loss:

Total revenue

$               51,589

$               43,139

$             102,916

$               84,135

Loss from operations

$              (21,048)

$              (21,869)

$              (43,588)

$              (44,402)

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

16,156

12,117

30,783

21,392

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

791

533

2,007

800

Add: Restructuring(2)

46

Non-GAAP operating loss

$                (4,101)

$                (9,219)

$             (10,798)

$             (22,164)

Operating margin

(41) %

(51) %

(42) %

(53) %

Non-GAAP operating margin

(8) %

(21) %

(10) %

(26) %

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Reconciliation of GAAP net loss to non-
GAAP net loss:

Net loss

$              (19,895)

$              (20,651)

$              (40,890)

$              (42,526)

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

16,156

12,117

30,783

21,392

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock
transactions

791

533

2,007

800

Add: Restructuring(2)

46

Non-GAAP net loss

$                (2,948)

$                (8,001)

$                (8,100)

$              (20,288)

GAAP net loss per share

$                  (0.39)

$                  (0.44)

$                  (0.81)

$                  (0.92)

Non-GAAP net loss per share

$                  (0.06)

$                  (0.17)

$                  (0.16)

$                  (0.44)

Weighted average shares outstanding, basic
and diluted

50,822

46,714

50,311

46,285

 _______________________________

(2)

For the six months ended July 31, 2023, an immaterial amount of stock-based compensation expense related to restructuring charges was included in the restructuring expense line.

The following table presents a reconciliation of free cash flow to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, for each of the periods indicated (in thousands, unaudited):

Three Months Ended July 31,

Six Months Ended July 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net cash used in operating activities

$                (4,850)

$                   (519)

$                (3,291)

$                (7,700)

Less: Additions to property and equipment

(1,067)

(1,071)

(2,062)

(2,359)

Free cash flow

$                (5,917)

$                (1,590)

$                (5,353)

$              (10,059)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing
activities

$                14,582

$                (6,868)

$                18,277

$                  3,446

Net cash provided by financing activities

$                     842

$                  2,733

$                  5,931

$                  5,497

 

Couchbase, Inc.
Key Business Metrics
(in millions)
(unaudited)

As of

Oct. 31,

Jan. 31,

April 30,

July 31,

Oct. 31,

Jan. 31,

April 30,

July 31,

2022

2023

2023

2023

2023

2024

2024

2024

Annual Recurring
Revenue

$     151.7

$     163.7

$     172.2

$     180.7

$     188.7

$     204.2

$     207.7

$     214.0

 

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SOURCE Couchbase, Inc.

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Family-owned Iowa truckload carrier has confirmed more than 10,000 appointments through Qued, with email scheduling handled at a 98.8% success rate

BROADLANDS, Va., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Qued, a leader in developing sophisticated, automated appointment scheduling solutions for supply chain and logistics companies, today announced a strategic partnership with Don Hummer Trucking Corporation, a family-owned interstate truckload carrier trusted by some of the nation’s most recognizable brands. Don Hummer Trucking has deployed Qued’s Smart Appointments platform to automate appointment scheduling across its operations, taking manual booking work off the desks of the people who keep its trucks moving.

Every load delivered safely and on time carries the opportunity to earn our customer’s trust. Qued took a job that used to eat hours of our team’s day and quietly handles it in the background.

The numbers behind the announcement:

More than 10,000 appointments confirmed through Qued94.2% confirmation rate98.8% success rate on email-based scheduling

Qued’s platform selects the best appointment slots in real time, weighing ETAs, facility capacity, historical performance, and the specific requirements of each location. It connects directly to the transportation management system a carrier already runs, and it works on every channel a facility can require: web portals, email, and AI-powered voice calls. At Don Hummer Trucking, email scheduling has been the standout, with Qued handling email-based appointment requests at a 98.8% success rate.

“Don Hummer Trucking is the kind of company this industry is built on. The president holds a CDL and delivers loads. The family name rides on every trailer,” said Tom Curee, President of Qued. “When a three-generation fleet with that much on the line trusts Qued with its appointments, we take it seriously. Hummer’s confirmation numbers show what disciplined operators get when real automation goes to work on scheduling.”

“Every load delivered safely and on time carries the opportunity to earn our customer’s trust. Qued took a job that used to eat hours of our team’s day and quietly handles it in the background. Confirmations happen, trucks keep moving, and our people stay focused on drivers and customers,” said Jake Von Feldt, Vice President of Finance at Don Hummer Trucking.

Don Hummer Trucking joins a growing roster of asset-based carriers on Qued, from family fleets to some of the largest carriers in North America.

About Qued:

Qued is a cloud-based, AI-powered smart workflow automation platform transforming load appointment scheduling for brokers, 3PLs, and carriers. By automating the scheduling process, Qued eliminates manual work, simplifies multi-stop load appointments, and ensures seamless coordination across the supply chain, improving both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.qued.com or contact us at contact.us@qued.com.

About Don Hummer Trucking:

Don Hummer Trucking Corporation is a family-owned and operated, for-hire interstate truckload carrier headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with terminal operations in Homestead, Iowa. The Hummer name has been trusted in freight transportation for more than 70 years, and the company today serves many of the largest shippers in the country. For more information, visit www.donhummertrucking.com.

Media Contact

Adam Robinson, The Robinson Agency, 1 2148720780, adam@the-robinson-agency.com, The Robinson Agency 

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SOURCE Qued

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Bank of America Enhances EricaAssist with Generative AI to Help Employees Resolve Client Needs Faster

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New AI capabilities deliver relevant insights in seconds, helping employees provide more personalized client service in real-time

Key takeaways

More than 18,000 employees use EricaAssist as a human-assisted AI agent to help serve clients.
New Generative AI (Gen AI) capabilities deliver contextual guidance in under three seconds, helping resolve client needs faster and supporting decision making by customer service representatives.
EricaAssist reduces average call times by nearly one minute per interaction, improving efficiency and client experience.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bank of America (BofA) today announced enhancements to EricaAssist, its human assisted AI agent that supports employees during client conversations, delivering real time insights that help resolve client needs faster while keeping the employee at the center of the experience.

Used by more than 18,000 customer service representatives, EricaAssist works alongside employees during calls – summarizing and surfacing relevant guidance in real time – so employees can focus on listening to and understanding clients, explaining solutions, and building stronger relationships. The enhancements are making our human agents better and providing our customers with an improved and more efficient experience.

“EricaAssist reflects our high tech, high touch approach,” said Ashley Ross, Head of Consumer Client Experience and Business Transformation at Bank of America. “By combining human judgment with real time AI guidance, we’re helping employees navigate complex topics more easily and serve clients more effectively in the moments that matter most.”

Bank of America customer service representatives use generative AI capabilities within EricaAssist to summarize why a client is calling, pull together relevant information, and recommend next steps based on the employee’s role and the client’s relationship with the bank – all without interrupting the flow of the conversation.

“This technology helps our teammates deliver relevant insights in seconds, while operating with strong governance, transparency, and accountability,” said Tom Ellis, Chief Information Officer and Head of Consumer Technology at Bank of America.

Later this year, Bank of America plans to expand EricaAssist to support additional servicing scenarios and business lines.

Frequently asked questions

Question: Why enhance EricaAssist with GenAI capabilities?

Answer: Enhancing EricaAssist reflects the bank’s focus on continuously improving how employees access and deliver personalized guidance and resolve client needs faster.

Question: How do EricaAssist enhancements reflect Bank of America’s broader investments in technology?

Answer: Bank of America spends $14 billion annually on technology, of which more than $4 billion is allocated to new initiatives, including AI. These ongoing investments, combined with our high-tech, high-touch approach, continue to enhance our client experiences across all channels and to drive operational efficiencies across the company.

Question: Why blend AI with employee decision making?

Answer: Our responsible AI strategy ensures human oversight, transparency, and accountability for all outcomes. By leveraging AI at scale across our global operations, we are optimizing performance and improving client experiences. EricaAssist works alongside employees, supporting their decision-making and service. Employees ensure clients receive thoughtful guidance, with AI operating within established governance and oversight.

Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving nearly 70 million clients with approximately 3,500 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 60 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. As the #1 small business lender in the United States (FDIC), Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries and/or jurisdictions. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Reporters may contact
Catherine Page, Bank of America
Phone: 1.704.519.7314
catherine.page@bofa.com

Don Vecchiarello, Bank of America
Phone: 1.980.387.4899
don.vecchiarello@bofa.com

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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation

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Sonilo and fal Launch Sound Effects 1.0 for Realistic Sound Effects from Video and Text

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Exclusive API co-launch brings Video-to-Sound Effects and Text-to-Sound Effects generation to developers through fal

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sonilo, a generative audio company building video-native sound and music models, and fal, the generative media platform for developers and enterprises, today announced the launch of Sonilo Sound Effects 1.0, a new model that generates highly realistic sound effects from video or text.

With video input, Sound Effects 1.0 analyzes what is happening on screen and generates one finished audio track synced to the motion, timing and scene. With text input, developers and creators can describe a specific sound effect and generate it directly.

fal will serve as the model’s exclusive API launch partner during its initial launch period, providing developers with day zero access through fal’s production-ready infrastructure.

Sound Effects 1.0 is designed to address one of the most persistent gaps in AI video production: footage can look complete while still requiring significant manual work before it sounds complete.

When given a video, the model analyzes on-screen motion, scene context, environments, and timing before generating audio that follows what is happening on screen.

Instead of returning a collection of disconnected audio assets that still need to be placed and aligned one by one, Sound Effects 1.0 can produce a synchronized audio track that is ready to review, refine and add to the edit.

“Sound effects only work when they feel like they belong in the scene,” said Trista Hong, Co-Founder of Sonilo. “Sound Effects 1.0 was built around that complete problem: understanding the footage, generating realistic audio, and synchronizing it automatically. We’re excited to launch it together with fal and bring video-native sound into real production workflows.”

A Sound Model Built Around the Video

Traditional sound-design workflows typically begin outside the footage. Editors search sound libraries, preview multiple assets, place them on a timeline, align each effect to the appropriate frame, adjust levels and repeat the process across every action in the scene.

Sound Effects 1.0 begins with the video itself.

The model uses the footage as both a source of semantic information and the timing foundation for the generated audio. It determines what is happening in the scene, what sounds are appropriate for those events and when those sounds should occur.

This video-native approach is particularly useful for scenes containing multiple actions, transitions, impacts and environmental details. Rather than requiring creators to build the sound layer one asset at a time, the model can generate audio around the structure of the footage as a whole.

Sound Effects 1.0 supports video inputs of up to three minutes, making it suitable for short-form content, advertisements, gaming footage, product videos and longer narrative scenes.

Automatic Generation When Speed Matters, Prompt Control When Direction Matters

Sound Effects 1.0 supports two complementary generation workflows.

Video-to-Sound-Effects analyzes uploaded footage and generates sound effects matched to its visible actions, environments and timing.

Text-to-Sound-Effects generates specific standalone sounds from written descriptions, giving creators and developers direct control when they need a particular audio asset.

Prompts are optional in the video workflow. Users can allow the model to interpret footage automatically or provide a prompt requesting a particular sound, emphasis or creative direction.

The prompt helps shape what the model generates, while the video continues to determine when the sound should occur.

This gives users two practical modes of working: automatic sound generation when speed and coverage are the priority, and prompt-guided generation when a scene requires more precise creative control.

Bringing Video-Native Sound Generation to Developers through fal

The co-launch gives developers access to Sound Effects 1.0 through fal’s generative media infrastructure, allowing video-conditioned sound generation to be incorporated directly into products and production workflows.

Developers can use the model to build synchronized sound generation into:

AI video editors and generation platforms;Short-form and social video tools;Advertising and branded-content workflows;Game prototypes, gameplay videos and cinematics;Film and narrative-production pipelines; andMultimodal creator products that combine video, music and sound.

“We’re entering a new era where AI applications don’t just generate assets, they produce complete experiences,” said Tina Sang, Head of Marketing at fal. “Sound is fundamental to making those experiences believable. Sonilo Sound Effects 1.0 helps developers generate context-aware, synchronized audio that matches what’s happening on screen, and we’re very excited to bring it to fal, day zero.”

The integration is designed to let teams move from initial testing to product deployment without building and operating a separate model-serving stack. Developers can access the model through fal’s API and developer tooling while keeping sound generation inside the same environment as their broader generative media workflows.

Expanding the Sonilo and fal Partnership

The launch expands an existing relationship between Sonilo and fal.

Sonilo Music v1.1 is already available through fal, giving developers access to both Video-to-Music and Text-to-Music generation. Sound Effects 1.0 extends that integration from generated music into highly realistic, video-conditioned sound effects.

Using the same source footage, creators and developers can generate sound effects around visible actions and environments, then generate music informed by the video’s pacing, scene changes, mood and timing.

This creates a broader video-first audio workflow in which a single video can serve as the timing foundation for both sound design and music. Sound effects can follow what happens on screen, while music can follow the emotional and structural movement of the edit.

By connecting both layers around the source footage, Sonilo aims to reduce manual synchronization, repetitive asset placement and unnecessary switching between separate audio tools.

Built for Real Production Workflows

For AI video creators, Sound Effects 1.0 can add action cues, environmental details, movement and transitions to generated footage that otherwise arrives without usable audio.

For high-volume creators and gaming channels, the model can reduce repetitive timeline work across content requiring dense sound design, including impacts, interface sounds, room tone and movement.

For filmmakers and narrative teams, it can generate scene-level elements such as footsteps, doors, physical interactions and ambience directly from an edit.

For brands and advertising teams, it can produce precisely timed audio around product interactions, camera transitions, packaging moments and visual reveals.

For platforms and API products, it provides a way to add video-conditioned sound generation without requiring users to leave the product and assemble audio in a separate editing workflow.

About Sonilo

Sonilo builds video-native generative audio models for creators, developers and media platforms. Its technology generates music and sound effects directly from footage or text, helping teams bring audio into the video-creation workflow and reduce manual timeline work. Sonilo is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by B Capital.

Learn more at https://sonilo.com/.

About fal

fal is a generative media platform that provides developers with access to the world’s best generative image, video, and audio models through a unified API. Trusted by over 2.5 million developers and leading companies, fal offers the fastest inference engine for diffusion models, on-demand serverless GPUs, and dedicated compute clusters for frontier research. Learn more at fal.ai.

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SOURCE Sonilo

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