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Waterdrop Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2024 Unaudited Financial Results

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BEIJING, Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Waterdrop Inc. (“Waterdrop”, the “Company” or “we”) (NYSE: WDH), a leading technology platform dedicated to insurance and healthcare service with a positive social impact, today announced its unaudited financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024.

Financial and Operational Highlights for the Third Quarter of 2024

Marked improvement in profitability and healthy liquidity: In the third quarter of 2024, net profit attributable to our ordinary shareholders reached RMB92.8 million, representing a year-over-year growth of 152.6%. As of September 30, 2024, we continued to generate positive operating cash flow during the third quarter of 2024.Strong business performance: For the third quarter of 2024, the first-year premiums (“FYP”) generated through our insurance business amounted to RMB2,041.8 million (US$290.9 million), representing an increase of 20.4% year over year. Net operating revenue was RMB704.1 million (US$100.3 million), representing an increase of 2.6% year over year.Expanded crowdfunding coverage: As of September 30, 2024, around 466 million people cumulatively had donated an aggregate of RMB66.3 billion to 3.32 million patients through Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding.Dependable performance in patient recruitment: As of September 30, 2024, the Company had cumulatively enrolled over 9,500 patients into 1,137 clinical trial programs through the E-Find Platform.

Mr. Peng Shen, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Waterdrop, commented, “We are delighted to announce another quarter of robust profitability, with net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders reaching 2.5 times that of the third quarter last year.

Our insurance business has achieved a 14.8% quarter-over-quarter growth in FYP and maintained an operating profit margin above 20%. We delivered solid FYP growth in both short-term and long-term insurance, driven by user acquisition, innovative tailor-made products, and the contribution of Shenlanbao. I believe with our data-driven user insights, unique product offerings, and diversified distribution channels, we are well-positioned to maintain a strong competitive advantage.

This quarter marks a significant milestone for our medical crowdfunding business and the industry as a whole, following the issuance of the ‘Measures for Administration of Online Service Platforms for Individuals Seeking Financial Help’ released by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC and other government departments on September 5, 2024. The Measures for Administration officially announce the legal framework of fundraising sector, and offer guidance on management and information transparency.

During this quarter, our digital clinical trial solution income continued its growth, realizing a quarter-over-quarter increase of 17.4%. We collaborated with a total of 184 pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (“CROs”). Moreover, we enrolled 909 patients and initiated services for 88 new programs during the third quarter of 2024.

We are also delighted to report notable progress in AI. Internally, ‘AI Consultant’, a conversational AI agent powered by our ‘Waterdrop Guardian’ large language model, has reached the capacity to generate million yuan in monthly premiums by serving user inquires. Meanwhile, a new application, ‘AI Service Quality Agent’, was deployed to streamline the service quality inspection process by replacing manual work. Externally, we launched ‘AI Top Sales Platform 3.0’, a conversational AI platform that customizes AI sales agents for businesses, and have initiated pilots with insurance carriers and companies in non-insurance sectors.

We value the trust from our investors and prioritize shareholder returns. By the end of November 2024, the Company had cumulatively repurchased approximately 50.9 million ADSs from the open market. Moreover, we recently completed our second special cash dividend of approximately US$7.3 million.

With our strong execution capability, ample cash reserves and continuous profitability, we will continue to focus on fostering sustainable growth, and strive to deliver substantial returns to our shareholders and investors.”

Financial Results for the Third Quarter of 2024

Operating revenue, net

Net operating revenue for the third quarter of 2024 increased by 2.6% year over year to RMB704.1 million (US$100.3 million) from RMB686.5 million for the same period of 2023. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, net operating revenue increased by 4.1%.

Insurance-related income includes insurance brokerage income and technical service income. Insurance brokerage income represents brokerage commissions earned from insurance companies. Technical service income is derived from providing technical services including customer relationship maintenance, customer complaint management, claim review, and user referral services, among other things, to insurance companies, insurance brokers, and agency companies. Our insurance-related income amounted to RMB600.7 million (US$85.6 million) in the third quarter of 2024, representing a decrease of 3.0% year over year from RMB619.3 million for the third quarter of 2023, which was mainly due to the decrease in technical service income. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, insurance-related income increased by 4.7%.Crowdfunding service fees represent the service income earned when patients successfully withdraw the proceeds from their crowdfunding campaigns. Our role is to operate the Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding platform to provide crowdfunding related services through the internet, enabling patients with significant medical bills to seek help from caring hearts through technology (the “medical crowdfunding services”). Our medical crowdfunding services generally consist of providing technical and internet support, managing, reviewing and supervising the crowdfunding campaigns, providing comprehensive risk management and anti-fraud measures, and facilitating the collection and transfer of the funds. For the third quarter of 2024, we generated RMB65.8 million (US$9.4 million) in service fees, representing an increase of 83.0% year over year from RMB36.0 million for the third quarter of 2023. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, crowdfunding service fees decreased by 5.0%.Digital clinical trial solution income represents the service income earned from our customers mainly including biopharmaceutical companies and leading biotechnology companies. We match qualified and suitable patients for enrollment in clinical trials for our customers and generate digital clinical trial solution revenue for successful matches and we typically charge our customers a fixed unit price per successful match. For the third quarter of 2024, our digital clinical trial solution income amounted to RMB24.3 million (US$3.5 million), representing a decrease of 12.1% from RMB27.6 million in the same period of 2023. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, digital clinical trial solution income increased by 17.4%.

Operating costs and expenses

Operating costs and expenses decreased by 1.6% year over year to RMB677.7 million (US$96.6 million) for the third quarter of 2024. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, operating costs and expenses increased by 8.6%.

Operating costs increased by 9.1% year over year to RMB340.6 million (US$48.5 million) for the third quarter of 2024, as compared with RMB312.3 million for the third quarter of 2023, which was primarily driven by (i) an increase of RMB46.5 million in costs of referral and service fees, partially offset by (ii) a decrease of RMB10.0 million in personnel costs, and (iii) a decrease of RMB7.0 million in the costs for crowdfunding consultants team. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, operating costs increased by 6.7% from RMB319.1 million, primarily due to (i) an increase of RMB32.6 million in costs of referral and service fees, partially offset by (ii) a decrease of RMB8.9 million in personnel costs, and (iii) a decrease of RMB5.1 million in the costs for crowdfunding consultants team.Sales and marketing expenses decreased by 7.7% year over year to RMB173.2 million (US$24.7 million) for the third quarter of 2024, as compared with RMB187.7 million for the same quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to (i) a decrease of RMB36.5 million in personnel costs and share-based compensation expenses, partially offset by (ii) an increase of RMB21.1 million in marketing expenses to third-party traffic channels. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, sales and marketing expenses increased by 10.0% from RMB157.4 million, primarily due to (i) an increase of RMB14.4 million in marketing expenses to third-party traffic channels, (ii) an increase of RMB4.5 million in outsourced sales and marketing service fees to third parties, and partially offset by (iii) a decrease of RMB3.1 million in sales and marketing personnel costs and share-based compensation expensesGeneral and administrative expenses decreased by 3.2% year over year to RMB111.0 million (US$15.8 million) for the third quarter of 2024, compared with RMB114.6 million for the same quarter of 2023. The year-over-year variance was due to (i) a decrease of RMB24.8 million in professional service fees, (ii) a decrease of RMB5.8 million in personnel costs and share-based compensation expenses, partially offset by (iii) an increase of RMB10.6 million in allowance for doubtful accounts, and (iv) an increase of RMB20.6 million impairment loss for intangible assets related to the acquisition of Shenzhen Cunzhen Qiushi Technology Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries (“Shenlanbao”). On a quarter-over-quarter basis, general and administrative expenses increased by 18.1% from RMB94.0 million, due to (i) an increase of RMB20.6 million impairment loss for intangible assets related to the acquisition of Shenlanbao, (ii) an increase of RMB6.9 million in personnel costs and share-based compensation expenses, partially offset by (iii) a decrease of RMB6.8 million in professional service fees, and (iv) a decrease of RMB3.1 million allowance for doubtful accounts.Research and development expenses decreased by 28.4% year over year to RMB53.0 million (US$7.5 million) for the third quarter of 2024, compared with RMB73.9 million for the same period of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease of RMB18.9 million in personnel costs and share-based compensation expenses. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, research and development expenses remained stable.

Operating profit for the third quarter of 2024 was RMB26.5 million (US$3.8 million), as compared with an operating loss of RMB2.1 million for the third quarter of 2023 and an operating profit of RMB52.4 million for the second quarter of 2024.

Interest income for the third quarter of 2024 was RMB36.0 million (US$5.1 million), as compared with RMB32.9 million for the third quarter of 2023 and RMB37.5 million for the second quarter of 2024.

Income tax benefit for the third quarter of 2024 was RMB7.8 million (US$1.1 million), as compared with RMB1.5 million for the third quarter of 2023 and an income tax expense of RMB7.0 million for the second quarter of 2024.

Net profit attributable to the Company’s ordinary shareholders for the third quarter of 2024 was RMB92.8 million (US$13.2 million), as compared with RMB36.7 million for the same period of 2023, and RMB88.3 million for the second quarter of 2024.

Adjusted net profit attributable to the Company’s ordinary shareholders (non-GAAP(1)) for the third quarter of 2024 was RMB126.0 million (US$18.0 million), as compared with RMB74.3 million for the same period of 2023, and RMB108.7 million for the second quarter of 2024. 

Cash position(2)

As of September 30, 2024, cash position of the Company was RMB3,440.1 million (US$490.2 million), as compared with RMB3,571.6 million as of December 31, 2023.

(1) See the sections entitled “Non-GAAP Financial Measure” and “Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results” for more information about the non-GAAP
     measures referred to in this announcement.
(2) Cash position includes cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and long-term debt investments included in long-term investments.

Share Repurchase Programs 

Pursuant to the share repurchase programs launched in September 2021, September 2022, September 2023 and September 2024, respectively, we had cumulatively repurchased approximately 50.9 million ADSs from the open market with cash for a total consideration of approximately US$102.3 million as of November 30, 2024.

Supplemental Information 

We organize and report our business in three operating segments:

Insurance, which mainly includes Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace, Shenlanbao Insurance Marketplace and technical support service;Crowdfunding, which mainly includes Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding; andOthers, which mainly include Digital Clinical Trial Solution and other new initiatives.

The table below sets forth the segment operating results, with the nine-month comparative figures retrospectively adjusted to conform to this presentation.

For the Three Months Ended 

For the Nine Months Ended 

September 30,
2023

June 30,
2024

September 30,
2024

September
30, 2023*

September 30,
2024

RMB

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

(All amounts in thousands)

Operating revenue, net

 Insurance 

619,269

573,832

600,726

85,603

1,753,049

1,781,335

253,838

 Crowdfunding 

35,971

69,323

65,839

9,382

122,670

202,512

28,858

 Others 

31,238

33,001

37,576

5,354

95,624

101,150

14,414

Total consolidated operating
   revenue, net

686,478

676,156

704,141

100,339

1,971,343

2,084,997

297,110

Operating profit/(loss)

 Insurance 

145,200

122,955

122,501

17,457

399,914

374,619

53,383

 Crowdfunding 

(68,793)

(22,936)

(17,902)

(2,551)

(194,058)

(73,075)

(10,413)

 Others 

(43,713)

(27,450)

(31,716)

(4,520)

(128,157)

(90,598)

(12,911)

Total segment operating
   profit

32,694

72,569

72,883

10,386

77,699

210,946

30,059

 Unallocated item** 

(34,762)

(20,205)

(46,413)

(6,614)

(111,081)

(85,748)

(12,219)

Total consolidated operating
   (loss)/profit

(2,068)

52,364

26,470

3,772

(33,382)

125,198

17,840

 Total other income 

36,914

38,366

60,842

8,670

126,520

141,989

20,233

Profit before income tax

34,846

90,730

87,312

12,442

93,138

267,187

38,073

 Income tax benefit/(expense) 

1,479

(7,026)

7,843

1,118

14,609

(7,771)

(1,107)

Net profit

36,325

83,704

95,155

13,560

107,747

259,416

36,966

*       Starting from the second quarter of 2023, our chief operating decision maker began managing the business through three
        operating segments and assessing performance and allocating resources under this new operating segment structure. The
        nine-month comparative figures were retrospectively adjusted to conform to this presentation.

**     The share-based compensation and impairment of intangible assets acquired from business combination represent
        unallocated items in the segment information because our management does not consider these as part of the segment
        operating performance measure.

Exchange Rate

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars (“USD” or “US$”) at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to USD were made at the rate of RMB7.0176 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate in effect on September 30, 2024 in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or USD amounts referred could be converted into USD or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. For analytical presentation, all percentages are calculated using the numbers presented in the financial statements contained in this earnings release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measure

The Company uses non-GAAP financial measure, adjusted net profit attributable to our ordinary shareholders, in evaluating the Company’s operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. Adjusted net profit attributable to our ordinary shareholders represents net profit attributable to our ordinary shareholders excluding share-based compensation expense attributable to our ordinary shareholders, foreign currency exchange gain or losses, impairment of intangible assets acquired from business combination and related tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments

The non-GAAP financial measure is not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may be different from non-GAAP methods of accounting and reporting used by other companies. The non-GAAP financial measure has limitations as analytical tools and when assessing the Company’s operating performance, investors should not consider it in isolation, or as a substitute for net loss or other consolidated statements of comprehensive loss data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company encourages investors and others to review its financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure. Investors are encouraged to review the Company’s historical non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. Adjusted net profit attributable to our ordinary shareholders presented here may not be comparable to similarly titled measure presented by other companies. Other companies may calculate similarly titled measure differently, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure to our data.

The Company mitigates these limitations by reconciling the non-GAAP financial measure to the most comparable U.S. GAAP performance measure, all of which should be considered when evaluating the Company’s performance.

For more information on the non-GAAP financial measure, please see the table captioned “Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results” set forth at the end of this press release.

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, quotations in this announcement, contain forward-looking statements. Waterdrop may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the 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 Waterdrop’s beliefs, plans 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: Waterdrop’s mission, goals and strategies; Waterdrop’s future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the insurance, medical crowdfunding and healthcare industry in China; Waterdrop’s expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our products and services; Waterdrop’s expectations regarding its relationships with consumers, insurance carriers and other partners; competition in the industry and relevant government policies and regulations relating to insurance, medical crowdfunding and healthcare industry. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Waterdrop’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and Waterdrop does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Conference Call Information

Waterdrop’s management team will hold a conference call on December 11, 2024 at 7:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong Time on the same day) to discuss the financial results. Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:

International:

1-412-317-6061

United States Toll Free:

1-888-317-6003

Hong Kong Toll Free:

800-963976

Hong Kong:

852-58081995

Mainland China:

4001-206115

Chinese Line (Mandarin) Entry Number:

4533234

English Interpretation Line (Listen-only Mode) Entry Number:

2061532

Participants can choose between the Chinese and the English interpretation lines. Please note that the English interpretation option will be in listen-only mode. Please dial in 15 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and provide the Elite Entry Number to join the call.

Telephone replays will be accessible two hours after the conclusion of the conference call until December 18, 2024 by dialing the following numbers:

United States Toll Free:

1-877-344-7529

International:

1-412-317-0088

Chinese Line Access Code:

6305770

English Interpretation Line Access Code:

9765426

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company’s investor relations website at http://ir.waterdrop-inc.com/.

About Waterdrop Inc.

Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) is a leading technology platform dedicated to insurance and healthcare service with a positive social impact. Founded in 2016, with the comprehensive coverage of Waterdrop Insurance Marketplace and Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding, Waterdrop aims to bring insurance and healthcare service to billions through technology. For more information, please visit www.waterdrop-inc.com.

For investor inquiries, please contact

Waterdrop Inc.
IR@shuidi-inc.com 

WATERDROP INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(All amounts in thousands, unless otherwise noted)

As of 

December 31, 2023

September 30, 2024

RMB

RMB

USD

Assets

Current assets

       Cash and cash equivalents

396,905

442,145

63,005

       Restricted cash 

577,121

474,683

67,642

       Short-term investments

2,996,527

1,912,873

272,582

       Accounts receivable, net 

693,110

755,427

107,647

       Current contract assets 

572,871

631,507

89,989

       Amount due from related parties

65

250

36

       Prepaid expense and other assets

189,846

192,153

27,381

Total current assets

5,426,445

4,409,038

628,282

Non-current assets

       Non-current contract assets

134,383

141,262

20,130

       Property, equipment and software, net

33,878

237,616

33,860

       Intangible assets, net

177,407

153,043

21,808

       Long-term investments

211,758

1,122,407

159,942

       Right of use assets, net

59,851

55,149

7,859

       Deferred tax assets

24,190

29,297

4,175

       Goodwill

80,751

80,751

11,507

Total non-current assets

722,218

1,819,525

259,281

Total assets

6,148,663

6,228,563

887,563

Liabilities, Mezzanine Equity and Shareholders’ Equity 

Current liabilities

       Amount due to related parties

9,509

10,043

1,431

       Insurance premium payables 

591,953

493,596

70,337

       Accrued expenses and other current liabilities

597,684

724,610

103,256

       Short-term loans

137,557

148,544

21,167

       Current lease liabilities

32,908

35,946

5,122

Total current liabilities 

1,369,611

1,412,739

201,313

Non-current liabilities

       Non-current lease liabilities

27,293

18,464

2,631

       Deferred tax liabilities

73,305

85,713

12,214

Total non-current liabilities

100,598

104,177

14,845

Total liabilities

1,470,209

1,516,916

216,158

Mezzanine Equity

       Redeemable non-controlling interests

92,760

90,449

12,889

Shareholders’ equity

       Class A ordinary shares

112

113

16

       Class B ordinary shares

27

27

4

       Treasury stock

(12)

(15)

(2)

       Additional paid-in capital

7,003,423

6,821,616

972,073

       Accumulated other comprehensive income

144,107

99,693

14,206

       Accumulated deficit

(2,561,963)

(2,300,236)

(327,781)

Total shareholders’ equity

4,585,694

4,621,198

658,516

Total liabilities, mezzanine equity and shareholders’ equity

6,148,663

6,228,563

887,563

 

 

 

WATERDROP INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(All amounts in thousands, except for share and per share data, or otherwise noted)

For the Three Months Ended 

For the Nine Months Ended 

September 30, 2023

June 30, 2024

September 30, 2024

September 30, 2023

September 30, 2024

RMB

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

Operating revenue, net

686,478

676,156

704,141

100,339

1,971,343

2,084,997

297,110

Operating costs and expenses(i)

 Operating costs 

(312,278)

(319,101)

(340,560)

(48,529)

(893,401)

(990,904)

(141,203)

 Sales and marketing expenses 

(187,685)

(157,413)

(173,172)

(24,677)

(565,634)

(512,731)

(73,064)

 General and administrative expenses 

(114,641)

(93,978)

(110,988)

(15,816)

(306,436)

(293,927)

(41,884)

 Research and development expenses 

(73,942)

(53,300)

(52,951)

(7,545)

(239,254)

(162,237)

(23,119)

Total operating costs and expenses

(688,546)

(623,792)

(677,671)

(96,567)

(2,004,725)

(1,959,799)

(279,270)

Operating (loss)/profit

(2,068)

52,364

26,470

3,772

(33,382)

125,198

17,840

Other income

 Interest income 

32,890

37,510

36,005

5,131

101,384

113,319

16,148

 Foreign currency exchange (loss)/gain 

(3,734)

(444)

7,909

1,127

(2,614)

8,979

1,279

 Others, net 

7,758

1,300

16,928

2,412

27,750

19,691

2,806

Profit before income tax

34,846

90,730

87,312

12,442

93,138

267,187

38,073

 Income tax benefit/(expense) 

1,479

(7,026)

7,843

1,118

14,609

(7,771)

(1,107)

Net profit 

36,325

83,704

95,155

13,560

107,747

259,416

36,966

 Net (loss)/profit attributable to mezzanine
   equity classified as non-controlling interests
   shareholders 

(417)

(4,586)

2,350

335

(417)

(2,311)

(329)

Net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders

36,742

88,290

92,805

13,225

108,164

261,727

37,295

Other comprehensive income:

 Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of
   tax 

8,983

13,497

(83,054)

(11,835)

76,803

(44,414)

(6,329)

 Unrealized loss on available for sale
   investments, net of tax 

–

–

–

–

(1,551)

–

–

Total comprehensive income

45,308

97,201

12,101

1,725

182,999

215,002

30,637

 Total comprehensive (loss)/profit attributable
   to mezzanine equity classified as non-
   controlling interests shareholders 

(417)

(4,586)

2,350

335

7,074

(2,311)

(329)

Total comprehensive income attributable to
   ordinary shareholders

45,725

101,787

9,751

1,390

175,925

217,313

30,966

Weighted average number of ordinary shares
   used in computing net profit per share

 Basic 

3,719,628,339

3,660,589,600

3,624,431,887

3,624,431,887

3,793,678,209

3,660,415,080

3,660,415,080

 Diluted 

3,808,529,672

3,734,346,444

3,689,357,838

3,689,357,838

3,921,118,226

3,726,590,324

3,726,590,324

Net profit per share attributable to ordinary shareholders

 Basic 

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.00

0.03

0.07

0.01

 Diluted 

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.00

0.03

0.07

0.01

(i)  Share-based compensation expenses are included in the operating costs and expenses as follows. 

For the Three Months Ended 

For the Nine Months Ended 

September 30, 2023

June 30, 2024

September 30, 2024

September 30, 2023

September 30, 2024

RMB

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

Sales and marketing expenses

(8,944)

(1,320)

(1,993)

(284)

(33,361)

(5,133)

(731)

General and administrative expenses

(22,060)

(16,285)

(21,297)

(3,035)

(66,642)

(51,909)

(7,397)

Research and development expenses

(3,758)

(2,600)

(2,563)

(365)

(11,078)

(8,146)

(1,161)

Total 

(34,762)

(20,205)

(25,853)

(3,684)

(111,081)

(65,188)

(9,289)

 

WATERDROP INC.

RECONCILIATIONS OF GAAP AND NON-GAAP RESULTS

(All amounts in thousands, unless otherwise noted)

For the Three Months Ended 

For the Nine Months Ended 

September 30, 2023

June 30, 2024

September 30, 2024

September 30, 2023

September 30, 2024

RMB

RMB

RMB

USD

RMB

RMB

USD

Net profit attributable to the Company’s ordinary
  shareholders

36,742

88,290

92,805

13,225

108,164

261,727

37,295

Add:

 Share-based compensation expense attributable to
the Company’s ordinary shareholders 

33,810

20,015

25,673

3,658

110,130

64,948

9,255

 Foreign currency exchange loss/(gain) 

3,734

444

(7,909)

(1,127)

2,614

(8,979)

(1,279)

 Impairment of intangible assets acquired from
business combination 

–

–

20,560

2,930

–

20,560

2,930

 Tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments 

–

–

(5,140)

(732)

–

(5,140)

(732)

Adjusted net profit attributable to the Company’s
ordinary shareholders

74,286

108,749

125,989

17,954

220,908

333,116

47,469

 

 

 

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SOURCE Waterdrop Inc.

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Ascendion Expands AI Advisory Community with Four Global Business and Technology Leaders

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Former Global CTO of Banco Santander, former Group CIO of Currys, former CEO of IBPAP, and former Microsoft CVP and CTO of AI join the advisory community

Advisors will provide guidance on AAVA platform innovation, AI strategy, C-suite alignment, and enterprise adoption across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, and the UK

The growing community of advisors will bring practitioner perspective closer to Ascendion as enterprises move AI from experimentation to governed, production-scale outcomes

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ascendion, an AI-native software engineering company, today announced the appointment of four global business and technology leaders to its AI Advisory Community: Andy Gamble, Jack Madrid, Julieta Ross, Ph.D., and Joseph Sirosh, Ph.D. 

The advisors bring perspectives rarely found in one group: executives who answered to Boards, regulators, and C-suites for what technology actually delivered; a builder of AI and data platforms at global scale; and a leader who shaped one of the world’s largest technology-services and talent ecosystems. Their experience spans banking, high-tech, media, and retail. Each will work directly with Ascendion’s regional and engineering leaders, so their counsel reaches the decisions it is meant to shape. 

“We are changing how software gets built. Enterprise leaders have moved past experiments. They want AI that delivers outcomes boards can measure and risk they can manage. Andy, Jack, Julieta, and Joseph have the experience and know where transformation succeeds. They will challenge our thinking, raise our ambition, and help us navigate a period of intense — and exciting — change,” said Karthik Krishnamurthy, CEO, Ascendion. 

Each advisor will map to a different part of the business, strengthening Ascendion’s alignment with leadership communities across the globe. 

Julieta Ross, Ph.D., former Global CTO of Banco Santander, brings two decades of leading technology inside global banks, along with public-company board experience. She will work with Ascendion’s leadership on executive relationships, go-to-market strategy, and growth, and will help the company meet the governance, regulatory, and risk expectations that banking and financial services leaders place on AI. Andy Gamble, former Group CIO of Currys plc, has spent nearly three decades as a technology buyer and transformation leader across consumer electronics, industrial, and retail businesses. He will advise Ascendion’s work across Europe and the UK, with a focus on consumer goods, manufacturing, and retail, and will share what executive teams and Boards expect from a technology partner. Joseph Sirosh, Ph.D., former Microsoft CVP and CTO of AI, has spent his career building and scaling machine learning platforms in the high-tech industry. He will advise Ascendion’s engineering leadership on the evolution of AAVA and its broader platform strategy as AAVA becomes an orchestration and harness layer for enterprise AI. Jack Madrid, former President and CEO of IBPAP, spent five years leading the industry association behind one of the world’s largest technology and business-services ecosystems, centered in the Philippines. He brings robust experience working across industries, including banking, high-tech, and media, and will advise Ascendion on Asia-Pacific markets and on how AI is reshaping global delivery, skills, and workforce models. 

Together, the advisors give Ascendion an outside perspective on the full spectrum of enterprise AI, from agentic platform strategy and product engineering to industry alignment and delivery. They will add capacity to Ascendion’s ongoing work on AI governance, helping ensure trusted impact from AI-native software engineering, and their practice-based insight will inform how Ascendion applies its Engineering to the Power of AI™ approach to commercial models, platform design, service execution, and workforce development. 

About Ascendion

Ascendion is a global AI-native software engineering company delivering trusted business outcomes – capital unlock, innovation velocity, lower risk – to 250+ enterprise clients. The company delivers business outcomes at scale by combining expert engineers, AI agents, and AAVA, Ascendion’s agentic AI platform. Together, they design, engineer, and operate production-ready software that improves everyday work and life. Learn more at www.ascendion.com.

Engineering to the Power of AI™, Engineering to Elevate Life™, and AAVA™ are trademarks or service marks of Ascendion. AAVA™ is pending registration. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

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AvePoint Set to Join S&P SmallCap 600

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NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — AvePoint Inc. (NASD: AVPT) will replace LXP Industrial Trust (NYSE: LXP) in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Monday, November 2. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are acquiring LXP Industrial Trust in a deal expected to close soon, pending final closing conditions.

Following is a summary of the changes that will take place prior to the open of trading on the effective date:

Effective Date

Index Name

Action

Company Name

Ticker

GICS Sector

Nov 2, 2026

S&P SmallCap 600

Addition

AvePoint

AVPT

Information Technology

Nov 2, 2026

S&P SmallCap 600

Deletion

LXP Industrial Trust

LXP

Real Estate

ABOUT S&P DOW JONES INDICES

S&P Dow Jones Indices is the largest global resource for essential index-based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than products based on indices from any other provider in the world. Since Charles Dow invented the first index in 1884, S&P DJI has been innovating and developing indices across the spectrum of asset classes helping to define the way investors measure and trade the markets.

S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies, and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

S&P Dow Jones Indices
index_services@spglobal.com

Media Inquiries
spdji.comms@spglobal.com

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SOURCE S&P Dow Jones Indices

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Archera Surpasses $5.6 Billion in Cloud and AI Spend Under Management, Closes Series C Led by Pivot Investment Partners, and Expands Insurance-Backed Cloud Commitments

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The round will help Archera expand its guaranteed cloud commitments, bringing insurance-backed financial protection to companies navigating unpredictable AI and cloud spending. The company has delivered more than $700 million in customer savings and now manages approximately $5.6 billion in annual cloud and AI spend.

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As artificial intelligence makes cloud spending harder to predict, companies face an increasingly expensive choice: commit to long-term cloud and AI contracts to unlock significant discounts or preserve flexibility and leave savings on the table. Archera has raised a $15 million Series C to expand its Guaranteed Commitments and change that equation.

The cloud economics company today announced it closed its Series C funding round, led by Pivot Investment Partners, with participation from existing investors including HighSage Ventures. The financing brings Archera’s total funding to $38.3 million. It will support the expansion of Archera’s Guaranteed Commitments and its suite of free cloud cost tools, including its FinOps Agent and MCP.

Insurance-backed financial protection is central to Archera’s next phase of growth. Archera purchased a policy on a surplus lines basis from Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Company to back its guarantee. This model helps businesses pursue cloud commitment savings while managing the financial risk of usage changes.

The company has delivered more than $700 million in savings to over 2,200 organizations, including PubNub, Art.com, and Astronomer. The thesis behind Archera is simple: companies shouldn’t have to predict AI’s future to commit and save money on today’s infrastructure.

Why Cloud and AI Commitments Need to Change

Cloud providers reward customers who commit to spending over one- to three-year periods with substantial discounts and access to capacity. Historically, those commitments have helped businesses reduce infrastructure costs. But AI is changing the risk and economics of that decision.

A new model launch can multiply GPU spending in months. A more efficient model, a shift in architecture, or a move to a different service can reduce it just as quickly. Long-term commitments that once looked financially sound can become expensive liabilities.

Companies are left choosing between overcommitting and risking unused spend, or undercommitting and missing out on available discounts. Many choose the latter, sacrificing potential savings to preserve flexibility.

Archera believes that the trade-off is unnecessary. Its Guaranteed Commitments provide resource-level cloud and AI discounts with terms as short as 30 days. If usage declines and a covered commitment goes unused, Archera covers the cost under the terms of its guarantee.

The result is a different way to approach cloud purchasing. Businesses can pursue deeper discounts and unlock capacity otherwise gated behind a commitment, without bearing the entire financial consequence when actual usage diverges from forecasts.

Turning Cloud Optimization Into a Financial Product

Traditional cloud cost management tools provide visibility, recommendations, automation, and forecasting, but they can’t eliminate the financial risk of unused commitments. Archera combines its free FinOps platform and Agent with a financial guarantee that addresses inaccurate forecasts.

“Every tool in this market is trying to forecast your cloud usage a little better. We think that’s the wrong bet,” said Aran Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Archera. “Nobody can forecast AI demand, not the customer, not the cloud provider. So instead of predicting it, we guarantee it, and we have purchased an insurance policy to back that guarantee. If covered usage drops, we address the unused commitment cost under the terms of our guarantee. That’s a new way to purchase cloud, not another dashboard, and it’s why we’ve been able to return $700 million to our customers.”

The approach positions cloud commitments as a financial risk decision, helping finance and engineering leaders manage budgets while adapting to changing technology.

Built for CFOs, CTOs, and the Teams Managing AI Costs

The approach addresses a growing challenge across finance and engineering: how to control infrastructure costs without constraining the business.

For CFOs: Capture commitment-level discounts while reducing exposure to eligible unused spend under the guarantee.For CTOs and engineering leaders: Preserve flexibility to adopt new AI models, change architectures, and scale workloads without letting past commitments dictate future decisions.For FinOps teams: Increase commitment coverage with a financial backstop when usage changes, without more back-and-forth with engineering teams to get perfect forecasts.For cloud partners and resellers: Give customers a differentiated way to pursue cloud savings that can be reinvested in new cloud services while managing commitment risk.

Archera’s platform connects to AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud billing data in read-only mode and analyzes actual usage. It then recommends and automates the purchasing of both native commitments and Archera Guaranteed Commitments.

Customers can evaluate their potential savings before making any purchasing decision. Commitments remain in the customer’s own cloud account, preserving end-to-end control over cloud purchasing strategy.

Archera earns when customers save through its guaranteed commitments, aligning its commercial model with the outcomes customers seek.

Customers Are Rethinking the Commitment Model

For organizations accustomed to treating cloud commitments as a single, high-stakes decision, Archera offers a more flexible approach.

“Working with Archera meant rethinking commitments as a spectrum rather than a single, high-stakes decision,” said James Hamilton, VP of Operations and Controller at PubNub. “This was a big mind shift for us. We needed to think about how our commitments could be broken up into a spectrum of purchases versus a single one-time buy.”

That flexibility is particularly valuable as companies adopt AI workloads, where technology choices and resource requirements can shift faster than traditional budgeting cycles.

Instead of making one large bet on future usage, businesses can take a more measured approach while still securing meaningful discounts.

A Series C to Expand Insurance-Backed Cloud Purchasing

Archera has been operating profitably at scale. It raised a Series C to support larger guarantees, expand its reach, serve more customers, and upgrade the insurance policies backing its guarantee to serve larger global clients.

The company plans to use the capital in three ways:

Accelerate go-to-market efforts.Expand its global partner network across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and Latin America.Serve more teams focused on AI-driven workloads.

“Archera has built a capital-efficient and differentiated business at the intersection of cloud infrastructure and risk management,” said Dinkar Jetley, co-founder and managing partner at Pivot Investment Partners. “The team pairs a deep understanding of the cloud ecosystem with a rigorous approach to underwriting, and the result is a compelling value proposition that a fast-growing roster of customers relies on as their cloud spend scales. We are privileged to have led this Series C round and look forward to working closely with Aran and the management team in the years ahead.”

Built by People Who Understand Cloud Infrastructure

Aran and Nikhil Khanna founded Archera in 2019. Aran previously planned capacity for Azure’s core compute and database services at Microsoft and was a founding member of AWS’s deep learning team leading launches, including SageMaker, DeepLens, and the Neuron SDK, behind Amazon’s Trainium and Inferentia AI chips.

His research on deep learning model efficiency has been cited more than 1,900 times, and he serves on the FinOps Foundation governing board.

As AI transforms infrastructure economics, Archera aims to make cloud savings more accessible without forcing businesses to assume unnecessary financial risk.

To explore potential savings, request a free assessment at Archera.ai.

Free savings assessment: https://app.archera.ai/savings-estimate?utm_source=forbes&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=series-c-2026

Name: Sarah
Email Address: shiara@archera.ai
Phone Number: +13018255007

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SOURCE Archera

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