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KLA Corporation Reports Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Results; Announces an Increase in the Dividend Level to $1.90 Per Share and a $5 billion Increase in Share Repurchase Authorization

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Total revenues were $3.06 billion, above the midpoint of the guidance range of $3.0 billion +/- $150 million;GAAP diluted EPS was $8.16 and non-GAAP diluted EPS was $8.41, both above the midpoints of the respective guidance ranges;Cash flow from operating activities for the quarter and last nine months were $1.07 billion and $2.92 billion, respectively, and free cash flow was $990.0 million and $2.68 billion, respectively;Capital returns for the quarter and last nine months were $732.5 million and $2.37 billion, respectively; andThe Board of Directors approved an increase to the quarterly dividend level to $1.90 per share beginning with the dividend expected to be declared in May 2025 and an additional $5 billion for repurchases of our common stock.

MILPITAS, Calif., April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) today announced financial and operating results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ended on March 31, 2025, and reported GAAP net income of $1.09 billion and GAAP net income per diluted share of $8.16 on revenues of $3.06 billion.

“KLA’s March quarter results were above the midpoint of our guidance ranges and established a strong start to the calendar year. Though global trade dynamics are driving uncertainty across the global economy, to date, we have received no indications of demand changes from our customers for calendar year 2025,” said Rick Wallace, president and CEO, KLA Corporation. “We remain encouraged by KLA’s growing relevancy in semiconductor manufacturing. Our leadership in process control is a key enabler of today’s leading-edge AI investments by our customers and continues to be affirmed through recently published market share results. Our capital return announcements today reflect this confidence in the long-term value of KLA. As always, the KLA Operating Model continues to be fundamental as we make critical investments to drive differentiation across our product portfolio, and it guides our execution against long-term strategic objectives.”

GAAP Results

Q3 FY 2025

Q2 FY 2025

Q3 FY 2024

Total Revenues

$3,063 million

$3,077 million

$2,360 million

Net Income

$1,088 million

$825 million

$602 million

Net Income per Diluted Share

$8.16

$6.16

$4.43

Non-GAAP Results

Q3 FY 2025

Q2 FY 2025

Q3 FY 2024

Net Income

$1,121 million

$1,098 million

$715 million

Net Income per Diluted Share

$8.41

$8.20

$5.26

A reconciliation between GAAP operating results and non-GAAP operating results is provided following the financial statements included in this release. KLA will discuss the results for its fiscal year 2025 third quarter, along with its outlook, on a conference call today beginning at 2 p.m. PT. A webcast of the call will be available at: www.kla.com

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2025 Guidance

The following details our guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 ending in June:

Total revenues is expected to be in a range of $3.075 billion +/- $150 millionGAAP gross margin is expected to be in a range of 61.7% +/- 1.0%Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be in a range of 63.0% +/- 1.0%GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in a range of $8.28 +/- $0.78Non-GAAP diluted EPS is expected to be in a range of $8.53 +/- $0.78

For additional details and assumptions underlying our guidance metrics, please see the company’s published Letter to Shareholders, Earnings Slide Presentation and Earnings Infographic on the KLA investor relations website (ir.kla.com). Such Letter to Shareholders, Earnings Slide Presentation and Earnings Infographic are not incorporated by reference into this earnings release.

Dividend Level Increase and Additional Share Repurchase Authorization
KLA Corporation is also announcing an increase in the quarterly dividend level to $1.90 per share from $1.70 per share, the sixteenth consecutive annual increase in the quarterly dividend level for KLA beginning with the dividend anticipated to be declared in May 2025. The declaration and payment of future dividends is subject to the Board’s discretion and will depend on financial and legal requirements and other considerations. The Company is also announcing authorization from the Board of Directors to repurchase up to $5 billion of the Company’s common stock. This is in addition to the existing share repurchase authorization, which had approximately $457 million remaining as of March 31, 2025.

Repurchases can be made using a variety of methods, which may include open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, accelerated share repurchase programs, or otherwise, all in accordance with the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission and other applicable legal requirements. The specific timing, price and size of purchases will depend on prevailing stock prices, general economic and market conditions, and other considerations. The repurchase programs do not obligate the Company to acquire any particular amount of its common stock, and the repurchase programs may be suspended or discontinued at any time at the Company’s discretion.

“Today’s announcement is consistent with KLA’s long-standing confidence in our business model focused on KLA market relevance, product differentiation, free cash flow generation and assertive capital allocation,” commented Wallace.

About KLA:
KLA Corporation (“KLA”) develops industry-leading equipment and services that enable innovation throughout the electronics industry. We provide advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging and printed circuit boards. In close collaboration with leading customers across the globe, our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers design solutions that move the world forward. Investors and others should note that KLA announces material financial information including SEC filings, press releases, public earnings calls and conference webcasts using an investor relations website (ir.kla.com). Additional information may be found at: www.kla.com.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Statements in this press release other than historical facts, such as statements pertaining to the amount and timing of dividends, the amount and timing of share repurchases, total revenues, GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin and GAAP and non-GAAP diluted EPS for the quarter ending June 30, 2025, are forward-looking statements and are subject to the Safe Harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current information and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in such statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to: the effect of tariffs on our business; our vulnerability to a weakening in the condition of the financial markets and the global economy; risks related to our international operations; evolving Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce rules and regulations and their impact on our ability to sell products to and provide services to certain customers in China; costly intellectual property disputes that could result in our inability to sell or use the challenged technology; risks related to the legal, regulatory and tax environments in which we conduct our business; increasing attention to environment, social and governance (“ESG”) matters and the resulting costs, risks and impact on our business; unexpected delays, difficulties and expenses in executing against our environmental, climate, diversity and inclusion or other ESG targets, goals and commitments; our ability to attract, retain and motivate key personnel; our vulnerability to disruptions and delays at our third party service providers; cybersecurity threats and cyber incidents affecting our and our business partners’ systems and networks; our inability to access critical information in a timely manner due to system failures; risks related to acquisitions, integrations, strategic alliances or collaborative arrangements; climate change, earthquake, flood or other natural catastrophic events, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or terrorism and the adverse impact on our business operations; the war between Ukraine and Russia, escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, and the significant military activity in that region; lack of insurance for losses and interruptions caused by terrorists and acts of war, and our self-insurance of certain risks including earthquake risk; risks related to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; risks related to fluctuations in interest rates and the market values of our portfolio investments; risks related to tax and regulatory compliance audits; any change in taxation rules or practices and our effective tax rate; compliance costs with federal securities laws, rules, regulations, NASDAQ requirements, and evolving accounting standards and practices; ongoing changes in the technology industry, and the semiconductor industry in particular, including future growth rates, pricing trends in end-markets, or changes in customer capital spending patterns; our vulnerability to a highly concentrated customer base; the cyclicality of the industries in which we operate; our ability to timely develop new technologies and products that successfully address changes in the industry; risks related to artificial intelligence; our ability to maintain our technology advantage and protect proprietary rights; our ability to compete in the industry; availability and cost of the materials and parts used in the production of our products; our ability to operate our business in accordance with our business plan; risks related to our debt and leveraged capital structure; we may not be able to declare cash dividends at all or in any particular amount; liability to our customers under indemnification provisions if our products fail to operate properly or contain defects or our customers are sued by third parties due to our products; our government funding for research and development is subject to audit, and potential termination or penalties; we may incur significant restructuring charges or other asset impairment charges or inventory write offs; risks related to receivables factoring arrangements and compliance risk of certain settlement agreements with the government; and risks related to the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware being the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings. For other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected and anticipated in forward-looking statements in this press release, please refer to KLA’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2024, and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including, but not limited to, the risk factors described therein). KLA assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update these forward-looking statements.

KLA Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Unaudited Balance Sheets

(In thousands)

March 31, 2025

June 30, 2024

ASSETS

Current assets:

Cash and cash equivalents

$             1,858,022

$             1,977,129

Marketable securities

2,170,600

2,526,866

Accounts receivable, net

2,159,897

1,833,041

Inventories

3,155,777

3,034,781

Other current assets

600,723

659,327

Total current assets

9,945,019

10,031,144

Land, property and equipment, net

1,198,302

1,109,968

Goodwill, net

1,787,532

2,015,726

Deferred income taxes

1,023,292

915,241

Purchased intangible assets, net

495,572

668,764

Other non-current assets

738,590

692,723

Total assets

$           15,188,307

$           15,433,566

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

$                429,318

$                359,487

Deferred system revenue

868,345

985,856

Deferred service revenue

509,075

501,926

Current portion of long-term debt

749,936

Other current liabilities

2,103,191

2,063,569

Total current liabilities

3,909,929

4,660,774

Long-term debt

5,883,322

5,880,199

Deferred tax liabilities

405,912

486,690

Deferred service revenue

351,931

294,460

Other non-current liabilities

632,474

743,115

Total liabilities

11,183,568

12,065,238

Stockholders’ equity:

Common stock and capital in excess of par value

2,401,317

2,280,133

Retained earnings

1,646,055

1,137,270

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

(42,633)

(49,075)

Total stockholders’ equity

4,004,739

3,368,328

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$           15,188,307

$           15,433,566

 

KLA Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Unaudited Statements of Operations

Three Months Ended March 31,

Nine Months Ended March 31,

(In thousands, except per share amounts)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Revenues:

Product

$     2,393,821

$     1,769,369

$     7,000,672

$     5,527,842

Service

669,208

590,461

1,980,749

1,715,670

Total revenues

3,063,029

2,359,830

8,981,421

7,243,512

Costs and expenses:

Costs of revenues

1,175,689

993,885

3,544,581

2,917,522

Research and development

338,043

321,590

1,007,345

953,222

Selling, general and administrative

248,905

237,514

767,028

714,403

Impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets

70,474

239,100

289,474

Interest expense

71,889

79,981

229,041

228,417

Other expense (income), net

(35,930)

(45,622)

(121,323)

(104,515)

Income before income taxes

1,264,433

702,008

3,315,649

2,244,989

Provision for income taxes

176,017

100,467

456,855

319,539

Net income

$     1,088,416

$         601,541

$     2,858,794

$     1,925,450

Net income per share

Basic

$               8.21

$               4.46

$             21.44

$             14.20

Diluted

$               8.16

$               4.43

$             21.32

$             14.11

Weighted-average number of shares:

Basic

132,607

134,954

133,361

135,638

Diluted

133,303

135,856

134,066

136,428

 

KLA Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Unaudited Statements of Cash Flows

Three Months Ended March 31,

(In thousands)

2025

2024

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income

$         1,088,416

$            601,541

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:

Impairment of goodwill

70,474

Depreciation and amortization

98,091

99,263

Unrealized foreign exchange gain and other

4,558

7,629

Stock-based compensation expense

70,201

56,682

Deferred income taxes

(35,437)

11,886

Settlement of treasury lock agreement

415

Changes in assets and liabilities, net of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business acquisitions:

Accounts receivable

185,975

194,311

Inventories

(112,283)

28,359

Other assets

14,309

(111,233)

Accounts payable

(12,227)

(10,238)

Deferred system revenue

(204,221)

110,442

Deferred service revenue

5,820

54,288

Other liabilities

(31,043)

(203,841)

Net cash provided by operating activities

1,072,159

909,978

Cash flows from investing activities:

Business acquisitions, net of cash acquired

(3,682)

Acquisition of intellectual property

(2,850)

Capital expenditures

(82,135)

(71,793)

Proceeds from capital-related government assistance

315

Purchases of available-for-sale and equity securities

(697,596)

(1,172,264)

Proceeds from sale of available-for-sale securities

93,085

55,722

Proceeds from maturity of available-for-sale securities

378,471

342,808

Purchases of trading securities

(53,418)

(46,456)

Proceeds from sale of trading securities

43,341

37,619

Proceeds from other investments

984

Net cash used in investing activities

(319,803)

(858,046)

Cash flows from financing activities:

Proceeds from issuance of debt, net of issuance costs

735,043

Common stock repurchases

(506,745)

(372,251)

Payment of dividends to stockholders

(225,774)

(197,154)

Tax withholding payments related to vested and released restricted stock units

(2,680)

(24,274)

Contingent consideration payable and other, net

(2,440)

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

(735,199)

138,924

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

2,587

(7,743)

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

19,744

183,113

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

1,838,278

1,665,054

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period

$         1,858,022

$         1,848,167

Supplemental cash flow disclosures:

Income taxes paid, net

$            197,594

$            159,848

Interest paid, net of capitalized interest

$            128,814

$            113,372

Non-cash activities:

Dividends payable – financing activities

$                2,247

$                2,105

Unsettled common stock repurchase – financing activities

$                5,499

$              10,999

Accrued purchase of land, property and equipment – investing activities

$              24,322

$              15,378

 

KLA Corporation

Segment Information (Unaudited)

The following is a summary of results for each of our three reportable segments and reconciliations to total revenues for the indicated periods:

Three Months Ended March 31,

Nine Months Ended March 31,

(In thousands)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Revenues:

Semiconductor Process Control

$     2,738,817

$     2,096,005

$     8,069,711

$     6,425,562

Specialty Semiconductor Process

156,500

130,649

445,241

407,433

PCB and Component Inspection

168,552

133,399

467,615

412,474

Total revenues for reportable segments

3,063,869

2,360,053

8,982,567

7,245,469

Corporate allocations and effects of changes in foreign
currency exchange rates

(840)

(223)

(1,146)

(1,957)

Total revenues

$     3,063,029

$     2,359,830

$     8,981,421

$     7,243,512

 

KLA Corporation

Condensed Consolidated Unaudited Supplemental Information

Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income to Non-GAAP Net Income

Three Months Ended

Nine Months Ended

(In thousands, except per share amounts)

March 31,
2025

Dec. 31,
2024

March 31,
2024

March 31,
2025

March 31,
2024

GAAP net income

$  1,088,416

$      824,527

$      601,541

$  2,858,794

$  1,925,450

Adjustments to reconcile GAAP net income to
non-GAAP net income:

Acquisition-related charges

a

53,663

58,656

58,573

169,013

181,124

Restructuring, severance and other charges

b

2,133

2,042

4,995

3,312

Impairment of goodwill and purchased
intangible assets

c

239,100

70,474

239,100

289,474

Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments

d

(18,306)

(23,160)

(19,879)

(60,952)

(63,084)

Discrete tax items

e

(3,113)

(2,812)

2,386

(3,692)

4,538

Non-GAAP net income

$  1,120,660

$  1,098,444

$      715,137

$  3,207,258

$  2,340,814

GAAP net income per diluted share

$            8.16

$            6.16

$            4.43

$          21.32

$          14.11

Non-GAAP net income per diluted share

$            8.41

$            8.20

$            5.26

$          23.92

$          17.16

Shares used in diluted net income per share
calculation

133,303

133,926

135,856

134,066

136,428

 

Pre-tax Impact of GAAP to Non-GAAP Adjustments Included in Condensed Consolidated Unaudited Statements of
Operations

(In thousands)

Acquisition –
Related Charges

Restructuring,
Severance and
Other Charges

Goodwill and
Purchased
Intangible
Asset
Impairment

Total Pre-tax GAAP
to Non-GAAP
Adjustments

Three Months Ended March 31, 2025

Costs of revenues

$        41,838

$                —

$                —

$                41,838

Research and development

Selling, general and administrative

11,825

11,825

Total in three months ended March 31, 2025

$        53,663

$                —

$                —

$                53,663

Three Months Ended Dec. 31, 2024

Costs of revenues

$        43,348

$              429

$                —

$                43,777

Research and development

2,994

1,166

4,160

Selling, general and administrative

12,314

538

12,852

Impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets

239,100

239,100

Total in three months ended Dec. 31, 2024

$        58,656

$          2,133

$      239,100

$              299,889

Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

Costs of revenues

$        44,839

$              805

$                —

$                45,644

Research and development

867

922

1,789

Selling, general and administrative

12,867

315

13,182

Impairment of goodwill

70,474

70,474

Total in three months ended March 31, 2024

$        58,573

$          2,042

$        70,474

$              131,089

 

Free Cash Flow Reconciliation 

Three Months Ended March 31,

Nine Months Ended March 31,

(In thousands)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Net cash provided by operating activities

$      1,072,159

$          909,978

$      2,916,912

$      2,415,960

Capital expenditures

(82,135)

(71,793)

(234,851)

(216,639)

Free cash flow

$          990,024

$          838,185

$      2,682,061

$      2,199,321

 

Capital Returns Calculation 

Three Months Ended March 31,

Nine Months Ended March 31,

(In thousands)

2025

2024

2025

2024

Payments of dividends to stockholders

$          225,774

$          197,154

$          650,629

$          575,520

Common stock repurchases

506,745

372,251

1,724,249

1,265,480

Capital returns

$          732,519

$          569,405

$      2,374,878

$      1,841,000

 

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2025 Guidance

Reconciliation of GAAP Diluted EPS to Non-GAAP Diluted EPS

Three Months Ending June 30, 2025

(In millions, except per share amounts)

Low

High

GAAP net income per diluted share

$7.50

$9.06

Acquisition-related charges

a

0.38

0.38

Restructuring, severance and other charges

b

0.01

0.01

Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments

d

(0.14)

(0.14)

Non-GAAP net income per diluted share

$7.75

$9.31

Shares used in net income per diluted share calculation

132.5

132.5

 

Reconciliation of GAAP Gross Margin to Non-GAAP Gross Margin

Three Months Ending June 30, 2025

Low

High

GAAP gross margin

60.7 %

62.7 %

Acquisition-related charges

a

1.3 %

1.3 %

Non-GAAP gross margin

62.0 %

64.0 %

 

The non-GAAP and supplemental information provided in this press release is a supplement to, and not a substitute for, KLA’s financial results presented in accordance with United States GAAP.

To supplement our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements presented in accordance with GAAP, we provide certain non-GAAP financial information, which is adjusted from results based on GAAP to exclude certain gains, costs and expenses, as well as other supplemental information. The non-GAAP and supplemental information is provided to enhance the user’s overall understanding of our operating performance and our prospects in the future. Specifically, we believe that the non-GAAP information, including non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP net income per diluted share, non-GAAP gross margin and free cash flow, provides useful measures to both management and investors regarding financial and business trends relating to our financial performance by excluding certain costs and expenses that we believe are not indicative of our core operating results to help investors compare our operating performances with our results in prior periods as well as with the performance of other companies. The non-GAAP information is among the budgeting and planning tools that management uses for future forecasting. However, because there are no standardized or generally accepted definitions for most non-GAAP financial metrics, definitions of non-GAAP financial metrics are inherently subject to significant discretion (for example, determining which costs and expenses to exclude when calculating such a metric). As a result, non-GAAP financial metrics may be defined very differently from company to company, or even from period to period within the same company, which can potentially limit the usefulness of such information to an investor. The presentation of non-GAAP and supplemental information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared and presented in accordance with United States GAAP. The following are descriptions of the adjustments made to reconcile GAAP net income to non-GAAP net income:

a.

Acquisition-related charges primarily include amortization of intangible assets and write-offs due to abandonment of in-process research and development projects. Although we exclude the effect of amortization of all acquired intangible assets from these non-GAAP financial measures, management believes that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets were recorded as part of purchase price accounting arising from acquisitions, and such amortization of intangible assets related to past acquisitions will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized. Investors should note that the use of these intangible assets contributed to our revenues earned during the periods presented and are expected to contribute to our future period revenues as well.

b.

Restructuring, severance and other charges primarily include costs associated with employee severance.

c.

Impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets in the nine months ended March 31, 2025, the three and nine months ended March 31, 2024, and the three months ended Dec. 31, 2024 include non-cash expense recognized as a result of the company’s testing for goodwill impairment and long-lived assets impairment. The impairment charge in fiscal 2024 resulted from the downward revision of financial outlook for our PCB and Display reporting units, and the subsequent decision to exit the Company’s Display business that was based on many factors, including the cancellation of a significant new technology project by a major customer in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. The impairment charge in fiscal 2025 resulted from the continued deterioration of the long-term forecast for our PCB business. Management believes that it is appropriate to exclude these impairment charges as they are not indicative of ongoing operating results and therefore limit comparability. Management also believes excluding this item helps investors compare our operating performance with our results in prior periods as well as with the performance of other companies.

d.

Income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments includes the income tax effects of the excluded items noted above.

e.

Discrete tax items in the three months ended March 31, 2025 include a deferred tax impact relating to the amortization of certain intellectual property as a result of an internal restructuring of ownership rights to better align with how our business operates. Discrete tax items in the nine months ended March 31, 2025 also include the recognition of a deferred tax asset on foreign currency gains/losses resulting from new tax legislation. Discrete tax items in the nine months ended March 31, 2024 include a one-time tax benefit resulting from changes made to our international structure to better align ownership of certain intellectual property rights with how our business operates. Discrete tax items in all periods presented include a tax impact relating to the amortization of the aforementioned tax benefits or similar tax benefits recorded in other periods.

 

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SOURCE KLA Corporation

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Technology

Pepperstone Appoints Andrew Turnbull to Lead Africa Strategy as Trading Markets Mature

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Nairobi-based appointment strengthens Pepperstone’s investment in Africa as mobile trading grows and regulators across the continent raise standards.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pepperstone, a global online trading provider serving clients in more than 160 countries, has appointed Andrew Turnbull as Head of Africa, strengthening its focus on one of the world’s fastest-evolving online trading regions. Based in Nairobi, Turnbull will lead Pepperstone’s strategy across the continent as traders increasingly turn to mobile-first platforms and regulators move to strengthen oversight of the sector.

Turnbull brings more than 20 years of experience in financial services, including senior roles at ODL Securities and FXCM Europe, where he led institutional sales and partnerships. His experience spans regulated FX and CFD markets, institutional relationships and business development across international markets.

The appointment also comes as Pepperstone invests in owning more of its technology, giving the business greater control over the trading experience and allowing it to respond more closely to the different needs of clients across individual markets.

“Africa is dozens of distinct regulatory environments and trader profiles,” said Marc Boever, Head of EMEA at Pepperstone. “That is why we are putting more resources on the ground and investing in people who understand the region. Andrew’s experience across regulated financial services and institutional partnerships, combined with his growing first-hand understanding of markets like Kenya, makes him the right person to lead our growth across the continent.”

Kenya, where Pepperstone is licensed under the Capital Markets Authority (CMA)*, was one of the first African countries to introduce a formal regulatory framework for online forex trading. That early move has helped create a more mature market, with regulated, licensed brokers increasingly trusted by traders, while Kenya’s experience offers a model for other African regulators looking to bring greater oversight to the sector.

“Kenya’s traders were among the first in Africa to get a properly regulated market to trade in, and that head start shows,” said Andrew Turnbull, Head of Africa at Pepperstone. “There is a growing appetite for online trading across the continent, but every market is different. I’m looking forward to building on Pepperstone’s presence here and working with our teams and partners to better understand and serve the different trading communities across Africa.” 

Ends

* Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited is licensed and regulated by Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority under licence number 128.

About Pepperstone: Pepperstone is a global fintech and CFD broker serving traders in more than 160 countries. The company provides access to forex, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs and digital asset markets through industry-leading platforms, competitive pricing and a strong regulatory framework.

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Cherubic Ventures Closes $68.88 Million Fund VI as AUM Surpasses $500 Million

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Early Investment Sudo AI Valued at Nearly $2B

TAIPEI, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cherubic Ventures today announced the close of its sixth fund (Fund VI) at $68.88 million. The fund size reflects the auspicious meaning of the number eight in East Asian cultures, where it is traditionally associated with prosperity and good fortune. With this close, assets under management across the firm’s six funds have surpassed US$500 million.

Investors across all six funds include leading global institutional investors and foundations, as well as publicly listed companies, family offices, successful entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals.

Fund VI maintains the firm’s early-stage focus, investing in AI-native companies across infrastructure, developer tools, enterprise software, healthcare, physical AI and robotics. Sudo AI, a robotics startup in the portfolio, has reached a valuation of nearly $2 billion two years after its founding, joining the ranks of unicorns.

“After ten years, I am more certain than ever about why I chose to invest at the earliest stages,” said Matt Cheng, Founder & Solo GP of Cherubic Ventures. “Working alongside exceptional founders, finding a path through uncertainty, and ultimately changing an industry is what keeps driving me.”

Investing Across AI, From Infrastructure to Industry Applications

As AI reshapes industries, Cherubic Ventures continues to look for founders using the technology to build new products and redefine markets. Since 2024, the firm’s AI-native investments have spanned infrastructure, developer tools, enterprise software, healthcare, physical AI and robotics.

In robotics, Sudo AI was co-founded by Hao Su, a leading researcher in embodied AI and 3D vision and co-author of PointNet, and serial entrepreneur Robin Han. Its sudo R1 robotic system is trained through virtual simulation and can reliably handle objects it has never encountered without relying on real-world manipulation data. This addresses a key bottleneck to deploying robotics at scale. Cherubic Ventures was its earliest institutional investor.

Cherubic Ventures is also an early investor in Entire, the developer platform founded by former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. The company raised US$60 million earlier this year, the largest seed round ever for a developer tools startup.

While Fund VI is still at an early stage, its portfolio companies have already raised more than $500 million in subsequent funding. Other notable investments include AI-powered patent technology platform Patlytics, along with healthcare and drug development companies Max AI, Generation Lab and therapiAI.

A Decade Alongside Founders, Supporting the Next Generation

Founded in 2015, Cherubic Ventures was among the first venture firms in the world to adopt the solo GP model. It has invested in more than 200 companies globally, with early investments including Hims & Hers, Flexport, Calm, Paidy, 91APP and Astranis

Across its portfolio, Cherubic Ventures has been the earliest institutional investors in dozens of companies that went on to become unicorns. Hims & Hers is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and 91APP on the Taipei Exchange, while Paidy was acquired by PayPal for US$2.7 billion.

Fund VI marks the beginning of Cherubic Ventures’ second decade. “The past ten years have made me more certain that believing in founders before the answers are clear, and backing them through uncertainty, is at the heart of early-stage investing,” Cheng said. “In the next decade, we will continue to ‘Stay Early’ and work with the most exceptional founders to build the future we want to see.”

About Cherubic Ventures
Founded in 2015, Cherubic Ventures is a global early-stage venture capital firm that started in Taipei and has built a strong presence in the U.S. market. The firm backs outstanding founders from day one and was among the first venture firms in the world to adopt the solo GP model. Notable investments include Hims & Hers, Calm, Flexport, 91APP, Paidy, Formation Bio and Astranis. To date, Cherubic Ventures has invested in more than 200 startups and brings together more than 500 founders and investors in a distinctive global community.

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SOURCE Cherubic Ventures

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Agentic AI Has Arrived. Is Your Workforce Ready to Leverage It?

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Enterprises are deploying AI agents faster than they are building the certified talent to run them. Closing that gap is now the real differentiator.

Authored by, Vikas Mathur, Vice President, Trainocate India

MUMBAI, India, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Across the enterprise programs we run every week at Trainocate, the conversation has changed. A year ago, leaders asked us what generative AI could do. Today they ask why their agentic pilot has not reached production. Agentic AI has arrived — the question is no longer whether it works, but whether the workforce is ready to leverage it.

The platforms have done their part. AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks and others have moved agent frameworks, orchestration layers and governance tooling into general availability. What has not kept pace is the workforce. Adoption forecasts keep climbing; the cancellation forecasts climb with them, and for reasons that have little to do with the models themselves.

40%+

of agentic AI projects are forecast to be scrapped by the end of 2027 — on escalating cost, unclear business value and inadequate risk controls.

Source: Gartner

Our own view, formed across thousands of enterprise learners, is simpler than any forecast: Technology is not the constraint. The certified, deployment-ready workforce is.

India’s AI Talent Equation: One Million Roles, One in Six Skilled

India has the demand and the ambition. The constraint is supply. Estimates put the national AI talent pool at 1.25 million by 2027 — real growth, but well short of a market compounding at 25–35% a year. On current trajectories the gap widens before it closes.

We see the consequence directly in client conversations. Skills mismatch, not headcount, is what delays deployment — and on most enterprise shortlists, demonstrable and certified capability now outranks the degree.

Figure: The agentic readiness gap — adoption is outpacing certified capability.

From Prompt Engineering to Agent Orchestration: Three Capability Shifts

From operator to orchestrator. Every prior automation wave asked people to use a tool. Agentic AI asks them to direct one. The working skill is decomposition — mapping a process into the steps an agent may own, the tool-calling boundaries it must respect and the human-in-the-loop checkpoints between them. That is delegation and process design before it is programming, which makes it teachable well beyond the engineering bench.

From reviewing output to governing outcomes. When AI drafts an email, a human reads it before it goes. When an agent provisions infrastructure or triggers a payment, reading it afterwards is too late. Enterprises need people fluent in least-privilege identity, data lineage and governance, evaluation harnesses, escalation thresholds, observability and cost control. In our experience, this is where most agentic programs are thinnest.

From individual courses to cross-functional readiness. One production agentic workflow touches data engineering, application development, identity and security, LLMOps and the business function it serves. Certifying one persona while the rest stand still guarantees the pilot dies at handover. The unit of skilling must become the team.

What we see

Agentic pilots rarely stall on model quality. They stall because too few people can scope what an agent may own, design its guardrails, and stay accountable when it acts alone.

Trainocate enterprise delivery experience

Why Vendor-Authorized Certification Is the New Deployment Prerequisite

Credentials are often said to date quickly in a field moving this fast. We find the opposite. Agentic concepts are universal; implementation is not. Identity and access design, data governance, retrieval and grounding, model selection, evaluation and cost management behave differently on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Databricks — and those differences decide whether an agent survives production.

Vendor-authorized certification remains the only independently verifiable proof that an engineer can build and operate on a given stack. Foundational credentials also give HR, finance, risk and procurement a shared vocabulary with engineering — and agentic decisions are risk decisions as much as technical ones.

2 in 5

Employers now prefer demonstrable AI skills and certifications over academic degrees. Skills-based hiring is no longer emerging — it is the default.

Source: NASSCOM–Indeed India AI Talent Report, 2026

Experiential Learning: Turning Training Investment into Production Capability

Nobody learns to supervise an autonomous system from a slide. Trainocate’s Experiential Learning Model was built on that premise — one continuous journey rather than a catalog of courses:

Learn from practitioners. Instructor-led and virtual instructor-led training delivered by vendor-authorized, actively certified instructors.Reinforce on demand. Self-paced digital learning and curated learning paths that keep pace with quarterly platform releases.Build in live environments. Hands-on labs in real cloud sandboxes — agents, tool-calling, guardrails and failure modes, not screenshots.Prove it on real work. Capstone projects mapped to the organization’s own agentic and cloud use cases.Certify the capability. Structured exam preparation and readiness checks that convert learning into a verifiable credential.Measure the outcome. Governance dashboards tracking completion, certification attainment and skill progression for L&D and business sponsors.

That model now runs through our AI Mastery Program, which spans foundational to advanced tracks for both business and technical roles across AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks and vendor-neutral content — with agentic system design, multi-agent orchestration and AI governance sitting in the advanced tiers, and sandbox labs and industry capstones throughout.

The results hold up: Close to 80% certification attainment across enterprise programs and a 4.90/5.00 delivery CSAT. As an authorized training partner for AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks and more, operating across 24 countries, we have run this model at scale — over one lakh professionals certified within a single global enterprise account, and agentic AI labs delivered across six Indian cities this year. Four consecutive AWS Global Training Partner of the Year awards and six appearances on the Training Industry Top 20 suggest the model travels.

30%

of enterprise application software revenue will be driven by agentic AI by 2035 — up from 2% in 2025.

Source: Gartner

A Twelve-Month Skilling Blueprint for CHROs and L&D Leaders

Assess against use cases, not catalogs. Benchmark capability against the specific agentic workflows the business intends to run.Build a spine, not a stack. Foundational AI and cloud fluency organization-wide; certified specialization for those who will design, secure and govern agents.Skill the workflow, not the individual. Move cross-functional cohorts together — data, application, security, business — so nothing stalls at handover.Instrument on outcomes. Track certification attainment, time-to-productivity and pilot-to-production conversion. Seat-hours measure activity, not readiness.

Two Budget Cycles: The Window for Workforce Readiness

15%

of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously by 2028 — up from effectively zero in 2024.

Source: Gartner

That is not a distant horizon. It is two budget cycles away.

Models are becoming a commodity; every enterprise buys them at roughly the same price. The durable differentiator is the depth of certified talent that can point those models at the right problems and stay accountable for what they do. Treat skilling as infrastructure — continuous, measured, certified — and your agents scale. Treat it as an event and the pilot stays a pilot.

Agentic AI has arrived. The question every board should be asking is whether its workforce is ready to leverage it.

Build a Certified, Agent-Ready Workforce

Trainocate partners with enterprises to build agentic AI and cloud capability at scale — from foundational fluency to certified specialization across AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks and more, delivered through our Experiential Learning Model and AI Mastery Program. To design a skilling roadmap for your workforce, write to cloudacademy@trainocate.com or call +91 9223361686.

About Trainocate

Trainocate is a global IT training and workforce skilling organization and an authorized training partner for AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Databricks and more, operating across 24 countries. Trainocate delivers cloud, data and AI capability to enterprises through its Experiential Learning Model and AI Mastery Program, combining instructor-led training, self-paced digital learning, hands-on sandbox labs, industry capstones and vendor-authorized certification. The company is a four-time consecutive AWS Global Training Partner of the Year and has appeared six times on the Training Industry Top 20. Trainocate India operates as Networks India Pvt Ltd. For more information, visit www.trainocate.com/in.

About the Author

Vikas Mathur is Vice President at Trainocate India, where he leads the Cloud, Data & AI competency business. He works with enterprise L&D and technology leaders across India and Asia on cloud and AI workforce readiness, and can be reached at cloudacademy@trainocate.com or +91 9223361686.

Data sources referenced: Gartner (agentic AI adoption, project cancellation, governance maturity, autonomous-decision and market-share forecasts, 2025–26); McKinsey (State of AI, agent pilot-to-production); NASSCOM and MeitY (India AI job demand and AI-skilled share); NASSCOM–Deloitte (AI talent pool projection); NASSCOM–Indeed India AI Talent Report 2026 (skills-based hiring). Trainocate figures are from our own enterprise delivery data.

Contact: cloudacademy@trainocate.com | +91 9223361686

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