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KORE Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results

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Delivering Growth in Connections, IoT Connectivity Revenue, Cash from Operations and Free Cash Flow 

ATLANTA, April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — KORE Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: KORE) (“KORE” or the “Company”), the global pure-play Internet of Things (“IoT”) hyperscaler and provider of IoT Connectivity, Solutions, and Analytics, today reported financial and operational results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.

2024 Company Highlights

Revenue was $286.1 million. IoT Connectivity revenue increased by $24.5 million, or 12% year over yearTotal Number of Connections1 increased 1.2 million to end the year at a total of 19.7 millionKORE completed its restructuring plan that is delivering over $20 million in annual run-rate savingsCash provided by operating activities improved $16.3 million year over year and was $9.9 millionFree Cash Flow improved $23.1 million year over year and was $1.6 million in the fourth quarter

“During 2024, we made significant changes to our operating model focusing on customer intimacy, operational excellence and profitable growth, which has led to significant financial improvement in the business.  We rationalized our product portfolio, invested heavily in our Connectivity offering, improved free cash flow, and streamlined operating costs,” said Ron Totton, President and CEO of KORE.

“We are also pleased to have added 1,200,000 IoT Connections in 2024 which is the result of new customers, while growing our share of wallet with existing customers.  I would like to thank everyone at KORE for embracing our new customer-centric philosophy as we position KORE for further growth,” continued Totton. 

Fourth Quarter Consolidated Financial Results

Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $73.3 million compared to $72.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, up $0.8 million, or 1.1%. This was due to growth of $1.1 million in IoT Connectivity revenue to $56.5 million, partially offset by a decline of $0.3 million in IoT Solutions revenue to $16.8 million.Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $25.4 million, compared to $33.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, an improvement of $8.3 million or 24.6%. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $14.0 million, compared to $13.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, an improvement of $0.2 million, or 1.1%.Cash provided by operating activities for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $2.8 million, up $13.8 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.Free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $1.6 million, compared to ($15.5) million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Full Year Consolidated Financial Results

Revenue for the full year totaled $286.1 million, compared to $276.6 million one year ago, an increase of $9.5 million, or 3.4%. This increase was due to growth of $24.5 million in IoT Connectivity revenue to $226.9 million, partially offset by a decline of $15.0 million in IoT Solutions revenue to $59.2 million.Net Loss for the full year was $146.1 million, compared to $167.0 million one year ago, an improvement of $20.9 million, or 12.5%.Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $53.1 million, compared to $55.6 million a year ago, a decline of $2.5 million, or 4.5%.Cash provided by operating activities was $9.9 million for the full year, an improvement of $16.3 million year over year.Free cash flow was $(3.5) million for the full year, an improvement of $23.1 million year over year.

The tables below summarize the Company’s revenue and specific key metrics.

Three Months Ended December 31, 

($ in thousands) 

2024

2023

IoT Connectivity 

$             56.5

77 %

$             55.4

76 %

IoT Solutions 

$             16.8

23 %

$             17.1

24 %

Total Revenue 

$             73.3

100 %

$             72.5

100 %

Total Number of Connections at Period End

19.7 million

18.5 million

Average Connections Count for the Period

19.6 million

18.7 million

Twelve Months Ended December 31,

($ in thousands) 

2024

2023

IoT Connectivity

$           226.9

79 %

$           202.4

73 %

IoT Solutions

$             59.2

21 %

$             74.2

27 %

Total Revenue

$           286.1

100 %

$           276.6

100 %

Total Number of Connections at Period End

19.7 million

18.5 million

Average Connections Count for the Period

18.7 million

17.3 million

Fourth Quarter 2024 Key Metrics and Business Successes

KORE’s Total Connections2 were approximately 19.7 million as of December 31, 2024, an increase of 0.9 million from the third quarter of 2024 and an increase of 1.2 million from the same period in 2023.KORE had several notable new business wins in the fourth quarter with closed-won TCV of $29.3 million, of which $9.4 million was related to Connectivity.DBNER3 was 95% for the twelve months ending December 31, 2024, compared to 96% for the twelve months ending December 31, 2023.

________________________________

1 See “Key Metrics” below for definitions.

2 See “Key Metrics” below for definitions.

3 See “Key Metrics” below for definitions.

2025 Financial Outlook

For the twelve months ending December 31, 2025, the Company expects the following:

Revenue in the range of $288 million to $298 million;Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $62 million to $67 million; andFree Cash Flow in the range of $10 million to $14 million.

Conference Call Details

KORE management will hold a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (2:00 p.m. Pacific time) to discuss its financial results, business highlights, and outlook. President and CEO Ron Totton and CFO Paul Holtz will host the call, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Webcast:  link
U.S. dial-in: (877) 407-3039
International dial-in: (215) 268-9922
Conference ID: 13752519

The conference call and a supplemental slide presentation to accompany management’s prepared remarks will be available via the webcast link and for download via the investor relations section of the Company’s website, ir.korewireless.com.

For the conference call, please dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the start time, and an operator will register your name and organization, or you may register link. If you have difficulty with the conference call, please contact KORE investor relations at (678) 392-2386. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately three hours after the conference call ends. It will remain on the investor relations section of the Company’s website for 90 days. An audio replay of the conference call may be accessed by calling (877)-660-6853 or (201)-612-7415 using access code 13752519.

About KORE

KORE is a pioneer, leader, and trusted advisor delivering mission-critical IoT solutions and services. We empower organizations of all sizes to improve operational and business results by simplifying the complexity of IoT. Our deep IoT knowledge and experience, global reach, purpose-built solutions, and deployment agility accelerate and materially impact our customers’ business outcomes. For more information, visit www.korewireless.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results as determined in accordance with GAAP, we believe the following non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating our operational performance. We use the following non-GAAP financial information to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information, when taken collectively, may be helpful to investors in assessing our operating performance.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

“EBITDA” is defined as net income (loss) before other non-operating expenses or income, income tax expense or benefit, and depreciation and amortization. “Adjusted EBITDA” is defined as EBITDA adjusted for unusual and other significant items that management views as distorting the operating results from period to period. Such adjustments may include stock-based compensation, integration and acquisition-related charges, tangible and intangible asset impairment charges, certain contingent liability reversals, transformation, and foreign currency transaction gains and losses. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are intended as supplemental measures of our performance that are neither required by nor presented in accordance with GAAP. We believe that the use of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing the Company’s financial measures with those of comparable companies, which may present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors. However, you should be aware that when evaluating EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, we may incur future expenses similar to those excluded when calculating these measures. In addition, our presentation of these measures should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Our computation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures computed by other companies because all companies may not calculate Adjusted EBITDA in the same fashion.

Because of these limitations, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA on a supplemental basis. You should review the reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA below and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP measure defined as net cash used in operating activities – continuing operations, reduced by capital expenditures (consisting of purchases of property and equipment), purchases of intangible assets and capitalization of internal use software. We believe Free Cash Flow is an important liquidity measure of the cash that is available for operational expenses, investments in our business, strategic acquisitions, and for certain other activities such as repaying debt obligations and stock repurchases. Free Cash Flow is a key financial indicator used by management. Free Cash Flow is useful to investors as a liquidity measure because it measures our ability to generate or use cash. The use of Free Cash Flow as an analytical tool has limitations because it does not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures. Because of these limitations, Free Cash Flow should be considered along with other operating and financial performance measures presented in accordance with GAAP.

We have not provided the forward-looking GAAP equivalents for the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow or a GAAP reconciliation as a result of the uncertainty regarding, and the potential variability of, reconciling items including but not limited to stock-based compensation expense, foreign currency loss or gain and acquisition and integration-related expenses. Accordingly, a reconciliation of these non-GAAP guidance metrics to their corresponding GAAP equivalents is not available without unreasonable effort. However, it is important to note that material changes to reconciling items could have a significant effect on future GAAP results, and, as such, we also believe that any reconciliations provided would imply a degree of precision that could be confusing or misleading to investors.

Key Operational Metrics

KORE reviews a number of operational metrics to measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, prepare financial projections, and make strategic decisions. The calculation of the key operational metrics discussed below may differ from other similarly titled metrics used by other companies, securities analysts, or investors.

Number of Customer Connections

Our “Total Number of Connections” with respect to any financial period constitutes the total of all our IoT Connectivity services connections for such period, which includes the contribution of eSIMs but excludes certain connections where mobile carriers license our subscription management platform from us. The “Average Connections Count” with respect to any financial period is the simple average of the total connections for such period.

These metrics are the principal measures used by management to assess the growth of the business on a periodic basis, on a SIM and/or device-based perspective. We believe that investors also use these metrics for similar purposes.

Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate (DBNER)

Dollar-Based Net Expansion Rate (DBNER) tracks the combined effect of cross-sales of IoT Solutions to KORE’s existing customers, its customer retention and the growth of its existing business. KORE calculates DBNER by dividing the revenue for a given period (“given period”) from existing go-forward customers by the revenue from the same customers for the same period measured one year prior (“base period”).

The revenue included in the current period excludes revenue from (i) customers that are “non-go-forward” customers, meaning customers that have either communicated to KORE before the last day of the current period their intention not to provide future business to KORE or customers that KORE has determined are transitioning away from KORE based on a sustained multi-year time period of declines in revenue and (ii) new customers that started generating revenue after the end of the base period. For the purposes of calculating DBNER, if KORE acquires a company during the given period or the base period, then the revenue of a customer before the acquisition but during either the given period or the base period is included in the calculation. For example, to calculate our DBNER for the trailing 12 months ended December 31, 2024, we divide (i) revenue, for the trailing 12 months ended December 31, 2024, from go-forward customers that started generating revenue on or before December 31, 2023, by (ii) revenue, for the trailing 12 months ended December 31, 2023, from the same cohort of customers.

It is often difficult to ascertain which customers should be deemed not to be go-forward customers for purposes of calculating DBNER. Customers are not required to give notice of their intention to transition off of the KORE platform, and a customer’s exit from the KORE platform can take months or longer, and total connections of any particular customer can at any time increase or decrease for any number of reasons, including pricing, customer satisfaction or product fit—accordingly, a decrease in total connections may not indicate that a customer is intending to exit the KORE platform, particularly if that decrease is not sustained over a period of several quarters. DBNER would be lower if it were calculated using revenue from non-go-forward customers.

DBNER is used by management as a measure of growth of KORE’s existing customers (i.e., “same store” growth) and as a measure of customer retention, from a revenue perspective. It is not intended to capture the effect of either new customer wins or the declines from non-go-forward customers on KORE’s total revenue growth. This is because DBNER excludes new customers who started generating revenue after the base period and also excludes any customers who are non-go-forward customers on the last day of the current period. Revenue increases from new customer wins, and a decline in revenue from non-go-forward customers are also important factors in assessing KORE’s revenue growth, but these factors are independent of DBNER.

Total Contract Value (TCV)

Total Contract Value (TCV) represents KORE’s estimated value of a revenue opportunity. TCV for an IoT Connectivity opportunity is calculated by multiplying by forty the estimated revenue expected to be generated during the twelfth month of production. TCV for an IoT Solutions opportunity is either the actual total expected revenue opportunity, or if it is a longer-term “programmatically recurring revenue” program, calculated for the first 36 months of the delivery period.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is used by management as a measure to assess the revenue generated per connection per month.  It is calculated by dividing the total IoT Connectivity Revenue during the period by the total number of connections during that same period. We believe that ARPU is an important metric for both management and investors to help in understanding the financial performance and effectiveness of the company’s monetization per connection. ARPU is calculated on a three-month (current quarter) basis only, as longer periods are not meaningful.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain statements that are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as “believe,” “guidance,” “project,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “would,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “seem,” “seek,” “future,” “outlook,” and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expected financial and other risks, statements regarding future operational performance and efficiency, statements regarding the expected cost savings, revenue growth and profitability from the Company’s restructuring plan, 2024 guidance, estimates and forecasts of revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and other financial and performance metrics, projections regarding recent customer engagements, projections of market opportunity and conditions, and the Total Contract Value (TCV) of signed contracts and potential revenue opportunities in KORE’s sales funnel. These statements are based on various assumptions and on the current expectations of KORE’s management. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by any investor or other person as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of KORE. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the potential effects of COVID-19; risks related to the rollout of KORE’s business and the timing of expected business milestones; risks relating to the integration of KORE’s acquired companies, including the acquisition of Twilio’s IoT business, changes in the assumptions underlying KORE’s expectations regarding its future business; our ability to negotiate and sign a definitive contract with a customer in our sales funnel; our ability to realize some or all of the TCV of customer contracts as revenue, including any contractual options available to customers or contractual periods that are subject to termination for convenience provisions; the effects of competition on KORE’s future business; and the outcome of judicial proceedings to which KORE is, or may become a party. If the risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that KORE presently does not know or that KORE currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect KORE’s expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. KORE anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause these assessments to change. However, while KORE may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, KORE specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing KORE’s assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

KORE Investor Contact:
Vik Vijayvergiya
Vice President, IR, Corporate Development and Strategy
vvijayvergiya@korewireless.com
(770) 280-0324

 

KORE GROUP HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NET LOSS TO ADJUSTED EBITDA
UNAUDITED

Three Months Ended December 31,

For the Year Ended December 31,

(in thousands)

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net loss

$              (25,448)

$              (33,692)

$             (146,076)

$             (167,042)

Income tax benefit

(3,451)

(201)

(5,937)

(4,158)

Interest expense, net

13,047

11,463

51,396

42,680

Depreciation and amortization

13,975

15,269

56,218

58,363

EBITDA

(1,877)

(7,161)

(44,399)

(70,157)

Goodwill impairment loss

(3)

2

65,861

78,257

Loss on debt extinguishment

2,584

2,584

Change in fair value of warrant liability

2,309

6,450

(4,040)

6,436

Transformation expenses

1,190

6,624

Acquisition costs

1,776

Integration-related restructuring costs

4,897

8,199

19,159

16,532

Stock-based compensation

1,279

2,241

8,481

11,251

Foreign currency (gain) loss

4,008

(1,200)

5,207

(182)

Other (1)

3,363

1,519

2,869

2,429

Adjusted EBITDA

$                 13,976

$                 13,824

$                 53,138

$                 55,550

(1) “Other” adjustments are comprised of adjustments for certain indirect or non-income based taxes.

 

KORE GROUP HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH PROVIDED BY (USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO FREE CASH
FLOW 
(UNAUDITED)

Three Months Ended December 31,

For the Year Ended December 31,

(in thousands)

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

$                   2,840

$               (10,912)

$                  9,906

$                (6,419)

Purchases of property and equipment

(863)

(1,023)

(2,807)

(4,433)

Additions to intangible assets

(415)

(3,611)

(10,648)

(15,797)

Free cash flow

$                   1,562

$              (15,546)

$                (3,549)

$              (26,649)

 

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SOURCE KORE Group Holdings, Inc.

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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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