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Couchbase Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2024 Financial Results

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SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ: BASE), the cloud database platform company, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 31, 2024.

“We finished fiscal 2024 on a strong note, highlighted by 25% ARR growth, and marking a historical year for Couchbase,” said Matt Cain, Chair, President and CEO of Couchbase. “In addition to delivering results that exceeded the high end of our guidance range on all metrics, we achieved an important milestone with Capella, which now represents 11% of our ARR and over 25% of our customer base. As we look ahead towards fiscal 2025, I’m confident that we have the differentiated platform and operational rigor to achieve our next phase of growth.”

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2024 Financial Highlights

Revenue: Total revenue for the quarter was $50.1 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year. Subscription revenue for the quarter was $48.1 million, an increase of 26% year-over-year.Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Total ARR as of January 31, 2024 was $204.2 million, an increase of 25% year-over-year as reported and on a constant currency basis. See the section titled “Key Business Metrics” below for details.Gross margin: Gross margin for the quarter was 89.7%, compared to 85.7% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Non-GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 90.4%, compared to 86.3% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. See the section titled “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and the tables titled “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results” below for details.Loss from operations: Loss from operations for the quarter was $22.6 million, compared to $18.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Non-GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $4.1 million, compared to $9.9 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.Cash flow: Cash flow used in operating activities for the quarter was $6.5 million, compared to $10.2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023. Capital expenditures were $1.3 million during the quarter, leading to negative free cash flow of $7.7 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $11.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.Remaining performance obligations (RPO): RPO as of January 31, 2024 was $241.8 million, an increase of 46% year-over-year.

Full Year Fiscal 2024 Financial Highlights

Revenue: Total revenue for the year was $180.0 million, an increase of 16% year-over-year. Subscription revenue for the year was $171.6 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year.Gross margin: Gross margin for the year was 87.7%, compared to 86.9% for fiscal 2023. Non-GAAP gross margin for the year was 88.5%, compared to 87.6% for fiscal 2023.Loss from operations: Loss from operations for the year was $84.5 million, compared to $69.3 million for fiscal 2023. Non-GAAP operating loss for the year was $31.3 million, compared to $41.3 million for fiscal 2023.Cash flow: Cash flows used in operating activities for the year were $26.9 million, compared to $41.2 million in fiscal 2023. Capital expenditures were $4.7 million during the year, leading to negative free cash flow of $31.6 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $46.8 million in fiscal 2023.

Recent Business Highlights

Announced vector search as a new feature in Couchbase Capella™ and Couchbase Server to help businesses bring to market a new class of AI-powered adaptive applications that engage users in a hyper-personalized and contextualized way. Couchbase is the first database company to announce it will offer vector search optimized for running onsite, across clouds and to mobile and IoT devices at the edge, paving the way for organizations to run adaptive applications anywhere, including offline.Announced it is extending its AI partner ecosystem with LangChain and LlamaIndex support to further boost developer productivity. The integration with LangChain enables a common API interface to converse with a broad library of large language models (LLMs). Similarly, the integration with LlamaIndex will provide developers with even more choices for LLMs when building adaptive applications. These ecosystem integrations will accelerate query prompt assembly, improve response validation and facilitate retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications.Announced new enterprise features, including new file-based index rebalancing, reducing times by up to 80%, one-step upgrade from Couchstore to Magma storage engine without stopping the front-end workloads, faster failover times and query simplification. Couchbase continues to invest at a rapid pace to enhance its platform with new enterprise and developer features.Announced the general availability of Capella iQ, a co-pilot for coding. Capella iQ allows developers to interact with Couchbase Capella using natural language conversation, making database interactions more intuitive, efficient and accessible.Couchbase Capella was named Best Cloud Data Management Solution at the 2023-2024 Cloud Awards for its performance, versatility and community.

Financial Outlook

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

Q1 FY2025 Outlook

FY2025 Outlook

Total Revenue

$48.1-48.9 million

$203.0-207.0 million

Total ARR

$206.5-209.5 million

$235.5-240.5 million

Non-GAAP Operating Loss

$8.5-7.5 million

$27.5-22.5 million

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

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

Conference Call Information

Couchbase will host a live webcast at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (or 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, to discuss its financial results and business highlights. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 877-407-8029 from the United States, or +1 201-689-8029 from international locations. The live webcast and a webcast replay can be accessed from the investor relations page of Couchbase’s website at investors.couchbase.com.

About Couchbase

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

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

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

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

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

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

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

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

Key Business Metrics

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

We define ARR as of a given date as the annualized recurring revenue that we would contractually receive from our customers in the month ending 12 months following such date. Based on historical experience with customers, we assume all contracts will be automatically renewed at the same levels unless we receive notification of non-renewal and are no longer in negotiations prior to the measurement date. ARR also includes revenue from consumption-based cloud credits of Couchbase Capella products. ARR for Couchbase Capella products in a customer’s initial year is calculated as described above; after a customer’s initial year it is calculated by annualizing the prior 90 days of actual consumption, assuming no increases or reductions in usage. ARR excludes revenue derived from the use of cloud products only based on on-demand arrangements and services revenue. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue, and does not represent our revenue under GAAP on an annualized basis, as it is an operating metric that can be impacted by contract start and end dates and renewal dates. ARR is not intended to be a replacement for forecasts of revenue. Although we seek to increase ARR as part of our strategy of targeting large enterprise customers, this metric may fluctuate from period to period based on our ability to acquire new customers and expand within our existing customers. We believe that our ARR is an important indicator of the growth and performance of our business.

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

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, quotations of management, the section titled “Financial Outlook” above and statements about Couchbase’s market position, strategies and potential market opportunities. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and, in some cases, can be identified by terms such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “potential,” “remain,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including factors beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to: our history of net losses and ability to achieve or maintain profitability in the future; our ability to continue to grow on pace with historical rates; our ability to manage our growth effectively; intense competition and our ability to compete effectively; cost-effectively acquiring new customers or obtaining renewals, upgrades or expansions from our existing customers; the market for our products and services being relatively new and evolving, and our future success depending on the growth and expansion of this market; our ability to innovate in response to changing customer needs, new technologies or other market requirements, including new capabilities, programs and partnerships and their impact on our customers and our business; our limited operating history, which makes it difficult to predict our future results of operations; the significant fluctuation of our future results of operations and ability to meet the expectations of analysts or investors; our significant reliance on revenue from subscriptions, which may decline and, the recognition of a significant portion of revenue from subscriptions over the term of the relevant subscription period, which means downturns or upturns in sales are not immediately reflected in full in our results of operations; and the impact of geopolitical and macroeconomic factors. Further information on risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from forecasted results are included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that we may file from time to time, including those more fully described in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2023. Additional information will be made available in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2024 that will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should be read in conjunction with this press release and the financial results included herein. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

Couchbase, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except per share data)

(unaudited)

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Revenue:

License

$                7,196

$               4,977

$             21,514

$             19,885

Support and other

40,865

33,158

150,040

123,010

Total subscription revenue

48,061

38,135

171,554

142,895

Services

2,028

3,488

8,483

11,929

Total revenue

50,089

41,623

180,037

154,824

Cost of revenue:

Subscription(1)

3,580

3,214

14,647

10,762

Services(1)

1,560

2,738

7,435

9,497

Total cost of revenue

5,140

5,952

22,082

20,259

Gross profit

44,949

35,671

157,955

134,565

Operating expenses:

Research and development(1)

16,491

15,000

64,069

57,760

Sales and marketing(1)

34,055

29,303

130,558

111,067

General and administrative(1)

11,840

8,207

42,663

33,390

Impairment of capitalized internal-use software

5,156

5,156

Restructuring(1)

1,663

46

1,663

Total operating expenses

67,542

54,173

242,492

203,880

Loss from operations

(22,593)

(18,502)

(84,537)

(69,315)

Interest expense

(25)

(43)

(101)

Other income (expense), net

1,766

1,938

5,752

1,960

Loss before income taxes

(20,827)

(16,589)

(78,828)

(67,456)

Provision for income taxes

575

25

1,355

1,038

Net loss

$            (21,402)

$           (16,614)

$            (80,183)

$           (68,494)

Net loss per share, basic and diluted

$                (0.44)

$               (0.37)

$                (1.70)

$                (1.53)

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

48,513

45,281

47,175

44,787

_______________________________

(1)

Includes stock-based compensation expense as follows:

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cost of revenue—subscription

$                     148

$                     144

$                     707

$                     535

Cost of revenue—services

116

116

529

433

Research and development

3,422

2,046

12,920

7,937

Sales and marketing

4,310

2,563

15,771

9,426

General and administrative

4,630

1,922

15,846

7,390

Restructuring

65

1

65

Total stock-based compensation expense

$                12,626

$                  6,856

$                45,774

$                25,786

 

Couchbase, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

As of January
31, 2024

As of January
31, 2023

Assets

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

$               41,351

$               40,446

Short-term investments

112,281

127,856

Accounts receivable, net

44,848

39,847

Deferred commissions

15,421

13,096

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

10,385

8,234

Total current assets

224,286

229,479

Property and equipment, net

5,327

7,430

Operating lease right-of-use assets

4,848

6,940

Deferred commissions, noncurrent

11,400

7,524

Other assets

1,891

1,666

Total assets

$             247,752

$             253,039

Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

Current liabilities

Accounts payable

$                 4,865

$                  1,407

Accrued compensation and benefits

18,116

12,641

Other accrued expenses

4,581

6,076

Operating lease liabilities

3,208

3,117

Deferred revenue

81,736

71,716

Total current liabilities

112,506

94,957

Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent

2,078

4,543

Deferred revenue, noncurrent

2,747

3,275

Total liabilities

117,331

102,775

Stockholders’ equity

Preferred stock

Common stock

Additional paid-in capital

621,024

561,547

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

56

(807)

Accumulated deficit

(490,659)

(410,476)

Total stockholders’ equity

130,421

150,264

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

$             247,752

$             253,039

 

Couchbase, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(in thousands)

(unaudited)

Three Months Ended
January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Cash flows from operating activities

Net loss

$      (21,402)

$      (16,614)

$      (80,183)

$      (68,494)

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

Depreciation and amortization

390

867

2,424

3,171

Stock-based compensation, net of amounts capitalized

12,626

6,856

45,774

25,786

Amortization of deferred commissions

4,886

4,447

18,628

16,996

Non-cash lease expense

762

757

3,075

2,909

Impairment of capitalized internal-use software

5,156

5,156

Foreign currency transaction (gains) losses

116

(774)

765

524

Other

(973)

(593)

(3,553)

(416)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities

Accounts receivable

(14,496)

(16,941)

(5,382)

(3,537)

Deferred commissions

(10,937)

(5,321)

(24,829)

(17,590)

Prepaid expenses and other assets

(3,111)

(850)

(2,274)

(159)

Accounts payable

1,712

(1,971)

3,447

(495)

Accrued compensation and benefits

8,989

3,579

5,472

(3,497)

Other accrued expenses

1,481

2,803

(1,516)

3,103

Operating lease liabilities

(828)

(824)

(3,389)

(2,754)

Deferred revenue

9,179

14,376

9,492

3,268

Net cash used in operating activities

(6,450)

(10,203)

(26,893)

(41,185)

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchases of short-term investments

(40,704)

(33,976)

(131,160)

(144,613)

Maturities of short-term investments

39,322

45,750

151,296

126,893

Additions to property and equipment

(1,285)

(1,553)

(4,710)

(5,646)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

(2,667)

10,221

15,426

(23,366)

Cash flows from financing activities

Proceeds from exercise of stock options

3,580

1,189

10,933

5,222

Proceeds from issuance of common stock under ESPP

2,000

4,484

Net cash provided by financing activities

3,580

1,189

12,933

9,706

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

(19)

458

(561)

(397)

Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

(5,556)

1,665

905

(55,242)

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

47,450

39,324

40,989

96,231

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

$       41,894

$        40,989

$        41,894

$       40,989

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

Cash and cash equivalents

$       41,351

$        40,446

$        41,351

$       40,446

Restricted cash included in other assets

543

543

543

543

Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash

$       41,894

$        40,989

$        41,894

$       40,989

 

Couchbase, Inc.

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results

(in thousands, except per share data)

(unaudited)

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

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

Total revenue

$               50,089

$               41,623

$            180,037

$            154,824

Gross profit

$               44,949

$               35,671

$            157,955

$            134,565

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

264

260

1,236

968

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

61

5

147

41

Non-GAAP gross profit

$               45,274

$               35,936

$            159,338

$            135,574

Gross margin

89.7 %

85.7 %

87.7 %

86.9 %

Non-GAAP gross margin

90.4 %

86.3 %

88.5 %

87.6 %

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

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

GAAP research and development

$                16,491

$                15,000

$                64,069

$                57,760

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(3,422)

(2,046)

(12,920)

(7,937)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

(181)

(27)

(611)

(165)

Non-GAAP research and development

$                12,888

$                12,927

$                50,538

$                49,658

GAAP sales and marketing

$                34,055

$                29,303

$              130,558

$              111,067

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(4,310)

(2,563)

(15,771)

(9,426)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

(377)

(76)

(1,154)

(294)

Non-GAAP sales and marketing

$                29,368

$                26,664

$              113,633

$              101,347

GAAP general and administrative

$                11,840

$                  8,207

$                42,663

$                33,390

Less: Stock-based compensation expense

(4,630)

(1,922)

(15,846)

(7,390)

Less: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

(77)

(8)

(341)

(106)

Non-GAAP general and administrative

$                  7,133

$                  6,277

$                26,476

$                25,894

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

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

Total revenue

$            50,089

$            41,623

$          180,037

$          154,824

Loss from operations

$           (22,593)

$           (18,502)

$           (84,537)

$           (69,315)

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

12,626

6,791

45,773

25,721

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

696

116

2,253

606

Add: Impairment of capitalized internal-use software

5,156

5,156

Add: Restructuring(2)

1,663

46

1,663

Non-GAAP operating loss

$             (4,115)

$             (9,932)

$           (31,309)

$           (41,325)

Operating margin

(45) %

(44) %

(47) %

(45) %

Non-GAAP operating margin

(8) %

(24) %

(17) %

(27) %

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

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

Net loss

$              (21,402)

$              (16,614)

$              (80,183)

$              (68,494)

Add: Stock-based compensation expense

12,626

6,791

45,773

25,721

Add: Employer taxes on employee stock transactions

696

116

2,253

606

Add: Impairment of capitalized internal-use software

5,156

5,156

Add: Restructuring(2)

1,663

46

1,663

Non-GAAP net loss

$                (2,924)

$                (8,044)

$              (26,955)

$              (40,504)

GAAP net loss per share

$                  (0.44)

$                  (0.37)

$                  (1.70)

$                  (1.53)

Non-GAAP net loss per share

$                  (0.06)

$                  (0.18)

$                  (0.57)

$                  (0.90)

Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted

48,513

45,281

47,175

44,787

_______________________________

(2)

For the twelve months ended January 31, 2024 and the three and twelve months ended January 31, 2023, an immaterial amount of stock-based compensation expense related to restructuring charges was included in the restructuring expense line.

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

Three Months Ended January 31,

Year Ended January 31,

2024

2023

2024

2023

Net cash used in operating activities

$                (6,450)

$              (10,203)

$              (26,893)

$             (41,185)

Less: Additions to property and equipment

(1,285)

(1,553)

(4,710)

(5,646)

Free cash flow

$                (7,735)

$               (11,756)

$              (31,603)

$             (46,831)

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

$                (2,667)

$                10,221

$               15,426

$             (23,366)

Net cash provided by financing activities

$                 3,580

$                  1,189

$               12,933

$                9,706

 

Couchbase, Inc.

Key Business Metrics

(in millions)

(unaudited)

As of

April 30,

July 31,

Oct. 31,

Jan. 31,

April 30,

July 31,

Oct. 31,

Jan. 31,

2022

2022

2022

2023

2023

2023

2023

2024

Annual Recurring Revenue

$     139.7

$     145.2

$     151.7

$     163.7

$     172.2

$     180.7

$     188.7

$     204.2

 

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SOURCE Couchbase, Inc.

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MARIANA MINERALS RESTARTS UTAH COPPER MINE AS THE WORLD’S ONLY AUTONOMOUS-FIRST MINE AND REFINERY

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Software-first minerals company integrates autonomous haulage, drilling, and robotic sensing across mining and refining under a single AI operating platform

SAN JUAN COUNTY, Utah, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Mariana Minerals, the world’s only software-first, vertically integrated minerals company, today announced the restart of mining operations at Copper One in southeastern Utah. The restart marks a milestone in mining history: Copper One becomes the world’s first mine to deploy autonomous tools across all three operational domains (mining, refining, and capital project execution) unified under a single operating system.

Mariana acquired Lisbon Valley Mining Company in Q4 2025, gaining control of a roughly 10,000-acre permitted land package that has produced high-purity copper cathode since 2009. While refinery operations continued uninterrupted, mining was paused in late 2024. Mining operations resume this month with autonomous systems and autonomous orchestration active from day one.

“Copper One will be the first mine where delivering end-to-end autonomy is the priority, where it’s being rapidly deployed across mining and refining operations and coordinated by our internal software stack. That’s what MarianaOS makes possible. We chose to prove it here because the stakes are real: the U.S. has a structural copper deficit, and the window to close it is narrowing. We’re producing now and ramping output aggressively, with the primary goal of achieving fully-autonomous mining operations,” said Turner Caldwell, Co-Founder & CEO, Mariana Minerals.

MarianaOS: An Autonomy-First Mining Operating System
What makes Copper One unprecedented is not any single piece of autonomous equipment, but the intelligence layer coordinating them. MarianaOS integrates three core subsystems, MineOS, PlantOS, and CapitalProjectOS, into a unified platform spanning project execution through copper production.

On the mining side, Copper One will begin with integrating three best-in-class autonomous equipment platforms. Pronto’s turnkey Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) uses camera-based machine learning and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to enable fully driverless haul truck operation, with OEM-agnostic retrofit capability across mixed fleets. Sandvik’s AutoMine® platform enables autonomous production drilling, allowing operators to simultaneously monitor multiple surface machine operations from a remote-operations control center. And Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped robots autonomously patrol the open pit, heap leach pad, and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) refinery infrastructure. All of these data feed directly into MineOS, enabling fleet-wide optimization and continuous improvement.

PlantOS extends autonomous operations into refining by integrating real-time sensor data across the entire refining process (solution chemistry, flow rates, temperature, and electrowinning cell performance) into a unified control system. Machine learning models predict process drift, automatically adjust reagent dosing, and flags maintenance needs before they impact output. The result is a continuously optimized refinery that operates with minimal human intervention.

CapitalProjectOS redefines how capital-intensive infrastructure projects are planned and executed. Traditional projects often take a decade or more and frequently suffer from chronic cost overruns. CapitalProjectOS integrates process development, engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning data into a single platform that enables real-time progress tracking, predictive risk modeling, and automated schedule optimization. At Copper One, CapitalProjectOS is managing the expansion roadmap to scale output to 50,000 metric tons per year, coordinating heap leach pad expansions, refinery upgrades, and autonomous equipment deployment in parallel.

Built to Move Fast
While Mariana is actively constructing and developing greenfield projects – with the goal of compressing engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning timelines leveraging CapitalProjectOS – Copper One is uniquely positioned to accelerate deployment of MarianaOS at scale. With an existing open pit mine, heap leach pad, and SX-EW refining infrastructure already in place, Mariana will rapidly ramp production that would take years to replicate elsewhere.

Mariana’s longer-term plan is to scale Copper One output to 50,000 metric tons per year of high-purity copper cathode by 2030, leveraging additional proven deposits on the property and integrating copper scrap recycling.

A Critical Supply Gap
The U.S. currently imports approximately 50% of its refined copper. With domestic demand projected to nearly double by 2035 — driven by AI data centers, defense systems, EVs, and grid modernization — the supply gap is a national security issue. The Trump Administration’s Section 232 investigation cited copper imports as a direct concern, and the Pentagon has identified critical minerals vulnerability as a threat to the defense industrial base.

Domestic operations like Copper One, and the step-change in productivity that autonomous operations deliver, have become strategically essential.

About Mariana Minerals
Mariana engineers, builds, and operates mines and refineries, using proprietary AI and machine learning tools to accelerate project execution and optimize production across critically needed metals. Copper One is Mariana’s second active project, alongside Lithium One, the world’s first GWh-scale lithium extraction facility from oil and gas produced water, currently under construction in East Texas. Mariana has raised $120 million in total capital, including a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and strategic investors.

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SOURCE Mariana Minerals

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State CISOs Report Lower Confidence Across the Public Sector Cyber Ecosystem, 2026 NASCIO-Deloitte Survey Finds

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The 2026 National Association of Chief Information Officers – Deloitte biennial cybersecurity study finds state officials face increasingly sophisticated threats, including new artificial intelligence-enabled tactics, and highlights steps CISOs are taking to better protect public data and critical digital services

NEW YORK, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 

Key takeaways

The survey of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) from all 50 states and two territories found that just 26% of state CISOs are “extremely” or “very” confident that their state’s information assets are protected from cyber threats, down from 48% in 2022.Implementing effectiveness metrics is now CISOs’ top priority: 49% named it a top cybersecurity initiative in 2026, up from 15% in 2022.Nearly all state CISOs (94%) said they are involved in developing Generative AI security policies and 84% are involved in Generative AI strategy development.Budget pressure is rising with 16% of CISOs reporting their budgets have been cut, up from none in 2024.The percentage of CISOs who described themselves as “not very confident” in the ability of local government and public higher education to secure public data rose significantly, from 35% in 2022 to 63% in 2026.

Why this decline in confidence matters
States share data and systems with counties, cities, and public colleges and universities, so a vulnerability in one network can cascade, exposing personal information, disrupting essential services and driving costly incident response. As attackers adopt AI-enabled tactics, the urgency is growing for faster coordination, clearer policy and stronger baseline defenses across the public sector. This may explain why roughly one-fifth of CISOs indicated that their states were moving toward a “whole-of-state” approach to cybersecurity.

Metrics reporting becomes CISOs’ top priority
Top priorities for CISOs have shifted since the 2024 survey. When asked to identify their states’ top cybersecurity initiatives for 2026, half of CISOs named implementing effectiveness metrics (49%, up from 25% in 2024 and 15% in 2022). Capturing the effectiveness of cyber spending can be difficult, but without metrics, it is challenging to show the benefits of investments. Tracking operational, compliance and risk-based key performance indicators, such as incident response time and phishing click rate, can help demonstrate the return on cyber investment.

AI both accelerates threats and becomes a frontline defense
AI is accelerating the scale and sophistication of attacks targeting public sector systems, making it easier and cheaper for adversaries to generate and automate cyberattacks. CISOs also point to an emerging threat toolkit, including deepfakes that can fool people and evade detection, AI agents that probe for weaknesses and adapt, and AI-driven ransomware-as-a-service operations.

At the same time, CISOs describe AI as a practical way to keep pace, using it to triage security alerts, summarize events, and explore faster report creation, threat identification and training. Several states are already utilizing Generative AI in core security operations, including security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR). The report also underscores how central CISOs have become to state AI efforts.

Key quotes
“We’re seeing more states move toward a ‘whole-of-state’ cybersecurity approach where the state helps extend protection beyond state agencies to local governments, public education and other critical entities that can become an entry point for attackers. At its core, it’s about scaling capabilities through shared services and better collaboration so a weakness in one part of the ecosystem doesn’t become a statewide incident. Many states are looking to scale capabilities through security operations centers and regional support, so counties, cities and schools can benefit from the same cyber-defense muscle as the enterprise.”

Mike Wyatt, Stale local and higher education cyber risk leader, Deloitte

“It’s an encouraging development that state CISOs are being placed at the center of Generative AI security. They are helping shape the strategy, establishing security policies and reviewing proposed use cases. By being involved from the beginning, CISOs are helping governments move faster without sacrificing safeguards because security and governance complement each other. We’re also seeing CISOs explore practical uses of AI to strengthen day-to-day defense, while putting clearer guardrails around responsible uses.”

Meredith Ward, deputy executive director, NASCIO

Additional data
To read the 2026 NASCIO-Deloitte report in its entirety, click here.

About NASCIO
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers is the premier network and resource for state CIOs and a leading advocate for technology policy at all levels of government. NASCIO represents state chief information officers and information technology executives from the states, territories, and the District of Columbia. For more information about NASCIO visit www.nascio.org.

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte & Touche LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

 

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SOURCE Deloitte

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Duck Creek Kicks Off Formation ’26 as Strong Fiscal Momentum Signals Accelerating Demand for its Intelligent Core Insurance Platform

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Company highlights double-digit SaaS growth, global expansion, and launch of its new agentic AI platform as industry leaders gather in Orlando

BOSTON, April 27, 2026 /CNW/ — Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent core of insurance, today kicks off Formation ’26: Agents of Innovation, its flagship user conference, as the company builds strong momentum in the first half of fiscal 2026, marked by double-digit year-over-year SaaS ARR growth fueled by new logos and expansion across its global customer base.

Duck Creek’s strong start to fiscal 2026 reflects this demand, with double-digit new customer wins and existing customer expansions across its core, specialty, and AI-powered solutions. Adoption of Duck Creek’s intelligent cloud continues to scale globally. Insurers are selecting Duck Creek for its enterprise depth including policy, billing, claims, rating, loss control, reinsurance, distribution management, and payments solutions to operate faster, more accurately, and maintain regulatory compliance.

“We are expanding our leadership in insurance technology with more than 370 customers globally. Including 33 of the top 50 North American insurers,” said Hardeep Gulati, Chief Executive Officer of Duck Creek. “Insurers modernizing their core systems are looking for more from their technology. They need a trusted partner like Duck Creek with proven enterprise scale and speed-to-value to help them drive profitable impact and growth. At Formation, we are excited to announce our new agentic platform that will help further improve the combined ratios for insurers with more than $150B in premium flowing through Duck Creek annually.”

Formation ’26 will bring together more than 800 insurance professionals, ecosystem partners, and industry leaders to explore how technology is transforming the insurance lifecycle. The event underscores growing market demand for intelligent, cloud-native platforms that enable insurers to accelerate cloud migration, product development, and automate core insurance workflows to accelerate decision-making and improve operational agility. A highlight of the event will be Duck Creek unveiling its agentic AI platform and showcasing live demonstrations of agentic applications and agents.

Formation ’26 will feature a distinguished lineup of guest speakers joining Gulati during his keynote, including Stephen Lord, Global CIO of AXIS Capital, and Monti Saroya, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of the Flagship Fund at Vista Equity Partners. Together, they will share perspectives on large-scale transformation, AI adoption, and the future of agentic insurance.

The conference will also include a customer panel moderated by Chief Operating Officer Chris McCloskey, featuring leaders from Core Specialty, Europ Assistance, and Arbella Insurance, who will discuss their transformation journeys and business outcomes achieved through modern core systems. An analyst panel moderated by SVP of Sales William Magowan will bring together experts from AM Best, Celent, and Datos Insights to provide an external view on market trends and innovation benchmarks.

Customer Momentum

Millers Mutual Insurance advanced its modernization strategy with Duck Creek OnDemand, implementing Policy, Billing, and Reinsurance Clarity to modernize its core systems and support continued growth in the multifamily housing insurance market.Anchor Group Management Inc. partnered with Duck Creek to modernize its insurance payments infrastructure, enabling more streamlined billing processes and improved digital payment experiences for policyholders.Frankenmuth Insurance adopted Duck Creek OnDemand Distribution Management to transform how it manages agencies and producers, increasing visibility, improving operational efficiency, and strengthening collaboration across its distribution network.Indigo Insurance turned to Duck Creek OnDemand to accelerate its modernization strategy and support rapid growth, gaining a scalable cloud-based core platform designed to bring new products to market faster.Encova Insurance went live on an upgraded Duck Creek OnDemand Distribution Management system, unifying agency operations across lines of business, streamlining onboarding, and improving the overall agent experience.New Zealand’s Medical Assurance Society (MAS) selected Duck Creek’s full suite of core solutions delivered via OnDemand to modernize its general insurance business, enhance member experiences, and support a broader digital and data-driven transformation.Country-Wide Insurance selected Duck Creek Clarity to strengthen its data and analytics capabilities, enabling real-time insights and preparing for its upcoming OnDemand go-live with Active Delivery.Fortegra selected Duck Creek Reinsurance and Duck Creek Clarity to modernize financial operations, improve portfolio transparency, and support continued growth across products, geographies, and distribution models.Duck Creek secured more than a dozen additional new customer engagements across commercial specialty and personal lines.

Industry Recognition

Named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for SaaS P&C Insurance Core Platforms North America, marking the seventh consecutive year the company has been recognized as a Leader.Named a Leader in the Everest Group 2025 Underwriting Orchestration Products PEAK Matrix Assessment, recognizing Duck Creek’s strength in delivering AI-driven underwriting, integrated core workflows, and measurable value across global P&C carriers.Featured in Everest Group’s 2026 Voice of the Customer Report for Insurance CXOPs, outperforming both core system peers and the market average, with customers citing strengths in seamless implementation, deep core system integration, and enterprise scalability and more.Received the 2025 IDC FinTech Real Results Award for Insurance Transformation for measurable customer outcomes.

About Duck Creek

Duck Creek is the intelligent core that leading insurers choose to build on. Purpose-built for property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, Duck Creek unifies the full insurance lifecycle on a single platform with one data foundation. As an agentic platform, it connects intelligence across underwriting, policy, billing, claims, and payments workflows where decisions are made and compliance is non-negotiable. Duck Creek enables carriers to launch products faster, adapt quickly to change, and grow with precision and confidence. Solutions are available individually or as a full suite via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com and follow Duck Creek on LinkedIn and X.

Media Contacts:  
Marianne Dempsey / Tara Stred  
duckcreek@threeringsinc.com

 

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SOURCE Duck Creek Technologies, Inc.

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