Aware, a leading supplier of biometrics software products, solutions and services, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021.
Second Quarter 2021 and Recent Operational Highlights
- Recorded more than 18 million transactions in the first half of 2021, compared to 11 million in all of 2020—which is five times the number of transactions in the first half of 2020.
- Completed the integration of the AFIX product line, strengthening Aware’s physical and human capital assets, establishing an immediately accretive ancillary revenue stream and cementing Aware’s position as a leading provider of software and biometric middleware.
- Partnered with IRIS ID to empower state and local agencies to take advantage of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification Iris Service, positioning Aware to accelerate the adoption of iris-based identification solutions for criminal justice applications.
- Selected by IT security company Imprivata to enable self-enrollment for prescribers of electronic prescriptions for controlled substances (EPCS) via Knomi™. This first-to-market enrollment solution expands applications of Aware’s Knomi in the healthcare market, further illustrating the positive impact of biometrics in common healthcare use cases.
- Awarded the prestigious 2021 Global InfoSec Award from Cyber Defense Magazine for Knomi, which was named as the winner for Best Product in Passwordless Authentication due to its field proven capability to protect against cybersecurity threats by replacing theft-prone passwords with secure biometric authentication technology.
Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results
Revenue for the second quarter of 2021 was $4.3 million, compared to $4.4 million in the first quarter of 2021 and up 2.3 times from $1.9 million in the same year-ago period. The year-over-year increase in revenue was primarily the result of increased subscription-based revenue related to growing transaction volume from existing customers.
Net loss in the second quarter of 2021 totaled $1.5 million, or $(0.07) per diluted share, which compares to net loss of $1.4 million, or $(0.07) per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2021 and net loss of $3.1 million, or $(0.15) per diluted share, in the same year-ago period.
Adjusted EBITDA loss (a non-GAAP metric reconciled below) for the second quarter of 2021 was $0.9 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.3 million in the same year-ago period. The year-over-year period increase in adjusted EBITDA was a result of our revenue increase as we started to see the benefit of our prior investment in sales and engineering resources.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $35.2 million as of June 30, 2021, compared to $38.6 million as of December 31, 2020.
Six Month 2021 Financial Results
Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was $8.7 million, compared to revenue of $5.4 million in the same year-ago period. The increase in revenue was primarily due to increased subscription-based revenue related to growing transaction volume from existing customers and the upfront recognition of fixed minimum transaction amounts from two new international wins.
Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was $3.0 million, or $(0.14) per diluted share, which compares to net loss of $4.2 million, or $(0.20) per diluted share, in the same year-ago period.
Adjusted EBITDA loss (a non-GAAP metric reconciled below) for the six months ended June 30, 2021 was $2.0 million, compared to adjusted EBITDA loss of $4.5 million in the same year-ago period. The increase in adjusted EBITDA for the six month period was primarily due to our revenue increase.
Management Commentary
“In the second quarter of 2021 we validated our approach to generating sustainable revenue growth by successfully integrating the AFIX product line and leveraging its existing customer base to secure new accounts that we expect to drive our topline when they become operational,” said Bob Eckel, Aware’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’ve more than doubled last year’s quarterly performance in terms of revenue, net loss and adjusted EBITDA and have taken meaningful steps to align our organization with our ongoing transformation, which we believe will enable us to continue making key internal investments while maintaining a robust balance sheet.
“With a sizeable pipeline and strategic inorganic opportunities that we are actively evaluating on the horizon, Aware is in its strongest position yet. As we continue to recognize transaction contract minimums and grow our recurring subscription-based revenues, we are simultaneously making significant progress on rolling out additional new core business offerings by year end. We expect these offerings to accelerate our entry into Biometric SaaS and open additional channels, enabling us to market a wide array of applications to end users of all sizes and capabilities.”
