Solana Ecosystem Update - Solana's read layer receives a significant upgrade with the introduction of Fumarole [1] - Fumarole is designed as a streaming service prioritizing data completeness [1] - The service addresses issues with unstable gRPC connections by pausing and resuming data streams [1] Fumarole Features - Fumarole stores the last 23 hours of data, allowing users to stream data from the previous day up to the network's current state [1]

Core Insights - Confluent (NASDAQ: CFLT) has shown better-than-expected recent results, indicating that it may still have viable growth prospects despite losing a large customer [1] Group 1: Company Performance - The company's forward growth rates appear satisfactory even after accounting for the loss of a significant customer [1] Group 2: Analyst Perspective - Julian Lin, a financial analyst, emphasizes the importance of finding undervalued companies with long-term growth potential and strong management teams [1]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Q3 subscription revenue grew 19% to $286 million, representing 96% of total revenue [24][4] - Confluent Cloud revenue increased 24% to $161 million, accounting for 56% of subscription revenue compared to 54% in the previous year [24][4] - Non-GAAP operating margin expanded three percentage points to approximately 10% [4] - Subscription gross margin was 81.8%, above the long-term target of 80% [26] - Operating margin increased 340 basis points to a record 9.7%, exceeding guidance by 270 basis points [26] - Adjusted free cash flow margin increased 450 basis points to 8.2% [26] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Confluent Platform revenue grew 14% to $125.4 million, driven by demand in financial services [24] - Flink ARR for Confluent Cloud grew more than 70% sequentially, with over 1,000 customers using Flink [31][7] - The number of customers with $100k+ ARR increased to 2,533, up 36 sequentially [27] - The number of customers with $1 million+ ARR increased to 234, representing a growth acceleration of 27% [27] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue from the U.S. grew 13% to $172.1 million, while revenue from outside the U.S. grew 29% to $126.4 million [24] - Net retention rate stabilized at 114%, with gross retention rate close to 90% [27] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is focused on tightening field alignment to drive more use cases into production and expanding its DSP specialist team for multiproduct selling [6][7] - The partner ecosystem sourced over 25% of new business in the last twelve months, indicating strong growth potential [10][11] - The company aims to position itself as a leader in providing real-time data context for AI applications, emphasizing the importance of data streaming in AI deployment [20][22] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed confidence in the strong cloud consumption growth and the overall performance of the data streaming platform [22][36] - The company expects subscription revenue for 2025 to be in the range of $295.5 million to $296.5 million, representing approximately 18% growth [29] - For fiscal year 2025, subscription revenue is expected to be between $1.1135 billion and $1.1145 billion, indicating approximately 21% growth [29] Other Important Information - The company highlighted the successful integration and growth of WarpStream, which has seen eightfold growth in consumption since its acquisition [14][35] - The company has maintained a win rate above 90% in replacing CSP streaming offerings, with average deal sizes more than doubling over the past two quarters [11][12] Q&A Session Summary Question: Insights on go-to-market changes and pipeline conversion trends - Management noted that the specialization model for DSP and field execution improvements have driven strong pipeline progression, with high confidence in the late-stage pipeline [40][41] Question: RPO and CRPO as leading indicators - Management confirmed that RPO is a key leading indicator for the Confluent platform, while for Confluent Cloud, the focus is on new use cases moving into production [45][46] Question: Growth outlook and cannibalization effects - Management indicated that new offerings have proven to be a substantial tailwind, leading to larger deal sizes and increased customer engagement [54] Question: Flink adoption and future business impact - Management expressed excitement about Flink's growth and its potential to drive significant business opportunities in the future [76][78] Question: AI use cases and customer readiness - Management highlighted various AI use cases across industries, emphasizing the importance of data flow and quality in achieving successful AI deployments [86][87]

Financial Performance - Q3'25 subscription revenue reached $286337000, a 19% year-over-year increase[8] - Q3'25 cloud revenue was $161000000, representing a 24% year-over-year growth[8] - The company achieved a non-GAAP operating margin of 97% in Q3'25, a 34 percentage point increase year-over-year[8] - Adjusted free cash flow margin was 82% in Q3'25, up 45 percentage points year-over-year[8] - The dollar-based net retention rate was 114%[8] Customer Growth - The number of customers with at least $20000 in ARR increased by 7% year-over-year[63] - Customers contributing $100000 or more in ARR increased by 10% year-over-year[63] - The number of customers with at least $1000000 in ARR increased by 27% year-over-year[63] Market and Strategy - The company estimates a total addressable market (TAM) exceeding $100 billion[48, 74] - The company is focused on managing net dilution to below 2% long-term[69, 72] - The company is creating a data streaming platform[74]

Core Viewpoint - Confluent is exploring a potential sale after attracting interest from private equity firms and technology companies, leading to a significant rally in its stock price [1][5]. Company Overview - Confluent is a data streaming technology company that integrates AI and data analytics, primarily serving as a backend application provider [2][3]. - The company has faced challenges, including a 38% decline in stock price over the last three years and an 18.5% drop year-to-date [3]. Financial Performance - Confluent reported a significant operating loss of approximately $1.3 billion on sales of around $1 billion last year, with no profits recorded in the past decade [6]. - The company has high R&D and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses, which contribute to its financial struggles [6][9]. - Despite these challenges, Confluent holds about $1.95 billion in cash, representing approximately 27% of its market capitalization of around $7.2 billion [10]. Market Dynamics - The competitive landscape includes major players like Snowflake, DataDog, Elastic, and MongoDB, which poses challenges for Confluent in terms of scalability and customer base [9][13]. - The recent loss of a significant AI-native customer led to a 30% drop in stock price, highlighting the volatility and risks associated with customer retention [4][13]. Investment Interest - The announcement of exploring a sale has sparked interest from institutional investors and private equity, indicating potential for operational streamlining and cost-cutting [5][11]. - The current environment suggests a trend towards consolidation within the data infrastructure sector, making Confluent's situation noteworthy [8][12].

Solana Data Streaming Solutions - Helius offers fast data streaming solutions on Solana, emphasizing speed and accessibility [1] - Two primary methods are available: Laserstream gRPC and direct shredstream [1] Laserstream gRPC - Laserstream gRPC adheres to the Yellowstone interface and is enhanced by highest staked validator shreds, ensuring fault tolerance [1] - It is available in 8 separate regions for completeness, suitable for 90% of users [1] Direct Shredstream - Direct shredstream streams shreds directly from the highest staked validators, providing the fastest data access [1] - Helius has top 2 highest stake on Solana, enabling them to get data the fastest [1] - Shredstream requires data deshredding and is available for pro users [1] Accessibility and Risk Mitigation - Both methods offer free trials, mitigating risk for users [1]

Core Viewpoint - Confluent's stock has experienced a significant decline following its recent earnings report, yet analysts on Wall Street maintain a positive outlook on the company's long-term potential [3][13]. Company Performance - Confluent's stock dropped by 30% after the release of its second-quarter 2025 operating results, marking an 81% decrease from its peak in 2021 [3][16]. - The company reported subscription revenue of $270.8 million for the second quarter, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 21% year-over-year increase [10]. - The net revenue retention rate was 114%, indicating existing customers are spending 14% more compared to the previous year [11]. - The number of customers spending at least $100,000 annually grew by 10%, while those spending at least $1 million increased by 24% [11]. Market Outlook - Despite some large customers optimizing their spending and one AI-native customer moving away from the platform, the overall outlook remains positive, with management raising the low end of its 2025 revenue forecast by $5 million [12][13]. - Analysts covering Confluent stock are largely bullish, with 21 out of 36 recommending a buy, and an average price target of $25, suggesting a potential 45% upside [13][14]. Industry Context - Data streaming is becoming increasingly vital in various sectors, including retail and AI applications, enhancing real-time data processing capabilities [2][6]. - Confluent's platform is positioned to support businesses in creating data pipelines for AI applications, which is expected to drive significant growth as AI adoption increases [8][15]. - The company estimates its addressable market at $100 billion, indicating substantial growth potential based on current revenue levels [15]. Valuation Metrics - Confluent's price-to-sales (P/S) ratio has decreased to 5.2, the lowest since its IPO, following an 81% decline in stock price, making it more attractive for long-term investors [16].

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Subscription revenue grew 21% to $270.8 million, representing 96% of total revenue [26] - Confluent Cloud revenue increased 28% to $150.5 million, accounting for 56% of subscription revenue compared to 52% in the previous year [26] - Non-GAAP operating margin improved to 6%, up approximately six percentage points [5][28] - Adjusted free cash flow margin increased to 3.9% [28] - Net income per share was $0.09 with a diluted share count of approximately 380 million [28] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Confluent Platform revenue grew 12% to $120.3 million, driven by strong performance in financial services and OEM partners [26] - Flink ARR grew approximately 3x over the past two quarters, approaching $10 million [5][16] - RPO growth accelerated to 31%, indicating deepening customer relationships [8] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue from the US grew 15% to $164.3 million, while revenue from outside the US grew 29% to $117.9 million [27] - Total customer growth was in line with the average growth rate of the previous four quarters [29] - 20k+ ARR customer count grew approximately 8% to 2,497, representing over 95% of ARR [29] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is focusing on three key areas: replacing CSP streaming offerings, enhancing the partner ecosystem, and expanding Flink [10][12][34] - The partner ecosystem has sourced over 20% of the business in the past year, with significant partnerships established [14][35] - The company aims to capture a meaningful share of the $100 billion data streaming market [24] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management noted that larger customers are optimizing their usage, which is expected to impact consumption growth in the near term [6][30] - Despite consumption headwinds, management remains confident in the strength of the business and the potential for growth in AI workloads [23][34] - The outlook for Confluent Cloud assumes month-over-month growth rates will remain notably below historical averages for the remainder of the year [31] Other Important Information - The company is seeing early success in operational enhancements aimed at improving customer engagement and driving use case expansions [9][33] - The Flink offering is central to the company's strategy for real-time data processing, with significant growth observed [17][34] Q&A Session Summary Question: Can you elaborate on the consumption optimization trends? - Management indicated that the optimization is a broader trend seen across various companies, with some customers reducing their Confluent Cloud usage due to internal changes [37][40] Question: How do you see production AI workloads impacting subscription growth? - Management believes that the relevance of streaming and processing in AI applications will positively impact subscription growth moving forward [43][45] Question: What is the outlook for NRR and GRR metrics? - Management expects near-term pressure on NRR and GRR due to current consumption patterns but sees potential tailwinds from operational improvements and customer commitments [98][99] Question: How is the company addressing the challenges in the 20k+ customer segment? - Management acknowledged the need to focus on this segment and is implementing strategies to drive growth, particularly through CSP takeouts [78][80]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Confluent reported a 21% growth in subscription revenue, reaching $270.8 million, which represented 96% of total revenue [25] - Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 6%, up approximately six percentage points year-over-year [4][28] - Adjusted free cash flow margin rose to 3.9%, reflecting operational efficiencies [28] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Confluent Cloud revenue grew 28% to $150.5 million, accounting for 56% of subscription revenue, up from 52% in the previous year [25] - Confluent Platform revenue increased by 12% to $120.3 million, driven by strong performance in financial services and OEM partnerships [25] - Flink ARR grew approximately 3x over the past two quarters, approaching $10 million [15][31] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue from the US grew 15% to $164.3 million, while revenue from outside the US increased by 29% to $117.9 million [26] - Total customer growth remained consistent with previous quarters, with 20k+ ARR customer count growing 8% to 2,497 [29] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is focusing on enhancing operational efficiencies and improving coverage ratios between account executives and post-sales roles to drive customer engagement [6][7] - Confluent is doubling down on three strategic areas: replacing CSP streaming offerings, expanding the partner ecosystem, and growing the Flink business [8][12][15] - The partner ecosystem has sourced over 20% of business in the past year, indicating a strong collaborative approach to market penetration [13] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management acknowledged near-term consumption headwinds but expressed confidence in the long-term growth trajectory, particularly in AI workloads and DSP monetization [22][35] - The company expects production AI use cases to grow 10x across a few hundred customers, indicating a significant market opportunity [19][33] - Management raised full-year growth expectations for Confluent Platform, reflecting strong pipeline visibility [31] Other Important Information - The company ended the quarter with $1.94 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, providing a strong financial position [29] - Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was reported at $0.09, with expectations for continued growth in the upcoming quarters [28][31] Q&A Session Summary Question: Can you elaborate on the consumption optimization trends? - Management noted that optimization efforts are similar to trends seen across the industry, with some customers focusing on maximizing value from existing purchases [40][41] Question: How do you see production AI workloads impacting subscription growth? - Management believes that the relevance of streaming in AI applications will positively influence subscription growth moving forward [43][45] Question: What is the outlook for net revenue retention (NRR)? - NRR is expected to face near-term pressure due to current consumption patterns, but management is optimistic about future tailwinds from operational improvements and customer commitments [93][94] Question: How is the go-to-market strategy evolving? - Management indicated that changes in sales compensation to focus on incremental consumption have been beneficial, and they are optimistic about driving new use cases [62][63] Question: What are the expectations for structural changes from field realignment efforts? - Management is already seeing positive momentum from recent changes and expects these adjustments to yield meaningful results in the near future [107][108]

Financial Performance - Confluent's Q2 2025 revenue reached $282.3 million, a 21% year-over-year increase[9,58] - Cloud revenue was $150.5 million, representing a 28% year-over-year growth[9,56] - The company achieved a Non-GAAP operating margin of 6.3%, a 6 percentage point increase year-over-year[9] - Adjusted Free Cash Flow Margin was 3.9%, a 3 percentage point increase year-over-year[9] - Subscription revenue for Q2 2025 was $270.8 million[54,79] Customer Growth and Retention - Net Retention Rate was 114%[9] - The number of customers contributing $100,000 or more in ARR grew by 24% year-over-year[60] - Customers with >= $1M in ARR increased by 10% YoY[60] Market and Strategy - Confluent estimates a total addressable market (TAM) of over $100 billion[46,70] - The company is focused on expanding its Data Streaming Platform (DSP) capabilities[8,21] - Confluent is transitioning to "Act 3," focusing on a complete Data Streaming Platform[8,48] Revenue Mix - In Q2 2025, US revenue accounted for 53% and International revenue accounted for 47% of the total revenue[58] - Confluent Cloud accounted for 50% of the revenue, Confluent Platform accounted for 46% and Services accounted for 4% of the total revenue in Q2 2025[58]