PubMatic, Inc. (PUBM) FY 2024 MD&A

Overview

We are an independent technology company seeking to maximize customer value by delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future.

Our technology platform empowers the world’s leading digital content creators (which we refer to as “publishers”) across the open internet to maximize monetization of their advertising inventory. Our platform also provides control and transparency to buyers, which includes advertisers, agencies, agency trading desks, and demand side platforms (“DSPs”), (which we collectively refer to as “buyers”) and enables both publishers and buyers to drive better business outcomes. Our infrastructure-driven approach allows for the efficient processing and utilization of data in real time. By delivering scalable and flexible programmatic innovation, we believe we improve outcomes for our customers while championing a vibrant and transparent digital advertising supply chain.

We continue to focus on the strengths that we believe provide us with long-term competitive advantages. These strengths include our global, omnichannel reach which targets a diverse set of publishers touching many ad formats and digital device types, including mobile app, mobile web, desktop, display, video, over-the-top video/connected TV (“OTT/CTV”), and rich media. Additionally, as an independent infrastructure provider prioritizing transparency, we can be more closely aligned with both publishers and buyers which has enabled us to build direct relationships with publishers, advertisers, agencies, and DSPs and create bespoke products that meet our customers’ needs. We have also maintained a demonstrated track record of stability and agility to address these market conditions and provide superior outcomes for both publishers and buyers. Finally, we have designed our technology to efficiently process real-time advertising transactions while leveraging data to optimize outcomes for publishers and buyers. We own and operate our software and hardware infrastructure globally, which saves significant infrastructure expenditures as compared to public cloud alternatives.

Industry Trends and Macroeconomic Factors

The digital advertising ecosystem continues to evolve and adapt at a rapid pace. Some noted trends include the continued growth of digital media across multiple platforms, a continued increase in the number of ad impressions processed and analyzed in real-time by each participant in the digital advertising ecosystem, a desire for transparency and control throughout the supply chain from both the buyers and publishers, and rapidly evolving data and privacy regulations and standards.

Additionally, recent foreign currency fluctuation and persistent inflation in the U.S. and other markets globally continue to create economic volatility and dislocation in the capital and credit markets in the U.S. and globally. To date, we have not observed material impacts in our business or outlook, but we intend to continue to monitor macroeconomic conditions closely and may determine to take certain financial or operational actions in response to such conditions to the extent our business begins to be adversely impacted.

We believe we are positioned to benefit from tailwinds in the advertising industry, including the rapid proliferation of digital media, the need for purpose-built infrastructure to address the increasing complexity in the digital advertising landscape, and increasing consumer time spent online.

See “Risk Factors” for further discussion of the risks related to inflation, volatile interest rates, foreign currency fluctuations and public health crises on our business.

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Financial Results Overview

The table below summarizes the financial highlights of our business:

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(1)For a definition of Adjusted EBITDA, an explanation of our management’s use of this measure, and a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Our Strategy and Performance

We believe our growth and financial performance are dependent on many factors, including those described below.

Attract New Customers and Expand our Relationship with Existing Customers Globally

We leverage our extensive platform capabilities and the subject matter expertise of our team members to grow revenue from our publishers and increase advertising spending from our buyers. Our sales and marketing team includes customer success pods to enhance customer knowledge and implementation of best practices. Once we onboard a new customer, we seek to expand our relationship with existing publishers by establishing multiple header bidding integrations by leveraging our omnichannel capabilities to maximize our access to publishers’ ad formats and devices, and expanding into the various properties that a publisher may own around the world. We may also sell additional products to publisher customers including our header bidding management, identity, and audience solutions. We automate workflow processes whenever feasible to drive predictable and value-added outcomes for our customers and increase productivity of our organization.

Net dollar-based retention rate is an important indicator of publisher satisfaction and usage of our platform, as well as potential revenue for future periods. We calculate our net dollar-based retention rate at the end of each year. We calculate our net dollar-based retention rate by starting with the revenue from publishers in the last prior year (“Prior Period Revenue”). We then calculate the revenue from these same publishers in the current year (“Current Period Revenue”). Current Period Revenue includes any upsells and is net of contraction or attrition, but excludes revenue from new publishers.

Our net dollar-based retention rate equals the Current Period Revenue divided by Prior Period Revenue. Our net dollar-based retention rate was 107% for the year ended December 31, 2024, and 101% for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Further, we work with DSPs to help them reduce their costs and improve advertiser ROI, which in turn makes us the specialized cloud infrastructure platform of choice for many of our buying partners. We depend upon a limited number of large DSPs for a large percentage of impressions purchased and our business results, including revenues, may be impacted by changes in their pricing strategies, bidding algorithms or go-to market efforts. As buyers increasingly consolidate their spending with fewer larger technology platforms, we seek to bring an increased proportion of their digital ad spending to our platform through direct deals. Supply Path Optimization (“SPO”) continues to be a major growth driver for us as we add new SPO relationships and expand existing ones. We have been investing in SPO technology and partnerships for six years and SPO represented approximately 50% of total activity for the year ended December 31, 2024.

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Monetization Excellence

We focus on monetizing digital impressions by coordinating over a hundred billion real-time auctions and nearly a trillion bids globally on a daily basis, using our specialized cloud software, machine learning algorithms, and scaled transaction infrastructure. Valuable ad impressions are transparent and data rich, viewable by humans, and verifiable. Each ad impression we auction consists of 644 independent data parameters, which can yield valuable insights if recorded and analyzed properly. This processing of voluminous data for each ad impression must occur in less than half a second as consumers expect a seamless digital ad experience. We continually assess impressions from new and existing publishers through a rigorous validation process. We add or remove impressions from our platform based on an assessment of the projected value of the impressions, which is influenced by the type of publisher and its related consumers, as well as the potential volume of monetizable impressions and ad format types, such as digital video. We continuously create and iterate algorithms that leverage vast datasets flowing through our infrastructure to improve the liquidity in our marketplace. Our ability to drive successful outcomes in the real-time auction process on behalf of our publishers and buyers will affect our operating results.

Infrastructure Platform Efficiency

We have a track record of expanding the capacity of our infrastructure platform, while maintaining or reducing the corresponding costs related to processing impressions transacted on our platform on a per impression basis. We expect to continue to invest in both software and hardware infrastructure to continue growing the number of valuable ad impressions we process on our platform.

Our recent growth has been driven by a variety of factors including increased access to mobile web (display and video) and mobile app (display and video) impressions and desktop video impressions. Our performance is affected by our ability to maintain and grow our access to valuable ad impressions from current publishers as well as through new relationships with publishers. The number of ad impressions processed on our platform was approximately 57.9 trillion, 60.7 trillion, 69.8 trillion, and 74.7 trillion for each of the three months ended March 31, 2024, June 30, 2024, September 30, 2024, and December 31, 2024, respectively, as compared to 46.5 trillion, 48.8 trillion, 56.0 trillion, and 59.4 trillion for each of the three months ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023, September 30, 2023, and December 31, 2023, respectively.

Key Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

We generate revenue from the use of our platform for the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory.

We primarily work with publishers and app developers who allow us direct access to their ad inventory, as well as select channel partners that meet our quality and scale thresholds. Our channel partners aggregate and provide further access to thousands of sites and apps from smaller publishers. We generate revenue through fees charged to our publishers, which are generally a percentage of the value of the advertising impressions that publishers monetize on our platform.

We also generate revenues from our other products such as OpenWrap, our header bidding solution, and Connect, our solution that provides additional data and insights to buyers, which are sold separate from or in conjunction with use of our platform. We continue to invest in new features for our existing solutions and new solutions such as our new product Activate, which allows buyers to execute direct deals on our platform with publisher inventory, and Convert, our commerce media solution, both of which were launched in 2023.

We report revenue on a net basis. This represents gross billings to buyers, net of amounts we pay publishers. We record our accounts receivable at the amount of gross billings to buyers, net of allowances, for the amounts we are responsible to collect, and we record our accounts payable at the net amount payable to publishers. Accordingly, both accounts receivable and accounts payable appear large in relation to revenue, which is reported on a net basis.

The global advertising industry experiences seasonal trends that affect the vast majority of participants in the digital advertising ecosystem. Most notably, advertisers have historically spent more in the fourth quarter of the calendar year to coincide with the holiday shopping season, and less in the first quarter. We expect seasonality trends to continue, thereby resulting in seasonality in our revenues and corresponding accounts receivable and accounts payable balances, and our ability to manage our resources in anticipation of these trends will affect our operating results.

Our revenue recognition policies are discussed in more detail under “Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

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Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue consists of data center co-location costs, depreciation expense related to hardware supporting our platform, amortization expense related to capitalized internal use software development costs and acquired developed technology, personnel costs, and allocated facilities costs. Personnel costs include salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and employee benefit costs, and are primarily attributable to our network operations group, which maintains our servers, and our client operations group, which is responsible for the integration of new publishers and buyers and providing customer support for existing customers.

Operating Expenses

Technology and Development. Technology and development expenses consist of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and employee benefits costs, allocated facilities costs, and professional services. These expenses include costs incurred in the development, implementation and maintenance of internal use software, including platform and related infrastructure. We expense technology and development costs as incurred, except to the extent that such costs are associated with internal use software development that qualifies for capitalization. We expect technology and development expenses to generally increase in absolute dollars in future periods.

Sales and Marketing. Sales and marketing expenses consist of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and employee benefits costs for our employees engaged in sales, sales support, marketing, business development, and customer relationship functions. Sales and marketing expenses also include expenses related to promotional, advertising and marketing activities, allocated facilities costs, travel, and entertainment primarily related to sales activity and professional services. We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase in absolute dollars in future periods.

General and Administrative. General and administrative expenses consist of personnel costs, including salaries, bonuses, stock-based compensation, and employee benefits costs for our executive, finance, legal, human resources, information technology, and other administrative employees. General and administrative expenses also include outside consulting, legal and accounting services, allocated facilities costs, and travel and entertainment primarily related to inter-office travel and conferences. We expect general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars in future periods.

Total Other Income (expense), Net

Total other income (expense), net consists of interest income, unrealized gain (loss) on equity investment and other income (expense), net. Interest income is generated by investing excess cash into money market accounts and marketable securities. Unrealized gain (loss) on equity investment consists of gains and losses on our investment in equity securities, including unrealized gains and losses from market price changes or impairment of securities we continue to hold. Other income (expense), net consists primarily of gains and losses from foreign currency exchange transactions.

Provision for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes consists primarily of federal, state, and foreign income taxes. Our income tax may be significantly affected by changes to our estimates for tax in jurisdictions in which we operate and other estimates utilized in determining the global effective tax rate. Actual results may also differ from our estimates based on changes in economic conditions. Such changes could have a substantial impact on the income tax provision. We reevaluate the judgments surrounding our estimates and make adjustments, as appropriate, each reporting period.

Our effective tax rate differs from the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate due to state taxes, foreign tax rate differences, technology and development tax credits, Section 162(m) limitation, and stock-based compensation.

Realization of our deferred tax assets is dependent primarily on the generation of future taxable income. In considering the need for a valuation allowance, we consider our historical, as well as future projected, taxable income along with other objectively verifiable evidence. Objectively verifiable evidence includes our realization of tax attributes, assessment of tax credits, and utilization of net operating loss carryforwards during the year.

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Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our consolidated results of operations data (in thousands) and such data as a percentage of revenue for the periods presented. The period-to-period comparison of results is not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

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(1)Amounts include stock-based compensation expense before tax benefit as follows:

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Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023

Revenue, Cost of Revenue and Gross Profit

Revenue increased $24.2 million, or 9%, in 2024 primarily due to an increase in the number of ad impressions processed from our publishers, growth in our emerging revenue streams, and increased demand from the growth of our buyer relationships primarily through SPO agreements. For the year ended 2024, we served approximately 1,900 publishers worldwide on our platform, compared to approximately 1,800 publishers worldwide for the year ended 2023. We ended fiscal 2024 with approximately 100 net new publishers, which represented over 60,000 domains and 27,000 apps in total, compared to approximately 150 new publishers in 2023, which represented approximately 66,000 domains and 29,000 apps in total. For purposes of our publisher count, we aggregate multiple business accounts from separate divisions, segments or subsidiaries into a single “master” publisher based on our assessment of the related nature of the group. In addition, in 2024 we completed a number of SPO initiatives which increased buyer spend on our platform.

Our revenues in 2024 benefited by approximately $14.2 million from incremental political spend in the United States due to the 2024 presidential election. Conversely, our business was negatively impacted by bidding methodology changes implemented by one of our buyers in the second half of the second fiscal quarter of 2024.

We expect revenue to continue to increase in 2025, primarily driven by growth in mobile and omnichannel video, which is the combination of short form video and OTT/CTV. Additionally, we expect our revenues to be affected by macroeconomic conditions, and will continue to be impacted by the bidding methodology changes implemented by one of our buyers in the near term. The magnitude of these impacts on our future revenues is difficult to predict.

Cost of revenue increased $1.8 million, primarily due to a $5.1 million increase in amortization of internal use software and a $1.3 million increase in personnel costs as headcount increased by 4% in order to support our growing business, offset by a $3.8 million decrease in depreciation of data center equipment. Overall, our cost of revenue per impression processed in 2024 decreased by 18% compared to 2023.

Our gross margin of 65% in 2024 increased compared to 2023 of 63% due to revenue growth accelerating faster than cost of revenues.

We expect the cost of revenue to be higher in 2025 compared to 2024 in absolute dollars primarily due to increases in depreciation and amortization expense from data center capacity expansion in 2024, as well as increases in in software, hardware and equipment maintenance to support the data centers.

Technology and Development

The increase in technology and development costs was primarily due to an increase of $7.5 million in personnel costs associated with a headcount increase by 13% and higher stock-based compensation costs, an increase of $0.7 million in facilities costs associated with new offices, an increase in depreciation of $0.3 million, and an increase in travel and entertainment of $0.3 million, offset by a $2.3 million increase in the capitalization of internal use software.

We expect technology and development expenses to increase in 2025 compared to 2024 in absolute dollars, primarily due to the additional headcount investment in our key growth opportunities.

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Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing costs increased primarily due to a $11.7 million increase in personnel costs associated with a headcount increase by 7% and higher stock-based compensation costs and a $1.1 million increase in facilities costs, increase in travel and entertainment expenses of $0.4 million, and increase in marketing expenses of $0.2 million, offset by a decrease in amortization for acquisition-related intangible assets of $0.9 million.

We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase in 2025 compared to 2024 in absolute dollars primarily due to additional headcount investment and marketing programs.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expense increased primarily due to a $6.3 million increase in personnel costs associated with higher stock-based compensation costs, and a $1.1 million increase in professional services, offset by a $5.7 million decrease in provision for bad debt relating to a DSP buyer of our platform that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 30, 2023.

We expect general and administrative expenses to increase in 2025 compared to 2024 in absolute dollars primarily due to increases in expenses relating to our personnel.

Interest income

Interest income decreased due to the decrease in interest rates and a decrease in holdings in marketable securities.

Total Other Income (Expense), net

Total other income (expense), net increased for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to the prior year period, primarily driven by other income of $4.0 million from the Google Privacy Sandbox initiative in connection with their previous initiative to phase out the use of third-party cookies. The income from the Google Privacy Sandbox initiative was related to our efforts to build and test integrations with the privacy sandbox. Other income (expense) also benefited from foreign currency fluctuations for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to the prior year period.

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Provision for Income Taxes

The difference between the effective tax rate in 2024 of 30% and the federal statutory income tax rate of 21% was primarily due to state taxes, Section 162(m) limitation, and acquisition-related costs partially offset by foreign derived intangible income (FDII) deduction and federal research and development credit.

The difference between the effective tax rate in 2023 of 15% and the federal statutory income tax rate of 21% was primarily due to federal research and development credit and foreign derived intangible income (FDII) deduction partially offset by state taxes, stock-based compensation, and Section 162(m) limitation.

For discussion on comparison of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), including in particular operating income, net cash provided by operating activities, and net income, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, is useful in evaluating our operating performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income adjusted for stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, unrealized (gain) loss and impairment of equity investment, interest income, acquisition-related and other expenses, and provision for income taxes.

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income for each of the periods indicated:

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(1)We exclude acquisition-related and other expenses incurred in connection with our acquisition of Martin from Adjusted EBITDA because we do not believe such expenses are reflective of our ongoing core operations. Acquisition-related expenses incurred in connection with our acquisition of Martin include third-party transaction costs. For additional information, see Note 7, “Business Combination” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In addition to operating income and net income, we use Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of operational efficiency. We believe that this non-GAAP financial measure is useful to investors for period to period comparisons of our business and in understanding and evaluating our operating results for the following reasons:

•Adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors and securities analysts to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items such as stock-based compensation expense, depreciation and amortization, interest expense, provision for income taxes, and certain one-time items such as impairments of long-lived assets, that can vary substantially from company to company depending upon their financing, capital structures and the method by which assets were acquired;

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•Our management uses Adjusted EBITDA in conjunction with GAAP financial measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of our annual operating budget, as a measure of operating performance and the effectiveness of our business strategies and in communications with our board of directors concerning our financial performance; and

•Adjusted EBITDA provides consistency and comparability with our past financial performance, facilitates period-to-period comparisons of operations, and also facilitates comparisons with other peer companies, many of which use similar non-GAAP financial measures to supplement their GAAP results.

Our use of this non-GAAP financial measure has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are as follows:

•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect: (a) changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs; (b) the potentially dilutive impact of stock-based compensation; or (c) tax payments that may represent a reduction in cash available to us;

•Although depreciation and amortization expense are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect cash capital expenditure requirements for such replacements or for new capital expenditure requirements; and

•Other companies in our industry may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

Because of these and other limitations, you should consider Adjusted EBITDA along with other GAAP-based financial performance measures, including net income and our GAAP financial results.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We have financed our operations and capital expenditures primarily through utilization of cash generated from operations. As of December 31, 2024, we had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $140.6 million and net working capital, consisting of current assets less current liabilities, of $156.7 million.

We believe our existing cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and anticipated net cash provided by operating activities, together with available borrowings under our credit facility, will be sufficient to meet our working capital requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, if our operating performance during the next 12 months is below our expectations, our liquidity and ability to operate our business could be adversely affected. Our future capital requirements and the adequacy of available funds will depend on many factors, including those set forth under “Risk Factors.”

Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods presented:

Operating Activities

Our cash flows from operating activities are primarily influenced by growth in our operations, increases or decreases in collections from our buyers and related payments to our publishers, as well as our investment in personnel to support the anticipated growth of our business. Cash flows from operating activities have been affected by changes in our working capital, particularly changes in accounts receivable and accounts payable. The timing of cash receipts from buyers and payments to publishers can significantly impact our cash flows from operating activities. In addition, we expect seasonality to impact quarterly cash flows from operating activities.

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For the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash provided by operating activities of $73.4 million resulted primarily from net income of $12.5 million, adjustments for non-cash expenses of $74.7 million, including $45.4 million for depreciation and amortization, $37.7 million for stock-based compensation, and $11.0 million for deferred income taxes, and an increase in accounts receivable of $49.3 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts payable of $38.1 million.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash provided by operating activities of $81.1 million resulted primarily from net income of $8.9 million, adjustments for non-cash expenses of $68.0 million, including $44.8 million for depreciation and amortization, $28.9 million for stock-based compensation, and $13.4 million for deferred income taxes, and an increase in accounts receivable of $75.7 million, partially offset by an increase in accounts payable of $79.7 million.

Investing Activities

Our investing activities primarily included investments in marketable securities, purchases of equipment as we expanded the infrastructure in our third-party data centers, and capitalized internal-use software costs in support of enhancing our platform. Purchases of property and equipment may vary from period-to-period due to the timing of the expansion of our data centers, the addition of headcount, and the development cycles of our software development. As our business grows, we expect our capital expenditures and our investment activity to continue to increase.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash provided by investing activities was $22.3 million of cash, consisting of a net inflows from investments of marketable securities of $60.8 million, offset by $17.6 million in purchases of property and equipment (primarily data center infrastructure), and $20.9 million of investments in capitalized internal use software.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in investing activities was $39.0 million, consisting of a net purchase of investments of marketable securities of $29.6 million, $10.6 million in purchases of property and equipment (primarily data center infrastructure), $17.7 million of investments in capitalized internal use software, offset by net inflows from sales of marketable securities prior to maturity of $18.9 million.

Financing Activities

For the year ended December 31, 2024, net cash used in financing activities of $73.5 million was primarily due to $75.3 million in stock repurchases and $2.1 million in payment of a business combination indemnification holdback, offset by $1.8 million proceeds from stock option exercises and $2.4 million proceeds from the employee stock purchase plan.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash used in financing activities of $56.0 million was primarily due to $59.3 million in stock repurchases, offset by $1.5 million in proceeds from stock option exercises and $1.9 million in proceeds from the employee stock purchase plan.

For discussion on operating, investing, and financing activities of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, see the Liquidity and Capital Resources section disclosed in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on February 28, 2023 and hereby incorporated by reference herein and considered part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K only to the extent referenced.

Contractual Obligations and Future Cash Requirements

Our principal contractual obligations consist of non-cancelable leases for our various facilities. In certain cases, the terms of the lease agreements provide for rental payments that increase over time.

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations, at December 31, 2024 (in thousands):

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(1)Other contractual obligations consist primarily of contractual obligations to third-party data center providers.

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As of December 31, 2024, we had $5.0 million of long-term income tax liabilities, including interest, related to uncertain tax positions. Because of the high degree of uncertainty regarding the settlement of these liabilities, we are unable to estimate the years in which future cash outflows may occur. As a result, this amount is not included in the contractual obligations table above.

Credit Facilities

On October 17, 2022, we entered into a Senior Secured Credit Facilities Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) with the several lenders parties thereto, and Silicon Valley Bank, as administrative agent, lead arranger, issuing lender, and swingline lender. The Credit Agreement provides a revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $110.0 million (“the Revolving Credit Facility”), including a $25.0 million letter of credit sub-facility and a $25.0 million swingline sub-facility. We may, subject to certain customary conditions, on one or more occasions increase commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility in an amount not to exceed $90.0 million in the aggregate (the “Incremental Facility”). Each Lender will have discretion to determine whether it will participate in any Incremental Facility. The obligations under the Credit Agreement are secured by substantially all of our assets. The Credit Agreement matures on October 17, 2027.

Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility accrue interest at rates equal, at our election, to (i) the adjusted term secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”), which is defined as (a) the applicable term SOFR plus (b) a term SOFR adjustment equal to 0.20% per annum, plus the applicable margin for such loans, or (ii) the alternate base rate (“ABR”), which is defined as the highest of (a) the prime rate in effect from time to time, (b) the federal funds effective rate in effect from time to time plus 0.50%, and (c) the adjusted term SOFR for a one (1) month tenor in effect from time to time plus 1.0%, plus the applicable margin for such loans. The applicable margin for borrowings bearing interest on the SOFR ranges from 2.00% to 2.75%, and the applicable margin for borrowings bearing interest based on the ABR ranges from 1.00% to 1.75%. We will pay a quarterly commitment fee during the term of the Credit Agreement for the non-use of available funds ranging from 0.25% to 0.35%. As of December 31, 2024, the applicable interest rate under the Revolving Credit Facility was 8.50%. We had no amounts outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility as of December 31, 2024.

The Credit Agreement contains customary representations and warranties as well as customary affirmative and negative covenants. Negative covenants include, among others, limitations on incurrence of indebtedness, liens, disposition of property and investments by us and our subsidiaries. In addition, the Credit Agreement requires us to maintain certain interest coverage, leverage and senior leverage ratios.

For additional information, see Note 5, “Loan and Security Agreement and Senior Secured Credit Facilities Agreement” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets and liabilities reported, disclosures about contingent assets and liabilities, and reported amounts of revenue and expenses. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis using historical experience and other factors, and adjust those estimates and assumptions when facts and circumstances dictate. Actual results could materially differ from these estimates and assumptions.

We believe estimates and assumptions associated with the evaluation of revenue recognition criteria, including the determination of revenue reporting as net versus gross in our revenue arrangements, as well as internal use software development costs, fair values of stock-based awards, and income taxes have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies and estimates.

Revenue Recognition

We refer to our publishers, app developers, and channel partners collectively as our publishers. We generate revenue through the monetization of publisher ad impressions processed on our platform. Our platform allows publishers to sell, in real time, ad impressions to buyers and provides automated inventory management and monetization tools to publishers across various device types and digital ad formats. We charge publishers a fee, which is typically a percentage of the value of the impressions monetized through our platform.

We maintain agreements with each publisher and buyer in the form of written service agreements, which set out the terms of the relationship, including payment terms (typically ninety days or less) and access to our platform.

We invoice buyers for publisher digital advertising inventory purchased through its platform. We recognize revenue when a bid is won and a buyer purchases inventory on our platform. We estimate and record reductions to revenue for volume discounts based on expected volumes during the incentive term.

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The determination as to whether revenue should be reported gross of amounts billed to buyers (gross basis) or net of payments to publishers (net basis) requires significant judgment, and is based on our assessment of whether we are acting as the principal or an agent in the transaction. We have determined that we do not act as the principal in the purchase and sale of digital advertising inventory because we do not control the advertising inventory and do not set the price which is the result of an auction within the marketplace. Based on these and other factors, we report revenue on a net basis. See “Part II - Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 2” for more information on revenue recognition.

We generally invoice buyers at the end of each month for the full purchase price of ad impressions monetized in that month. Accounts receivable are recorded at the amount of gross billings for the amounts we are responsible to collect, and accounts payable are recorded at the net amount payable to publishers. Accordingly, both accounts receivable and accounts payable appear large in relation to revenue reported on a net basis.

Internal Use Software Development Costs

We capitalize certain internal use software development costs associated with creating and enhancing internal use software related to our platform and technology infrastructure. These costs include personnel and related employee benefits expenses for employees who are directly associated with and who devote time to software projects, and external direct costs of materials and services consumed in developing or obtaining the software. We expense software development costs that do not meet the criteria for capitalization as incurred and record them in technology and development expenses in the consolidated statements of operations.

Software development activities generally consist of three stages: (i) the planning stage; (ii) the application and infrastructure development stage; and (iii) the post implementation stage. Costs incurred in the planning and post implementation stages of software development, including costs associated with the post configuration training and repairs and maintenance of the developed technologies, are expensed as incurred. We capitalize costs associated with software developed for internal use when both the preliminary project stage is completed and management has authorized further funding for the completion of the project. We capitalize costs incurred in the application and infrastructure development stages, including significant enhancements and upgrades. Capitalization ends once a project is substantially complete and the software and technologies are ready for their intended purpose. We amortize internal use software development costs using a straight-line method over the estimated useful life of two to five years, commencing when the software is ready for its intended use.

On an ongoing basis, we assess if the estimated remaining useful lives of capitalized projects continue to be reasonable based on the remaining expected benefit and usage. If the remaining useful life of a capitalized project is revised, it is accounted for as a change in estimate and the remaining unamortized cost of the underlying asset is amortized prospectively over the updated remaining useful life.

Stock-Based Compensation

Stock-based compensation expense related to stock options, restricted stock units, and awards granted under our employee stock purchase plan (“ESPP”) is measured and recognized in our consolidated financial statements based on the fair value of the awards granted. The fair values of our ESPP and stock option awards are estimated on the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of restricted stock is calculated using the closing market price of our common stock on the date of grant.

Stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and restricted stock is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service periods of the awards, which is generally four years. Stock-based compensation expense for ESPP awards is recognized on a graded-vesting attribution basis over the requisite service period of each award.

For additional information regarding stock-based compensation and the assumptions used for determining the fair value of stock options and ESPP awards, refer to Note 2—Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 10—Stockholders’ Equity and Equity Incentive Plans.

Acquisition-related Intangible Assets and Goodwill

Acquisition-related intangible assets with finite lives are amortized over their estimated useful lives on a straight-line basis, while goodwill amounts are not amortized. Acquisition-related intangible assets and goodwill are tested for impairment at least annually or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the acquisition-related intangible assets or goodwill may be impaired.

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Events or changes in circumstances which could trigger an impairment review include a significant adverse change in legal factors or in the business climate, an adverse action or assessment by a regulator, unanticipated competition, a loss of key personnel, significant changes in the manner of the Company’s use of the acquired assets, or the strategy for the Company’s overall business, significant negative industry or economic trends, or significant underperformance relative to expected historical or projected future results of operations.

Income Taxes

Our income tax provision may be significantly affected by changes to our estimates for tax in jurisdictions in which we operate and other estimates utilized in determining the global effective tax rate. Actual results may also differ from our estimate based on changes in economic conditions. Such changes could have a substantial impact on the income tax provision. We evaluate the judgments surrounding our estimates and make adjustments, as appropriate, each reporting period.

Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are determined based upon the net effects of the differences between the consolidated financial statements carrying amounts and the tax basis of assets and liabilities and are measured using the enacted tax rate expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which the differences are expected to be reversed. A valuation allowance is used to reduce some or all of the deferred tax assets if, based upon the weight of available evidence, it is more likely than not that those deferred tax assets will not be realized.

We recognize the tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the consolidated financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized. We recognize interest and penalties accrued related to our uncertain tax positions in our income tax provision in the accompanying consolidated statement of operations.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K, for recently issued accounting pronouncements not yet adopted.

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