Aug 12, 2026 earnings call — First earnings call as a public company
Revenue grew 7% quarter-over-quarter and 35% year-over-year to $220 million; adjusted EBITDA was $132 million, representing a 60% margin.
Revenue $0.2B (est $0.2B) · EPS $-0.03 (est $-0.45)
Key quotes
"To give you a sense of the pace of improvement, since Cortex launched in late 2023, the learning phase, which is the time it takes a new campaign to reach optimized performance, has gone from about 2 weeks to under 1 day."
"Liftoff operates in the third-party in-app advertising market, which is projected to grow at an 11% compound annual rate to $136 billion by 2030."
"Our incremental margin, as defined by adjusted EBITDA flow-through on revenue growth is very high as the top line scales faster than our cost base."
Analyst Q&A 11
Advertiser demand across app categories
Q (Eric Sheridan · Goldman Sachs): The analyst asked about differences by app verticals in advertiser adoption and budgets. He also asked which verticals look most promising for medium-term growth.
A: Management said growth came from the broader market and highlighted the World Cup as a notable example. They said events bring high-intent users, the platform captures those moments, and adjacent verticals like finance with embedded markets also participated; they expect similar moments like the NFL, back-to-school, and holiday commerce to help growth.
"Now events like this bring high-intent users into the ecosystem." — Jeremy Bondy (CEO)
Q3 revenue guide drivers
Q (James Heaney · Jefferies): The analyst asked what factors were included in the Q3 revenue guide. He wanted to know how much of the slower Q3 guide is conservatism versus onetime factors.
A: Management said their guidance philosophy is realistic and prudent and that they guide to what they have strong visibility into. They said baseline sequential growth historically averages around 4% and that periodic model breakthroughs can add upside; some breakthroughs that influenced Q2 also affect trends.
"So our philosophy is to guide to what we have strong visibility into." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
Event-driven growth and operating expenses
Q (Matthew Cost · Morgan Stanley): The analyst asked whether events like the World Cup are material drivers and whether they should be tracked. He also asked about the step-up in sales and marketing and R&D and if any onetime costs were included.
A: Management said the business acts like an index and participates wherever advertisers can acquire users; the World Cup was an example that benefited many verticals and is similar to other moments like the Super Bowl and NFL season. They said Q2 included noncash IPO-related expenses, particularly stock-based comp, and there was no operating step-up in OpEx beyond those IPO items.
"So the Q2 had a number of noncash expenses related to the IPO, particularly around stock-based comp, that are reflected in the financials." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
Model updates and third-party measurement
Q (Ross Sandler · Barclays): The analyst asked how confident management is that model updates will sustain above-industry growth over the next three years. He also asked whether AppsFlyer remaining independent helps Liftoff.
A: Management said they feel early in the Cortex journey with a long runway, and recent innovations sped learning and expanded features used to underwrite impression value; those gains were rolled out and are durable. They also said AppsFlyer has been a long-standing partner, their relationship has not changed, M&A is not required for growth, and their first priority is funding organic growth while keeping a strong balance sheet.
"It used to take us 2 weeks to get a campaign to a statistical significant data set where we could really confidently grow user acquisition for an advertiser." — Jeremy Bondy (CEO)
Annual vs quarterly guidance view
Q (Matthew Swanson · RBC): The analyst asked how annual guidance differs from quarterly guidance given the timing and visibility of model improvements.
A: Management said the philosophy is the same: realistic and prudent. The main difference is time frame and visibility into model breakthroughs; the current model guidance does not include breakthroughs but would if one were expected soon.
"That being said, I think as you think about our visibility into model breakthroughs, the closer in those are, the more we can specifically identify those." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
Cortex ongoing improvements
Q (Esha Vaish · UBS): The analyst asked about Cortex today and what work is being done to drive continuous improvement.
A: Management said they have a very active model development pipeline and are accelerating the pace of innovation. They noted breakthroughs arrive irregularly, gave progressive training as an example, and said they will discuss advances once deployed and measurable.
"we have a very active model development pipeline." — Jeremy Bondy (CEO)
Health of mobile gaming market
Q (Alec Brondolo · Wells Fargo): The analyst asked about the health of the mobile gaming market and how client conversations are progressing, given some peers reported weakness.
A: Management said they track gaming closely and see a healthy market; their gaming business grew year-over-year in Q2. They emphasized gaming remains foundational and that headline tracker data can understate health because of hybrid/off-store activity.
"Our gaming business grew alongside all other verticals year-over-year in Q2." — Jeremy Bondy (CEO)
Size of model breakthrough and customers
Q (Ralph Schackart · William Blair): The analyst asked how large the model breakthrough was in the quarter and how it compares to other periods. He also asked about new customer additions.
A: Management said the recent feature expansion increased the variables used to underwrite impression quality, acting as a force multiplier and giving a sustained advantage that will benefit the business through the year and beyond. They said most growth in Q2 came from existing customers expanding, with new customers a minority; recent cohorts scale faster, and 58% of growth came from expansion with existing customers versus 42% from new customers acquired over the last 12 months.
"58% of our growth came from expansion with existing customers versus 42% from new customers acquired over the last 12 months." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
Recursive learning and IPO benefits
Q (Deepak Mathivanan · Cantor Fitzgerald): The analyst asked about recursive self-learning at Cortex and whether Liftoff has tapped into it. He also asked what benefits the IPO has brought in hiring and business development.
A: Management said self-learning is the steady baseline where models update with recent data, while breakthroughs are architectural or feature changes layered on top; advances to the self-learning engine would be called out when available. They said being public has already helped hiring by making the stock value proposition easier to explain and has added credibility in business development, making some sales engagements easier.
"It is actually a much easier value proposition when you're in the hiring process." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
Mix evolution and incremental margin use
Q (Benjamin Black · Deutsche Bank): The analyst asked how the gaming revenue mix might evolve and which ad categories could be attractive. He also asked about the high incremental margin and how that flow-through will be reinvested.
A: Management said they do not target a specific mix; mix shifts reflect market consumption and nongaming verticals have grown faster, which they benefit from. They confirmed a high degree of flow-through on incremental revenue with low-80% incremental margins and said priorities for reinvestment are R&D and new vertical expansion, then maintaining leverage below 3x, then returning capital as leverage normalizes, with opportunistic M&A possible.
"I think the questions about our incremental margins and how we plan to deploy those, I think you're exactly right that there's a high degree of flow-through on our incremental revenue." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)
58-42 split and World Cup flywheel
Q (Bernard McTernan · Needham & Company): The analyst asked whether the World Cup affected the 58% existing / 42% new split and if that 42% is unusually high or should be closer to 30%. He also asked whether the World Cup created any network effect or flywheel for future growth.
A: Management said the higher new-customer share was affected by the World Cup and prediction markets, but they expect majority growth from existing customers over time with possible fluctuations. They said the World Cup created two-sided demand and richer signals that raise the engagement floor, which supports Cortex's self-learning flywheel and can benefit future quarters.
"We did see the World Cup and the prediction markets influence that." — Tarek Kutrieh (CFO)