Gaia - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Q2 2025 delivered double‑digit top-line growth with revenue of $24.632M (+12% YoY) and gross margin of 86.7% (+220 bps YoY), alongside positive operating cash flow ($2.284M) and free cash flow ($1.644M).
• Results slightly exceeded Wall Street consensus: revenue beat by ~$0.31M (1.3%)* and EPS beat by ~$0.007*, aided by growth in members (878K) and ARPU, and early Igniton contribution.
• Strategic milestones in the quarter included appointment of a new CEO (Kiersten Medvedich) to drive AI, community, and content strategy (June 30) and inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index (effective June 30), both enhancing visibility and execution focus.
• Management reiterated a 12% full‑year revenue growth target and expects continued growth in revenue and ARPU; March 2026 remains the next planned pricing action, contingent on added AI/community value.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Sustained growth and margin expansion: revenue +12% YoY to $24.632M and gross margin up to 86.7% (+220 bps YoY), marking a sixth consecutive quarter of double‑digit increases.
• Cash generation and liquidity: operating cash flow $2.284M; free cash flow $1.644M; period‑end cash $13.924M; renewed $10M revolver for 3 years with improved terms.
• Strategic progress in AI, community, and Igniton: CEO emphasized building a “conscious AI companion” and community platform within the next year; Igniton raise of $6M at $106M post‑money supports product launch and growth.

Selected management quotes:

• “We also more than doubled our free cash flow quarter over quarter, reaching $1,600,000 in Q2, up from $700,000 in the prior quarter.”
• “Our AI companion will be sourced primarily from Gaia’s original content… rooted in the wisdom our members have come to love and trust.”
• “Igniton… raised $6 million… at an implied post‑money valuation of $106 million… Gaia now owns approximately two‑thirds of Igniton equity.”

What Went Wrong

• Operating loss widened QoQ as opex stepped up: loss from operations was $(2.196)M vs $(1.014)M in Q1, driven by higher selling/operating and corporate G&A (partly one‑time items like the biohacking conference).
• Gross margin compressed sequentially (86.7% in Q2 vs 87.8% in Q1), though still higher YoY; management continues to target ~86% margins in FY25.
• Igniton launch timing introduced quarterly variability: strong May soft‑launch sales (~$250K upside in Q2 vs plan), but some expected revenue shifted out of Q3 due to a larger, later launch.

Transcript

Speaker 0

Good afternoon. Welcome to Gaia Inc.'s second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Joining us today from Gaia Inc. are Jirka Rysavy, Executive Chairman, Kiersten Medvedich, CEO, and Ned Preston, CFO. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Before we begin, Gaia Inc.'s management team would like to remind everyone that management's prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions, including but not limited to statements of expectations, future events, or future financial performance. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. Although we believe these expectations are reasonable, Gaia Inc. management undertakes no obligation to revise any statements to reflect changes that occur after this call. Actual events or results could differ materially.

These statements are based on current expectations of the company's management and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of Gaia Inc.'s latest annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. All non-GAAP financial measures referenced in today's call are reconciled in the company's earnings press release to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. This call also contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the time and date of this broadcast, August 11, 2025. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being webcast, and a recording will be made available for replay on Gaia Inc.'s Investor Relations website at ir.gaia.com. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Gaia Inc.'s Chairman, Jirka Rysavy. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon, everyone. Revenue for the quarter increased 12% and gross profit 16%. Gross margin improved 220 basis points to 86.7% from 84.5% at the year-ago quarter. Our member count grew to 878,000, and we are focusing now on high lifetime value members. Our annualized gross profit per employee increased to $814,000 from $695,000 in the year-ago quarter. Our subsidiary Igniton raised $6 million recently at $106 million post-money valuation, valuing Gaia two-thirds ownership interest in Igniton at $70 million, two and a half times increase from previous $28 million. Some Igniton products are now also available at Gaia Marketplace. If you want more information, you can get it at igniton.com. I would turn the call over to our CEO, Kiersten.

Speaker 0

Good afternoon, everyone. As we begin today's call, I want to honor this moment of transition. This is my first time speaking to you as CEO of Gaia Inc., and let me begin by affirming our strategy is not changing. I am fully aligned with the path we've been walking, a strategy rooted in mission, discipline, and the long view. We are building on a foundation of purpose and deep intention, and we remain committed to moving forward with consistency and focus. Our core streaming business remains the heart of Gaia Inc. It is strong, resilient, and continues to grow over time. We are focused on scaling it sustainably by improving retention and deepening member engagement. With 90% of our content exclusive to Gaia Inc., we offer something no other platform can: an intentional, curated experience that goes beyond content and into personal transformation and connection. We're seeing the results.

In Q2, we carried our momentum from Q1 into a strong quarter, delivering double-digit revenue growth and exceeding our expectations by $300,000. The key drivers of that performance were growth in both member count and ARPU, as well as the launch of our Igniton brand, which saw an enthusiastic response following its debut at the Biohacking Conference in May. This success reinforces something we've long believed: that those seeking to optimize their physical performance are often on the same path as those seeking to expand their consciousness. We also more than doubled our free cash flow quarter over quarter, reaching $1.6 million in Q2, up from $700,000 in the prior quarter. Annualized gross profit per employee increased to $814,000, up from $695,000 in the prior year quarter. This is a clear reflection of the efficiency and scalability of our model.

Even more so, it is a testament to the focus and dedication of our amazing team. Our people are the heart and soul of this company, and their ability to deliver excellence while staying aligned with our mission is what makes results like this possible. As we look ahead, we see a profound culture shift emerging. More and more people are turning inward, seeking purpose, connection, and growth. On many of the AI platforms, questions about consciousness, meaning, and awakening now rank among the most frequently asked topics. That is a global signal, and it's one Gaia Inc. is uniquely prepared to meet. Right now, we're currently planning the next phase of our platform, a foundation for a global conscious community. We are listening to what people want, and they want deeper connections and shared experiences.

Whether it be face-to-face or across the globe, the desire is the same: people want to connect, and we're creating a beautiful space for that. Our plan is to build a community around the very topics our content explores, offering members a place not just to watch, but to engage and grow together. We're designing it with the same care and intentionality that defines our content, and we believe it will become a meaningful advantage in how we serve our global member base. Our plan is to launch within the next year. While from the outside, this may look like the next evolution, it's really a return to Gaia's deeper purpose, a purpose not just to inform, but to connect. In parallel, we're making progress on Gaia's conscious AI companion. We believe this will become a beautiful bridge between our exclusive content and the personal journeys of our members.

Our AI companion will be sourced primarily from Gaia's original content. This allows us to offer something rare: guidance that is deeply aligned with our brand and rooted in the wisdom our members have come to love and trust. Lastly, and most importantly, our focus remains centered on long-term sustainable growth, driven by our core SVOD business and our global member community. Gaia is built for scale, with a high-margin model, exclusive content, and a brand that continues to earn trust and engagement. We are staying true to our North Star while remaining agile enough to capture revenue opportunities along the way. It is so exciting. The world is actually catching up with us. Last year, the word "manifest" was named Word of the Year by the Cambridge Dictionary, and that is more than a headline.

It is a cultural signal, and Gaia is ready to meet that moment because we've been preparing for it from the very, very beginning. Thank you all for being here and being part of this vision. Now over to Ned for financial details.

Thanks, Kiersten. For the second quarter of 2025, Gaia delivered revenue of $24.6 million, up $2.7 million, or 12% year-over-year, driven by growth in both member count and ARPU, as well as the launch of Igniton. Total members increased in Q2 to 878,000. Gross profit increased 16% to $21.3 million from $18.5 million in Q2 of 2024, with gross margin expanding to 86.7%, up from 84.5%. Net loss was negative $1.8 million, or $0.07 per share, versus negative $2.2 million, or negative $0.09 per share in Q2 of 2024. Operating cash flow was $2.3 million, with free cash flow of $1.6 million, reflecting ongoing operational discipline. Our cash balance at the end of June 30, 2025, was $13.9 million, with a fully available $10 million line of credit.

In July, Gaia also renewed its credit line for an additional three years, with improved terms, including a lower interest rate and a wider range of permitted use. We continue to manage costs carefully and maintain healthy margins while investing in the strategic areas that will create long-term value for our shareholders. As mentioned earlier, and as further outlined in Gaia's 10Q, our subsidiary Igniton raised $6 million of private common equity financing in the month of July, which included $2 million from Gaia. Igniton's implied post-money valuation is now $106 million, up from an implied post-money valuation of $40 million from last year's raise. The proceeds from the financing will be used by Igniton for product launch, general operating expenses, and certain capital expenditures to support future growth. Gaia now owns approximately two-thirds of Igniton equity.

More information about Igniton can be found at www.igniton.com, and Gaia members can purchase Igniton products at a discount through Gaia Marketplace. I will now turn the call back over to Jirka.

Speaker 1

Yeah, just a quick summary. We expect obviously continuing growth of our revenue and ARPU as well, increasing gross profit per employee, as we have pretty good results for this last year, and also obviously continued generation of positive free cash flow. This concludes our remarks, so I'd like to open it to questions. Please, operator.

Speaker 0

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. At this time, we'll open the line for questions from the company's publishing analysts. Our first question comes from Mark Argento with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Speaker 2

Hi, Kiersten. Nice to hear from you on the call.

Speaker 4

Hi, Mark.

Speaker 2

I just wanted maybe if you could provide a little bit of your background and your main focus here over the next three to six months, in terms of key priorities.

Speaker 4

Sure. My background is in content. I was at Sony for 15 years, and I came onto Gaia Inc. to run the content team about nine years ago, and somehow I've worked my way up to where I am today as CEO. My focus going forward for the next six months is in three areas. One is early tenure engagement, which consists of specifically zero to three months, which will consist of product improvements, better marketing targeting, which means basically fishing in new ponds, and also increased content publishing. The other two areas, as I talked about, were investments in our AI and investment in our community.

Speaker 2

In terms of AI, are you thinking about using AI more as a tool for a better user experience, or would you guys get into the, you know, having an AI, you know, user interface that the community or other customers can engage with?

Speaker 4

We're looking at both. One from using AI to get better member learnings and to become smarter in delivering our members a better experience from a content perspective. The other is an AI companion right now that we're in the process of tweaking, and we feel that that's definitely going to deliver meaningful value to our members.

Speaker 2

Got it. In the press release, you guys talked about potentially taking pricing in Q1. Do you plan when you take price, are you guys expand additional content, or what's the value prop going to be there for the consumer?

Speaker 0

Yeah, hey Mark, this is Ned, and I'll take that one. As we've discussed in the past, we are still looking to raise prices in March of 2026. At that time, we do foresee that our AI solution will be progressing, and we'll be adding value to retention and other marketing activities. The customer experience by then will also start seeing some of those benefits, as well as some new content. The premise around the price increase in March of 2026 will have added value for our customers, and they'll continue to see added value throughout the rest of 2026 as things like our community and other elements come to bear.

Speaker 2

That's helpful. Last question from you on Igniton, obviously raised some additional capital there. Can you provide us any updates in terms of how you're thinking about the go-to-market or any new updates from that side of the house?

Speaker 1

Yeah, we introduced the product in the last few days of May. In Austin, there was a Biohacking Conference, which is one of the largest ones in this field. The response was absolutely stunning. There was a line on our booth basically through the whole conference, about 50 to 100 yards, so they never saw anything like that. We sold all the products we brought by far, taking a lot of back orders between our fields. Because of that, we kind of decided to actually raise some money, so we took, we just did that, at least the first part of it. We just introduced it recently. We put it also in Gaia Marketplace, so you can get some on the Gaia Marketplace starting now.

We plan to use some of this money raised for a bigger launch because of the response, and we expect that to be after Labor Day.

Speaker 2

Very good. Very good. Okay. Do you anticipate doing any kind of partnership deals using the technology, or will you guys, will it be all branded under your own brand?

Speaker 1

Yes, we would not this year, but I would kind of say we might, we probably would. We have a lot of order requests existing from existing brands. Can we enhance their product? Because Igniton technology can increase efficiency, pretty much all the molecules would have any trace of water, so all organic molecules, so we would focus on hydrogen. We probably would, might license, you know, improve some product with some upfront license fee, and then the regular margin on selling the product. We would obviously always have a license fee first. We don't expect to do any of that this year.

Speaker 2

Appreciate the update. I'll hop back in the queue.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Mark.

Speaker 4

Thanks, Mark.

Speaker 0

Our next question comes from George Kelly with ROTH Capital Partners.

Speaker 3

Hey everybody, thanks. First, just a follow-up on one of the prior questions. How much pricing do you expect to take in March?

Speaker 1

Yeah, similar to what we did last time, George, it was $2 on monthly, and we'll take a look at the annual increase as well. It will be in that mid to high teens area.

Speaker 3

Okay, sounds good.

Speaker 1

Not necessarily it'll be in all countries, because some countries are opting out. It depends that we would, it doesn't mean we would raise pricing on all our customers, but it would be probably an 80+%.

Speaker 3

Okay. A couple more questions on Igniton. Can you help us at all understand the sort of revenue opportunity maybe that you've seen coming out of the Biohacking Conference and just your expectations for the back half of the year? I don't, you know, not to get too specific on guidance or anything, but how much could this sort of help lift the overall business just as you look out in the next few quarters?

Speaker 1

We don't really, it's, we kind of focus on the launch, which will be like, you know, after Labor Day, so that would be probably better to ask questions because we only so far did the Biohacking Conference where you've been there, so you know how the success would we have. It's, you know, the bottles, it's $200 per bottle, and we had, you know, all the feedback was positive. There was no issues on that. We, you know, establishing distributorship, obviously we have distributors in some countries, but we have to get it, you know, approved in some of the countries. I think it's kind of hard to say, you know, because we don't really have any experience.

We focused right now on, from what we shipped so far, because we're getting order now, was kind of to finalize the packaging, not the bottles, but the boxes, you know, how it's shipped, how we charge the distributors, and all that stuff. I can probably on a third quarter call, I can answer that question, but we basically, we get something budgeted in a third quarter because we thought we were going to launch it in July, but then when we did the introduction and we get meaningful sales, so they will give us probably $250,000 more than we expected in the second quarter. In the third quarter, we didn't launch it in July, so we basically postponed our second quarter revenue till like March, so it'll probably offset what we kind of generated in the second, we will not generate in the third.

Otherwise, you know, it's the fourth quarter, there might be some upside, but we don't really know yet till we launch it. Since this was so successful, our launch probably will be bigger than we originally planned, but not probably right in Labor Day. We start slow, and we probably will push it before Christmas.

Speaker 3

Okay, okay, understood. That's helpful. Just on the launch, you mentioned the Labor Day sort of official launch. Can you detail that?

Speaker 1

It won't be Labor Day. It will be probably somewhere in the second week.

Speaker 3

Okay, understood. Can you detail what that launch is going to look like though? What's the marketing plan?

Speaker 1

We don't really know yet because the success what we have and now the original and extra funding, we put we're looking at some stuff what we didn't look before. We would not have the finalized till probably next three weeks.

Speaker 0

Yeah, hey George, this is Ned, and just real quick, as you probably picked up on some of our commentary, I would consider a very soft launch back at the end of May Biohacking Conference. As of the end of last week, the site has changed. It's been updated. Any customer can go in and buy off of our igniton.com website, and Gaia members are now able to also purchase off of our Gaia Marketplace at a slightly discounted rate. The larger launch that you're talking about will be in the September timeframe, but I did want to point out that we have officially launched out and are seeing an uptick.

Speaker 3

Okay, and then last one for me, just a modeling question. G&A in the quarter stepped up a little bit. Was there anything kind of one time, maybe it was the Biohacking Conference? Is there anything else? Can you quantify that if there was?

Speaker 0

Yeah, it definitely wasn't people-related. G&A was up for things, one-time items like the Biohacking Conference and a couple other things that will come back into shape in future quarters. It wasn't a fixed, it was a one-time event.

Speaker 3

Okay, understood. Thank you.

Speaker 0

That is star one if you would like to ask a question. Our next question comes from James Sidoti with Sidoti & Company.

Speaker 2

Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. Can you give us a sense on how you're going to spend the $6 million you raised for Igniton? Is that to build capacity, to build sales and marketing? Where is that money going to go?

Speaker 1

We don't really, in the capacity, we already spent the money before. We're kind of getting one more, you know, unit to boost the production. However, we don't need it from any other production. The success was so surprising that we'd rather be kind of ready, but I think we would not really see that till we push it somewhere around Christmas. It is now the capacity by far exceeds what we can sell.

Speaker 2

Okay, all right. In terms of the base business, you grew revenue about 10% in the March quarter, about 12% in the June quarter. I think in the past you've said you expect to grow revenue about 12% for the year. Do we still feel like you're on track to hit that?

Speaker 0

Yeah, hey Jim, it's Ned. That absolutely is our expectation, is that 12% for the year. As we said earlier, it was great performance across all of our core business in the quarter. Firing on all cylinders regarding our core SVOD business, and then a little bit of upside from Igniton. I can't emphasize enough that the big reason for our accelerating growth is because of the increase in ARPU and adding another 10,000 plus net members.

Speaker 2

Okay, and then last one, can you talk a little bit about how Gaia Marketplace is going? I know you kind of changed some of the travel destinations, you know, because there's some of the world events so far this year. You know, how's that going? Are there other products or services that you started to launch to Gaia Marketplace in 2025?

Speaker 1

I would just want to say that we see Gaia Marketplace as a part of community, and now we'll get Kiersten to answer the question.

Speaker 4

That's exactly what I was going to say. Our Gaia Marketplace continues to be a strong foundation for community building, which has always been its core purpose. I think James Sidoti mentioned on the call earlier this year that we had a pivot away from Egypt, which led us to introduce trips to Peru instead. The spring Peru trip quickly sold out, and our fall Peru trip is already at capacity as well. We are seeing a strong demand for where we've made adjustments. As far as new products, you will see new products slowly come on, but just to reiterate, it has always been the foundation of community.

Speaker 1

Clearly, the point of the Marketplace goal is not to chase the revenue. Marketplace has become a core, you know, one of the aspects of community, so this is not something to chase revenue with.

Speaker 2

The goal is really to help build that subscriber base and retain subscribers?

Speaker 1

Subscribers and on the point of touchpoint with our members, as we build community, obviously they can, the community that forms around a topic or geographically can go together on these trips. That's one of the ideas.

Speaker 2

Okay, all right, thank you.

Speaker 0

At this time, this concludes our question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Rysavy for his closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Thank you everyone for joining, and we look forward to speaking with you when we report third Q, which will be in early November. Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Thank you for joining us today for Gaia Inc.'s second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect and have a great day.