Ouster - Earnings Call - Q4 2024

Executive Summary

• Q4 2024 delivered record revenue of $30.1M, up 23% YoY and 7% QoQ, with GAAP gross margin at 44% (vs. 22% in Q4 2023 and 38% in Q3 2024). Net loss improved to $23.7M; adjusted EBITDA loss was $9.7M.
• Guidance: Q1 2025 revenue expected at $30–$32M; long-term framework maintained at 30–50% annual revenue growth, 35–40% gross margin, and OpEx at or below Q3 2023 levels.
• Operational highlights: ~4,800 sensors shipped in Q4; software-attached bookings grew >60% in 2024; deployments of Ouster Gemini and BlueCity expected to expand to >700 sites; cash and investments ended 2024 at $175M; revolving credit fully repaid.
• Product catalysts: Introduced 3D Zone Monitoring embedded in REV7 sensors and launched a cloud portal for Gemini—both expanding addressable markets and software monetization potential.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Record financial execution: revenue $30.1M and GAAP gross margin 44% in Q4; eighth straight quarter meeting/exceeding guidance.
  • Software traction: software-attached bookings up >60% YoY in 2024; renewed a >$1M annual Gemini license with a global technology company; expanding to >700 deployments.
  • Strategic product advances: 3D Zone Monitoring embedded in REV7 and Gemini cloud portal launched, expanding TAM and enabling at-scale deployments.
  • Quote: “The product portfolio transformation we have planned in 2025 will result in the largest increase in Ouster’s addressable market in our history.” — CEO Angus Pacala.

• What Went Wrong

  • Profitability still negative: Q4 net loss of $23.7M and adjusted EBITDA loss of $9.7M; litigation expense was a notable drag (~$6M in Q4).
  • Margin variability: 44% gross margin benefited from lower costs related to legacy inventory; management cautioned quarterly variability due to mix and shipment schedules.
  • Leadership transition: CFO departure in January 2025 (interim CFO appointed); potential investor sensitivity to continuity, though Q4 guidance reaffirmed.
  • Analyst concern: despite software accretion, management kept gross margin framework at 35–40%, viewed as conservative by analysts.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Welcome to Ouster's fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After today's presentation and remarks, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. The call today is being recorded, and a replay of the call will be available on the Ouster Investor Relations website an hour after the completion of this call. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Jim Fanucchi, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jim Fanucchi (Head of Investor Relations)

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined today by Ouster's Chief Executive Officer, Angus Pacala, and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Chen Geng. Before we begin to prepare remarks, we would like to remind you that earlier today, Ouster issued a press release announcing its fourth quarter 2024 results. An investor presentation was published and is available on the Investor Relations section of Ouster's website. Today's earnings call and press release reflect management's views as of today only and will include statements related to our competitive position, anticipated industry trends, our business and strategic priorities, our financial outlook, and our revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2025, all of which constitute forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws.

Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by these forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with our business. For a discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could impact our actual results, please refer to the company's SEC filings and today's press release, both of which can be found on our Investor Relations website. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and other than as may be required by law, we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. Information discussed on this call concerning Ouster's industry, competitive position in the markets in which it operates is based on information from independent industry and research organizations, other third-party sources, and management's estimates.

These estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and other third-party sources, as well as data from Ouster's internal research. These estimates are based on reasonable assumptions and computations made upon reviewing such data and Ouster's experience in and knowledge of such industry and markets. By definition, assumptions are subject to uncertainty and risk, which could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates. During this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures discussed during this call to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to today's press release. I would now like to turn the call over to Angus.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'll start with a brief recap of the quarter and review of our execution against our 2024 strategic priorities. Chen Geng, our Interim CFO, will cover our financial results in more detail before I close with our 2025 objectives and some final thoughts. The fourth quarter capped off a year of consistent execution, record financial results, and delivering increased value for our customers. For the quarter, we generated $30 million in revenue and gross margins of 44%, reinforcing our position as a leader in the LiDAR industry. This is the eighth straight quarter we have met or exceeded our guidance. We continue to have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry, ending the year with $175 million of cash and equivalents with zero debt.

We also won a $2 million contract to deploy our BlueCity traffic management solution in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to improve roadway safety and reduce congestion. Chattanooga is expanding BlueCity to over 120 intersections covering the downtown area and will be the largest deployment of LiDAR detection technology for traffic and pedestrian safety in the United States. We have launched BlueCity across the United States from Tennessee to Washington, tapping into the massive opportunity presented by the Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, market. There are 300,000 signalized intersections in the United States, and we see a similarly sized opportunity in both Europe and Asia. With each intersection supporting two or more LiDAR sensors, we estimate this market can drive demand for over 1 million units.

Ouster is also working closely with several of the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturers, such as John Deere, to support their automation efforts in agriculture and construction. These companies manufacture millions of machines every year, and their customers face a significant challenge to fill positions that are often strenuous and dangerous. The automation technology powered by our LiDAR solutions helps make the global supply chain safer, their operations more efficient, and alleviate chronic labor constraints. These highlights wrapped a year in which our OS sensor volumes increased by over 50%, our software-attached bookings grew by over 60%, and we deployed sensors at iconic events like the Paris Olympics. We also reached major milestones in our next-generation custom silicon chips and developed new software tools to accelerate LiDAR adoption.

We also successfully executed against each of our 2024 business priorities, which were: one, expand software solutions and grow the installed base; two, advance the development of digital LiDAR hardware; and three, progress on our long-term financial framework. Starting with software, we saw impressive growth in our software-attached bookings in 2024, which increased by over 60% versus 2023 and exceeded a double-digit percentage of our total bookings in each quarter of 2024. We defined software-attached bookings as a sale of either our Ouster Gemini perception platform or our BlueCity traffic management solution, along with sensors and associated accessories and services. Our software solutions currently serve the smart infrastructure vertical, which we see as a $19 billion market opportunity spread across ITS, security, logistics, and crowd analytics. Our 2024 bookings for Ouster Gemini and BlueCity are expected to expand our cumulative deployments to more than 700 sites.

BlueCity successfully passed the requirements of NEMA TS2, and we integrated Ouster Gemini and Genetec Security Center. We also expanded our distribution network, bringing on traffic technology partners covering nearly 20 states across the country to sell BlueCity to states and local governments, which should fast-track the adoption of our intelligent traffic control solution. I'm also excited to announce that shortly after the end of the fourth quarter, a leading global technology company renewed its Ouster Gemini annual license for over $1 million per year. This amazing milestone represents our largest software deal ever, and we have just scratched the surface of this potential opportunity as we increase our penetration with new and existing customers across the globe. Moving to LiDAR development, in 2024, we made significant advancements on our digital LiDAR roadmap.

On the firmware side, we introduced Firmware 3.1 with zero minimum range, along with improvements to accuracy and better obscurant penetration. We also spent much of the year developing Firmware 3.2, which we announced earlier this week and brings a powerful new set of features to our customers. We are also accelerating LiDAR adoption with two developer tools, Ouster SDK and Ouster Studio. Over the past 12 months, we have released four new versions of our SDK that include real-time localization, multi-sensor support, and up to 4x faster data visualization. We also added new features to Ouster Studio, our LiDAR visualization tool. The new Ouster Studio Web offers customers 250 GB of free LiDAR data storage, making it easy to store, access, organize, and collaborate across an organization. No other LiDAR company provides such a robust software development ecosystem.

Since launching in late 2022, Rev 7 quickly became our best-selling sensor as customers recognized its superior performance and enhanced reliability. Throughout 2024, we worked to upgrade select components in Rev 7 to improve reliability and thermal performance even further. We also taped out both our next-generation L4 and Chronos custom silicon. Our L4 sensor prototypes are generating rich point clouds and have moved into validation testing. Our Chronos chip is back from the fab and is undergoing bring-up. Finally, we delivered results in line with our long-term framework. We achieved revenue of $111 million, up 33% year over year, and aligned with our 30%-50% growth target. Our full-year margin of 36% sits squarely within our target range of 35%-40%. Operating expenses reflect our continued focus on maintaining our cost structure, and our average quarterly OpEx in 2024 was 7% below third quarter 2023 levels.

In summary, I'm pleased with our accomplishments in 2024. In 2025, Ouster, like other businesses, will be navigating the volatility and uncertainty in the current climate. We are encouraged by the opportunities to empower global industries with high-performance, reliable, and accessible 3D sensing solutions. I'll now turn the call over to Chen, who will provide more context on our fourth quarter financial results.

Chen Geng (Interim CFO)

Thank you, Angus, and good afternoon, everyone. In the fourth quarter, we shipped approximately 4,800 sensors and recognized $30 million in revenue. This represents our eighth straight quarter of revenue growth. We saw strong sequential unit growth of 23% as we saw large volume purchases from automotive and robotics customers. These two verticals were also the largest contributors to fourth quarter revenues, with industrial closely behind. We are helping these customers solve challenges in a range of applications such as robotaxi, last-mile delivery, mapping, and construction. This is a testament to the diversity of our business. Fourth quarter gross margin improved to 44% on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. Gross margin strength reflected record sensor volumes, along with lower costs related to legacy inventory. Absent this benefit, underlying gross margin performance was within our long-term framework target of 35%-40%.

This range remains an appropriate annual gross margin target for the business, and there may be quarterly variability in our margins due to customers' shipment schedules, product mix, and other factors. GAAP operating expenses of $39 million in the fourth quarter were down 9% over the prior year and up 1% sequentially. The sequential increase was primarily driven by higher litigation expenses of $6 million, offset by lower stock-based compensation. We expect operating expenses to fluctuate on a quarterly basis, largely due to the timing of R&D project spending and litigation costs. Turning to full-year results, for 2024, we shipped over 17,000 sensors and reported revenues of $111 million, an increase of 33% year over year. Bookings were $115 million and represented a book-to-bill ratio over one.

We are encouraged to see more customers moving into production, but this can come with a quarterly order cadence rather than large orders that cover a full-year outlook. Overall, we are maintaining our long-term framework of 30%-50% annual revenue growth. GAAP gross margin was 36%, up 2,600 basis points year over year. GAAP operating expenses were $145 million, down from $382 million in 2023, which included goodwill impairment charges of $167 million. Our balance sheet remains among the strongest in the industry, with cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments of $175 million at December 31st. During the fourth quarter, we received approximately $24 million of net proceeds from our ATM. Our differentiated financial position reflects our prudent decision to proactively manage our balance sheet. Finally, a quick note on the rapidly evolving tariff environment.

While there remains significant uncertainty over the path of tariffs, our supply chain is largely positioned outside of the countries currently impacted by the recently enacted tariffs, and we do not expect a material impact to our business at this time. Moving to guidance, for the first quarter, we expect to achieve revenue between $30 million and $32 million. I'll now turn the call back over to Angus to share our 2025 goals and closing remarks.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Thanks, Chen. I'm excited to share our three strategic priorities for 2025, which will be the most transformational year in Ouster's history. First, we are laser-focused on scaling our software-attached business. Second, we plan to transform our product portfolio. Third, we will continue to execute towards profitability. Starting with our software-attached business, in 2025, we are focused on capturing more of the $19 billion smart infrastructure market opportunity and have a dedicated sales effort for this vertical. For Ouster Gemini, we are working directly with some of the world's leading global corporations, as well as a network of strategic partners and integrators, to increase our penetration in security and logistics applications. We are expanding the use case of our BlueCity solution from intersections and crosswalks to applications like tolling and highway traffic management.

We are also working to secure partnerships for BlueCity to increase our presence to the entirety of North America, which would nearly triple our current footprint. We see promise in our EMEA and APAC markets as well, and we'll be implementing a similar sales strategy this year to expand our international software-attached business. After strong growth in our software-attached bookings in 2024, I expect further tailwinds in 2025 as our smart infrastructure customers embrace LiDAR's enhanced performance. I continue to expect margins from our software-attached business to be accretive to our hardware-only sales. Turning to our new product roadmap, our work in 2024 has set the stage for the biggest year of innovation in Ouster's history.

In 2025, we will transform the entire Ouster product portfolio, including all new hardware, powerful new capabilities embedded in firmware, new features in the Ouster SDK, and increased software functionality in Ouster Gemini and BlueCity. This week alone, we announced two product enhancements that expand our addressable market and make the development and usability of Ouster sensors and solutions easier than ever before. We introduced 3D Zone Monitoring, a major milestone on Ouster's industrial safety certification roadmap. For the first time, Ouster is embedding 3D Zone Monitoring directly into its sensor lineup. This new firmware feature allows our customers to detect objects within customized 3D zones and trigger real-time alerts or actions without the need for additional software development.

This feature is the result of significant demand from our material handling customers and will immediately expand our reach in the existing billion-dollar industrial market for legacy 2D LiDAR, where 2D zone monitoring has near universal adoption. With 3D Zone Monitoring, we are enabling the next generation of industrial robotics. Second, we introduced a cloud-based portal for Ouster Gemini, enabling users to seamlessly and securely configure, manage, and view all of their LiDAR deployments through a single unified interface. Additionally, customers can host data and review events and analytics directly in the portal. Gemini Portal represents a paradigm shift in the usability and convenience of our software and has the potential to add new software revenue streams over time. Finally, our next generation L4 and Chronos-powered sensors will mark a step change in our product portfolio, significantly improving the performance, reliability, and security of the Ouster product family.

Importantly, we estimate these innovations will more than double our current addressable market, particularly for automotive, industrial, and robotics applications. Lastly, we will remain focused on progressing towards profitability through a combination of consistent revenue growth, strong gross margins, and stringent control of operating expenses. For 2025, we are maintaining our long-term framework of 30%-50% annual revenue growth, gross margin in the range of 35%-40%, and operating expenses at or below third quarter 2023 levels. Our performance in 2024 is a testament to what sets Ouster apart as a LiDAR company: our people, customers, and technology. The product developments in 2025 will result in the largest increase in our addressable market in our history. I'm confident that we are on the right path to reaching our profitability goals and maintaining our status as the largest LiDAR company in the Western world.

I want to thank our employees, partners, and shareholders for their continued support. I would like to open up the call for Q&A.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder, press star one on your telephone keypad to ask a question. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Please ensure you are not on speakerphone and that your phone is not on mute when called upon. Thank you. Your first question comes from the line of Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.

Andres Sheppard (Equity Research Techknology Analyst)

Hey, guys. Good afternoon and congratulations on the quarter.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Hey, thanks.

Andres Sheppard (Equity Research Techknology Analyst)

You know, lots of great progress. Something that stood out to us in your prepared remarks, you talked about maybe the majority of the sensors in this past quarter being used for use cases like robotaxis and last-mile delivery. I'm wondering if you can maybe elaborate a bit further on that. You know, what are you seeing in those markets as this robotaxi segment becomes more commercializable? Is it more for passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, more delivery robots? Just wondering if you can maybe expand on that. Thank you.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, no, that's a great question. Thanks for highlighting. I mean, this is one of those great tailwinds that's propelling our business into the future. You know, we've had, there's been a kind of a trough of disillusionment in robotaxis over the last couple of years, but with the resurgence and success of Waymo in San Francisco and now expanding to L.A. and elsewhere, and a bunch of other kind of well-performing stocks in the robotaxi sphere, there's just, there's proof points that this is going to happen. It's, you know, it's fueling our customer base. We still have a number of high-profile customers in the robotaxi space, like Motional, like May Mobility, Torc Robotics, that, you know, now we see this as a positive piece of momentum for them, and it's positively affecting Ouster.

I'm definitely bullish on the robotaxi opportunities for Ouster in the future. On the last-mile delivery robotics, I mean, this is more, this is a general trend around physical AI. I use that term because that's, you know, that's what Jensen Huang has been labeling this whole movement of kind of industrial and medium-form factor intelligent machines that are emerging as a, you know, a critical new kind of innovation for AI, physical AI. Ouster obviously is powering the eyes of that revolution. We're, you know, already seeing the benefits of that with increased kind of mind share and commercial opportunities for the customers that we have in that space today. Very positive tailwinds to those aspects of the business. Thanks for the question.

Operator (participant)

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question, it is star one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from Tim Savageaux with Northland Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Tim Savageaux (Analyst)

Hey, good afternoon. I want to go back to something you mentioned about Ouster status as the largest LiDAR supplier in the Western world. You know, I wonder, it sort of begs the question to some degree, but I wonder what you are seeing out of your current and potential China-based suppliers and whether there are any kind of dynamics changing that and maybe a broader competitive update on what you're seeing in your target markets, especially in smart infrastructure and robotics. Thanks.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Sure. So I may be misinterpreting the question on supply chain, but if you're referring to Ouster's supply chain for manufacturing your own products, you know, we've taken kind of a strategic view there. We manufacture our products in Thailand with strong partners, Benchmark Electronics and Fabrinet. And we also still provide American-made LiDAR by American-certified LiDARs with a production facility in the United States. So, you know, we think we've kind of strategically positioned ourselves and our supply chain to be a strong kind of Western provider of this technology with a secure supply chain. On the competitive landscape, you know, just stepping back, Ouster has been consistently positioned as the diversified LiDAR company. It's kind of one of our three strategic pillars: digital LiDAR, diversification, and execution on core business initiatives. In smart infrastructure, I think we're leading the way.

We were leading the way just on pure sensor sales and building sensors that were applicable to the $19 billion smart infrastructure market in traffic analytics, traffic control and analytics, security and logistics automation. Now we're leading the way with software-attached business. There is a difference here because these markets are established markets. There are legacy players and legacy technologies, you know, whether it's camera-centric technologies for security applications or inductive loop and radar technologies and now traffic camera technologies in the ITS sphere. There are legacy competitors generating significant revenues in this space. I view that as a good thing because it's a proof point on the clear and concrete potential that Ouster is tapping into versus, you know, we're growing with this emerging market for autonomy and AI in our other markets.

There is a big pie to go after, and Ouster is bringing a significantly differentiated technology to the smart infrastructure markets. That is the key. When we are winning in a city like Chattanooga, it is because we are bringing superior performance, superior capability, more flexibility to a traffic operator, a DOT of a city, and we are meeting the economics. We are competitive on price. It is a very compelling sale, whether you are a traffic operator or whether you are a physical security manager at a utility company. I think we are well positioned there, and it is more about how we expand in those markets. First, product readiness and second, market education and market outreach. That is why we have these dedicated sales efforts to educate and do outbound commercial activity in the smart infrastructure sphere this year.

Tim Savageaux (Analyst)

Okay, thanks. I may have misspoke there, but I was talking more about your Chinese competitors in the supply chain and whether you're seeing any change in the competitive environment from suppliers that are competing with you based out of China, I guess, versus the supply chain.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, so I think that the, you know, there's obviously public results posted now by Hesai and RoboSense is another Chinese company that went public in the past year. And so there's more exposure to public investors for some of the competitive set in China. But the backdrop for Ouster is, you know, we've been competing with the same set of companies for the last nine years. And so the competitive dynamic really hasn't changed there. In many ways, actually, Ouster has brought with Rev 7 a mature version of the digital LiDAR technology that we built our business on to market in the last two years and increased our competitiveness versus our other competitors. So I feel very good about where we stand in these markets, where we have chosen to play and where we're able to play geopolitically.

We have maintained and in some cases grown significant market share over the last couple of years. I don't see a significant shift in the competitive landscape in the foreseeable future.

Tim Savageaux (Analyst)

Okay, great. Last one for me, I think you talked about doubling the TAM this year. I think you were at $70 billion before, so expect an incremental $70 billion, I guess. You talked about kind of breaking that down between segments. I assume auto might be a big piece of that, but any more color there would be great. Thanks.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, thanks for that color. In terms of the breakdown of the TAM, we've been consistent and still have the view that there's roughly an equal split between the four markets that we're going after: auto, industrial, smart infrastructure, and robotics. We have seen that play out in our revenue split in the last couple of years. In terms of TAM expansion, yes. The products that we have under development, we see doubling the TAM opportunity for Ouster. Biggest expansion in our TAM in the company's history. There's huge potential in continuing to develop digital LiDAR technology and the software solutions that ride on top of that. I really think we are just scratching the surface with today's set of products that we have in market. We really only have one product line, the OS sensor products.

We've been talking about the DF products for a long time. We've been developing and investing in them for a long time. That is obviously coming. There are many other products that we are developing as our resources as a company have expanded over the years. There is a lot to come here. Yes, we are going to have the biggest expansion in our addressable market in the company's history.

Tim Savageaux (Analyst)

Okay, thanks.

Operator (participant)

Your next question comes from Richard Shannon with Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.

Tyler Rohn (Equity Research Analyst)

Hi, this is Tyler Rohn for Richard Shannon. Thank you for taking my questions. Has your 3D zoning been gaining interest in the smart infra market as well? Have you seen any more engagement with the increase in manufacturing reshoring?

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, thanks for the question. The 3D Zone Monitoring, for those listening, we just released that this week. It's a firmware upgrade to all existing Rev 7 customers and future Rev 7 sales. It enables the sensor for the first time to process on sensor without any external software at all or external compute and determine when there are people or objects in the surroundings around a sensor. It's a very similar feature to what has been shipped on basically every 2D industrial LiDAR for the past 30 years. It's a requirement to serve that 2D industrial LiDAR with a new 3D LiDAR like we produce. This has been a long-standing requirement. Really excited and bullish on this in the industrial space. That's where it's targeted. We already have a lot of beta customers very happy with that functionality.

I would say it remains to be seen what other markets it becomes useful in. Not sure that it will be a key feature for the smart infrastructure vertical because we have even more sophisticated versions of perception that we sell in our BlueCity and our Gemini software solutions. It could be. You know, that's one of the benefits to Ouster. We have this platform of products that play across verticals. When we build something valuable for one vertical, occasionally there's crossover value into another vertical. We're happy to provide that value to those other customers as well. Your second question on just any benefits we're getting from reshoring or onshoring of some of our manufacturing. I just want to highlight that we've always maintained an onshore manufacturing presence. Our Buy American certification is not a new thing.

It's something we've maintained for the last, I think, four years now. We see an ongoing benefit of being a key Western provider of LiDAR technology and really the largest provider of this technology in the West at this point with onshore manufacturing capability when it's needed. Definitely driving a benefit from that, but it's not a new thing. It's something we've been investing in for years at this point.

Tyler Rohn (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, I meant more so on the manufacturing talks of other companies coming back here in semiconductor. Alongside of that, what kind of revenue streams could we expect? Could you describe any that you would be getting from the Gemini Portal, the additional ones?

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah. Yeah, I'm glad you're bringing this up. This morning we announced Gemini Portal, or yesterday morning we announced Gemini Portal, which is a cloud connection to the Gemini Edge deployments that we have. Basically, the idea is we have now about 700 deployments of Gemini and BlueCity booked, 300 deployments of Gemini at this point. In those cases, the customer is installing an EdgeBox, an Edge AI processor alongside our sensors at their facility. We have a couple of customers now that have hundreds of sites that they're deploying across. Management of those sites, health monitoring, diagnostics, configuration, upkeep, support, that starts to become a challenge unless there's a centralized hub for accessing those sites and managing them. That is what Gemini Portal is. It is that centralized cloud-based hub for aggregating.

It is not just about kind of the table stakes like maintaining a system that is already there. There is value that we are going to provide in the future through that portal. We mentioned a couple of things in the press release around our ability to collect event recordings, store them, allow the customer to review them, save them, share them, things like that, analytical layers that we can build in to give you information about crowd flows in your facility over the course of the day. There is a ton of value that we are going to be able to provide to our Gemini customers. We wanted to get the portal in a state that we can offer to all Gemini customers, all paying Gemini customers today. I expect to have more to come on other revenue streams in the portal in the future.

Tyler Rohn (Equity Research Analyst)

Awesome. Thank you. I'll hop back in with you.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Casey Ryan with WestPark Capital. Your line is open.

Casey Ryan (Analyst)

Good afternoon. Great quarter and great outlook. One thing that sort of might be helpful is to talk about the margin profile, the gross margin profile, I guess by vertical or if there is another way to look at it in combination between software and sensors. I am just curious how big the range is between, say, end markets, right? If there is a big GM delta between industrial and automotive and how you think about that sort of revenue or sort of margin contribution mix.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, I'll step in, but I'll allow Chen to give some additional color here. I think the first thing is just that we are running a margin-positive business on all four of our verticals just in case there's something unsaid there. We really want to make sure that we have sustainable long-term verticals that we're playing in. It's a reason why we don't name some verticals. Those four are specifically chosen because of the business and the margin we see now and long-term. We historically haven't broken out the margin. I'm going to stop there in case Chen has anything else to cover. We're not ready to give that level of insight into our business because it does start to inform things like costs and ASPs by vertical, which there are competitive reasons maybe not to share.

I'll let Chen add any additional color.

Chen Geng (Interim CFO)

Yeah, Casey, I think the only thing that would be additive to Angus's comment is that we have mentioned that we expect software-attached business to be accretive to our overall margin profile. As that revenue stream becomes a larger portion of the consolidated business, we do expect a tailwind from that.

Casey Ryan (Analyst)

Right. Right. That is really where the question goes, right, is that if verticals where the software-attached grows, the margin contribution grows, it sort of raises the question of your gross margin guidance, right, which could look kind of conservative coming out of this quarter, right? I know there were some one-time items, but in sort of a positive note, it looks like your business could be trending to a higher GM kind of target model. I just wonder how you think about that if you are uncertain about what the mix is or if you just want to be conservative as we go to 2025, but why you are sort of focused on keeping the 35-40% target range, I guess, for now.

Chen Geng (Interim CFO)

Yeah, no, I appreciate the comment. I guess there's a difference between our goal and our commitment to our shareholders. Absolutely, there are goals with our software growth and ways we could beat our commitment, have upside in the business. We've mentioned that many times, whether it's in the automotive industry or with our software-attached growth. We're showing really strong bookings, year-over-year growth of 60% in the smart infrastructure vertical with our software-attached booking. There are things like that that indicate there may be upside, but I want to pull it back and just ground us in what we're willing to commit to our shareholders is that long-term financial framework still. There's a lot of uncertainty, some of it out of our control in this day and age.

Thirty to 50% revenue growth, 35%-40% margins is where we think we'll be or where we feel we can commit to being through the path of profitability.

Casey Ryan (Analyst)

Okay. All right. Fair enough. One, I guess, last thing, sort of take smart cities as an example. How competitive is price as a factor, or is it really about the solution? Maybe the fact is that between the hardware and the software, your solution is superior, and that kind of wins the day. Just tell me how intense the pricing is necessarily if people can do apples to apples in sort of a competitive bid situation. That would be helpful.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah, absolutely. The pricing dynamics in smart infrastructure can be really different. Specifically in, you mentioned, traffic, the traffic industry. It's because a lot of this technology requires a public tender. There are pretty well-known kind of pricing requirements. Yeah, there's a lot of public information about pricing in traffic specifically. The takeaway from this all is pricing, you have to meet a price, but you do not necessarily need to. Once you meet a price, there's a performance benefit and a requirement commonly that's coming with that public tender and a reason why they have that tender out. They need a technology that can see both vehicles and pedestrians or that can be reconfigured on a monthly cadence instead of being dug into the ground.

There are requirements on the product side that LiDAR is uniquely positioned to provide that push it over the edge and make sure that we're winning a lot of tenders based on that performance feature set while meeting a price that is required through the public tender.

Casey Ryan (Analyst)

Right. Okay, good. That is sort of clarifying. I appreciate that. Thanks for the update. It sounds like a very positive outlook for the year. Thank you.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Thanks for the questions.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Madison DePaola with Rosenblatt. Your line is open.

Madison DePaola (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Hey, guys. I was just wondering, could you provide some more details on backlog?

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

Yeah. I assume the question on backlog, I think, is just the question on prospects for growth in the future. There I would first just highlight we had a very strong year delivering on our overall long-term guidance of 30%-50% growth. We did 33% year-over-year growth, $111 million in revenue. Unit volumes way up, 17,300 units shipped last year. We had a very strong year. Our booking support, that continued outlook and commitment to 30%-50% growth in 2025. Obviously, we're guiding up in Q1 this year. We haven't given specific backlog numbers. I can say that the backlog supports the continued growth at the commitment level that we've outlined in our long-term model.

Maybe I'll just say we have, anecdotally, the customer set that we have started to announce with, that we have started to show proof points in the market of with their marketing, is indicative of the continued growth and investment from a mature and sophisticated customer base. I'm talking about customers like John Deere, who at CES announced publicly working with Ouster LiDARs, had Ouster LiDARs on their tractors at their booths, in their presentations, or Google Maps announcing at the Paris Olympics last year and showing Ouster LiDARs on the Google Maps vehicles on their new fleet. Really good evidence of the customers that are sophisticated, historic LiDAR users, but moving into a modern era of autonomy with 3D LiDAR powered by Ouster.

Madison DePaola (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

The next question is a follow-up from Andreas Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.

Andres Sheppard (Equity Research Techknology Analyst)

Hey, guys. Sorry, I think I got off the first time, but thanks again for all the helpful context on our question there. Just a quick follow-up, maybe a question for Chen. You mentioned, I think you don't expect material impact from tariffs. I'm curious, do you expect material impact to your customers or to your supply chain? If you could maybe expand on that. Can you just remind us your capital needs? No debt, $175 million. What are any outstanding capital needs? Thank you.

Chen Geng (Interim CFO)

Sure. Thanks, Andreas. On the tariff side, I think the best we can do is comment that the environment is rapidly evolving, and we are adjusting to that environment as quickly as we can. At this point, we do not see any disruptions to our supply chain, and we continue to work with our customers. I think it is a little bit difficult to anticipate what may happen with that environment even in the next day, much less the next year. On the capital needs side, we are continuing to be a fairly low capital needs business. We will continue to fund the development of our next-generation sensors and transform the product portfolio in 2025. The way that the company is currently capitalized, the way that the company is currently supported from a personnel standpoint, we believe is pretty sufficient to still deliver a lot of growth ahead.

Andres Sheppard (Equity Research Techknology Analyst)

Thank you. Super helpful. Again, congrats on the strong quarter. I'll pass it on.

Operator (participant)

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call to Angus Pacala for closing remarks.

Angus Pacala (CEO and Co-Founder)

All right. Thank you all for joining the call. We look forward to speaking with you all again during the first quarter call in early May. Have a good day.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.