Blackpearl ARR jumps 114pc to NZD $23.7m, eyes NZD $30m

Blackpearl Group has reported its strongest organic growth quarter on record, with annual recurring revenue rising 114% year on year to NZ$23.7 million at the end of the third quarter of its 2026 financial year.

The dual-listed Wellington-based company said annual recurring revenue rose 22% over the quarter. It reported a NZ$4.3 million increase in annual recurring revenue during the period. Blackpearl said it achieved the result despite typical December-quarter seasonality in the US market.

The company linked the performance to a multi-venture platform strategy and a broadening revenue mix across its product portfolio. It highlighted Pearl Diver, Bebop and B2B Rocket. It also pointed to Data as a Service as a contracted revenue stream.

"This wasn't a one-off. We're scaling faster because the platform is working, the products are landing and customers are buying at higher value. ARR up 114% year on year doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you build something that actually solves a painful problem and then execute hard," said Nick Lissette, Chief Executive Officer, Blackpearl Group.

Customer mix

Blackpearl said customer behaviour in the period followed a familiar pattern, with some lower-tier customers reducing spend during December. The company said it saw a shift towards higher-value customers. It also cited longer-tenure customer relationships.

"Lower-tier customers pause spend in December. That's expected. What matters is what replaces them," said Lissette. "This quarter ,we replaced seasonal churn with larger, longer-tenure customers and contracted data revenue. That's the mix shift we want to be driving our growth," said Lissette.

In its quarterly metrics, Blackpearl said software-as-a-service churn improved year on year to 8.3%, compared with 9.4% in the same quarter a year earlier. It reported customer acquisition cost payback of 3.9 months, down from 4.6 months in the prior quarter. The company also said annual recurring revenue per employee rose to NZ$306,000, a 21% increase over the previous quarter.

Blackpearl said Data as a Service revenue churn remained at zero. It described Data as a Service as contracted revenue. The company said these agreements embed its data into customer revenue operations.

Product portfolio

Blackpearl develops software services for small and medium-sized businesses in the United States. It sells products focused on customer acquisition and revenue growth. The company positions the offering as an alternative to traditional sales and marketing spending.

Blackpearl said the Pearl Engine sits at the centre of its platform. It described it as a proprietary data and intelligence platform. The company said it supports real-time buyer identification and automated revenue actions.

The company said the Pearl Engine scaled during the quarter to process more than 21 billion signals per day. It said the platform ingested more than 30TB of data per month. It linked the scale to real-time buyer identification and automated revenue actions.

Pearl Diver identifies in-market buyers, according to Blackpearl. The company said it supports retargeting. It said Bebop generates commercial intelligence and sales talking points. It said B2B Rocket uses agentic AI to qualify leads and book meetings.

"The Pearl Engine is doing exactly what we built it to do - compound," said Lissette. "Every product, every customer and every data contract increases the velocity of the platform," said Lissette.

Targets

Blackpearl said the quarter left it on track towards NZ$30 million in annual recurring revenue. It also discussed scale and efficiency improvements over time.

"This quarter puts us firmly on track toward $30 million ARR and into the phase where scale and efficiency start to compound," said Lissette.

The company said it completed an ASX listing during the quarter. It said it now enters the final quarter of the financial year focused on scaling distribution, increasing product contribution and expanding Data as a Service adoption.

"Our goal is simple," said Lissette. "Scale faster, sell smarter and keep compounding. We're entering 2026 with momentum and we're building toward $50 million ARR with intent," said Lissette.