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A company that plays in the cloud and data really works with small business companies A great read. In fact, we're talking about the company Zero. It's an eighteen point one billion dollar market cap cloud accounting software and small business platform company. So Kinder saying. Cassidy is the chief executive officer of Zero, which trades outside the United States, is based in Wellington, New Zealand, and she's joining us from San Francisco on this Tuesday. So Kinder, good to
have you here with Tim and myself. Tell us a little bit more about your company, the bulk of your business, where growth comes from, who your customers really are industry wide as well as geographically.
Sure, well, thank you so much for having me on.
As you know, Zero is a cloud based accounting platform global in nature. We're about two point one billion dollars in revenue aud We trade on the ASX. But the most important thing is we have over four million customers around the world in key geos like the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and one hundred and eighty other countries providing them not just cloud based accounting software to small businesses and their accountants, but also providing payroll and payment services
alongside that. So global footprint many markets, but certainly in the US, the UK and Australia are Big three.
So given what you do, you have an incredible view on the economy globally, not just based on who your clients are and what they're actually doing with their software, but how your software is actually selling. So given the data points that you understand, the regions in which you operate, how would you characterize the global economy right now?
You know, I'd see the global economy as almost as you all read it, which is, I would say an economy of mixed signals versus the data. So, as you noted, we operate across many geographies, and you would still see relatively strong jobs growth. As an example, you would still see relatively strong sales growth across many markets for our small business customers. And yet the sentiment in many markets
is one of uncertainty. You have small businesses in different markets looking at different tear pressure that might put pressure on their cost of goods sold or imply price increases for their customers. They're certainly nervous about cash flow in that regard. And then you have some enduring issues for small businesses that are despite macro. You know, macrocanoptimes, which is the enduring problem of cash flow in managing things like late payments. So we see, as I said, relatively
mixed signals. But I think we can agree that they feel uncertain in this environment, and of course we believe our software is there to help them manage their cash flows in that uncertainty.
How much of the uncertainty is a result of what's going on here in the United States.
I think a fair amount.
I mean, look, you know, as you all know, small businesses in the US, including in the US. In the US as an example of small businesses, we're growing very healthily pre COVID, five to six percentage points a year according to our data. And then what we saw is with COVID, a big disruption. And then of course, just as they started to recover from COVID inflationary pressure eleven
interest rate increases. And this is that we're trying to starting to settle from that, and maybe the promise of let's say a deregulated environment, well, along comes new uncertainty with it, as an example, tariffs, So they are having to navigate a lot, and in the last ten years, certainly, certainly in the last few months even more so.
Kid, what are the things too we're worried, not worried, curious about. And I know it's something you have been working on, and that is to expand your presence in North America. And it sounds like the US specifically walk us through what you have been doing, the investments you've been making, and what kind of growth you are seeing. And I'm also just kissous generally about your exposure to the US market.
Yeah, so interestingly, we're probably one of the few, you know, native cloud SaaS businesses of very large scale that is underweight the US meeting.
The US was a new market for Zero.
Obviously, I'm based here in Silicon Valley and have been here for the last thirty years. But for Zero, they entered the US market maybe a decade ago on the promise of bringing cloud based accounting to the market. It was largely a desktop market, and over the last ten years, i'd say the company's steadily increased its focus and presence in the US and is now seeing a nice acceleration of those efforts in subscriber growth, very strong subscriber growth.
We just reported results about a month about a week ago, very strong revenue growth here in the US, and what we see is very much in.
A lot of white space.
There's still a large, large number of small businesses that have never digitized their back end accounting here in the US, and obviously the opportunity to do so save some time, saves some money, and with AI can offer new insights. So we see a pretty attractive market landscape her that we've been building towards.
How do you do this at scale with a salesforce that you know? Is it cold calling? Because when you're calling on these small and medium sized businesses, some of them are indeed very small, and those could be pretty small accounts. Is it self service? How do you handle the incoming or is it outgoing?
Well, you know, in the US, we have a multi channel approach, just because we do everywhere around the world. We have a pretty big direct or self service motion where small businesses can discover zero online through ads through social media. We have large Facebook and LinkedIn engagement and can come to the website and sign up directly so we have a big direct funnel.
We have a salesforce, but that salesforce, believe it.
Or not, calls on accounts and bookkeepers, not some small businesses directly, because of course, many of the small businesses we have work with an account and bookkeeper for their taxes and bookkeeping. And then the third thing is we have increasingly new channels and new partnerships working with other vertical SaaS providers. You know, people like the neo banks around the world where they refer customers into zero as an SMB is starting their journey in payroll of payments
or banking. And so we work across all three channels everywhere in the world pretty successfully.
How are you using AI right now from the not just of with your clients, but also when it comes to sales.
Yeah, so look, I think that like many cloud based accounting services or cloud based services, our first goals to put AI in the hands for our customers. So the full focus is on launching Jacks, which we did this past year. Jacks's just as zero. It's our sort of CampaignOn if you think on the site of your mini CFO in a box that helps you use zero. This year we're very much focused on the expansion of jacks for our customers so we can do more jobs for you on our platform. And of course that is the
promise of AI. Just really give back first and foremost time on these tasks, accounting tasks, payment tasks, and then to give you more intelligence, more reasoning, and all the insights our platform has to offer. To really expand that offering through AI. That's the first and foremost focus of the company right now.
You know, it's so funny when earning season we go through in the United States and we get to the application software part the earning cycle, We're.
Like, oh, yeah, there's another one.
There's another one, there's another one. It's not companies we talk about all the time. Some of the bigger one were.
Driving from the San Francisco Airport into San Francisco and seeing the billboards.
Yeah, it's exactly.
You know, we do not have a billboard on the one oh one.
I will say that we're more targeted in our advertising, but I know a lot of tech companies do. Our small businesses are all over North America, so we spend our dollars or elsewhere outside of just the tech corridor.
That's what I'm trying to get to like our audience or the investment audience, like what is it that they need to understand? But you guys specifically amid a space that has a lot of players.
Sure, So first of all, just to note, Zoo was one of the you know, highest growing software SaaS platforms in the world. You know, we just grew twenty three percent year over year. We're profitable, we're rule of forty four. Just because we don't trade on Nasdaq does not mean we don't have a gold global footprint. We were based and launched in from the Australian New Zealand region, so
that's why we trade there. But the most important thing is, you know, we are a strong, growing SaaS player betting on the macro digitization of small business software and the cloud accounting space still has a lot.
Of yield in most markets in the world, including the US.
So excited to play where we do and excited to stead this many small businesses.
Are you looking to list in the United States? Like, as you make investments in the US, look to expand your business in the US, or you're looking to list in the United States, Well, right.
Now, we're pretty happy on the ASX. We have shareholders who are very fundamentally oriented and interested in our longterterm growth. We do have US shareholders in the share base. If we would ever consider, you know, listing, it would probably we'd be thinking about maybe at some point in the future of duel listing, no time frame, no commitments, but really just to widen the ability for all investors to
participate easily in the zero story. But pretty contemp right now with that ASX listing and a really great shareholder base.
Hey, very briefly, before we let you go, tariffs in the new tariff regime here in the US, where the average tariff rate is pretty much increased fivefold over the last year, and that's before deals have been signed with many different trading partners here in the US. How's it affecting the small businesses that make up the North American portion of your companies.
Well, I think you have hit the nail on the head. I think what they're trying to forecast is what the cost or disruption is to the supply chain. You know, let's hope it's not disruption, but rather, you know, the management of a lower triff scenario. We will wait and
see what happens here over the next ninety days. I think they're mostly trying to figure out, Hey, what is the implication for their cost of good sold, what's the implication for availability of supply, and lastly, what's the implication for price rises they may need to entertain in order to be able to hold margin if their cost of good goes up. And again, like we really think of our business as trying to help them navigate those changes with increasing insight and foresight.
All right, really appreciate getting some time with you, so Kinder, Thank you so much. S Kinder seeing Cassidy, chief executive officer of Zero, joining us from San Francisco,