ARR was SEK65.8m, corresponding to a 46% growth y/y, up from SEK61.7m in Q4. While the q/q increase of SEK4.5m was substantially stronger than the SEK0.4m seen in Q4 2023, it was below last year’s Q1 increase of SEK6.8m. Although a softer macroeconomic environment had a slight negative impact, the integration of BrightBid and Speqta has taken management’s focus in recent quarters, hurting sales. However, as the integration is more or less finalized, we and management expect ARR growth to accelerate in H2 2024 and 2025. In addition, Speqta has focused on larger customers as the product has become more comprehensive, leading to longer sales cycles. EBITDA – CAPEX was SEK -13.9m, somewhat lower than the SEK-12.7m we expected. The lower sales than expected was largely mitigated by lower OPEX than estimated.

As today’s Speqta has very little in common with the pre-BrightBid Spetqa – new business, new board, new owners, new management – we believe changing the company's name to BrightBid makes a lot of sense. It becomes clear to investors that this is another business and it strengthens the brand. The recent directed share issue brought in several interesting investors. The company now has a board and owner list that contains several people with vast experience from international SaaS businesses – which is rare in companies of Speqta’s size.

SEK9 implies a ~3.6x sales 2025e valuation multiple (in line with the average). While Speqta must prove it can sustain high growth and scale its business, the product is scalable internationally. That implies a huge TAM and should motivate higher multiples, all else equal. Speqta’s growth rate stands out as one of the highest, and if it can sustain solid growth while moving towards profitability, we believe it will trade at a premium to the average SaaS business.