Research Solutions (RSSS) The 15th Annual East Coast IDEAS Conference summary

Market positioning and transformation

• Operates in a large, growing, non-cyclical market driven by AI and digitization of research.

• Transformed from a low-margin article delivery business to a vertical SaaS platform with AI capabilities between 2017 and 2021.

• Recurring revenue increased from $6M ARR in 2021 to over $20M, with SaaS revenue mix rising from 16% to 37%.

• Customer base expanded across 60+ verticals, with a single-digit market share in a large TAM.

• Focuses on research-intensive corporations and university libraries globally.

Product innovation and AI integration

• Offers SITE for AI-powered search and analysis of peer-reviewed research, reducing hallucinations compared to generic AI tools.

• Article Galaxy manages entitlements, subscriptions, and pay-per-view access, optimizing costs and reuse.

• References product enables organization, markup, and sharing of acquired articles.

• AI features include citation metrics, full-text search, and support/contrast analysis for research articles.

• Developing new products to help users manage and acquire AI rights for previously purchased articles.

Financial performance and business model

• SaaS platform revenue has 85%+ gross margin and is growing 20%+ organically.

• Transactional revenue, at 25% gross margin, remains stable and funds platform development.

• Blended gross margin has risen from 39% to nearly 50% as SaaS mix increases.

• Adjusted EBITDA reached $5.1M, with $6.7M in cash flow from operations and $9.9M cash on hand.

• Cash reserves are earmarked for strategic M&A, not required for organic growth.