Zeta Global (ZETA) Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026 summary

Strategic vision and platform evolution

• Transitioning from a marketing-focused platform to an intelligent AI infrastructure, aiming to help enterprises run core business operations beyond marketing over the next five years.

• Athena, the AI-driven platform, is central to future growth, with rapid adoption and higher-than-expected ROI, especially through voice-enabled interfaces.

• Major upcoming announcements will expand Athena's capabilities to integrate and optimize entire enterprise operations.

• Strategic partnerships with OpenAI, Snowflake, and Palantir have led to a complete re-architecture of the Data Cloud, accelerating onboarding and enhancing data privacy and security.

• The Palantir partnership is expected to significantly boost enterprise adoption and pipeline growth, with a seven-year go-to-market plan and increasing deal sizes.

AI adoption, data strategy, and customer impact

• Athena's voice interface has driven 40% of super-scaled clients to become monthly active users within four months, with 83% of engagement via voice.

• Clients are leveraging Athena and custom AI agents to automate tasks, build audiences, and activate campaigns, resulting in higher platform utilization and net retention rates above 115%.

• Data privacy is maintained by merging client and proprietary data using anonymized IDs, enabling advanced analytics without exposing sensitive information.

• The proprietary data moat, built over 20 years, is a key differentiator, with a strict policy against selling or exposing data to third parties or large language models.

• AI infrastructure is largely homegrown, keeping token utilization costs below 1% of revenue and enabling scalable, efficient growth.

Financial performance and growth drivers

• Last quarter saw 44% top-line growth, 56% EBITDA growth, and 73% free cash flow growth, driven by both new and existing customers.

• Sales pipeline grew 40% year-over-year in Q1 and 60% in Q2, with average deal sizes increasing by over 25%.

• Sales productivity has improved as headcount growth slowed, with a focus on hiring industry experts and leveraging a one-to-many agency model.

• Net retention rates have consistently exceeded targets, averaging 115%+ over four years, with customer additions and ARPU growth both outperforming model expectations.

• The business is diversified across 15 industry verticals, with no concentration risk and a growing presence in healthcare.