nCinos AI Products Help It Soar

Sramana Mitra

Cloud stocks, trends, strategy, acquisitions.  

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Last year, cloud-based FinTech company nCino (Nasdaq: NCNO) went public. nCino helps accelerate digital journeys for financial institutions across the globe and its recent AI-based products are helping its stock soar despite the current turbulent conditions.

nCino’s Offerings

Wilmington, North Carolina-based nCino was initially set up as a bank to deliver improved operations and client services. In 2011, it was spun out as a separate company to cater to all the banks and credit unions with similar needs. nCino’s SaaS-based Bank Operating System provides a comprehensive solution to onboard clients, handle loan origination, and open accounts. The company has operations across North America, Europe, and APAC.

Its customer base includes global financial institutions, such as Bank of America, Barclays, Santander Bank and TD Bank, to enterprise banks, such as KeyBank, Allied Irish Bank, Truist Bank, and US Bank, to regional and community banks, as such ConnectOne Bank, IBERIABANK, Pacific Western Bank, and Coastal States Bank, to credit unions, such as Corning Credit Union, Navy Federal Credit Union, SAFE Credit Union, and Wright-Patt Credit Union, to new market entrants, such as challenger banks like B-North, DBT Företagslån, Recognise Financial, and Secure Trust Bank.

nCino’s Financials

For the third quarter, nCino saw revenues grow 43% over the year to $54.2 million, ahead of the market’s estimates of $49.52 million. Adjusted loss of $0.03 per share also beat analyst estimates of a loss of $0.09 per share.

By segment, subscription revenues grew 56% over the year to $43.3 million. Professional services revenues grew 7% to $10.95 million as the company continued to accelerate the deployment of a few large projects.

nCino expects to end the fourth quarter with revenues of $53-$53.5 million with non-GAAP net loss of $0.08-$0.09 per share. It expects to end the year with revenues between $200.7-$201.2 million and non-GAAP net loss between $0.16-$0.17 per share.

nCino’s AI Upgrades

During the quarter, nCino announced the integration of nIQ into a bank operating system. nIQ is nCino’s suite of AI, data analytics, and machine learning solutions that allows financial institutions to leverage data and make more informed decisions in real-time. Its first nIQ solution, Automated Spreading, helps commercial banking customers populate structured and unstructured data from financial statements and tax returns into nCino to reduce errors and transform underwriting. nCino claims that the solution has helped reduce the manual requirements of loan underwriting by 50-75%, increased efficiency for financial institutions, and accelerated the time to loan approval for these institutions.

Portfolio Analytics is another solution targeted at helping financial institutions understand their portfolios, the payment history of their customers, and what they can expect in the future. By integrating portfolio analytics into the bank operating system, nCino expects to be able to cross-sell this functionality into its legacy customer base.

The current conditions have made remote work a new normal and financial institutions can no longer treat digital strategy as a luxury. These organizations have to accelerate their digital transformation to manage the day-to-day operations, and they are leaning on nCino’s cloud banking platform to this end.

Prior to listing, nCino had raised $213.2 million at an undisclosed valuation in 8 rounds from investors including T. Rowe Price, Salesforce Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Wellington Management, John Mack, and Gene Ludwig. In July this year, it went public at a list price of $31 and within a few hours of listing, the stock had jumped 196% to as high as $91.88. Its stock is currently trading at $71.88 with a market cap of $6.63 billion.

Disclosure: All investors should make their own assessments based on their own research, informed interpretations, and risk appetite. This article expresses my own opinions based on my own research of product-market fit, channel execution, and other factors. My primary interest is in product strategy. While this may have bearing on stock movements, my writings tend to focus on long-term implications. The information presented is illustrative and educational, but should not be regarded as a complete analysis nor recommendation to buy or sell the securities mentioned herein. I am not a registered investment adviser and I am not receiving compensation for this article.

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