Blackpearl opens US enterprise channel as profitability target moves closer

Profitability target moves to Q1 FY28

Blackpearl Group (NZX/ASX:BPG) has narrowed its EBITDAF loss to $2.97 million for the September quarter and moved its profitability target to Q1 FY28, replacing the previous quarterly guidance for Q3 FY27. The loss was 34% lower than in Q1 FY27 and within the company's guidance.

The more consequential change sits in the cost base. Blackpearl says operating model changes across sales, marketing, development and customer functions have reduced quarterly costs by approximately 27% on a run-rate basis compared with Q4 FY26, equivalent to about $9.4 million annualised. The full benefit is expected to apply from Q3, as the changes only took effect during the quarter.

US distribution deal opens enterprise pipeline

The new profitability target is being paired with a different route to market. Blackpearl has established a non-binding heads of agreement with one of the largest data providers in the United States, which serves Fortune 500 companies with B2B intent data and demand generation. The arrangement follows the company's earlier shift towards platform services, including its Platform as a Service launch.

The partner will refer enterprise demand to Blackpearl, which will provide data and platform services while retaining the customer relationship. The proposed revenue share ranges from 20% to 40%, depending on deal type, and the identified referral pipeline contains more than 70 companies with typical contract values of US$10,000 to US$30,000 a month.

Blackpearl says the channel carries no upfront customer acquisition cost because the partner originates each relationship, giving the referrals immediate payback. Those economics are attractive on paper, but the agreement is not binding and the pipeline is not contracted revenue. The company's stated H2 priority is to convert those referrals into signed customers while preserving the lower cost base.

Revenue grows as mix shifts towards DaaS

H1 FY27 revenue rose 42% to $7.33 million from $5.15 million a year earlier. Q2 revenue was $3.39 million, with Blackpearl attributing the softer quarter to the US summer holiday period and choosing not to increase direct customer acquisition spending while it built its partnership and platform strategy.

Data as a Service now represents approximately 40% of total revenue, while platform revenue is consumption-based and partnership contracts may bill on their own cycles. From Q3, Blackpearl will use statutory revenue as its growth measure in forward reporting, rather than presenting recurring revenue as the complete picture.

Pearl Engine widens benchmark lead

Blackpearl also reported a sharp increase in its GTM-Bench lead over leading foundational models. The Pearl Engine's advantage grew from 22,575 points over GPT-5.5 in June to 158,595 points over Claude Fable 5.1 in September. On the September measure, the Pearl Engine scored 205,732 against 47,137 for the leading model.

That benchmark is Blackpearl's own public measure of how effectively AI systems match buyer demand with seller propositions, so the figures are company-reported rather than an independent industry comparison. The immediate test for the strategy is whether the claimed technology advantage helps turn the US referral pipeline into revenue without rebuilding the costs the group has just removed.