Remitly Global, Inc. (RELY) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Access earnings results, analyst expectations, report, slides, earnings call, and transcript.
Overview
The earnings call highlights strong financial performance, exceeding revenue and EBITDA guidance, and a return to positive net income. The company is benefiting from new product initiatives and market trends, particularly the shift to digital remittances. Despite some uncertainties expressed in the Q&A, such as a lack of specific AI strategy details, the overall sentiment is positive with strong growth in high-amount senders and new product categories. The market cap suggests moderate stock movement, leading to a positive prediction for the stock price over the next two weeks.
Key Financial Performance
Revenue Revenue grew by 29% year-over-year to $1.635 billion in 2025. This growth was driven by an expansion of reach with new customer categories like high amount senders, the strength of the platform, and a focus on improving customer experience.
Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA reached $272 million in 2025, exceeding guidance. This represents a year-over-year increase of more than 500 basis points in adjusted EBITDA margin. The improvement was driven by efficiency gains, operating leverage, and AI-enabled enhancements.
Net Income Net income was $68 million in 2025, compared to a negative net income of $37 million in 2024. This improvement was attributed to AI-driven operational enhancements, scale advantages, and disciplined cost management.
Send Volume Annual send volume reached close to $75 billion in 2025, growing 35% year-over-year. This growth was supported by increased traction with high amount senders and business customers.
Quarterly Active Users (QAU) Quarterly active users grew by 19% year-over-year to over 9 million in 2025. This growth was driven by improved retention rates and customer lifetime value.
Free Cash Flow Free cash flow more than tripled year-over-year to $283 million in 2025. This was driven by strong revenue growth, efficiency improvements, and disciplined cost management.
Transaction Losses Transaction losses as a percentage of send volume reached a record low of 7.3 basis points in Q4 2025. This improvement was driven by a new AI-driven fraud detection and prevention model.
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Operating Highlights
Send Now, Pay Later product (Flex): Launched in 2025, Flex surpassed 100,000 users, ending the year with 120,000 total users and solid double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth. It bridges timing mismatches between earnings and transfer needs.
Remitly Business: Launched in 2025, it allows small- and medium-sized businesses to pay international contractors, vendors, and employees. Ended the year with over 15,000 business customers. Focused on micro businesses initially, with plans to scale to larger businesses.
Membership program (Remitly One): Ties new product offerings like liquidity, Wallet, and Card into a unified experience. Early adopters showed strong demand for the Send Now, Pay Later feature.
Geographical expansion: Scaled in the UAE with over 150% quarter-over-quarter growth in new customers. Launched outbound service in Japan and plans to enable sending from Saudi Arabia and Brazil, subject to regulatory approvals.
High amount senders: Volumes from high amount senders grew 15 percentage points faster than low amount senders in 2025. High amount senders now comprise nearly 50% of send volume.
AI-driven fraud prevention: Deployed a new AI-driven fraud prevention model, achieving record low transaction losses as a percentage of send volume.
Efficiency gains: AI-enabled enhancements improved efficiency and velocity, reducing developer time for product enhancements and optimizing treasury operations with stablecoin usage.
Leadership transition: Sebastian Gunningham appointed as the new CEO, bringing extensive experience in product rigor and operational discipline. Matthew Oppenheimer transitions to Chairman role.
AI as a strategic focus: AI is being leveraged to amplify productivity, streamline operations, lower fraud risk, and improve customer satisfaction. AI investments are a key part of 2026 priorities.
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Risk or Challenges
Political and Macroeconomic Environment: The company faced challenges in 2025 due to a difficult political and macroeconomic environment, which could impact customer behavior and financial performance.
Regulatory Approvals: Expansion plans in regions like Saudi Arabia and Brazil are subject to regulatory approvals, which could delay or hinder growth in these markets.
Fraud and Transaction Losses: Although AI-driven fraud detection has improved, there is still a risk of transaction losses, which could impact profitability.
Customer Acquisition Costs: While marketing efficiencies have improved, maintaining a low customer acquisition cost while scaling could become challenging.
Geographical Expansion: Scaling in new regions like UAE, Japan, and potentially Brazil involves risks related to market entry, customer adoption, and operational challenges.
AI Implementation: The company is heavily investing in AI for operational efficiency and fraud prevention, but over-reliance on AI could pose risks if the technology fails or underperforms.
New Product Adoption: The success of new products like Remitly Business, Flex, and Wallet depends on customer adoption and market fit, which are not guaranteed.
Competitive Pressures: The global remittance market is highly competitive, and maintaining a competitive edge in pricing and service quality is critical.
Economic Uncertainty: Economic conditions could affect customer remittance behavior, especially in key markets.
Operational Costs: Managing operational costs while expanding and launching new products could strain resources and impact margins.
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Guidance & Outlook
Revenue Growth: The company expects revenue to grow to $1.94 billion to $1.96 billion in 2026, reflecting a growth rate of 19% to 20%. Revenue from new products is expected to more than double in 2026.
Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $340 million and $360 million in 2026, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 18%.
New Products Revenue: Revenue from new products, including Flex, Remitly Business, Wallet and Card, and Remitly ONE, is expected to more than double in 2026.
Customer Categories: The company plans to expand its presence with high amount senders and very high amount senders, with strong growth expected in these categories. High amount sender volume grew 14% year-over-year, and very high amount sender volume grew 105% year-over-year in Q4 2025.
Geographical Expansion: The company plans to scale in the UAE, expand outbound services in Japan, and enable sending from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and potentially Brazil in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
AI and Operational Efficiency: The company will further expand the use of AI to improve productivity, streamline operations, lower fraud risk, and enhance customer satisfaction. AI is expected to drive operational efficiencies and top-line benefits.
Stablecoin Integration: The company plans to expand the use of stablecoins, enabling broader access to USDC and embedding stablecoin in treasury operations to generate working capital efficiencies and lower transaction costs.
Send Now, Pay Later (Flex): The company plans to expand the Flex product and launch Remitly credit, a recourse line of credit, in 2026 to provide customers with higher funding limits and a means of establishing credit history.
Remitly Business: The company plans to expand Remitly Business to the EU in 2026 and add features for larger businesses with advanced cross-border payment needs.
Membership Program (Remitly ONE): The company plans to expand penetration of Remitly ONE among its customer base throughout 2026, unlocking wallet and card global availability and launching Remitly Card Credit.
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Shareholder Return Plan
Share Repurchase: In 2025, Remitly repurchased $23.9 million worth of shares under a $200 million authorization. The company plans to increase the quarterly pacing of its buyback activity in 2026, prioritizing the repurchase of shares after organic investments. At current stock prices, the repurchase of shares is considered to provide a strong return on capital.
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Key Q&A
Q:What prior experiences prepare or inform Sebastian Gunningham's decision to join and lead Remitly?
A:Sebastian Gunningham highlighted his experience leading product and engineering organizations in both large and small companies, running complex businesses across continents, and serving as CEO multiple times. He also mentioned his role in running Amazon's payments business and his involvement in Santander's global digital transformations in payments.
Q:What are the macro impacts on the business, such as FX or immigration policy, and how are they affecting Remitly?
A:Vikas Mehta stated that Remitly had an exceptional year with record revenue and EBITDA, driven by strong execution and marketing efficiencies. He noted that the customer base is resilient despite geopolitical volatility. A 1% remittance tax on cash remittances is providing a tailwind, and diversification across geographies and products strengthens their confidence in guidance.
Q:Why is Q1 revenue growth faster than the full-year outlook, and why is the implied EBITDA margin for 2026 lower than Q4 2024?
A:Vikas Mehta explained that Q1 benefits from the 1% remittance tax and Ramadan timing, while H2 growth moderates due to business scale. The lower implied EBITDA margin for 2026 reflects normalized transaction loss rates, investments in new products, and a balanced approach to profitability and growth.
Q:What are Sebastian Gunningham's main areas of focus as he takes over as CEO?
A:Sebastian Gunningham emphasized the importance of product development velocity to address large markets and subsegments. He refrained from making specific commitments but expressed excitement about opportunities in the consumer and business markets.
Q:What is the opportunity for AI at Remitly, according to Sebastian Gunningham?
A:Sebastian Gunningham mentioned opportunities in customer-facing AI, internal efficiencies, and software development. He expressed optimism about AI as a strong multiplier for the company over time.
Q:What benefits have been observed from new products like Flex and One on wallet share and willingness to pay?
A:Vikas Mehta noted that Flex has opened a new category with 'Send Now, Pay Later,' addressing mismatches in earnings timing and creditworthiness. Flex has 120,000 users, with revenue doubling quarter-over-quarter. Flex users tend to send more than non-Flex users, indicating reduced friction and increased wallet share.
Q:What is driving the growth in high-amount senders, and what strategies are being employed?
A:Vikas Mehta highlighted product improvements, raised send limits, and targeted marketing campaigns as drivers. High-amount senders grew over 40%, and very high-amount senders (over $10,000 per transaction) grew over 100%. The company plans to continue product innovations and marketing efforts to capture more market share.
Q:Review of Unclear Management Responses
A:Management avoided providing specific details on how AI would be implemented at Remitly, offering only general statements about its potential benefits. Additionally, Sebastian Gunningham refrained from outlining specific strategies or commitments as he takes over as CEO, citing the early stage of his tenure.
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Earnings Word Cloud
The most frequently occurring keywords in this quarter's earning call
AI tailwind
Amazon
Chairman
Finance
Flex
Full
Gunningham
Investor Day
Send Pay
achievement
adoption
background
cadence
cash flow
company
core money
customer category
decision
developer
economics transaction
engineering
founder
fraud risk
leader delivery
mission
money border
money movement
movement product
outcome
platform AI
platform product
platform year
priority
product business
product velocity
record level
reflection
science
speed
term vision
unit economics
user
work
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The earnings call summary presents strong financial performance, product development, and a strategic market approach, with record high revenue and optimistic guidance. The Q&A section reveals potential risks in M&A and the 1% remittance tax, but overall sentiment remains positive. The company's expansion plans, AI integration, and new product launches suggest future growth. Given the market cap and the strategic initiatives, a positive stock price movement of 2% to 8% is expected over the next two weeks.
Remitly Global, Inc. (RELY) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Positive2-19
The earnings call highlights strong financial performance, exceeding revenue and EBITDA guidance, and a return to positive net income. The company is benefiting from new product initiatives and market trends, particularly the shift to digital remittances. Despite some uncertainties expressed in the Q&A, such as a lack of specific AI strategy details, the overall sentiment is positive with strong growth in high-amount senders and new product categories. The market cap suggests moderate stock movement, leading to a positive prediction for the stock price over the next two weeks.
RELY Report
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