Unity Software Q1 revenue up 41%, exceeding expectations

Q1 revenue up 41%, exceeding expectations; company raises 2021 revenue outlook to $1 billion

Unity Software Inc. (NYSE: U), the world’s leading platform for creating and operating interactive, real-time 3D content, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

"Our first quarter results are reflective of the powerful transition from linear 2D to real-time 3D, which is one of the most important changes in how people interact with technology," said John Riccitiello, President and Chief Executive Officer, Unity. "We believe that real-time 3D will continue to grow at an accelerated pace and achieve massive scale."

Unity is the world’s leading platform for creating and operating interactive, real-time 3D (RT3D) content. With Unity, creators have the tools to become RT3D creators. Creators, ranging from game developers to artists, architects, automotive designers, filmmakers and others, use Unity to make their creative vision come to life. With this broad approach, we believe the opportunity to create and operate rich and immersive experiences is almost limitless, setting up Unity to not only anchor tomorrow’s most advanced applications but to enable and power the metaverse at the most foundational level.

"Execution in the first quarter was very strong with revenue of $234.8 million, an increase of 41% from last year. We are encouraged by the growth of our customers contributing more than $100K of trailing twelve-month revenue and the healthy dollar-based net expansion rate during the first quarter," said Luis Visoso, Chief Financial Officer, Unity. "We continue to invest strategically in R&D and vertical expansion to enable Unity to lead the transition to real-time 3D."

First Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights

• Revenue was $234.8 million, an increase of 41% from the first quarter of 2020.

• Create Solutions, Operate Solutions, and Strategic Partnerships and Other revenue was $70.4 million, $146.6 million, and $17.8 million, respectively, an increase of 51%, 40%, and 12%, respectively, from the first quarter of 2020.

• Loss from operations was $110.9 million, or 47% of revenue, compared to loss from operations of $27.4 million, or 16% of revenue, in the first quarter of 2020. Our first quarter 2021 results were impacted by an increase in stock-based compensation expense primarily related to the satisfaction of the performance vesting condition on outstanding RSUs upon completion of our IPO, and an increase in both stock price and headcount.

• Non-GAAP loss from operations was $23.4 million, or 10% of revenue, compared to a non-GAAP loss from operations of $13.4 million, or 8% of revenue, in the first quarter of 2020.

• Basic and diluted net loss per share was $0.39, compared to basic and diluted net loss per share of $0.21 in the first quarter of 2020.

• Basic and diluted non-GAAP net loss per share was $0.10, compared to basic and diluted non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.11 in the first quarter of 2020.

• 837 customers each generated more than $100,000 of revenue in the trailing 12 months as of March 31, 2021, compared to 668 as of March 31, 2020.

• Dollar-based net expansion rate as of March 31, 2021 was 140% as compared to 133% as of March 31, 2020.

• Net cash used in operating activities was $88.9 million for the first quarter of 2021, compared to net cash used in operating activities of $32.0 million for the same period last year. Free cash flow in the first quarter of 2021 was $(100.6) million, compared to $(39.6) million for the same period last year. Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash were $1.1 billion as of March 31, 2021, compared to $0.5 billion as of March 31, 2020.

Recent Business Highlights

• New Unity customers in the first quarter span a wide range of industries.The first quarter 2021 saw new customers in household appliances, automotive, healthcare, aerospace, and government as well as a multinational retailer. One such customer - VirtaMed - will standardize development on Unity for both existing and future products. VirtaMed allows surgeons, physicians and medical educators to train in risk-free virtual environments and simulations for different diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

• Fortune 50 DIY retailer to employ Unity RT3D.Each week over 300,000 Lowe’s employees serve over 20 million customers from over 2,000 locations in the United States and Canada. Lowe’s is a long-standing user of Unity technology, but this quarter, its Lowe’s Innovation Labs unit engaged with our Accelerate Solutions group to test the ability of RT3D to optimize workflows and processes for their associates.

• KING released its first title built solely on Unity.In March 2021, the makers of the game Candy Crush, KING, released the latest in the Crash Bandicoot franchise, Crash Bandicoot on the Run, built entirely on Unity. As its first 3D mobile title, KING’s highly ambitious goals demanded that they be intentional about choosing a game engine. They chose Unity to bring a beloved franchise to mobile with console-quality graphics and playable on a broad array of devices.

• Unity aims to power the next generation of in-car experiences.Unity and HERE Technologies are collaborating to build the next generation of in-car experiences through embedded, automotive human machine interfaces with RT3D graphics capabilities. The collaboration aims to deliver a new range of high end, dynamic mapping and infotainment experiences such as autonomous driving, simulations, city planning and digital twin through a combination of automotive-grade map data and services with Unity’s RT3D platform.