Energous Corporation Q1 FY2026 earnings call

Company Strategic Transformation

• Founded in 2012 with a consumer electronics wireless charging vision, the company strategically repositioned entirely around enterprise IoT in 2022, focusing on powering battery-free sensors, tags, and monitoring devices for commercial environments where battery dependency is uneconomical and operationally prohibitive
• Key target verticals include supply chain, cold chain compliance, logistics, retail inventory management, and asset tracking; the company has crossed the chasm from technology validation to volume commercial production

Competitive Advantages

• Regulatory: Holds the world's first FCC Part 18 certification for out-of-distance wireless charging, with multi-jurisdictional regulatory approvals that require years of development and testing and are not easily replicable
• Intellectual Property: Owns a portfolio of over 300 patents that create a significant barrier to entry for competitors in RF-based wireless power for IoT
• Operational Experience: Has completed proof of concept and commercial deployments across dozens of enterprise environments, with real-world installation and performance knowledge that cannot be quickly acquired by new entrants
• Reliable Power Delivery: Delivers guaranteed consistent power for mission-critical applications, a capability that ambient harvesting alternatives cannot match

Product and Infrastructure Updates

• Core product portfolio includes the PowerBridge family of wireless power transmitters: the PowerBridge Pro (for retail, logistics, cold storage and production facilities, zero returns since 2024 commercial launch, with regulatory approvals for the US, UK, and EU), the 2025-launched PowerBridge Pro Plus (with integrated gateway for wireless power network solutions), and the 2025-launched eSense battery-free tag (low-temperature tolerant, waterproof, reusable, ideal for cold chain monitoring)
• End-to-end solution offering combines transmitters, battery-free sensors, gateways, and the cloud-based eCompass analytics platform that delivers real-time operational intelligence, compliance data, and input for AI models
• Added a second US-based contract manufacturer alongside an existing international partner, enabling access to previously unreachable customers and meeting growing enterprise demand for domestic supply chain sourcing

Commercial Deployment Progress

• Two active large-scale commercial deployments with Fortune 10 enterprise customers:
  1. Leading national retailer for inventory management and cold chain compliance: 4,700 planned US locations, 1,500 completed installations to date, delivering 99% asset visibility enabled by PowerBridge Pro's 8 watts EIRT power output
  2. Major e-commerce fulfillment, reverse logistics, and grocery enterprise: program expanded to multiple use cases and geographies, with 14 international installations completed and 35 total facilities planned for 2026
• Active proof of concept pipeline includes: a full end-to-end solution deployment for an international power company's subsidiary's semi-perishable inventory tracking, a national QSR operator's food safety and cold chain monitoring program (a major new vertical for the company with potential thousands-location deployment), and multiple government/regulated sector opportunities that prioritize domestic manufacturing
• Active co-selling partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) via the AWS ISV Accelerate program, with over 50 customer launches listed on the AWS partner page, creating a scalable source of new commercial pipeline

Energist reports aggregated revenue for Q1 2026, with no formal segmented financial breakdowns provided in the call. Total GAAP revenue for Q1 2026 was $3.1 million, representing a 933% year-over-year increase from $0.3 million in Q1 2025, and the fifth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth. Cost of revenue for Q1 2026 was approximately $2 million, resulting in a 36% gross margin, up from 27% gross margin in Q1 2025. The gross margin improvement was driven by higher shipment volume of the company's flagship PowerBridge Pro product. Total operating expenses for Q1 2026 decreased 21% year-over-year to $2.9 million, from $3.7 million in Q1 2025. GAAP net loss for Q1 2026 was $1.7 million, a 51% improvement from the $3.4 million net loss reported in Q1 2025. Full year 2025 total revenue was $5.6 million, a 633% increase over 2024, with Q4 2025 revenue of $3 million representing a 139% sequential increase from Q3 2025. As of Q1 2026 end, over 39,000 total PowerBridge transmitters have been deployed, with more than 25,000 shipped in full year 2025.

• Management expects multiple active proof of concept programs to reach commercial deployment decisions during calendar 2026, and will provide increasing specificity on pipeline composition and scale as customers advance their timelines
• The company has no plans for additional drawdowns on its ATM equity program in 2026; management's top priority is executing on existing commercial programs and converting pipeline to revenue to make the path to profitability and cash flow breakeven increasingly visible
• Ramping of the new US-based contract manufacturer is expected to be completed in Q2 2026. With two contract manufacturers, the company states it has sufficient production capacity to accommodate any accelerated growth from converted POCs and customer expansions
• Management maintains the goal of sustaining sequential quarterly revenue growth, the trend it has achieved for five consecutive quarters entering Q1 2026

• All forward-looking statements regarding commercial conversion, growth, and profitability are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, as detailed in the company's SEC filings
• The company is unable to publicly disclose the identity of current major customers because customers have not granted permission for public naming, which limits transparency for investors
• International commercial deployments require minor product customization to meet differing regional RF frequency regulatory requirements, though the company notes it already has products that meet these requirements
• Working capital requirements are growing in proportion to the expansion of commercial deployment activity, as the company must fund engineering support, customer integration, inventory positioning, and certification work for multiple simultaneous customer programs

Q: Can the company confirm it can maintain its 5-quarter streak of sequential revenue growth through the rest of 2026, and what drives this growth? / A: Management states it is focused on converting its existing proof of concept pipeline (many sourced via the AWS co-selling partnership) into revenue-generating commercial deployments, while simultaneously working toward profitability and cash flow breakeven. The company is ramping its new US-based contract manufacturer to higher volume production to be prepared to fulfill demand as pipeline converts. (168 characters)

Q: Can you expand on the AWS ISV Accelerate relationship, the momentum of 50+ partner page launches, and the mutual benefits of the partnership? / A: The relationship with AWS is mutually beneficial: our solution provides AWS with a missing robust offering for real-time asset tracking and cold chain monitoring use cases that they did not previously have, while we get access to AWS's large enterprise customer base and AWS often sponsors POCs and compensates their sales team for selling our solution to speed up deployment timelines. Management clarifies 50+ launches do not equal 50+ unique customers, as one customer may have multiple orders for different use cases or facilities, but the growth from 5 to 50+ reflects clear market momentum. (398 characters)

Q: Is the company able and willing to pursue smaller S&P 500 customer opportunities in addition to its large Fortune 10 clients, and can you share details on the national QSR POC? / A: Management pursues all viable opportunities that come to the company, as core use cases are consistent across customer sizes, and third-party system integrator and installer partners help scale operations to handle multiple simultaneous opportunities. The QSR POC is with a major US national chain with thousands of locations across the country, making it a sizable potential opportunity. The company is actively working to get customer permission to publicly name key clients, but cannot do so currently. (297 characters)

Q: What is the size of the long-term market opportunity from the AWS partnership, and how does international expansion differ from US operations? / A: AWS has thousands of potential customers across retail, IoT, manufacturing, and logistics that have the same core pain points our solution solves, so the total addressable opportunity from the partnership is very large. International use cases are identical to the US, with similar margin profiles; the only key difference is that European markets require support for different RF frequency standards, which the company already accommodates with existing product variants. (261 characters)