Digimarc (NASDAQ:DMRC) reported sequential annual recurring revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026 while outlining progress and timing changes in its secure gift card, anti-counterfeiting and digital trust initiatives.
Chief Executive Riley McCormack said the company made “significant progress” in advancing adoption of its secure gift card solution, including the first commercial order for the product and a growing number of retailer discussions. Chief Financial Officer Charles Beck said ending ARR was $15 million in the first quarter, down from $20 million a year earlier but up 9% sequentially.
Secure Gift Card Rollouts Advance, With One Broader Launch Delayed
McCormack said Digimarc closed its first secure gift card commercial order in the quarter, representing more than $500,000 of ARR and covering gift cards from six closed-loop and open-loop brands. The company is now advancing rollout plans with 15 North American retailers, including eight of the 20 largest by sales, up from eight retailers and four of the top 20 at the time of the company’s prior earnings call two months earlier.
McCormack said market engagement has increased across retailers, brands and gift card networks, citing industry summits and meetings with large retailers and a leading program manager. He said some retailers are encouraging major brands to adopt Digimarc’s solution and are engaging with other retailers to create incentives for widely sold brands to move faster.
Digimarc’s rollout with Schnucks is underway, McCormack said. During the question-and-answer portion of the call, he said Schnucks had expanded the cards from 10 stores to 15 stores and is moving toward all of its locations. “They’re very happy with the solution, and we’re really thrilled with them as a wonderful partner,” McCormack said.
However, another retailer’s rollout planned for the summer will be more limited than originally expected, with a full rollout to nearly 600 locations now targeted for January 2027. McCormack attributed the delay to scanner vendor firmware timing, saying two scanner models did not become generally available in the required timeframe, including one model critical to the retailer’s front end. He said the issue was not related to Digimarc’s software, but to base functionality needed for the retailer to push firmware updates at scale. The scanner vendor has since shipped updated firmware, which is undergoing the retailer’s normal acceptance testing.
Beck said the timing shift means gift cards are no longer expected to be the largest contributor to ARR growth in 2026, though the company still expects “significant ARR growth” for the year. He said the change reflects timing of initial rollouts rather than a change in Digimarc’s conviction in the opportunity.
Anti-Counterfeiting and Digital Trust Businesses See Upsells
Digimarc also reported momentum in its product authentication business. McCormack said ARR from the company’s anti-counterfeiting solution continues to grow, driven by upsells and new customer wins. In the first quarter, Digimarc closed three upsell deals with existing anti-counterfeiting customers in pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and consumer goods.
Asked what was driving the anti-counterfeiting upsells, McCormack said it varied by customer. “Sometimes it’s adding new brands, sometimes it’s adding new geography, sometimes it’s adding new functionality,” he said.
In digital trust and integrity, McCormack said Digimarc secured a six-figure upsell with a global technology company that adopted its leak detection solution for web content. He also said the company is progressing discussions with an industry trade group seeking an industrywide solution to a problem made worse by advances in artificial intelligence.
McCormack emphasized Digimarc’s positioning around digital watermarking and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA, standard. He also said the company is developing an extension of its “trust layer” strategy aimed at agentic AI, where autonomous systems may need scalable ways to verify what is real, authentic and authorized.
First-Quarter Revenue Declines, But Loss Narrows
Total revenue for the first quarter was $7.6 million, down from $9.4 million in the same quarter last year. Beck said the $1.8 million decline was evenly split between subscription and service revenue.
- Subscription revenue was $4.4 million, down from $5.3 million a year earlier.
- Service revenue was $3.2 million, down from $4.1 million a year earlier.
- Subscription gross margin was 90%, up 400 basis points year over year.
- Service gross margin was 57%, compared with 65% a year earlier.
Beck said subscription revenue would have increased $600,000 excluding the two lost customer contracts, which contributed $1.5 million of subscription revenue in the prior-year quarter. Service revenue in the year-ago period included $500,000 from HolyGrail 2.0 recycling projects, compared with none in the latest quarter. He said Digimarc does not expect further service revenue from HolyGrail 2.0 because that program has ended.
Operating expenses were $11.7 million, down 36% from $18.2 million a year earlier. Beck said the decline reflected lower cash compensation costs due to reduced headcount, severance costs incurred last year, and lower consulting, software and hardware costs. Those savings were partly offset by $1.2 million in one-time legal and other costs tied to the corporate reorganization, as well as $500,000 in higher stock-based compensation.
Digimarc reported a net loss of $0.32 per diluted share, compared with a loss of $0.55 per diluted share in the prior-year quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, the company reported a loss of $0.07 per diluted share, compared with a loss of $0.40 per diluted share a year earlier.
Cash Position and Corporate Structure Update
Digimarc ended the quarter with $10 million in cash and short-term investments and no debt. The company used a little under $2 million in free cash flow and $900,000 to buy back 169,000 shares as part of its employee stock program. Beck said free cash flow usage improved by $3.7 million from the prior-year period despite revenue headwinds and a $3.4 million unfavorable change in working capital and other activity.
Beck also said Digimarc expects to finalize its new corporate structure, which shareholders approved, on or around May 16. The change will result in a new CUSIP, and transfer agent Broadridge will contact investors about exchanging shares.
McCormack said Digimarc remains focused on three core areas: retail loss prevention, product authentication, and digital trust and integrity. He also said the company continues to selectively pursue opportunities outside those focus areas, including recycling, where Belgian and German market demonstrations remain on track.
About Digimarc (NASDAQ:DMRC)
Digimarc Corporation is a technology company specializing in digital identification and authentication solutions. Its core offering centers on embedding imperceptible digital watermarks into images, audio, video and packaging materials. These watermarks carry unique identifiers that enable secure tracking, brand protection and content provenance across print and digital channels.
The company’s product suite includes software development kits and cloud-based services that allow enterprises to integrate digital watermarking into their existing workflows.
