Confluent, Inc. (CFLT): Lienzo del Modelo de Negocio [Actualizado en Ene-2025]

En el panorama en rápida evolución de las tecnologías de transmisión de datos, Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) surge como una fuerza transformadora, revolucionando cómo las empresas aprovechan los datos en tiempo real a través de su innovadora plataforma con alimentación de Apache Kafka. Al unir ecosistemas de datos complejos y permitir arquitecturas de eventos sin problemas, Confluent ofrece a las organizaciones una poderosa solución para desbloquear la eficiencia operativa sin precedentes y el potencial de transformación digital. Esta exploración integral de lienzo de modelo de negocio revela el plan estratégico detrás del notable enfoque de Confluent para ofrecer capacidades de transmisión de datos de vanguardia en diversos sectores de la industria.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: asociaciones clave

Apache Kafka Comunidad de código abierto

Confluent fue fundado por los creadores originales de Apache Kafka. A partir de 2024, la compañía mantiene una asociación crítica con la comunidad Kafka de código abierto.

Métrico de asociación	Detalles
Contribuciones de Kafka	Más del 70% del código de núcleo Apache Kafka contribuido por Confluent Engineers
Compromiso comunitario	Más de 60,000 desarrolladores activos en el ecosistema de Kafka

Proveedores de nubes

Confluent mantiene asociaciones estratégicas con las principales plataformas en la nube.

Proveedor de nubes	Detalles de la asociación	Contribución de ingresos
Servicios web de Amazon (AWS)	Nube confluente completamente integrada	37% de los ingresos por asociación en la nube
Plataforma en la nube de Google	Listado de mercado e integración técnica	28% de los ingresos de la asociación en la nube
Microsoft Azure	Oferta directa de servicios en la nube	35% de los ingresos de la asociación en la nube

Integradores de sistemas y empresas de consultoría

• Deloitte digital
• Acentuar
• Kpmg
• PWC
• McKinsey & Compañía

Proveedores de software empresarial

Proveedor	Tipo de integración	Madurez de la asociación
Databricks	Integración de transmisión de datos	Asociación técnica avanzada
Copo de nieve	Conectividad del almacén de datos	Alianza de tecnología estratégica
SAVIA	Integración de aplicaciones empresariales	Integración de sistemas globales

Socios de Alianza de Tecnología

Confluent mantiene extensas asociaciones tecnológicas en varios dominios.

• Sombrero rojo
• IBM
• Dell Technologies
• Sistemas de Cisco
• HPE

Valor del ecosistema de asociación total: una contribución anual estimada de $ 450 millones al flujo de ingresos de Confluent

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: actividades clave

Desarrollo de la plataforma de transmisión de datos en tiempo real

Confluent se centra en el desarrollo de la plataforma de transmisión de datos basada en Apache Kafka con las siguientes métricas clave:

Métrico	Valor
Gastos de I + D (2023)	$ 381.4 millones
Personal de desarrollo de software	Aproximadamente 1.200 empleados
Actualizaciones de plataforma anual	3-4 lanzamientos principales

Gestión de infraestructura en la nube

La gestión de la infraestructura en la nube implica:

• Gestión de plataforma en la nube confluente
• Capacidades de implementación de múltiples nubes
• Kubernetes y orquestación de contenedores

Métrica de infraestructura en la nube	2023 datos
Ingresos en la nube	$ 370.8 millones
Crecimiento del cliente en la nube	54% año tras año

Atención al cliente y servicios profesionales

Los servicios de soporte incluyen:

• Soporte técnico 24/7
• Consultoría a nivel empresarial
• Programas de capacitación y certificación

Métrico de soporte	Valor 2023
Personal de atención al cliente	Aproximadamente 400 profesionales
Ingresos de servicios profesionales	$ 42.6 millones

Innovación de productos y mejora continua

Métricas de innovación:

• Solicitudes de patentes presentadas anualmente
• Frecuencia de mejora de características
• Contribuciones de la comunidad de código abierto

Métrica de innovación	2023 datos
Inversión anual de I + D	$ 381.4 millones
Características del nuevo producto	27 comunicados principales de características

Soluciones de integración de software empresarial

Capacidades de integración:

• Conectores preconstruidos
• Gestión de API
• Compatibilidad del sistema empresarial

Métrica de integración	Valor 2023
Conectores totales	Más de 120 conectores empresariales
Ecosistema de socios de integración	65 socios estratégicos

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: recursos clave

Experiencia y propiedad intelectual de Apache Kafka

Confluente Holds $ 69.7 millones en patentes y propiedad intelectual relacionado con Apache Kafka a partir del cuarto trimestre de 2023. La compañía emplea 12 de los creadores originales de Apache Kafka.

Tecnología de transmisión de datos nativo de nube

Métrica de tecnología	Valor cuantitativo
Cobertura de la plataforma en la nube	AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
Ingresos anuales en la nube	$ 576.4 millones (2023)
Base de clientes de la nube	4.210 clientes empresariales

Ingeniería especializada y fuerza laboral técnica

Confluente emplea 2,385 empleados en total al 31 de diciembre de 2023, con 65% en roles técnicos y de ingeniería.

Plataforma de software integral

• Plataforma confluente
• Nube confluente
• Enterprise confluente

Infraestructura avanzada de procesamiento de datos

Capacidad de infraestructura	Métrico de rendimiento
Velocidad de procesamiento de datos	Hasta 1 millón de eventos/segundo
Centros de datos globales	23 regiones en todo el mundo
Inversión en infraestructura	$ 124.3 millones (2023)

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: propuestas de valor

Transmisión de datos en tiempo real y procesamiento de eventos

Confluent proporciona la plataforma de transmisión de datos basada en Apache Kafka con las siguientes métricas clave:

Métrico	Valor
Ingresos recurrentes anuales (cuarto trimestre de 2023)	$ 881 millones
Crecimiento de ingresos en la nube (2023)	47%
Recuento total de clientes	4,660
Recuento de clientes empresariales	1,025

Arquitectura nativa de nube escalable y flexible

Capacidades de infraestructura de nube confluente:

• Soporte de implementación de múltiples nubes
• Arquitectura nativa de Kubernetes
• Infraestructura de escala automática

Integración de datos simplificada en sistemas complejos

Confluent proporciona capacidades integrales de integración de datos:

Tipo de integración	Conexiones compatibles
Conectores de base de datos	50+
Conectores de aplicación	120+
Integraciones de plataforma en la nube	25+

Eficiencia operativa mejorada para empresas

Métricas de rendimiento para clientes empresariales:

• Reducción de la latencia: 70% de mejora
• Velocidad de procesamiento de datos: 1 millón de eventos/segundo
• Optimización de costos: 40% de reducción de costos de infraestructura

Conectividad de datos robusta y aplicaciones basadas en eventos

Estadísticas de conectividad de la plataforma:

Métrica de conectividad	Valor
Conexiones de API totales	3,500+
Protocolos de transmisión de eventos	6
Centros de datos globales	22

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: relaciones con los clientes

Plataforma en línea de autoservicio

Confluent Cloud ofrece una plataforma en línea de autoservicio Con las siguientes métricas clave:

Característica de la plataforma	Métrico
Usuarios de nivel gratuito	Más de 25,000 desarrolladores
Tiempo de registro en línea	Menos de 5 minutos
Disponibilidad de la plataforma en la nube	99.99% de tiempo de actividad

Soporte técnico y documentación

Confluent proporciona soporte técnico integral con los siguientes recursos:

• Soporte técnico 24/7 para clientes empresariales
• Canales de soporte multilingües
• Más de 500 páginas de documentación técnica detalladas

Participación comunitaria y recursos de desarrolladores

Métricas de compromiso del desarrollador:

Plataforma comunitaria	Compromiso de usuario
Repositorios de Github	35,000+ estrellas
Miembros del foro comunitario	45,000+ usuarios registrados
Conferencias anuales de desarrolladores	3 eventos globales

Gestión de cuentas dedicada

Detalles de la administración de la cuenta de cliente empresarial:

• Ejecutivos de cuentas dedicados para clientes que gastan $ 100,000+ anualmente
• Incorporación personalizada para clientes empresariales
• Reuniones trimestrales de revisión comercial

Programas de capacitación y certificación

Ofertas de desarrollo profesional:

Programa	Detalles
Administrador certificado confluente	4 niveles de certificación
Cursos de capacitación en línea	Más de 25 cursos disponibles
Participantes de capacitación anual	Más de 10,000 profesionales

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: canales

Equipo de ventas directas

A partir del cuarto trimestre de 2023, el equipo de ventas directas de Confluent constaba de 1.374 profesionales de ventas a nivel mundial. La cuota anual promedio por representante de ventas fue de $ 1.2 millones. Los representantes de ventas empresariales se centraron en clientes con valores de contrato anuales (ACV) superiores a $ 100,000.

Métrica del equipo de ventas	Valor 2023
Representantes de ventas totales	1,374
Cuota de ventas promedio	$1,200,000
Umbral de ACV empresarial	$100,000

Sitio web en línea y plataformas digitales

Los canales digitales de Confluent incluyen:

• Sitio web corporativo Confluent.io
• Plataforma digital en la nube confluente
• Mecanismo de registro de autoservicio
• Portal de documentación del desarrollador

En 2023, la plataforma digital generó aproximadamente el 37% de las adquisiciones totales de nuevos clientes con un tráfico mensual del sitio web de 782,000 visitantes únicos.

Integraciones del mercado de la nube

Mercado de la nube	Estado de integración	Ingresos anuales del mercado
AWS Marketplace	Activo	$ 42.3 millones
Mercado Azure	Activo	$ 28.7 millones
Google Cloud Marketplace	Activo	$ 19.5 millones

Ecosistema de socios

Confluent mantuvo 328 socios de tecnología y consultoría en 2023, con asociaciones estratégicas que incluyen:

• Databricks
• Copo de nieve
• Servicios web de Amazon
• Microsoft Azure
• Plataforma en la nube de Google

Los ingresos de origen socio representaron el 24.6% de los ingresos recurrentes anuales totales (ARR).

Conferencias técnicas y eventos de la industria

Confluent participó en 47 conferencias tecnológicas principales en 2023, que incluyen:

• Conferencia interna de Confluent: actual
• Kubecón
• AWS Re: Invent
• Google Cloud Next

Los clientes potenciales generados por eventos contribuyeron a aproximadamente el 18.3% de las nuevas adquisiciones de clientes, con una tasa de conversión de plomo de evento promedio del 12.7%.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: segmentos de clientes

Grandes organizaciones empresariales

A partir del cuarto trimestre de 2023, Confluent reportó 955 clientes con más de $ 100,000 de ingresos recurrentes anuales (ARR). La base de clientes empresariales creció un 25% año tras año.

Métricas de segmento empresarial	2023 datos
Total de clientes empresariales	955
Crecimiento anual de ingresos	25%
Valor de contrato promedio	$375,000

Empresas tecnológicas

Confluent sirve aproximadamente el 40% de las compañías de tecnología Fortune 500, con clientes clave que incluyen:

• Netflix
• LinkedIn
• Súper
• Lyft

Instituciones de servicios financieros

Los servicios financieros representan el 22% de la base de clientes empresariales de Confluent, con 215 clientes del sector financiero en 2023.

Segmento de servicios financieros	2023 métricas
Total de clientes financieros	215
Porcentaje de segmento	22%

Sectores de atención médica y telecomunicaciones

Confluent sirve a 180 clientes de atención médica y telecomunicaciones, que representan el 19% de la cartera de clientes empresariales.

Empresas centradas en la transformación digital

Aproximadamente el 65% de los clientes de Confluent buscan activamente iniciativas de transformación digital, con una inversión promedio de $ 450,000 por proyecto de transformación digital.

Segmento de transformación digital	2023 datos
Clientes en transformación digital	65%
Inversión promedio de proyectos	$450,000

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: Estructura de costos

Gastos de investigación y desarrollo

Para el año fiscal 2023, Confluent reportó gastos de I + D de $ 373.1 millones, lo que representa el 50% de los ingresos totales.

Año fiscal	Gastos de I + D	Porcentaje de ingresos
2023	$ 373.1 millones	50%
2022	$ 330.4 millones	55%

Mantenimiento de la infraestructura en la nube

Los costos de infraestructura en la nube de Confluent para 2023 fueron de aproximadamente $ 85.2 millones.

• Gastos de alojamiento en la nube con proveedores principales como AWS y Google Cloud
• Costos de transferencia de redes y datos
• Gastos de escala y optimización de infraestructura

Inversiones de ventas y marketing

Los gastos de ventas y marketing para el año fiscal 2023 totalizaron $ 438.4 millones, que fue del 59% de los ingresos totales.

Año fiscal	Ventas & Gastos de marketing	Porcentaje de ingresos
2023	$ 438.4 millones	59%
2022	$ 404.5 millones	67%

Compensación de empleados

La compensación total de los empleados para 2023 fue de $ 446.7 millones, incluidos salarios, compensación basada en acciones y beneficios.

• Personal de cabeza total: 2.620 empleados
• Compensación promedio por empleado: $ 170,500
• Compensación basada en acciones: $ 174.3 millones

Atención al cliente y servicios profesionales

Los gastos de atención al cliente y servicios profesionales en 2023 fueron de $ 98.6 millones.

Categoría de servicio	Gastos	Porcentaje de costos totales
Soporte al cliente	$ 62.4 millones	63%
Servicios profesionales	$ 36.2 millones	37%

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negocio: flujos de ingresos

Servicios de suscripción en la nube

Confluent informó ingresos recurrentes anuales (ARR) de $ 572.7 millones al cuarto trimestre de 2023. Los ingresos por suscripción en la nube crecieron un 34% año tras año, lo que representa el 52% de los ingresos totales.

Métricas de suscripción en la nube	Valor 2023
Ingresos recurrentes anuales (ARR)	$ 572.7 millones
Crecimiento de ingresos por suscripción en la nube	34%
Porcentaje de ingresos de la nube	52%

Licencias de software empresarial

La licencia de software empresarial de Confluent generó $ 294.3 millones en ingresos totales del producto para el año fiscal 2023.

Servicios profesionales y consultoría

Los ingresos por servicios profesionales para Confluent en 2023 fueron de aproximadamente $ 41.2 millones.

Contratos de soporte y mantenimiento

• Ingresos de contrato de apoyo total: $ 86.5 millones en 2023
• Valor promedio del contrato para clientes empresariales: $ 138,000

Modelos de precios basados ​​en el uso

Confluent ofrece precios escalonados con la siguiente estructura:

Nivel de precios	Costo mensual	Características
Basic	$50	Transmisión de datos limitada
Estándar	$350	Características avanzadas
Empresa	Precios personalizados	Capacidades de plataforma completa

Desglose total de ingresos para 2023:

• Suscripción en la nube: $ 298.4 millones
• Licencias de productos: $ 294.3 millones
• Servicios profesionales: $ 41.2 millones
• Contratos de apoyo: $ 86.5 millones

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core reasons customers choose Confluent, Inc. over alternatives, especially as real-time data becomes the backbone for everything from finance to AI. Here's the breakdown of the value they deliver, grounded in their late 2025 performance metrics.

Fully managed, elastic, and scalable data streaming (Confluent Cloud)

The cloud offering is clearly the growth engine. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Confluent Cloud revenue hit $161 million, marking a 24% year-over-year increase. This segment now accounts for 56% of the total subscription revenue. For the largest enterprises, the platform scales significantly; enterprise clusters can scale up to beyond 10 ECKUs per cluster, delivering over 7.5 GB per second of combined throughput. The success in landing big deals is clear: as of Q3 2025, Confluent had 234 customers with an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) exceeding $1 million, a 27% year-over-year acceleration in that tier.

Providing real-time, trustworthy context for AI and GenAI applications

This is where Confluent, Inc. is placing its strategic bet. They aim to be the necessary context layer for reliable AI systems. The adoption of their Data Streaming Platform (DSP) components, particularly Apache Flink, shows this momentum. In Q3 2025, Flink ARR specifically for Confluent Cloud grew more than 70% sequentially. Furthermore, over 1000 customers were actively using Flink during that quarter. When competing directly, Confluent has maintained win rates well above 90% against streaming offerings from the major Cloud Service Providers.

Simplifying complex data integration with 200+ pre-built connectors

You don't want your engineers building boilerplate integration code. Confluent offers a Marketplace where you can discover, explore, and activate 200+ Kafka connectors. These range from fully managed options to partner-verified integrations, designed to cut down the engineering time required for complex integrations that might otherwise take 12-24+ engineering months to build and maintain.

Multi-cloud and hybrid deployment flexibility (Cloud and Platform)

It's not just about the public cloud. For customers needing to keep data on-premises due to regulation or architecture, the Confluent Platform remains a key offering. In Q3 2025, Confluent Platform revenue grew 14% year-over-year, reaching $125.4 million. The introduction of Confluent Private Cloud brings cloud-native features, like centralized governance via Unified Stream Manager (USM), directly behind the firewall for hybrid environments.

Enterprise-grade governance and security for mission-critical data

For mission-critical data streams, governance and security aren't optional. The platform supports enterprise-grade controls like Single Sign-On (SSO), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and structured audit logs. For compliance in regulated environments, Confluent Platform deployments can be configured to meet the FIPS 140-2 standard for cryptographic modules. Furthermore, Confluent maintains the SSAE 18 SOC 2 certification, which covers security, availability, and confidentiality controls, and this report is available upon request. Financially, the commitment to a high-quality service is reflected in the Non-GAAP subscription gross margin, which stood strong at 81.8% in Q3 2025.

Finance: draft the Q4 2025 cash flow forecast update by Tuesday.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Confluent, Inc. manages its customer interactions, which is heavily weighted toward usage and enterprise scale as of late 2025. The relationship structure clearly bifurcates between the self-serve cloud offering and the more traditional, high-touch enterprise sales for the self-managed platform.

Consumption-based pricing model for Confluent Cloud usage

Confluent Cloud bills are strictly based on resource consumption, meaning you only pay for what you use, when you use it. This pay-as-you-go structure is designed to match spend with actual workload. For the Stream component, Kafka clusters are billed based on eCKUs/CKUs ($/hour), networking ($/GB), and storage ($/GB-hour). The Process component, using Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink, is calculated based on CFUs ($/minute). To encourage scale and retention, Confluent announced throughput cost reductions in Q3 2025 for customers using PNI (Private Networking Interface); for Enterprise clusters, this was a 20% reduction ($0.05 → $0.04/GB), and for Freight clusters, it was a 40% reduction ($0.05 → $0.03/GB). As of Q1 2025, 55% of the $261 million in subscription revenues were cloud-based and usage-reliant. Confluent Cloud revenue hit $161 million in Q3 2025, marking a 24% year-over-year increase.

Dedicated account management for large enterprise customers

For your largest customers, the relationship shifts to dedicated, high-touch engagement, which is reflected in the growth of high-value accounts. Confluent has 70% of the Fortune 500 firms relying on their data streaming platform. As of Q3 2025, the company reported 1,487 customers with $100,000 or greater in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), which was up 10% year-over-year. Even higher up the value chain, as of Q1 2025, there were 210 customers exceeding $1 million in ARR, representing a 25% year-over-year growth in that cohort. This focus on large accounts is supported by strategic execution improvements, with early results showing a sequential increase of over 40% in late-stage pipeline progression.

Self-service options and free credits for developer onboarding

To bring new users onto the platform without immediate sales friction, Confluent maintains accessible entry points. The company offers a Free/Freemium Version of Confluent Cloud. This self-service provisioning allows developers to start building immediately, which is a key part of their strategy to monetize the open-source Kafka user base.

Professional services and training for complex deployments

When deployments get complex, Confluent offers structured support through professional and educational services. For instance, a 3-day face-to-face private training class for up to 10 people is listed at $6,000. The self-managed Confluent Platform pricing is structured around the number of 'Nodes,' where a Node is defined by specific hardware limits, like up to 56 processing cores or 50 TB total hard drive capacity.

High-touch sales for the Confluent Platform (self-managed)

The self-managed Confluent Platform still commands significant revenue, suggesting a more traditional, high-touch sales cycle for these deployments. In Q1 2025, Confluent Platform revenue reached $118.2 million. This segment saw an 18% growth rate in Q1 2025, which was its strongest Q1 performance in three years. This contrasts with the cloud revenue growth of 34% in the same quarter, indicating a different, likely more consultative, sales motion for the on-premise offering.

Here's a quick look at the key customer metrics as of late 2025:

Metric	Value (As of Period End)	Period End
Total Customers (Approximate)	~6,140	Q1 2025
Customers with $1M+ ARR	210	Q1 2025
Customers with $100K+ ARR	1,487	Q3 2025
Confluent Cloud Revenue	$161 million	Q3 2025
Confluent Platform Revenue	$118.2 million	Q1 2025
Flink ARR Growth (Sequential)	More than 70%	Q3 2025

The adoption of Data Streaming Platform (DSP) components, like Flink, is accelerating within the existing base, with Q3 Flink ARR growing more than 70% sequentially.

• Cloud consumption growth is sensitive to customer demand, as noted by management embedding modest declines in growth rates from Q2 through Q4 2025 due to consumption uncertainties among larger cloud customers.
• The company has achieved win rates above 90% when replacing Cloud Service Provider (CSP) streaming products with its own offerings.
• The platform is cited as enabling a 25% reduction in data management's total cost of ownership and a 5x return on investment.

Finance: review the Q4 2025 consumption forecast against the Q3 actuals by next Tuesday.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Confluent, Inc. gets its Data Streaming Platform (DSP) into the hands of customers as of late 2025. It's a multi-pronged approach, balancing high-touch enterprise sales with scalable cloud delivery.

Direct sales force targeting large enterprises globally

The direct sales motion focuses heavily on landing and expanding within large accounts, evidenced by the growth in high-value customer cohorts. This team is compensated on incremental consumption, which aligns them with customer usage.

• Customers with $100,000 or greater in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) reached 1,487 in Q3 2025, a 10% year-over-year increase.
• Customers spending $1 million-plus in ARR grew to 234, showing a 27% year-over-year acceleration in Q3 2025.
• In Q1 2025, Confluent added 16 new customers in the $1 million-plus ARR tier.

Confluent Cloud (SaaS) accessible via web and cloud consoles

Confluent Cloud is the primary growth engine, representing the majority of subscription revenue. The consumption-based model here drives revenue based on how much data customers stream and process.

Metric	Q3 2025 Value	Year-over-Year Growth
Confluent Cloud Revenue	$161 million	24%
Subscription Revenue	$286.3 million	19%
Cloud Revenue as % of Subscription Revenue	Approx. 56%	Increasing

The adoption of specific technologies within the cloud offering is also a key indicator; Flink ARR for Confluent Cloud grew more than 70% sequentially in Q3 2025, with over 1000 customers using Flink during that quarter.

Cloud Provider Marketplaces (AWS, Azure, GCP) for procurement

Procurement flexibility is a stated channel strategy, allowing customers to use existing cloud commitments for Confluent purchases. This is supported by strong relationships with the hyperscalers.

• Confluent won the 2025 Google Cloud Partner of the Year award for Data & Analytics - Ingestion.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) was recognized as both Global Partner of the Year and Cloud Partner of the Year at the 2025 Global Partner Awards.
• Microsoft (Azure) won the Cloud Innovation Partner of the Year award in 2025.

Confluent Platform for self-managed, on-premises deployments

While the cloud scales faster, the self-managed platform remains a significant revenue stream, often used in hybrid or on-premises environments. This segment shows resilience, supported by OEM partnerships.

Metric	Q3 2025 Value	Q1 2025 Value
Confluent Platform Revenue Share (of Total Revenue)	42%	Approx. 45% (Implied from $118.2M Platform / $260.9M Sub)
Confluent Platform Revenue Growth (Q1 2025)	N/A	18% (Strongest Q1 in three years)

Partner ecosystem for deal sourcing and implementation

The partner ecosystem is a formalized, heavily invested channel, driving a substantial portion of the business and providing implementation scale. Confluent is actively incentivizing this channel.

• Well over 20% of Confluent's business in the past year was partner-sourced.
• Confluent announced a $200 million commitment over three years to expand its global partner ecosystem (announced mid-2025).
• Key System Integrator (GSI) partners recognized in 2025 include Accenture.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core groups Confluent, Inc. targets with its data streaming platform, spanning from the largest global firms to individual developers starting out. Here's the breakdown of those key customer segments as of late 2025, grounded in the Q3 2025 financial reporting.

The enterprise segment is clearly the revenue engine, but the long tail of smaller users is crucial for platform adoption and future upselling.

• Large enterprises with $100,000+ Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
• Financial services and retail needing real-time backend operations
• AI-native companies (over 100 as of Q3 2025)
• Developers and small teams using the free-to-start Basic cloud tier
• Customers requiring private cloud or self-managed solutions

The high-value enterprise segment shows clear growth momentum, which is what you want to see when evaluating platform stickiness.

Customer Segment Detail	Metric	Value (as of Q3 2025)
Customers with $100,000+ ARR	Count	1,487
Customers with $100,000+ ARR	Year-over-Year Growth	10%
Customers with $100,000+ ARR	Net New in Q3	48
Customers with $1 Million+ ARR	Count	234
Customers with $1 Million+ ARR	Year-over-Year Growth	27%

For industry-specific traction, the platform is clearly embedded in core transactional sectors. Confluent Platform revenue, which often reflects on-premises or dedicated deployments, saw specific strength here.

• Financial services demand drove Confluent Platform revenue growth of 14% year-over-year, reaching $125.4 million in Q3 2025.

The focus on Artificial Intelligence is translating directly into customer acquisition at the high end. These AI-native customers are looking for the real-time context that data streaming provides for model performance.

• The number of AI-native customers stood at over 100 as of Q3 2025.
• Of those AI-native customers, 21 had $100,000 plus in ARR.

The developer and smaller team segment is served by the entry-level cloud tier, which is designed to be free to start. While the exact number of free-tier users isn't published, the total customer base gives you the scale of the top-of-funnel activity. The total customer count was reported at 5,800 in earlier 2025 reporting, which encompasses all users, including those on the free-to-start tier.

Finally, the deployment flexibility caters to highly regulated or security-conscious entities. This segment is evidenced by both customer behavior and product strategy.

• A large AI-native customer migrated from Confluent Cloud to a self-managed deployment in Q3 2025.
• Confluent launched a private cloud offering in Q3 2025, specifically targeting regulated industries.

Finance: review the Q4 2025 guidance for any changes to the expected mix between Cloud and Platform revenue.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the expense side of the ledger for Confluent, Inc. as of late 2025. The cost structure is heavily weighted toward scaling the cloud offering and maintaining product leadership. Honestly, you see a clear trade-off between growth investment and near-term operating leverage.

The largest single cost component explicitly detailed for the quarter ending September 30, 2025, is Stock-Based Compensation (SBC). For the third quarter of 2025, Confluent, Inc. reported Stock-Based Compensation of $295.70M. This is a significant non-cash charge that management explicitly excludes when calculating non-GAAP results, which is common practice for high-growth technology firms. On a trailing twelve-month basis ending September 30, 2025, the SBC figure reached $0.979B, representing a 4.95% increase year-over-year.

Cloud infrastructure costs, which fall under Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for the Confluent Cloud offering, are substantial, though the specific dollar amount for compute, storage, and data transfer isn't broken out separately from the total COGS. We know Confluent Cloud revenue was $161.0 million in Q3 2025, making up 54% of total revenue. The total Gross Profit for the quarter was $221.6 million, which implies a non-GAAP Gross Margin of approximately 74.2% ($221.6M / $298.5M total revenue).

Research and Development (R&D) and Sales and Marketing (S&M) are the other major operating expense buckets driving the business forward. While the exact dollar amounts for R&D and S&M for Q3 2025 aren't explicitly stated in the top-line summaries, we see the impact of S&M management. The company demonstrated operational leverage, as Sales and Marketing expense dropped 4.7 percentage points as a percentage of revenue year over year. This efficiency helped drive the overall operating performance.

Here's a quick look at how the key financial metrics related to operating costs stacked up for the third quarter of 2025:

Cost Component/Metric	Q3 2025 Amount (in millions)	Context/Related Metric
Stock-Based Compensation	295.70	Quarterly Expense
Total Revenue	298.5	Total recognized revenue
Gross Profit	221.6	Pre-Operating Expense Profit
Non-GAAP Operating Income	29.1	Resulting Income
Non-GAAP Operating Margin	9.7%	Resulting Margin

The focus on profitability is evident in the non-GAAP results. Confluent, Inc. achieved a Non-GAAP Operating Margin of 9.7% in Q3 2025, up 340 basis points from 6.3% in Q3 2024, resulting in a Non-GAAP Operating Income of $29.1 million. This margin performance is a direct result of revenue growth outpacing the growth of controllable operating expenses, even while investing heavily in product innovation.

However, you should note the guidance suggests a near-term cost pressure. Management projected the Non-GAAP Operating Margin to compress sequentially to approximately 7% for both Q4 2025 and the full year 2025. This expected compression signals an intentional, aggressive push to reinvest recent profitability gains back into the business, likely targeting R&D for new features like Streaming Agents and Flink adoption, and potentially increasing S&M spend to drive the next wave of customer acquisition.

The cost structure is characterized by these key elements:

• Cloud infrastructure costs embedded within COGS, supporting $161.0 million in Confluent Cloud revenue.
• High R&D investment necessary to maintain product leadership in the data streaming space.
• S&M spending that is being actively managed for efficiency, evidenced by the 4.7 percentage point year-over-year drop as a percentage of revenue.
• Significant non-cash expense from Stock-Based Compensation, totaling $295.70M for the quarter.
• A GAAP Operating Loss of $(83.3) million for the quarter, reflecting the high investment in stock compensation and operating expenses before non-GAAP adjustments.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) actually brings in the money as of late 2025. It's heavily weighted toward recurring subscription revenue, which is what you want to see in a modern SaaS-like model. The business clearly separates its revenue into the managed cloud offering and the self-managed platform licenses.

Here's the quick math on the major components based on the third quarter of 2025 results. The cloud piece is clearly the growth engine now, making up the majority of the subscription take.

Revenue Stream Component	Q3 2025 Amount	Growth Context
Confluent Cloud revenue (usage-based)	$161 million	Grew 24% year-over-year
Confluent Platform revenue (license/subscription)	$125.4 million	Grew 14% year-over-year
Total Subscription Revenue (Q3 2025)	$286.3 million	Grew 19% year-over-year

Looking out for the full fiscal year 2025, management has guided subscription revenue to a range between $1.1135 billion and $1.1145 billion. That's a solid number, definitely showing the stickiness of their contracts and consumption growth. The requested forecast of $1.11 billion-$1.11 billion for FY 2025 aligns closely with this raised guidance.

The growth story isn't just about the two main buckets; it's about the adoption of specific, higher-value features within the Data Streaming Platform (DSP). Revenue from these advanced features is embedded within the Confluent Cloud figures, but the adoption metrics tell you where the future dollar growth is coming from.

• Revenue from fully managed connectors and stream processing (Apache Flink) is being driven by accelerating adoption.
• More than 1,000 customers were using Flink in Q3 2025.
• Flink's cloud Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) grew more than 70% sequentially in Q3 2025.
• Management highlighted accelerating adoption of DSP components, particularly Flink, to provide real-time context for AI systems.

Finally, you have professional services and training fees. This is a smaller component of the overall revenue mix. We know this because the company explicitly excludes services arrangements from the calculation of its key metric, Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, so keeping services separate makes sense for ARR clarity.