Oblong, Inc. (OBLG): 5 FORCES Analysis [Nov-2025 Updated]

You're trying to size up Oblong, Inc. after its dramatic 2025 pivot from collaboration software to a digital asset treasury, and the competitive landscape is a study in whiplash. With a market cap of just $\mathbf{\$7.17 \text{ million}}$ and a Q3 net loss of $\mathbf{\$2.3 \text{ million}}$, the company is fighting giants like Microsoft in its legacy space while navigating the wild west of decentralized finance, holding only a $\mathbf{\$6.6 \text{ million}}$ TAO token treasury. We need to map out exactly where the real pressure is coming from-is it the established rivals, the low barriers to entry for the new crypto play, or the thin $\mathbf{\$0.6 \text{ million}}$ revenue base that limits supplier leverage? Dive in below to see the full Five Forces breakdown.

Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) - Porter's Five Forces: Bargaining power of suppliers

You're looking at the supplier landscape for Oblong, Inc. (OBLG), and honestly, it's a tale of two very different businesses right now. The power dynamic shifts dramatically depending on which part of the operation we're analyzing.

For the digital asset focus, which is now central to Oblong, Inc.'s strategy, the bargaining power of suppliers is quite low. The 'supplier' here is effectively the decentralized Bittensor network. Oblong, Inc. is a major participant, holding and staking its assets to support the network infrastructure. They aren't buying components; they are contributing to a decentralized protocol. This positions them as a network participant rather than a traditional buyer dependent on a single vendor for a critical input.

The situation flips when we look at the legacy Mezzanine business. This segment, centered around the patented visual collaboration platform, still relies on physical components. Because this business is characterized by low volume now-especially compared to its past-and requires specialized hardware or components for its immersive setups, the suppliers for these niche parts definitely hold higher leverage over Oblong, Inc. They don't have the volume to demand deep discounts.

Here's the quick math on scale: Oblong's Q3 2025 revenue was only $0.6 million. That small top-line number severely limits its scale leverage with any component vendor for the legacy hardware. When you're only bringing in $601,000 in a quarter, you can't push a specialized component manufacturer very hard on price or terms. What this estimate hides is the potential for the digital asset side to generate revenue via staking rewards, which was $97,000 in Q3 2025, but the traditional supplier relationship is still governed by the smaller legacy revenue base.

Still, supplier switching costs are high, but this applies specifically to the legacy platform's patented technology integration. The Mezzanine system is built around proprietary technology, meaning swapping out core components or the underlying architecture would require significant re-engineering and likely invalidate existing customer deployments or service agreements. That intellectual property moat, while protecting Oblong, Inc. from external threats, locks them into existing supplier relationships for maintenance and expansion of that specific tech stack.

To give you a clearer picture of the current revenue mix, which informs this supplier dynamic, consider this breakdown from Q3 2025:

The reliance on Managed Services, which still requires some level of operational support and potentially third-party services, shows where the traditional supplier pressure remains highest, even as the digital asset revenue stream grows. The total revenue for the quarter was $0.601 million.

Here are some key financial context points related to Oblong, Inc.'s operational footing as it relates to procurement:

• Total liquid assets as of September 30, 2025, were $10.3 million ($3.7 million in cash plus 21,822 TAO tokens valued at $6.6 million).
• The company believes its current cash and digital asset value will cover operations for at least the next twelve months.
• The Adjusted EBITDA loss for Q3 2025 narrowed to $0.7 million, showing some operational tightening.
• The company invested $6.3 million to acquire 16,517 TAO tokens during Q3 2025 at an average price of $384 per token.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) - Porter's Five Forces: Bargaining power of customers

You're assessing Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) and the power its customers hold, which is a mixed bag depending on which part of the business you look at. For the legacy enterprise customers, the power is definitely higher because they have numerous collaboration alternatives available in the market.

The company's flagship product, Mezzanine, which is an immersive visual collaboration solution, has seen its revenue contribution shrink significantly. In the third quarter of 2025, Collaboration Products revenue was only $14,000, representing just 2% of the total Q3 revenue of $0.6 million. This low revenue contribution, down from $68,000 in Q3 2024, suggests that while legacy customers might have been locked in previously, the market for these solutions is moving on, which inherently increases their leverage to seek out other platforms.

Still, for those legacy customers who have already deployed the Mezzanine system, switching costs are likely high once the platform is installed and integrated into their workflows. The system was designed to transform meetings into highly productive experiences for S&P 500 companies, often involving complex integrations with utilities like calendaring and Cisco Webex. Deep integration into enterprise environments creates inertia, which acts as a barrier to switching, effectively lowering customer power in the short term for existing contracts.

Now, let's look at the new focus: the digital asset treasury. For this segment, customer concentration risk is low because the returns are market-driven, not client-specific. The digital asset staking activities generated $97,000 in revenue during Q3 2025, which is 16% of the total revenue for that quarter, derived from staking TAO tokens on the Bittensor network. Since this revenue stream is based on the performance and staking yield of the digital assets held by Oblong, Inc., there is no direct client-specific revenue concentration to worry about here.

However, you must see the flip side of the revenue structure. The legacy Managed Services segment shows extreme customer concentration. In Q3 2025, this segment accounted for $490,000, or 82% of revenue, and one managed services customer accounts for over 80% of revenue. This single customer concentration in the primary revenue stream represents a massive risk, far outweighing any perceived low risk in the nascent digital asset revenue stream.

The overall context is that the small market capitalization of $7.17 million as of October 31, 2025, positions Oblong, Inc. as a minor player in the broader enterprise technology market, which generally gives larger customers more leverage when negotiating terms or considering alternatives.

Here is a quick look at the financial context surrounding this customer dynamic:

The key takeaway for you is to differentiate between the two business lines when assessing buyer power. You have high lock-in risk for the few remaining legacy enterprise users of Mezzanine, but you have extreme revenue dependency on one customer in the Managed Services line, which is the bulk of the current revenue base. The digital asset side is market-driven, which means customers aren't the power source; the market is.

Here are the key customer-related revenue concentration points:

• One customer drives over 80% of Managed Services revenue.
• Managed Services is 82% of Q3 2025 total revenue.
• Legacy Collaboration Product revenue is declining sharply (down to 2% of Q3 revenue).
• Digital Asset staking revenue is market-driven, not client-specific.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) - Porter's Five Forces: Competitive rivalry

You're looking at a company caught between two very different competitive arenas, and the rivalry pressure in one is intense enough to explain the financial results you see. Honestly, the competitive rivalry Oblong, Inc. faces is bifurcated, creating a complex risk profile.

Extremely high rivalry defines the legacy collaboration market. This is where Oblong, Inc.'s spatial computing technology, like the Mezzanine series, directly bumps up against giants. Think about the sheer scale: the broader Spatial Computing Market was valued at $3.98 billion in 2025, but Oblong, Inc.'s historical product differentiation, based on patented spatial computing and multi-stream visualization, has resulted in a negligible market share in that space. The established players-Microsoft, Google, and Cisco WebEx-command the lion's share, backed by massive enterprise install bases and global support networks. It's a classic case of specialized innovation struggling against entrenched incumbents.

On the other hand, the direct rivalry in the specific niche Oblong, Inc. currently emphasizes is far less crowded. This niche is defined by its focus as a publicly-traded company managing a digital asset treasury. As of September 30, 2025, the reported value of the TAO token treasury was $6.6 million. By mid-November 2025, this holding had grown to approximately $8.0 million. This dual identity means the competitive pressure from traditional collaboration rivals is largely mitigated by the focus on the Bittensor (TAO) ecosystem, where direct, publicly-traded peers with similar treasury mandates are few.

Still, the financial reality shows the strain from the legacy market competition and the volatility of its asset focus. The company's reported net loss of $2.3 million in Q3 2025, which included a $1.5 million unrealized loss on TAO token revaluation at the quarter's end, clearly shows intense pressure across its revenue streams. The operating loss for the same period was $0.802 million, against revenue of only $0.601 million. Here's the quick math: that's a gross margin of only about 40.6% on that quarter's revenue, indicating the high cost of maintaining operations relative to its current top line.

The intensity of this rivalry and financial pressure can be mapped against key Q3 2025 metrics:

The core issue is that while the patented spatial computing technology offers differentiation, its market penetration is minimal compared to the established collaboration vendors. This forces the company to rely heavily on its digital asset strategy, which, while offering a unique angle, introduces significant volatility, as evidenced by the $1.5 million revaluation loss in Q3 2025.

The competitive dynamics within the spatial computing segment itself highlight the challenge:

• Hardware captured 64.12% of the spatial computing market share in 2024.
• Augmented Reality captured over 40% of the market share in 2022.
• The overall market is projected to grow at a 42.53% CAGR through 2030.
• Oblong, Inc.'s Q3 revenue growth was only 4% year-over-year, reaching $0.6 million.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) - Porter's Five Forces: Threat of substitutes

You're looking at the competitive landscape for Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) as of late 2025, and the threat of substitutes is definitely material, especially given the company's current financial scale. The core issue here is that the market for collaboration technology, where the Mezzanine product lives, is dominated by giants whose scale dwarfs Oblong, Inc.'s current operations. For instance, Oblong, Inc.'s total revenue in Q3 2025 was just $0.60 million. Compare that to the sheer size of the substitutes.

The threat from general-purpose, low-cost collaboration tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams replacing Mezzanine is very high. These platforms have achieved massive adoption, making them the default choice for many enterprises, which directly erodes the need for a specialized, hardware-adjacent solution like Mezzanine. Microsoft Teams, for example, is the most common platform for internal team communication, used by 59% of mid-to-large enterprises.

Here's a quick look at the scale difference between Oblong, Inc.'s collaboration revenue and the market presence of its primary substitutes:

The core legacy technology, which centers on immersive, multi-screen environments, is definitely substitutable by cheaper, software-only solutions without specialized hardware. The broader video conferencing (VC) market, which includes devices and services, is now largely commoditized, with very little product differentiation between different vendors' offerings. This commoditization pushes buyers toward the established, lower-cost, software-centric platforms. Furthermore, the demand for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) meeting rooms is here to stay, meaning customers can easily use their existing laptops and standard conferencing software instead of investing in a dedicated Mezzanine setup.

Customers' low switching cost to standard video conferencing solutions poses a defintely material threat. If an enterprise is already paying for Microsoft 365, the marginal cost to use Teams for a meeting is effectively zero, making the decision to adopt a new, proprietary system much harder. This low barrier to exit for the customer means Oblong, Inc. must constantly prove a significant, measurable ROI over the incumbent, free or low-cost options.

Separately, you have to consider the threat in the treasury model, which is now a significant part of Oblong, Inc.'s reported financials. This model is high-growth in the sense that it is tied to digital assets, specifically Bittensor (TAO). The threat here comes from other high-growth digital assets or traditional high-yield investments that could offer better risk-adjusted returns. As of September 30, 2025, Oblong, Inc. held $6.61 million in digital assets (TAO). The company invested $6.3 million to acquire 16,517 TAO in Q3 2025 alone.

The performance of this strategy is subject to volatility, as seen when the reported net loss widened to -$2.29 million in Q3 2025, primarily due to a $1.52 million unrealized loss on TAO token revaluation at quarter-end. While the staking rewards offered an annualized yield of approximately 6% on average holdings during Q3, generating $97,000 in revenue, this yield must be weighed against the volatility of the underlying asset. The total liquid assets, including $3.74 million in cash, stood at $10.3 million as of September 30, 2025.

The key substitutes in the treasury space are:

• Other high-growth digital assets like established cryptocurrencies or new AI-focused tokens.
• Traditional high-yield investments that offer lower volatility than digital assets.
• The opportunity cost of deploying the $3.74 million cash reserves into core business development instead of TAO.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Oblong, Inc. (OBLG) - Porter's Five Forces: Threat of new entrants

You're looking at the threat of new entrants, and for Oblong, Inc. (OBLG), the picture splits sharply between its legacy business and its new digital asset treasury (DAT) model. Honestly, the barriers to entry are not uniform across the company's operations.

For the original spatial computing and collaboration business, the threat remains relatively low. This is due to the established moat built over nearly two decades. That moat is intellectual property, which includes foundational patents in gesture control and multi-screen interactive environments. You see, these kinds of deep-tech assets require significant time and R&D investment to replicate.

Here's a quick look at the legacy barrier components:

• Foundational patents in gestural interfaces.
• Proprietary Mezzanine™ platform technology.
• Nearly two decades of specialized engineering talent.

Now, let's pivot to the new digital asset treasury model, which is where the dynamic shifts. For this model, the barrier to entry is surprisingly low, primarily boiling down to capital investment. The regulatory environment has clarified enough that a well-funded entity can decide to become a DAT company overnight. The market itself validates this: as of September 2025, more than 200 companies reported adopting DAT strategies, collectively holding over $115 billion in digital assets. The total market capitalization of these DATs reached approximately $150 billion in September 2025, up from $40 billion in September 2024.

Oblong, Inc.'s current financial footing does little to deter a large, well-funded competitor. As of the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, Oblong, Inc.'s total liquid assets stood at $10.3 million, comprising $3.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $6.6 million in 21,822 TAO tokens. Compared to the broader market, this is a small base. For context, the market cap for Oblong, Inc. itself was only $5.58 MM as of November 20, 2025. A large, established player could deploy capital far exceeding this amount just to establish a comparable treasury position.

The ease of replication for the treasury model is a key risk. New entrants don't need Oblong, Inc.'s legacy IP; they just need the capital to buy the underlying asset. They can easily replicate the treasury model by acquiring or staking other decentralized AI tokens, like TAO, or by focusing on Bitcoin or Ethereum. The DAT space is seeing significant capital raises, with companies raising over $15 billion through August 2025 for digital asset initiatives alone. This massive capital flow signals that large players are entering this space, making the barrier of capital investment surmountable for them.

Here is a comparison illustrating the scale difference in the DAT sector:

The threat is amplified because the replication mechanism is straightforward: raise capital via public offerings, PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity), or convertible notes, and then deploy it into the target digital asset. For instance, some DATs raised capital through convertible notes with zero-interest coupons and high conversion premiums recently. This financial engineering is accessible to any public company with market access, which is why the number of DATs grew from fewer than ten in 2021 to over 200 by September 2025.

You should definitely watch how quickly new entrants can deploy capital to acquire assets like TAO, which Oblong, Inc. acquired at an average price of $384 per token in Q3 2025. If a larger player enters the TAO space with hundreds of millions, their ability to stake and earn rewards will immediately dwarf Oblong, Inc.'s current yield of $97,000 in revenue from staking rewards in Q3 2025.

The key differentiators for new entrants in the DAT space are:

• Speed of capital raise execution.
• Access to institutional-grade custody solutions.
• Ability to negotiate favorable financing terms.
• Existing scale to absorb initial asset volatility.

Finance: draft a sensitivity analysis on TAO price impact if a new DAT raises $50 million by Q1 2026.