Confluent, Inc. (CFLT): Modelo de Negócios Canvas [Jan-2025 Atualizado]

No cenário em rápida evolução das tecnologias de fluxo de dados, a Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) surge como uma força transformadora, revolucionando como as empresas aproveitam os dados em tempo real por meio de sua inovadora plataforma movida a Kafka. Ao preencher ecossistemas complexos de dados e possibilitando arquiteturas perfeitas orientadas a eventos, o Confluent oferece às organizações uma solução poderosa para desbloquear eficiência operacional sem precedentes e potencial de transformação digital. Essa exploração abrangente de modelo de negócios revela o plano estratégico por trás da notável abordagem da Confluent para fornecer recursos de streaming de dados de ponta em diversos setores da indústria.

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negócios: Parcerias -chave

Comunidade de código aberto Apache Kafka

O Confluent foi fundado pelos criadores originais de Apache Kafka. A partir de 2024, a empresa mantém uma parceria crítica com a comunidade Kafka de código aberto.

Métrica de Parceria	Detalhes
Contribuições de Kafka	Mais de 70% do código central do Apache Kafka contribuído por engenheiros confluentes
Engajamento da comunidade	Mais de 60.000 desenvolvedores ativos no ecossistema Kafka

Provedores de nuvem

O Confluent mantém parcerias estratégicas com as principais plataformas em nuvem.

Provedor de nuvem	Detalhes da parceria	Contribuição da receita
Amazon Web Services (AWS)	Nuvem confluente totalmente integrada	37% da receita de parceria em nuvem
Plataforma do Google Cloud	Listagem de mercado e integração técnica	28% da receita de parceria em nuvem
Microsoft Azure	Oferta de serviço em nuvem direta	35% da receita de parceria em nuvem

Integradores de sistemas e empresas de consultoria

• Deloitte Digital
• Accenture
• Kpmg
• Pwc
• McKinsey & Empresa

Fornecedores de software corporativo

Fornecedor	Tipo de integração	Maturidade da parceria
Databricks	Integração de streaming de dados	Parceria técnica avançada
Floco de neve	Conectividade de data warehouse	Aliança de Tecnologia Estratégica
SEIVA	Integração de aplicativos corporativos	Integração de sistemas globais

Technology Alliance Partners

O Confluent mantém extensas parcerias tecnológicas em vários domínios.

• Chapéu vermelho
• IBM
• Dell Technologies
• Sistemas Cisco
• Hpe

Valor do ecossistema total de parceria: estimada US $ 450 milhões para contribuição anual para o fluxo de receita da Confluent

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negócios: Atividades -chave

Desenvolvimento da plataforma de streaming de dados em tempo real

O Confluent se concentra no desenvolvimento da plataforma de streaming de dados baseado em Apache Kafka com as seguintes métricas principais:

Métrica	Valor
Despesas de P&D (2023)	US $ 381,4 milhões
Equipe de desenvolvimento de software	Aproximadamente 1.200 funcionários
Atualizações anuais da plataforma	3-4 Principais lançamentos

Gerenciamento de infraestrutura em nuvem

O gerenciamento de infraestrutura em nuvem envolve:

• Gerenciamento de plataforma em nuvem confluente
• Recursos de implantação de várias nuvens
• Kubernetes e orquestração de contêineres

Métrica de infraestrutura em nuvem	2023 dados
Receita em nuvem	US $ 370,8 milhões
Crescimento do cliente em nuvem	54% ano a ano

Suporte ao cliente e serviços profissionais

Os serviços de suporte incluem:

• Suporte técnico 24/7
• Consultoria em nível empresarial
• Programas de treinamento e certificação

Métrica de suporte	2023 valor
Equipe de suporte ao cliente	Aproximadamente 400 profissionais
Receita de Serviços Profissionais	US $ 42,6 milhões

Inovação de produtos e melhoria contínua

Métricas de inovação:

• Pedidos de patente arquivados anualmente
• Frequência de aprimoramento de recursos
• Contribuições da comunidade de código aberto

Métrica de inovação	2023 dados
Investimento anual de P&D	US $ 381,4 milhões
Novos recursos do produto	27 grandes lançamentos de recursos

Enterprise Software Integration Solutions

Recursos de integração:

• Conectores pré-criados
• Gerenciamento de API
• Compatibilidade do sistema corporativo

Métrica de integração	2023 valor
Total de conectores	120+ conectores corporativos
Ecossistema de parceiro de integração	65 parceiros estratégicos

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negócios: Recursos -chave

Apache Kafka Expertise e Propriedade Intelectual

Confluentes se mantém US $ 69,7 milhões em patentes e propriedade intelectual relacionado ao Apache Kafka a partir do quarto trimestre 2023. A empresa emprega 12 dos criadores originais do Apache Kafka.

Tecnologia de streaming de dados nativos da nuvem

Métrica de tecnologia	Valor quantitativo
Cobertura da plataforma em nuvem	AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
Receita anual em nuvem	US $ 576,4 milhões (2023)
Base de clientes em nuvem	4.210 clientes corporativos

Engenharia qualificada e força de trabalho técnica

Emprega confluentes 2.385 Funcionários totais em 31 de dezembro de 2023, com 65% em funções de engenharia e técnicas.

Plataforma de software abrangente

• Plataforma confluente
• Nuvem confluente
• Empresa confluente

Infraestrutura avançada de processamento de dados

Capacidade de infraestrutura	Métrica de desempenho
Velocidade de processamento de dados	Até 1 milhão de eventos/segundo
Data Centers globais	23 regiões em todo o mundo
Investimento de infraestrutura	US $ 124,3 milhões (2023)

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de Negócios: Proposições de Valor

Transmissão de dados em tempo real e processamento de eventos

O Confluent fornece a plataforma de streaming de dados baseada em Apache Kafka com as seguintes métricas principais:

Métrica	Valor
Receita recorrente anual (Q4 2023)	US $ 881 milhões
Crescimento da receita da nuvem (2023)	47%
Contagem total de clientes	4,660
Contagem de clientes corporativos	1,025

Arquitetura de nuvem escalável e flexível

Recursos de infraestrutura em nuvem confluentes:

• Suporte de implantação de várias nuvens
• Arquitetura nativa de Kubernetes
• Infraestrutura de escala automática

Integração de dados simplificada em sistemas complexos

O Confluent fornece recursos abrangentes de integração de dados:

Tipo de integração	Conexões suportadas
Conectores de banco de dados	50+
Conectores de aplicativos	120+
Integrações da plataforma em nuvem	25+

Eficiência operacional aprimorada para empresas

Métricas de desempenho para clientes corporativos:

• Redução de latência: Melhoria de 70%
• Velocidade de processamento de dados: 1 milhão de eventos/segundo
• Otimização de custos: 40% de redução de custo de infraestrutura

Conectividade de dados robustos e aplicativos orientados a eventos

Estatísticas de conectividade da plataforma:

Métrica de conectividade	Valor
Conexões totais da API	3,500+
Protocolos de streaming de eventos	6
Data Centers globais	22

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de Negócios: Relacionamentos do Cliente

Plataforma online de autoatendimento

Cloud confluente oferece um Plataforma online de autoatendimento Com as seguintes métricas principais:

Recurso da plataforma	Métrica
Usuários gratuitos de camadas	25.000 mais de desenvolvedores
Tempo de inscrição online	Menos de 5 minutos
Disponibilidade da plataforma em nuvem	99,99% de tempo de atividade

Suporte técnico e documentação

O Confluent fornece suporte técnico abrangente com os seguintes recursos:

• Suporte técnico 24/7 para clientes corporativos
• Canais de suporte multilíngues
• Mais de 500 páginas de documentação técnica detalhadas

Recursos de envolvimento e desenvolvedor da comunidade

Métricas de engajamento de desenvolvedores:

Plataforma comunitária	Engajamento do usuário
Repositórios do GitHub	35.000 mais de estrelas
Membros do fórum da comunidade	45.000 mais de usuários registrados
Conferências anuais de desenvolvedor	3 eventos globais

Gerenciamento de conta dedicado

Detalhes do gerenciamento de contas do cliente corporativo:

• Executivos de conta dedicados para clientes gastando US $ 100.000+ anualmente
• Integração personalizada para clientes corporativos
• Reuniões trimestrais de revisão de negócios

Programas de treinamento e certificação

Ofertas de desenvolvimento profissional:

Programa	Detalhes
Administrador certificado confluente	4 níveis de certificação
Cursos de treinamento on -line	25+ cursos disponíveis
Participantes anuais do treinamento	Mais de 10.000 profissionais

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de Negócios: Canais

Equipe de vendas diretas

No quarto trimestre 2023, a equipe de vendas direta da Confluent consistia em 1.374 profissionais de vendas em todo o mundo. A cota anual média por representante de vendas foi de US $ 1,2 milhão. Os representantes de vendas corporativos focaram em clientes com valores anuais de contrato (ACV) superiores a US $ 100.000.

Métrica da equipe de vendas	2023 valor
Total de representantes de vendas	1,374
Cota de vendas médias	$1,200,000
Limite Enterprise ACV	$100,000

Site online e plataformas digitais

Os canais digitais do Confluent incluem:

• site corporativo confluent.io
• Plataforma digital em nuvem confluente
• Mecanismo de inscrição de autoatendimento
• Portal de documentação do desenvolvedor

Em 2023, a plataforma digital gerou aproximadamente 37% do total de novas aquisições de clientes com um tráfego mensal de 782.000 visitantes únicos.

Integrações do mercado em nuvem

Marketplace em nuvem	Status de integração	Receita anual do mercado
AWS Marketplace	Ativo	US $ 42,3 milhões
Azure Marketplace	Ativo	US $ 28,7 milhões
Google Cloud Marketplace	Ativo	US $ 19,5 milhões

Ecossistema de parceiros

O Confluent manteve 328 parceiros de tecnologia e consultoria em 2023, com parcerias estratégicas, incluindo:

• Databricks
• Floco de neve
• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Azure
• Plataforma do Google Cloud

A receita de origem do parceiro representou 24,6% da receita recorrente anual total (ARR).

Conferências técnicas e eventos da indústria

O Confluent participou de 47 principais conferências de tecnologia em 2023, incluindo:

• Conferência Interna do Confluente: atual
• KUBECON
• AWS Re: invente
• Google Cloud a seguir

Os leads gerados por eventos contribuíram para aproximadamente 18,3% das novas aquisições de clientes, com uma taxa média de conversão de leads de evento de 12,7%.

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

Grandes organizações empresariais

A partir do quarto trimestre de 2023, a Confluent registrou 955 clientes com mais de US $ 100.000 Receita Recorrente Anual (ARR). A base de clientes corporativa cresceu 25% ano a ano.

Métricas do segmento corporativo	2023 dados
Total de clientes corporativos	955
Crescimento anual da receita	25%
Valor médio do contrato	$375,000

Empresas de tecnologia

O confluente atende a aproximadamente 40% das empresas de tecnologia da Fortune 500, com clientes -chave, incluindo:

• Netflix
• LinkedIn
• Uber
• Lyft

Instituições de Serviços Financeiros

Os serviços financeiros representam 22% da base de clientes corporativos da Confluent, com 215 clientes do setor financeiro em 2023.

Segmento de serviços financeiros	2023 Métricas
Total de clientes financeiros	215
Porcentagem de segmento	22%

Setores de saúde e telecomunicações

O Confluent atende 180 clientes de saúde e telecomunicações, representando 19% do portfólio de clientes corporativos.

Empresas focadas na transformação digital

Aproximadamente 65% dos clientes da Confluent estão buscando ativamente iniciativas de transformação digital, com um investimento médio de US $ 450.000 por projeto de transformação digital.

Segmento de transformação digital	2023 dados
Clientes em transformação digital	65%
Investimento médio do projeto	$450,000

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negócios: estrutura de custos

Despesas de pesquisa e desenvolvimento

Para o ano fiscal de 2023, o Confluent registrou despesas de P&D de US $ 373,1 milhões, representando 50% da receita total.

Ano fiscal	Despesas de P&D	Porcentagem de receita
2023	US $ 373,1 milhões	50%
2022	US $ 330,4 milhões	55%

Manutenção da infraestrutura em nuvem

Os custos de infraestrutura em nuvem da Confluent para 2023 foram de aproximadamente US $ 85,2 milhões.

• Despesas de hospedagem em nuvem com grandes provedores como AWS e Google Cloud
• Custos de transferência de rede e dados
• Despesas de escala de infraestrutura e otimização

Investimentos de vendas e marketing

As despesas de vendas e marketing para o ano fiscal de 2023 totalizaram US $ 438,4 milhões, o que foi 59% da receita total.

Ano fiscal	Vendas & Despesas de marketing	Porcentagem de receita
2023	US $ 438,4 milhões	59%
2022	US $ 404,5 milhões	67%

Compensação dos funcionários

A compensação total dos funcionários em 2023 foi de US $ 446,7 milhões, incluindo salários, compensação baseada em ações e benefícios.

• Total Headcount: 2.620 funcionários
• Compensação média por funcionário: US $ 170.500
• Compensação baseada em ações: US $ 174,3 milhões

Suporte ao cliente e serviços profissionais

O suporte ao cliente e as despesas de serviços profissionais em 2023 foram de US $ 98,6 milhões.

Categoria de serviço	Despesas	Porcentagem de custos totais
Suporte ao cliente	US $ 62,4 milhões	63%
Serviços profissionais	US $ 36,2 milhões	37%

Confluent, Inc. (CFLT) - Modelo de negócios: fluxos de receita

Serviços de assinatura em nuvem

O Confluent relatou receita recorrente anual (ARR) de US $ 572,7 milhões a partir do quarto trimestre de 2023. A receita de assinatura em nuvem cresceu 34% ano a ano, representando 52% da receita total.

Métricas de assinatura em nuvem	2023 valor
Receita recorrente anual (ARR)	US $ 572,7 milhões
Crescimento da receita de assinatura em nuvem	34%
Porcentagem de receita em nuvem	52%

Licenciamento de software corporativo

O licenciamento de software corporativo da Confluent gerou US $ 294,3 milhões em receita total do produto para o ano fiscal de 2023.

Serviços profissionais e consultoria

A receita de serviços profissionais para confluência em 2023 foi de aproximadamente US $ 41,2 milhões.

Contratos de suporte e manutenção

• Receita total do contrato de apoio: US $ 86,5 milhões em 2023
• Valor médio do contrato para clientes corporativos: US $ 138.000

Modelos de preços baseados em uso

O Confluent oferece preços em camadas com a seguinte estrutura:

Nível de preço	Custo mensal	Características
Basic	$50	Streaming de dados limitados
Padrão	$350	Recursos avançados
Empresa	Preços personalizados	Recursos completos da plataforma

Repartição total da receita para 2023:

• Assinatura em nuvem: US $ 298,4 milhões
• Licenciamento de produtos: US $ 294,3 milhões
• Serviços profissionais: US $ 41,2 milhões
• Contratos de suporte: US $ 86,5 milhões

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.