Liftoff Mobile, Inc.

What they do

Liftoff operates an AI-powered advertising platform, built on its Cortex machine learning system, that serves app advertisers and app publishers across verticals including social media, finance, entertainment, and gaming. It delivers users for app advertisers and maximizes ad revenue for apps that monetize with ads. The business is predominantly Core Advertising, powered by Cortex-backed demand solutions, after the company phased out certain Other offerings in 2024 and transitioned customers to Cortex.

Revenue drivers

• Core Advertising — The near-total revenue base: $218.6M of $219.5M total revenue in Q2 2026 (99.6%), up 36% year over year, generated from performance advertising powered by Cortex-backed demand solutions.
• Other revenue — A residual, non-Cortex line that contributed roughly $0.9M in Q2 2026, down from about $1.1M in Q2 2025, following the 2024 phase-out of certain Other offerings.
• Vertical diversification — Revenue is spread across social media, finance, entertainment, and gaming, among other app verticals, which the company says differentiates its end-market mix from industry peers.

Recent performance

Q2 2026 revenue was $219.5M, up 35% year over year from $162.1M and up 7% from Q1 2026, which management called its eleventh consecutive quarter of revenue growth. Net loss was $(4.2)M versus $(23.8)M a year earlier, including $45M of non-cash expenses tied to the IPO and other capital markets activities; net loss margin narrowed to (2)% from (15)%. Adjusted EBITDA rose 55% to $132.3M, a 60% margin versus 53%. For the first half of 2026, revenue was $425.1M (+36%) and net income was $45.1M, compared with a $(19.9)M net loss in the prior-year period. Trailing 12-month free cash flow was $184M, up 142% year over year.

Strategy

Liftoff's stated focus is Cortex-enabled performance advertising, with Core Advertising described as the foundation of the business and the 2024 phase-out of certain Other offerings as a deliberate shift toward that platform. It completed its June 2026 IPO, issuing 21.9 million shares at $23.00 for net proceeds of about $472.4M, and used $409.2M in aggregate principal to repay outstanding indebtedness, with the remainder intended for general corporate purposes. Management attributes performance to continuous Cortex model improvement and cites a capital-light architecture converting growth into free cash flow. The company describes its market as large, expanding and structurally under-monetized, and says it is still in the early innings of growth.

Risks

• Revenue concentration — Essentially all revenue comes from Core Advertising, so any deterioration in that single line or in Cortex's advertising performance would directly hit the top line.
• Customer dependence — The model depends on app advertisers increasing spend as performance improves, and management explicitly ties growth to customers' willingness to spend more.
• Leverage and thin equity — Long-term debt was $1.39B and shareholder equity was negative $(5.5)M at June 30, 2026, leaving a limited equity cushion against total liabilities of $2.07B.
• Guidance and non-GAAP reliance — Management guides on Adjusted EBITDA without providing a GAAP reconciliation for forward-looking figures, and Q2 results included $45M of IPO-related non-cash expenses.

Outlook

For Q3 2026, management guides to revenue of $217M to $222M and Adjusted EBITDA of $124M to $128M, a 57% to 58% Adjusted EBITDA margin. For fiscal year 2026, guidance is revenue of $870M to $880M and Adjusted EBITDA of $510M to $518M, a 59% margin. The company says it sees an opportunity for continued sustainable, profitable growth, though it has not provided a GAAP reconciliation for forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA.