Total Revenue Meets and Adjusted EBITDA Exceeds Guidance for Q4 and Full Year 2025

AI Deployment and Related Organizational Transformation to Drive Workforce Reduction of Approximately 25%; Company Anticipates Positive Free Cash Flow on a Trailing Twelve Month Basis by End of Q1 2027

New Product Initiatives Take Advantage of Large Growth Opportunities in Agentic AI-Driven Data Consumption and Political Prediction Markets

Board of Directors Continues to Review All Strategic Options Available to the Company to Maximize Shareholder Value

Company To Host Conference Call Today at 5:00 PM ET

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FiscalNote Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NOTE) (“FiscalNote” or the “Company”), a global leader in AI-driven policy and regulatory intelligence, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025.

The Company reported Q4 2025 revenues of $22.2 million, in line with guidance, and Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $2.5 million, exceeding guidance. During the quarter new corporate logo bookings increased by 39% year-over-year and the share of multi-year contracts among private sector customers increased from 17% to 40% year-over-year. The Company also completed the migration of customers from the legacy FiscalNote platform to the PolicyNote Platform, which exhibits stronger usage and retention metrics.

The Company also is announcing an organizational transformation that will reduce operating expenses significantly, including a workforce reduction of approximately 25%. As a result, excluding one-time restructuring costs, FiscalNote expects to generate positive Free Cash Flow on a trailing twelve-month basis for the period ending March 31, 2027. This reflects a structurally lower cash operating expense base, improved operating leverage, and greater efficiency in how the company delivers its products and supports customers. By reducing cash costs by more than 19% while reallocating investment toward scalable product capabilities and emerging growth initiatives, FiscalNote is strengthening its financial foundation and positioning the business to generate sustainable Free Cash Flow while pursuing high growth opportunities in newly expanding adjacent markets.

At the same time, FiscalNote is leaning into two important new growth initiatives that reflect how demand for policy intelligence is evolving. First, the company is expanding its PolicyNote API and introducing native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support to embed its trusted data and expertise directly into enterprise workflows, developer applications, and AI-driven decision systems. This positions FiscalNote’s intelligence as critical infrastructure for automated policy analysis. Second, FiscalNote is extending its capabilities into the rapidly emerging political prediction market ecosystem, leveraging its proprietary datasets, domain expertise, and institutional credibility to develop new engagement-driven and transactional monetization opportunities. Together, we believe these initiatives significantly expand FiscalNote’s total addressable market and create scalable, capital-efficient pathways for future growth beyond traditional subscription models.

Josh Resnik, CEO and President of FiscalNote, commented, “Our priority is to drive FiscalNote toward consistent positive Free Cash Flow while reshaping the company to capture the next generation of growth opportunities. We are strengthening a more profitable core, positioning our policy intelligence as infrastructure for AI-driven consumption, and extending our capabilities into rapidly developing markets such as prediction ecosystems. This transformation is building a more durable and strategically positioned FiscalNote for the future.”

Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights(2)

Fourth Quarter 2025 and Recent Operational Highlights

• Launched in October CQ&A, a new live briefing series created exclusively for subscribers to CQ and Roll Call content, deepening engagement with the Company's premium editorial brands.
• Introduced in October Bill Comparison in PolicyNote, an AI-powered capability that enables users to instantly compare legislation, track changes across versions, and identify key differences that shape policy outcomes.
• Launched in October an integration unifying grasstops and grassroots advocacy data within PolicyNote, combining stakeholder management and VoterVoice campaign insights into a single workflow to help government affairs teams influence policy with greater precision and speed.
• Unveiled in December AI-powered, personalized Impact Summaries within PolicyNote, a breakthrough capability that delivers tailored, organization-specific policy insights, enabling busy policy professionals to understand legislative and regulatory developments in the context most relevant to their organization.
• Released in December "Epstein Unboxed," a comprehensive, AI-enhanced public database bringing order, searchability, and continuous insight to thousands of previously fragmented investigative records, demonstrating the power of FiscalNote's AI capabilities applied to large-scale document intelligence.
• Achieved in January a major milestone in the Company's product-led growth strategy by completing the migration of all customers from the legacy FiscalNote platform to PolicyNote.
• Announced in February a major expansion into political prediction markets, including the unveiling of a preview experience at PoliticalPredictions.com, a strategic partnership MOU with prediction market technology company 365Prediction, and the engagement of Dr. Laila Mintas — a leading expert in prediction market design and regulation — as a Strategic Advisor, as the Company positions itself to play a defining role in the emerging intersection of policy intelligence and outcome-based forecasting.
• Launched in March the expanded PolicyNote API with native support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling organizations to embed FiscalNote's authoritative legislative, regulatory, and stakeholder intelligence — spanning Congress, all 50 states, and more than 100 countries — directly into internal systems, AI agents, and enterprise workflows; initial enterprise customers include Lumen Technologies and ICE Data Services, Inc. (a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, owner of numerous futures markets and stock exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange), reflecting growing demand for trusted, programmatically accessible policy data in AI-driven production environments.

Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Performance

Revenue(2)

For Q4 2025, subscription revenue declined $5.9 million, or 22%, versus prior year, due primarily to FiscalNote's previously announced divestitures of Aicel Technologies, Oxford Analytica, Dragonfly Intelligence, and TimeBase.

On a pro forma basis(5), excluding the impact of the divestitures, subscription revenue for Q4 2025 declined $1.9 million, or approximately 8%, reflecting the trends in ARR and NRR discussed below.

For Q4 2025, advisory, advertising, and other revenue declined $1.4 million, or 58%, versus prior year, due primarily to the previously announced divestitures and discontinuation of certain non-strategic products.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)(2)(3)(5)

As of December 31, 2025, ARR, on an as reported basis, was $84.1 million.(2) On an annual basis this represents a $23.0 million or 21% decline year over year. On a pro forma basis(5) (excluding the divested businesses Aicel Technologies, Oxford Analytica, Dragonfly Intelligence, and TimeBase), ARR declined $8.0 million, or approximately 9%, year over year. The year-over-year decline was primarily due to previously disclosed execution challenges addressed in Q1, customer engagement issues in the Company’s legacy products, and atypical instability in the US federal sector during the year. The Company is working to address these issues through operational improvements in its private and public sector go-to-market teams and approach, as well as continued improvements in the PolicyNote platform. Q4 NRR(5) was 96% on a pro forma basis. Q4 ending ARR was $0.7 million lower than Q3 primarily due to cancellations among a few large enterprise customers who had not yet migrated to PolicyNote, alongside broader macroeconomic budget constraints.

Operating Expenses(2)

In Q4 2025, total operating expenses increased $5.6 million, or 16%, versus prior year, due primarily to the goodwill impairment charge recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, partially offset by the impact of the previously announced divestitures, ongoing efficiency measures and operating discipline initiatives, and the elimination of costs associated with sunset products.

Excluding amortization expense, stock-based compensation, the impact of the previously announced divestitures, transaction-related costs, severance, goodwill impairment, and other non-cash charges, Q4 2025 total operating expenses declined $2.6 million, or 12%.

Full Year 2025 Financial Highlights

2026 Financial Guidance

The Company's financial guidance for 2026 incorporates the following considerations:

• A workforce transformation initiative leveraging AI automation, offshoring and other organizational streamlining to enable an approximately 25% reduction in headcount relative to year-end 2025 and accelerate the Company’s path to positive Free Cash Flow(1)(4) on a trailing 12-month basis by Q1 2027;
• continued investment in PolicyNote to achieve feature parity, enhance functionality and expand content offered within the platform in order to drive improved customer retention metrics in the core business;
• continued divestiture of non-core products;
• continued volatility in the private sector, where macroeconomic and geopolitical unpredictability is likely to impact corporate buying decisions and timelines over the course of the year;
• continued impact in the public sector - particularly in the federal government;
• known, higher-than-normal seasonal cancellations in Q1 2026 resulting from factors including economic headwinds, budget constraints, prior customer experience on legacy systems, and ongoing platform refinement; and
• management’s expectations based on the most recent information available, subject to adjustment due to changes in business conditions across the year ending December 31, 2026.

Full Year 2026

Q1 2026

Commenting on the 2026 forecast, Jon Slabaugh, FiscalNote CFO, said, “As we move into 2026, we remain focused on operating leverage, platform adoption, and disciplined financial execution. Our expectations for 2026 reflect the anticipated impact of our workforce transformation initiatives, through which we plan to drive dramatic reductions in our cost base through enterprise-wide deployment of AI tools, changes in personnel, and continued operational discipline. Combined with the structural cost actions we executed throughout 2025 — including divestitures, platform consolidation, and AI adoption — we expect to drive substantially expanded Adjusted EBITDA margins(1)(4) year over year. Based upon the cost actions taken and planned, achieving the revenue guidance and controlled capital expenditures, we plan to achieve positive Free Cash Flow on a trailing 12 month basis by the end of the first quarter of 2027(1)(4) and to remain Free Cash Flow positive thereafter(1)(4).”

Strategic Review

The Company’s Board of Directors along with its advisors continue to review the Company’s ongoing plans and evaluate all strategic value-maximizing options available to the Company, including evaluation of potential further divestitures of non-core assets. There can be no assurance that the strategic review will result in any transaction or other outcome. The Company has not set a timetable for completion of the review and does not intend to disclose developments or provide updates on the progress or status of the review unless and/or until it deems further disclosure is appropriate or required.

Conference Call and Webcast

Company management will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. ET today, Thursday, March 19, 2026, to discuss these financial results.

LIVE

• By phone
  • Dial for the U.S. or Canada 1 (800) 715-9871 or for International 1 (646) 307-1963 and enter the conference ID 7871199.
• By webcast
  • Visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

REPLAY

• By phone (available through Thursday, March 26, 2026)
  • Dial for the U.S. or Canada 1 (800) 770-2030 or for International 1 (609) 800-9909 and enter the conference ID 7871199.
• By webcast
  • Visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

Footnotes

About FiscalNote

FiscalNote (NYSE: NOTE), the global leader in AI-driven policy intelligence, delivers its deep expertise in legislative tracking, regulatory analysis, and stakeholder engagement through PolicyNote, its flagship platform. Built to ensure the most complete, real-time view of the policy landscape, PolicyNote delivers synthesized, expert-driven analysis integrated with AI-powered monitoring, fueled by the trusted analysis and reporting of CQ and Roll Call, and the grassroots mobilization power of VoterVoice. From the committee room to the board room, FiscalNote’s PolicyNote Suite ensures every user has the unmatched clarity and speed needed to understand and impact policy.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or FiscalNote’s future financial or operating performance. For example, statements regarding FiscalNote’s financial outlook for future periods, expectations regarding profitability, capital resources and anticipated growth in the industry in which FiscalNote operates are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “pro forma,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “project,” “strive,” “budget,” “forecast,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.

Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include:

• FiscalNote’s ability to successfully execute on its strategy to achieve and sustain organic growth through a focus on its core Policy business, including risks to FiscalNote’s ability to develop, enhance, and integrate its existing platforms, products, and services, bring highly useful, reliable, secure and innovative products, product features and services to market, attract new customers, retain existing customers, expand its products and service offerings with existing customers, expand into geographic markets or identify other opportunities for growth;
• FiscalNote's ability to successfully launch new product and service offerings (e.g. relating to political and policy prediction markets or agentic APIs) or to achieve the expected benefits of such offerings, including new sources of revenue;
• FiscalNote’s future capital requirements, as well as its ability to service its repayment obligations and maintain compliance with covenants and restrictions under its existing debt agreements;
• the risk that the NYSE may delist our Class A Common Stock if we fail to comply with ongoing listing standards;
• the delisting of our Class A Common Stock from NYSE could trigger an event of default with respect to our indebtedness;
• demand for FiscalNote’s services and the drivers of that demand;
• the impact of cost reduction initiatives undertaken by FiscalNote;
• risks associated with past and future strategic transactions, including restructuring, divesting or selling our businesses, products or technologies;
• risks associated with international operations, including compliance complexity and costs, increased exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, political, social and economic instability, and supply chain disruptions;
• FiscalNote’s ability to introduce new features, integrations, capabilities, and enhancements to its products and services, as well as obtain and maintain accurate, comprehensive, and reliable data to support its products and services;
• FiscalNote's reliance on third-party systems and data, its ability to integrate such systems and data with its solutions and its potential inability to continue to support integration;
• FiscalNote’s ability to maintain and improve its methods and technologies, and anticipate new methods or technologies, for data collection, organization, and analysis to support its products and services;
• potential technical disruptions, cyberattacks, security, privacy or data breaches or other technical or security incidents that affect FiscalNote’s networks or systems or those of its service providers;
• competition and competitive pressures in the markets in which FiscalNote operates, including larger well-funded companies shifting their existing business models to become more competitive with FiscalNote;
• the risk that general purpose generative AI platforms and agentic AI tools will directly compete with and reduce demand for custom-built SaaS tools and subscription products;
• the risk that a future U.S. government shutdown could negatively affect FiscalNote’s ability to enter into or renew public sector subscription contracts and generate advertising and events revenue as anticipated;
• concentration of revenues from U.S. government agencies, changes in the U.S. government spending priorities, dependence on winning or renewing U.S. government contracts, delay, disruption or unavailability of funding on U.S. government contracts, and the U.S. government’s right to modify, delay, curtail or terminate contracts;
• FiscalNote’s ability to comply with laws and regulations in connection with selling products and services to U.S. and foreign governments and other highly regulated industries;
• FiscalNote’s ability to retain or recruit key personnel;
• FiscalNote’s ability to adapt its products and services for changes in laws and regulations or public perception, or changes in the enforcement of such laws, relating to artificial intelligence, machine learning, data privacy and government contracts;
• adverse general economic and market conditions reducing spending on our products and services;
• the outcome of any known and unknown litigation and regulatory proceedings;
• FiscalNote’s ability to maintain public company-quality internal control over financial reporting;
• FiscalNote’s ability to adequately protect and maintain its brands and other intellectual property rights; and
• the possibility any exploration of strategic alternatives does not result in any transaction or other outcome or that any outcome is disruptive to operations and impact financial performance.

These and other important factors discussed in FiscalNote’s SEC filings, including its most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, particularly the "Risk Factors" sections of those reports, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by FiscalNote and its management, are inherently uncertain. Nothing in this press release should be regarded as a representation by any person that the forward-looking statements set forth herein will be achieved or that any of the contemplated results of such forward-looking statements will be achieved. You should not place reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. FiscalNote undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures to clarify and enhance our understanding, and aid in the period-to-period comparison, of our performance. Where applicable, we provide reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the corresponding most closely related GAAP measure. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure. While we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information, non-GAAP financial measures have limitations and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, their most comparable GAAP measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, do not reflect a comprehensive system of accounting and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies due to potential differences in their financing and accounting methods, the book value of their assets, their capital structures, the method by which their assets were acquired and the manner in which they define non-GAAP measures.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin

We define Adjusted Gross Profit as Total revenues minus cost of revenues, including amortization of capitalized software development costs and acquired developed technology, before amortization of intangible assets that are included in costs of revenues. We define Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as Adjusted Gross Profit divided by Total Revenues.

We use Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin to understand and evaluate our core operating performance and trends. We believe these metrics are useful measures to us and to our investors to assist in evaluating our core operating performance because they provide consistency and direct comparability with our past financial performance and between fiscal periods, as the metrics eliminate the non-cash effects of amortization of intangible assets that may fluctuate for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. They should not be considered as replacements for gross profit and gross profit margin, as determined by GAAP, or as measures of our profitability. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using non-GAAP measures only for supplemental purposes. Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as presented herein are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are non-GAAP financial measures. EBITDA represents earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA reflects further adjustments to EBITDA to exclude certain non-cash items and other items that management believes are not indicative of ongoing operations. We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by Total Revenues.

We disclose EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin herein because these non-GAAP measures are key measures used by management to evaluate our business, measure our operating performance and make strategic decisions. We believe that EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are useful for investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as management. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin are not financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as substitutes for net income (loss), net income (loss) before income taxes, or any other operating performance measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. Using these non-GAAP financial measures to analyze our business would have material limitations because the calculations are based on the subjective determination of management regarding the nature and classification of events and circumstances that investors may find significant. In addition, although other companies in our industry may report measures titled EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin or similar measures, such non-GAAP financial measures may be calculated differently from how we calculate non-GAAP financial measures, which reduces their comparability. Because of these limitations, you should consider EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin alongside other financial performance measures, including net income and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP.

Free Cash Flow

Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. Free Cash Flow is a liquidity measure that provides useful information to management and investors about the amount of cash generated by the business that may be used for strategic opportunities, including, but not limited to, investment in the business and to strengthen the balance sheet.

Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin

The following table presents our calculation of Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Profit Margin for the periods presented:

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

The following table presents our calculation of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin for the periods presented:

Key Performance Indicators

We monitor the following key performance indicators to evaluate growth trends, prepare financial projections, make strategic decisions, and measure the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts. Our management team assesses our performance based on these key performance indicators because it believes they reflect the underlying trends of our business and serve as meaningful measures of our ongoing operational performance.

Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”)

Over 90% of our revenues are subscription based, which leads to high revenue predictability. We use ARR as a measure of our revenue trend and an indicator of our future revenue opportunity from existing recurring subscription customer contracts. We calculate ARR on a parent account level by annualizing the contracted subscription revenue, and our total ARR as of the end of a period is the aggregate thereof. ARR is not adjusted for the impact of any known or projected future customer cancellations, upgrades or downgrades, or price increases or decreases. The amount of actual revenue that we recognize over any 12-month period is likely to differ from ARR at the beginning of that period, sometimes significantly. This may occur due to timing of the revenue bookings during the period, cancellations, upgrades, or downgrades and pending renewals. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue as it is an operating metric and is not intended to be a replacement or forecast of revenue. Our calculation of ARR may differ from similarly titled metrics presented by other companies.

Net Revenue Retention (“NRR”)

Our NRR, which we use to measure our success in retaining and growing recurring revenue from our existing customers, compares our recognized recurring revenue from a set of customers across comparable periods. We calculate our NRR for a given period as ARR at the end of the period minus ARR contracted from new clients for which there is no historical revenue booked during the period, divided by the beginning ARR for the period. We calculate NRR at our parent account level. Our calculation of NRR for any fiscal period includes the positive recurring revenue impacts of selling additional licenses and services to existing customers and the negative recognized recurring revenue impacts of contraction and attrition among this set of customers. Our NRR may fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the level of our revenue base, the level of penetration within our customer base, expansion of products and features, the timing of renewals, and our ability to retain our customers. Our calculation of NRR may differ from similarly titled metrics presented by other companies.

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Media

Yojin Yoon

[email protected]

Investor Relations

Jon Slabaugh

[email protected]

Source: FiscalNote