Ryvyl Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Rival Inc.' 's first quarter 2024 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the management's remarks. The earnings press release accompanying this conference call was issued at the close of the market today. The quarterly report, which includes the company's results of operations ended March 31, 2024, was filed with the SEC today. A replay of this call is available on the Investor Relations section of the RIVAL website in the Events slash Quarterly Earnings section. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that today's call contains certain forward-looking statements from our Management Concerning Feature events, These forward-looking statements are based on the company's current beliefs, assumptions, and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to the company and contain projections of future results of operations or financial condition or state other forward-looking information. By their nature, forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties. A variety of factors could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those expressed in our contemplated in or contemplated by the four linking statements. Other risk factors affecting the company are discussed in detail in the company's filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any four linking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable laws. I will now hand the call over to Ben Erez, Chairman of Rival. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. In the first quarter of 2024, we delivered solid growth, with revenue increasing 49% over the same period in 2023, reflecting particularly strong international results. which grew 185% compared to first quarter of 2023. Processing volumes continued to grow, reaching $994 million in the first quarter of 2024, up 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, with our international segment increasing 28% to $755 million. However, as expected and reviewed in March, revenue declined sequentially due to near-term issues affecting our North America business. I'll provide an update and review some of the actions we've taken to manage the situation. New regulations and the overall compliance environment related to some of the high-risk verticals we service led us to change banking partners and begin a product transition in the North American merchant services segment. In addition to implementing cost control measures, we are accelerating business development efforts to drive volumes in new vertical markets, such as insurance and online businesses. As we expand markets, we have built a sales pipeline and new verticals that we believe will begin to further ramp North American business volume in third quarter of 2024. Additionally, we are investing in engineering and development to enhance our product offerings. One factor driving new business is the shift from terminal-based processing to mobile app-based processing. This transformative change will help us expand our customer base by reaching into new verticals and increase business retention by improving service. and engagement with existing customers, both at the merchant level as well as the consumer level. Now, I'll discuss some of our key growth initiatives and achievements. Expanding our international business is a strategic priority. As the first Visa partner in the Balkan region, we completed testing the new Visa Direct integrated services and are pleased to share that we are now activated in production to offer Visa Direct payouts for our business clients. The integration will enable rival EU to leverage Visa Direct's network capabilities, provide superior banking as a service, and create new revenue streams. Our partnership will enable customers to send funds to authorized accounts, e-wallets, and debit cards in over 80 countries across multiple currencies. In February 2024, Rival EU formed a collaboration with ACI Worldwide, a global leader in mission-critical, real-time payment software. We plan to onboard our e-commerce merchant, payment service provider customers onto the award-winning ACI payment orchestration platform, enabling them to orchestrate payments using one solution, one platform, and one API integration for optimal conversion rates and minimal operational costs. This integration will allow merchants and PSPs to provide customers with a more seamless and secure customer journey. We are integrating the ACI solution into our offering and expect it to be released by early third quarter. We retained our Koine technology to leverage as part of our total suite of solutions for more efficient and highly scalable transaction processing in both North America and eventually in the EU. Koine provides an easy-to-use customer experience. We have been testing COINI's mobile-based processing in the U.S. in the first quarter and expect to formally launch this summer and ramp volume over the course of 2024. In the EU market, we received license and merchant processing approval for COINI, and we have a clear line of sight for additional business opportunities. Our banking-as-a-service offering continued to gain traction this quarter as transaction volume exceeded an impressive $600 million with the support of several institutional organizations. and banking partners. Our banking as a service platform offers API integrations and foreign exchange capabilities in more than 40 different currencies with local settlements. The service authorizes transactions 24 hours a day on business days and enables payout methods, including real-time electronic funds or direct deposits. In addition, our banking as a service readily traces transactions, reduces fraud, and maintains strict compliance requirements. We expect this strategic offering will be a long-term growth driver in a lucrative market. And now to discuss the details of our financial results, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, George Oliver. George, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Ben. I'll review our first quarter of 2024 financial performance. Revenue increased 49% to $16.8 million, compared to $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2023, reflecting growth in our acquired businesses and rival EU and our continued expansion of our independent sales organization known as an ISO and partnership network. North America revenue increased 10% to $9.7 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023. International first quarter revenue increased 185% to $7.1 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to first quarter 2023. Cost of revenue was $9.7 million for the first quarter 2024 compared to $6.2 million in first quarter of 2023. The increase is primarily attributable to growth in transaction volume which resulted in higher processing fees paid to gateways and commission payments to ISOs in both North America and international segments. Operating expenses were $8.9 million compared to $8.8 million for the first quarter of 2023. Other expenses totaled $600,000 for the first quarter of 2024 compared to other expense of $4.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, Our debt reduction strategies resulted in a $1.7 million decrease in interest expense and a $1.7 million decrease in accretion of debt discount. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $0.8 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to negative $3.0 million in the first quarter of 2023. Regarding liquidity, we are carefully managing our capital. Leveraging our strong growth in the EU, we repatriated $7.5 million to date from Europe to shore up the US capital resources. At the corporate level, as of March 31, 2024, cash and restricted cash balance was $88.2 million. Unrestricted cash was $10.5 million, and working capital was $3.2 million. I will now turn the call over to Min Wei, our Chief Operating Officer, to provide a review of business operations and our outlook.