Small Caps | 10:41 AM
This story features BLACK PEARL GROUP LIMITED.
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NZ-based Microcap Blackpearl is seeking greatness by marketing its AI-based solutions to SMEs in the USA.
- Blackpearl is a NZ data tech company focused on serving U.S-based SMEs
- IPO proceeds facilitated acquisition of B2B Rocket Inc., U.S.-based AI sales automation business
- The ‘jewel in the crown’ for Blackpearl is its AI-enabled proprietary Pearl Engine
- The company has some strong backers as it seeks to ‘springboard’ off its ASX listing
By Ed Kennedy
Data technology company Blackpearl Group ((BPG)) –market cap circa $81m– completed its foreign exempt listing on the ASX in late November.
The completion of its dual listing –with it trading on New Zealand’s NZX prior– is a new chapter for a business that is interesting by many measures.
So, how does the entry onto the ASX fit into the wider story Blackpearl is seeking to write? And, what differentiates Blackpearl from the pack in today’s ‘gold rush’ era in AI?
Sailing Into New Waters
Blackpearl announced via media release its intention to dual list on the ASX in July 2025.
The company is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, but –befitting a company that identifies the U.S. as its target market– also has offices in Phoenix, Arizona.
In early October, Blackpearl detailed the completion of its oversubscribed capital raising placement announced in August 2025.
Bell Potter, Cerutty Macro Fund, Ellerston Capital, and Wilson Asset Management in Australia were among its backers, alongside notable New Zealand investors Craigs Investment Partners and JBWere, among others.
Blackpearl indicated the proceeds from the completion of the capital raising has enabled it to finalise the acquisition of B2B Rocket Inc., U.S.-based AI sales automation business. This purchase was first announced in July 2025.
Initial consideration of USD$4m cash was paid and 1.725m shares were issued as part of the deal.
In mid-November, Blackpearl announced its capital raising of up to AU$10.2m (NZ$11.8m), as it looked to its ASX debut in late November.
Blackpearl detailed the proceeds from the raise would be allocated towards:
- Bolstering growth across all products
- A particular focus on further investment in its Pearl Engine product
- To allow for additional working capital to be deployed swiftly upon new opportunities being recognised
Access to more capital has been cited by Blackpearl leadership as a key motivation for its ASX listing.
Its exclusive focus on the U.S. market puts Blackpearl squarely in the land of global tech giants, and its debut on the ASX opens up more pathways by which it can look to accelerate its goals to scale.
Nick Lisette, Blackpearl’s founder and CEO, acknowledges the audacity of its ASX listing, while highlighting adherence to the company’s broader ethos.
“This is an intentionally bold move because Blackpearl was engineered from day one for a global market”, said Lisette.
“A bigger market with deeper liquidity and a global investor audience is exactly the scale our technology is meant to accelerate into at this point in time.”
In terms of ASX performance, since listing on 25 November at $0.87, the share price has dipped to around $0.78 on 18 December, before climbing back up to approximately $0.88 as Christmas Day neared.
Four weeks into calendar year 2026 and the share price is trading around 96c.
The Captain and Core of Blackpearl
Nick Lisette brings to Blackpearl in excess of a decade’s experience in data and AI.
Prior to establishing Blackpearl, Lisette launched the anti-spam SaaS offering Silver Cloud Mail in 2006, which was thereafter sold in 2012.
Tim Crown is Chairman of Blackpearl and co-founder of the global IT solutions enterprise Insight Enterprises, which employs more than 14,000 personnel across 19 countries.
In addition to his roles with Blackpearl and Insight Enterprises, Crown also has leadership roles with numerous other businesses, including Redcat Racing, Stormwind, and SecondSight.
The Depths of Blackpearl
Pearl Engine is Blackpearl’s private proprietary data and intelligence platform.
Via the use of custom large language models (LLMs) residing in Pearl Engine, it powers the SaaS services that Blackpearl offers to its customers.
Lisette has said recent data show Pearl Engine processes over 21bn signals daily, and ingests over 30 terabytes of data monthly.
Pearl Engine output can assist businesses to access new markets, refine their cost-to-revenue ratio, and bolster their value proposition.
Blackpearl hosts numerous products in its stable:
Bebop: Blackpearl’s description of its app is indeed a solid summary, “It’s like ChatGPT, but built for sales and revenue growth”.
Blackpearl Mail: An email marketing management app that assists with the creation of compelling signatures and banners, and also offers analytics.
Pearldiver: A website visitor identification app that can help to convert anonymous website data about visitors into usable insights.
And then there’s also the aforementioned B2B Rocket. This app is a lead generation system that can help enhance B2B sales automation.
The Blackpearl Business Model
Blackpearl targets small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the United States.
For such enterprises, the SaaS model such as that offered by Blackpearl can provide an avenue to quickly and easily access tools which aid in operations and growth.
This is distinct from the more costly and impractical path of seeking to develop and deploy in-house created and customised apps.
Statistics from earlier in the year tell a story of a company that’s got some promising foundations on which it can look to build further in 2026.
While its gross profit margin for FY25 was not quite the heights of the year prior where it hit 71%, it was not that far off it at 68%.
As of 31 March 2025, subscription revenue was NZ$7.7m, representing an 81% increase year-on-year.
As of the same date, the company had an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of NZ$12.5m representing a 70% increase year-on-year.
As of 30 September 2025, the company had seen ARR rise to NZ$19.5m, representing an 87% increase year-on-year.
Just as a SaaS structure found within Blackpearl can itself be a powerful vehicle for growing revenue, the company itself is also vigorously pursuing growth in this chapter of its story.
Looking ahead, continued expansion of its subscriber base alongside a reduction in growth-related costs as a proportion of revenue would give rise to a stronger operating dynamic.
Can Specialisation Beat Size?
Blackpearl’s endeavours show a clear dynamism.
Yet, it’s also seeking to grow its customer base in an era where many businesses are seeking to bring AI-powered offerings to the market.
In such a dynamic, the capacity of a company to offer a USP to its customers, and build a moat around its offerings, are vital considerations.
So, how does Blackpearl stack up in these areas?
A quick snapshot example might be helpful.
Just about every person with some tech literacy has used –or at least knows of– ChatGPT. The LLM is a buzzword for easy and accessible Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech in 2025.
Yet, it’s also not without competitors in the space. There’s the likes of Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s CoPilot, Meta AI, Grok, Claude, and more.
This list speaks to a reality of the current LLM scene: a product can see real ‘cut through’ for its offering emerge as ChatGPT has done, but many rivals are also in the mix, snapping at its heels.
In this regard, the experience of Apple as a portable device pioneer in this century could offer an illustration of how the LLM sector will ultimately travel in years ahead.
While Apple wasn’t the first to produce a mobile phone that was also a music player like the original iPhone, or the first to create a tablet like the iPad, in these products it brought to market devices with said features that were attractive and felt accessible in a new way. GPT has done this.
Yet, as the years since show, while Apple indisputably still has a strong following, it today finds notable competition from Samsung, alongside others. Thus, it can be said, getting a market advantage in the tech scene ain’t easy; keeping it is even harder.
Blackpearl isn’t travelling in the same lane among the aforementioned LLMs. Instead, it seeks to entice those seeking a specialised offering tailored for sales marketing.
The ethos of Blackpearl offers insight into how this company aspires to cut through the congested space.
“Growth of AI is exponential, where the winners and losers in this new world will be defined by those that can continually innovate at hyper-speed”, said Lisette.
In turn, the company says it “…continues to aggressively evolve to get things done, fast, and make new technological innovation empower a smarter future for SME business”.
Ultimately, perhaps the greatest risk here isn’t to be found in the success or failure of Blackpearl in delivering on its goals, but on the risk of churn found more among SMEs than in larger enterprises.
Higher volatility can be found amidst SMEs as organisations seek to experiment and switch across solutions, just as –akin to how a tug boat will always turn faster than a cruise ship– any change in leadership can result in a swift shift away from the use of current resources.
It should be noted, especially given the signs of success being displayed on many fronts, Blackpearl can also stand to benefit from such churn, acquiring new customers who seek change.
The company reported quarterly revenue churn of 4.9% on 30 June 2025 and 4.6% as of 30 September 2025.
Charting a Course Ahead
As detailed prior, in the land of LLM giants, it’s presently ChatGPT that is on the tip of everyone’s tongues, with others like Claude and Google’s Gemini also in the mix.
Any big move by a giant into a new field or a new offering, can leave a colossal wake in its path.
But, while the titans of LLM have name recognition, the advantages they have with scale can diminish their agility, and capacity to deliver speed and specialisation for a particular audience.
In this arena, in this era of big tech, Blackpearl isn’t seeking to outgrow and overpower such titans. Instead, it can be seen as akin to a submarine amidst an ocean of aircraft carriers.
Indisputably, there is considerable scope for volatility in this space, and none can presume an invulnerability on the part of smaller operations in the world of LLM.
But Blackpearl offers highly-tailored capabilities to its SME audience, with a variety of products, clear audacity to grow its range, and numerous indicators in its recent history suggesting it can sail with the wind in 2026.
Accordingly, it’s indeed a company to watch closely in the new year.
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