Marchex is doubling down on its AI strategy—and eyeing a major expansion of its business model. The conversational intelligence company reported third-quarter 2025 earnings while revealing an agreement in principle to acquire Archenia, a fast-growing customer acquisition platform built on AI-verified outcomes.

The move signals Marchex’s push beyond insights and analytics into a broader, vertically aligned AI-driven outcomes ecosystem—one the company believes will redefine how enterprises qualify, convert, and measure customers across channels.

Q3: Revenue Dip, But Strength in Bookings and EBITDA

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, Marchex delivered results that show a business in transition but tightening its operational discipline.

Q3 2025 financial highlights:

• Revenue: $11.5M, down from $12.6M YoY

• Net loss: $1.0M (flat at $(0.02) per share)

• Adjusted EBITDA: $0.6M vs. $0.3M YoY

• Adjusted EBITDA ex-reorg costs: $1.1M

• Adjusted non-GAAP EPS: $0.00 vs. $(0.01) YoY

While the company continues to experience revenue migration dilution tied to its ongoing platform overhaul, it’s seeing strong traction in sales activity.

Troy Hartless, president of Marchex, highlighted that Q3 brought the highest sales bookings of the year, adding:

“As we near completion of our technology platform migration, we improved Adjusted EBITDA to $1.1 million—up roughly 50% from Q2—and we believe we’re gaining visibility into sustainable sales growth heading into 2026.”

Marchex expects Q4 revenue and EBITDA to be sequentially lower due to seasonality and final migration impacts, but says bookings momentum and new product launches are setting up 2026 for a return to growth.

2026 Outlook: Growth Returns—and Margin Expansion

Marchex is projecting a 10% revenue growth run-rate in 2026, supported by:

• Expanded AI product offerings

• Completion of its platform migration

• Increased sales bookings across enterprise accounts

The company also believes Adjusted EBITDA margins could reach 10% or more next year as revenue grows and operating expenses decline.

AI Product Momentum: Benchmarks, Optimization, GPT Search, and Vertical Intelligence

If 2024 was about rebuilding, 2025 has been about launching. Marchex’s product roadmap is heavily weighted toward new AI modules designed to close the loop from insights to action.

AI Benchmarking

Launched in October, Industry Benchmarking adds competitor and industry-level KPIs inside the Key Insights Dashboard. Enterprise users can now compare performance against peers with prescriptive recommendations for improvement.

AgentAI Optimizer

Coming soon, this module evaluates the performance of third-party AI agents—an emerging but critical need as enterprises deploy large fleets of AI-driven automation tools.

Marchex Engage GPT

Expected later this quarter, this LLM-powered search engine lets businesses query their structured enterprise data using conversational prompts—a business-specific GPT built for Fortune 500-scale search.

New Vertical AI Solutions

Marchex is expanding into industries where conversations directly drive revenue outcomes.

• Healthcare AI Solution:
  Helps providers more accurately attribute patient leads, prioritize high-value appointments, and detect engagement gaps.

• Senior Living AI Solution:
  Surfaces prospect needs, improves marketing efficiency, and analyzes reasons for move-in or rejection.

Marchex says its verticalized AI models deliver “prescriptive analytics uniquely calibrated to each industry’s omnichannel conversational trends.”

The Big Move: Marchex to Acquire Archenia

The headline beyond earnings: Marchex has entered an agreement in principle to acquire Archenia, an AI-driven customer qualification and acquisition company that specializes in performance-based, outcome-driven results.

The proposed deal structure includes:

• $10M convertible promissory note at 6% interest

• Convertible at $1.80 per share

• Additional earn-out of up to 4M shares tied to revenue/EBITDA milestones across two 12-month periods

• Closing targeted for 1H 2026, pending audited financials, fairness opinion, and shareholder approval

A special committee of independent directors has approved moving forward due to related-party considerations among some Archenia sellers.

Who Is Archenia?

Archenia brings something Marchex lacks: AI-verified, pay-for-outcome conversion capabilities.

The platform:

• Uses real-time AI signals and natural-language analytics to detect consumer intent

• Validates outcomes such as appointments, sales, or high-intent conversations

• Optimizes campaigns dynamically across channels

• Serves major verticals including insurance, home services, healthcare, and automotive

Archenia estimates $17M+ in revenue for 2025 and positive Adjusted EBITDA, with roughly $14M delivered through Q3 (unaudited).

Why This Acquisition Matters

If completed, the combination would give Marchex a rare vertically integrated stack across:

1. Insights – Conversational intelligence, benchmarking, and GPT-powered analytics

2. Actions – AgentAI and AI-driven optimization

3. Outcomes – Pay-per-event conversions validated by Archenia’s AI models

This is exactly where the market is heading. As AI rewires how enterprises measure marketing, sales, and customer interactions, traditional cost-per-click or cost-per-lead models are losing relevance. Pay-per-event is rising—and Marchex wants to own the full pipeline.

Strategic upside includes:

• Larger addressable market

• Cross-sell and bundling potential

• Revenue scale approaching $60M annually

• Target growth of 15–20% in 2026

• Potential adjusted EBITDA margins exceeding 10%

The story is becoming clear: Marchex is positioning itself not just as a conversational intelligence vendor—but as a full-stack AI customer acquisition engine.

The Bottom Line

Marchex’s Q3 may look modest on paper, but the underlying signals—rising bookings, a stronger AI roadmap, and the potential Archenia acquisition—paint a picture of a company preparing for an aggressive 2026.

If the deal closes, Marchex would enter the new year with a scaled, end-to-end platform spanning insights, decisions, and outcomes—exactly the direction the AI-powered marketing and sales industries are moving.

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