Kinaxis ‘will be a huge AI winner,’ executives say as firm’s revenues jump 13% in 2025

March 5, 2026

Already an Insider? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.

Kinaxis’s new CEO says the Kanata-based software firm plans to ramp up development of new artificial intelligence tools as it seeks to build on the momentum that saw it earn record revenues in 2025. “There’s a lot of confusion in the public markets about who the winners will be in a more AI-forward world,” Razat Gaurav, who was named chief executive two months ago, told investors on a conference call Thursday to announce the supply-chain management software maker’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 financial results. “We’re working hard to prove that all the innovations in AI … are a significant tailwind for Kinaxis.” Gaurav was most recently CEO of Austin-based software firm Planview Inc. and previously held senior roles at supply-chain management software makers Llamasoft and Blue Yonder. The veteran tech leader said Kinaxis plans to “lean in” on artificial intelligence to help customers better manage their supply chain challenges. The Kanata company, with 400-plus customers including Ford, Unilever and pharmaceutical giant Merck, has been incorporating machine learning into its software for years to analyze data, manage inventory and run “what-if” scenarios that help customers react to fluctuations in supply and demand for their products. Now, Kinaxis is rolling out a series of no-code AI agents that build on data and workflows in its existing platform, called Maestro, and tap into other embedded large-language models such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini to answer customer queries about supply-chain issues in real time. Kinaxis has brought back its former VP of industry strategy, Manik Sharma, to lead the project in the new role of chief of agentic solutions. Sharma, a former executive at defence-tech giant Palantir and Kinaxis competitor Coupa Software, started this week. “The type of problems we’re solving for our customers require a very deep understanding of the supply chain domain,” Gaurav said. “You need to understand the physics of the supply chain before you can use AI or agents to do anything with it. That’s what we’ve built (with) Maestro. “We feel very confident in our ability. We’re clearly seeing demand for (AI) in our customers, and we have every intention to continue performing to prove that out.” Gaurav spoke to analysts after Kinaxis announced it earned total revenue of $548 million in the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, up 13 per cent from a year earlier. Its revenues for the fourth quarter were $144 million, a 16 per cent increase from the same period in 2024. Software-as-a-service revenues – a key metric for companies like Kinaxis that specialize in subscription-based products delivered in the cloud – rose 17 per cent from the previous year to $362 million. Kinaxis’s adjusted EBITDA rose 30 per cent to $138 million, and the company turned a profit of $70.7 million, up dramatically from the previous year’s net income of $56,000. In the fourth quarter, Kinaxis posted a profit of $19.5 million, or 68 cents per diluted share, compared with a loss of $16.3 million, or 58 cents per diluted share, a year earlier when the company was hit with several one-time charges, including the settlement of an ongoing legal dispute with competitor Blue Yonder. Kinaxis executives attributed the increased profits to strong revenue growth, higher gross margins and an ongoing campaign to cut operating expenses. Gaurav told analysts that “growing levels of supply-and-demand volatility” are fuelling increased demand for the company’s software. “I think the overall macro environment has been a tailwind for us,” he said. “Our go-to-market execution in the last 12 to 18 months has significantly improved. We have revamped the makeup of our go-to-market engine. The way we are engaging with customers has significantly improved.”

R&D spending boost

Kinaxis is forecasting revenues of between $620 million and $635 million for 2026, a year-over-year growth rate of 13-16 per cent. The company is projecting adjusted EBITDA margins of 25-26 per cent, in line with 2025’s result of 25 per cent. Chief financial officer Blaine Fitzgerald said Kinaxis plans to boost its R&D spending by well over 20 per cent in 2026 compared with last year in a bid to beef up its AI capabilities. He told analysts Kinaxis has a “huge opportunity” to create AI solutions that could be used in fields far beyond its current domain. “We’re not okay with just being a supply-chain planning company,” added Fitzgerald. “What you’re probably going to see is a company that may not even have supply chain in it at some point in the future and be more focused on enterprise AI. I think that is the eventual vision of where Kinaxis will do extremely well.” Gaurav said Kinaxis’s biggest challenge will be “retaining and attracting the talent that is required for us to realize the potential we have and to realize the expectations our customers have.” The new CEO said the company, whose 2,000 worldwide employees include about 650 people in the National Capital Region, is looking to “create new hubs for talent” as it expands its global footprint and gains traction in industries such as defence and aerospace, oil and gas and energy utilities. “I’m very bullish on the market need, on the market opportunity, the market size,” Gaurav said. “What doesn’t keep me up at night is the market potential. I’m not too worried about the competition, because we really have amazing customers and we have a lot of momentum. It’s really about scaling the business in every dimension with the best talent.” Kinaxis also unveiled a slightly revamped pricing structure that will see customers subscribe to Maestro in various-sized “bundles” that reflect their anticipated usage of the software. “I believe Kinaxis will be a huge AI winner,” said Fitzgerald, who announced he is leaving Kinaxis in May to join a private company in a different industry. “Overall, the future looks exceptionally bright.” Kinaxis shares were up $5.26, or about four per cent, to $135.34 in late-afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.