Raketech's Q2 2025 Strategic Pivot: A Platform-First, Partnership-Driven Catalyst for Sustainable Growth

Raketech's Q2 2025 strategic transformation has positioned the company at a critical inflection point. By pivoting to a platform-first and partnership-driven model, the firm is recalibrating its operations to prioritize long-term value creation, operational efficiency, and scalable revenue streams. This shift, anchored in its AffiliationCloud platform, represents a bold departure from its earlier asset-heavy approach and offers a compelling case for investors seeking resilience in a volatile market.

The Platform-First Playbook: AffiliationCloud as the Engine of Growth

At the core of Raketech's transformation is the AffiliationCloud platform, a unified system that integrates in-house assets with entrepreneurial partnerships. This model enables the company to scale rapidly while leveraging external expertise in niche areas like SEO, content, and product development. By retaining control over commercial agreements, finance, and data, Raketech ensures operational predictability while allowing partners to handle domain-specific execution.

The results are already emerging. In Q2 2025, the Affiliation Marketing segment (excluding underperforming Casumba assets) delivered a 5% quarter-over-quarter revenue increase, despite a challenging macroeconomic climate. Entrepreneurial partnerships now account for 63% of the segment's revenue, up from 50% in 2024. This shift has reduced Raketech's reliance on high-risk, low-margin assets and instead created a scalable ecosystem where partners and the platform co-evolve.

For investors, the platform-first model is a double-edged sword. While it requires upfront investment in technology and infrastructure (evidenced by Raketech's Q2 EBITDA dip to EUR 2.4 million, down from EUR 5.1 million in Q1 2024), the long-term benefits—lower marginal costs, higher data utilization, and diversified revenue streams—are structurally sound. The platform's ability to onboard new partners quickly (e.g., the recent Nordic TV operator agreement) further underscores its adaptability.

Strategic Divestments and Margin Expansion

Raketech's Q2 2025 strategic divestments of non-core US Tipster and Subscription assets, though initially painful (a EUR 500k operating loss), are a masterstroke for margin improvement. These divestitures are projected to yield monthly cost savings of EUR 150k and eliminate a drag on EBITDA that previously cost EUR 0.5 million quarterly.

The financial restructuring also includes extending the Casumba earnout period to March 2028, which improves cash flow flexibility. This move allows Raketech to redirect capital toward high-potential areas like the Organic Publisher Network in SubAffiliation, which has seen active publishers rise to over 80. By shifting focus from volatile Paid Publisher Networks (strapped by Google's algorithm changes) to stable, content-driven organic growth, Raketech is insulating itself from external shocks.

Risks and Realities: Navigating the Transition

Despite the optimism, Raketech's Q2 2025 results highlight near-term challenges. Revenues fell to EUR 7.8 million, a sharp drop from EUR 17.0 million in Q2 2024, driven by Casumba underperformance and Paid Publisher volatility. The company's adjusted EBITDA margin of 30.8% (EUR 2.4 million on EUR 7.8 million revenue) lags behind the 39% margin it reported in Q1 2023.

However, these short-term headwinds are largely self-inflicted and strategic. The 34% cost savings achieved in Q2 2025 (excluding publisher costs) demonstrate Raketech's ability to streamline operations. Moreover, the entrepreneurial partnership model is still in its infancy—new partnerships established in March 2025 are only beginning to show traction.

Investment Implications: A Long-Term Bet on Platform Resilience

Raketech's pivot to a platform-first, partnership-driven model is a high-conviction bet on operational efficiency and scalable growth. While the company's EBITDA contraction in Q2 2025 is a red flag, the underlying strategy is sound:
- Margin Expansion: Cost savings from divestitures and platform optimization are expected to stabilize EBITDA by late 2025.
- Revenue Diversification: The shift to organic publishers and entrepreneurial partnerships reduces overexposure to volatile traffic channels.
- Strategic Flexibility: The AffiliationCloud platform's modular design allows rapid adaptation to market changes, a critical advantage in the fast-evolving affiliate marketing space.

For investors, the key question is timing. Raketech's stock has underperformed since its Q4 2024 impairment charge (EUR 48.5 million), but the Q2 2025 strategic clarity provides a potential inflection point.

Conclusion: A Platform for the Future

Raketech's Q2 2025 transformation is a textbook example of strategic reinvention. By embracing a platform-first model and partnership-driven ecosystem, the company is laying the groundwork for sustainable growth in an industry plagued by volatility. While near-term EBITDA pressures persist, the long-term value proposition—lower costs, higher scalability, and diversified revenue—is compelling.

For investors with a 12–24 month horizon, Raketech offers an intriguing opportunity. The risks are real, but so is the potential for a turnaround story driven by innovation and operational discipline. As CEO Johan Svensson notes, “The platform-first model isn't just a strategy—it's a mindset. And this mindset is what will drive Raketech's next chapter.”