Earnings Call Transcript
Certara, Inc. (CERT)
Earnings Call Transcript - CERT Q4 2020
David Deuchler, Investor Relations
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for participating in today's conference call. On the call from Certara, we have William Feehery, Chief Executive Officer and Andrew Schemick, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, Certara released financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31st, 2020. A copy of the press release along with the supplementary presentation is available on the company's IR website. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that relate to expectations or predictions of future events, results, or performance are forward-looking statements. You should be aware that these statements should be considered estimates only and are not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. For this and description of the risks and uncertainties associated with Certara's business, please refer to the Risk Factor section of our perspectives filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 14, 2020. Also in their remarks or responses to questions, management may mention non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted EPS to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are available in today's earnings release and appendix to the supporting presentation, both of which were posted on the company's IR website. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, March 4th, 2021. Certara disclaims any intention or obligation except as required by law to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. And with that, I will turn the call over to William.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you, David. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining Certara's fourth quarter earnings call. Andrew and I will start with prepared remarks and then we will take questions. On December 11, 2020, we successfully completed our IPO and listed on the NASDAQ. We raised $768.5 million in gross IPO proceeds, including $316.3 million in net proceeds for the company. On behalf of Certara, I would like to thank everyone who was involved with the IPO. With the investment community's support, we are now better positioned to deliver on our mission to accelerate the drug development process with our biosimulation software and tech-enabled services. We're also pleased to note that Certara will be joining the Russell 1000 index effective March 19. In 2020, Certara had another strong year of financial performance, with 17% year-over-year revenue growth, including record revenue in the fourth quarter, which grew 20% over the same quarter in the previous year. We were also very pleased with our growth in profitability. Our 2020 adjusted EBITDA increased by 28% for the full year and by 36% in the fourth quarter. Full year 2020 bookings grew 11% and we had solid bookings in the fourth quarter with 21% growth. And while it was challenging to recruit during the pandemic, we grew our employee base by 8%, surpassing 900 employees in 2020. Certara is a global leader in biosimulation. Biosimulation is a powerful and proven technology that uses computer models to simulate and predict how a drug affects the body and how the body affects the drug. Certara's customers worldwide use our biosimulation software and expertise to conduct computer-based trials using virtual patients. By doing this, they can answer critical questions that save significant time and money, while also advancing drug safety and efficacy. Additionally, Certara's biosimulation software is used by 17 global regulatory agencies to evaluate regulatory submissions, including 12 divisions of the FDA. In 2020, there was no better example of biosimulation's impact than the global effort to develop therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19. When many in the biopharmaceutical industry pivoted to fighting COVID-19, they chose to partner with us on more than 30 programs. We believe that the pace of development of many COVID-19 programs would not have been possible without the use of biosimulation. And we couldn't be prouder or more passionate about contributing to this global effort against the pandemic. It's important to note though, that COVID was only one of the many therapeutic areas that Certara worked on in 2020, with significant amounts of work in areas like oncology and rare diseases. Certara offers a differentiated end-to-end platform, powered by biosimulation and integrated technology-enabled services. Our platform spans the entire R&D continuum from drug discovery to regulatory science and market access. Key to our platform are Certara's leading scientists and experts who not only partner closely with our customers, but also make important contributions to advancing the science and technology of biosimulation. Of our more than 900 employees, one-third have doctorate degrees, and in 2020, they collectively published more than 100 scientific manuscripts to help advance the biosimulation field. The technology-enabled services these scientists provide significantly increase the adoption of biosimulation due to the capability of our group and the fact that the number of biosimulation projects at Certara in the course of a year is likely larger than even the largest pharma companies' work on. Furthermore, as the biotechnology industry grows rapidly, so does the demand for our technology-enabled services, because biotech companies may not always have the need or the ability to hire scientists with our extensive biosimulation expertise. In regulatory science, we deliver writing and operation support to advance our customers' global regulatory submissions, often incorporating results from biosimulation analysis. We have best-in-class technology and global regulatory experts to improve efficiency and quality and expertly navigate regulatory pathways. Furthermore, we provide market access solutions, which are underpinned by advanced analytics. In market access, we help our customers understand the real-world impact of therapies and communicate this effectively to payers and health authorities. We are proud to say that since 2014 to this past year, customers that have used Certara's biosimulation software and tech-enabled services have received more than 90% of new drugs and biologics' approvals by the FDA. As we are known to be the industry standard for biosimulation and at the forefront of innovation, we continue to gain new customers. We ended the year with more than 1,650 customers worldwide. We also expanded our customers' adoption of Certara's end-to-end platform by selling more licenses, making cross-sells, and introducing new solutions. In 2020, we had 53 customers with an annual customer value greater than $1 million, growing 20% year-over-year. Additionally, we had 261 customers with an annual customer value of greater than $100,000, which was a 14% growth year-over-year. At Certara, the needs of our customers drive our passion for innovation. As an example, we partnered with many of the leading global biopharmaceutical companies to introduce a new version of our Simcyp simulator in 2020 to advance safer and more efficient clinical studies. We developed additional models for testing drugs with virtual patients in complex populations, such as pregnant women. We also invested in new features to improve drug delivery and drug formulation. As of the end of 2020, the Simcyp simulator has informed approximately 250 label claims for more than 75 FDA-approved novel drugs. As Certara expands, we are focused on penetrating new markets. In the fourth quarter, we opened our new office in Shanghai, China's epicenter for biopharmaceutical R&D. In 2020, our revenue from China more than doubled. We also recently renewed our center of excellence partnership with Peking Union Medical College Hospital, one of the most selective medical colleges in China. They use our Phoenix platform to train their emerging scientists. We are enthusiastic about our direct presence in China so that we can fully support our rapidly growing customer base there. In addition to organic growth, Certara completed the acquisition of In Silico Biosciences' modeling and simulation platform for neurodegenerative diseases in 2020. In 2021, we're actively looking for the right technology, people and capabilities to increase the depth and breadth of our end-to-end platform. Our most recent acquisition just a few days ago is AUTHOR!, a regulatory and biostatistics services firm based in Europe. When we discuss our M&A strategy, it's important to reflect on Certara's demonstrated history of executing a disciplined acquisition process. Our focus on technology and capabilities to help our customers has been deliberate. Shareholder value creation will continue to be the top priority at Certara. In summary, 2020 was another solid and exciting year for Certara, and we're enthusiastic about the company's prospects over the coming year and beyond. I will now turn it over to our CFO, Andrew Schemick, to discuss our financial results and provide guidance for 2021.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Thanks, William. Hello, everyone. First, we will go through the fourth quarter results, followed by the full year results and I will finish the prepared remarks with the guidance for the full year of 2021. As William mentioned earlier, the fourth quarter was a record quarter for Certara. Total revenue for the three months ended December 31st, 2020 was $64.6 million, representing year-over-year growth of 20%. Software revenue was $17.5 million, which increased 4% over the prior year period. We saw 12% growth in revenue from subscription software, but Certara migrated certain products from license to subscription. This growth was offset by lower software maintenance and the timing of software license revenue recognition. Notwithstanding the software maintenance and timing, software revenues grew consistent with historical levels. Services revenue was $47.1 million, which increased 27% over the prior year period. The growth in services revenue reflects the trend of increased adoption of our end-to-end platform from both our installed base of customers and new customers. I will provide the full year net revenue repeat rate on services later in the discussion. In addition to revenue, we also monitor two key performance indicators to evaluate retention and expansion, new bookings, and aggregate renewal rates. Software bookings were $21 million, which decreased 3% from the prior year period due to several large renewals booked early during the third quarter. I'll mention here that bookings can vary from quarter to quarter depending, in part, on the timing of signing larger renewal contracts. Software aggregate renewal rate was 89% as compared to 95% in the fourth quarter of 2019. The renewal rate, which is revenue-based, was negatively impacted by approximately 200 basis points due to the increased mix of subscription revenues. Services bookings were $63.3 million, an increase of 32% from the fourth quarter of 2019. I categorize the growth in this area as broad-based, but it's important to note that the demand was particularly strong for biosimulation solutions. Before I discuss the details of expenses, I'd like to make the general point that as a result of the IPO we incurred $62 million of stock-based compensation expense in the fourth quarter, which accounts for the majority of the increase in expenses during the quarter and for the year. Total cost of revenues were $34.9 million, an increase from $22 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily due to an increase of $8.5 million in stock-based compensation, as well as increased billable headcount and performance-based compensation. Total operating expenses were $83.3 million, an increase from $27.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $53.1 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. Operating expenses also included a $1.4 million increase from transaction-related costs. The components of operating expenses are as follows: Sales and marketing expenses were $10.4 million compared to $2.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $7.3 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. R&D expenses were $10.5 million compared to $3 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $6.9 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. G&A expenses were $52.4 million compared to $12.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $38.7 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. Intangible asset amortization was $9.4 million for the fourth quarter, and depreciation and amortization expense was $0.6 million during the quarter. Continuing down the P&L, interest expense during the fourth quarter was $5.5 million, which reflects about $1.6 million related to our Holdco term loan, which we repaid in its entirety late in December with proceeds from our IPO. Our effective tax rate was 9.1% for the fourth quarter. Given the complexity here, I will revisit this later during the discussion of the full year results, including a discussion of our cash tax rate. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $54.4 million, an increase from $6 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. The increase was the result of a $61.4 million increase in stock-based compensation expense offset by an income tax benefit of $5.5 million. Net loss per share was $0.40 compared to $0.05 for the fourth quarter of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was $22.2 million compared to $16.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Adjusted net income was $11.8 million as compared to an adjusted net loss of $3.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2019. Adjusted EPS was $0.09 compared to a loss of $0.03 for 2019. Overall, we're pleased with the company's performance and improved level of profitability on a year-over-year basis. Turning to the full year results. Total revenue for the full year ended December 31st, 2020 was $243.5 million, representing 17% growth over 2019. Software revenue was $73.5 million, which increased 7% over the prior year period due to 10% growth in software license revenue and 8% growth in subscription revenue, partially offset by a decline in software maintenance revenue. In addition, a previously known runoff contract relating to an acquisition in 2017 expired in 2020, affecting the comparison against 2019. Overall, we are pleased with this performance given that the organic growth rate was 11% when factoring out the runoff contracts. Services revenue was $170.1 million, which increased 21% over the prior year period. The growth was attributable to both expansion within our existing base of customers and new customers. The expansion and impact of new clients is evident in the ACV metrics that William discussed earlier, as well as in the 116% net revenue repeat rate for the year. On the performance metrics, software bookings were $73.3 million, which increased 9% from 2019. Software aggregate renewal rate was 90% for the full year of 2020 as compared to 93% for 2019. We achieved our goal of 90% plus aggregate renewal rates despite the previously mentioned runoff contracts. The full year net retention rate for software was 105%. Services bookings for 2020 were $215 million, an increase of 12% from 2019. As a reminder, the majority of our bookings result in revenues that will be recognized within a forward 12-month period. And in the second quarter of 2019, we recorded a large multiyear booking that impacts the comparison year-over-year. The overall result of the strong bookings performance for both software and services is that we have high visibility going into 2021. The visibility is at a level consistent with prior years and supports our financial guidance, which I will discuss shortly. Total cost of revenues were $100.8 million and increase from $79.8 million for the full year of 2019, primarily due to increased billable headcount and then an $8.6 million increase in stock-based compensation expense. Total operating expenses were $157.2 million and increased from $109.1 million in 2019, primarily due to increases of $54 million in stock-based compensation expense, $4.8 million of employee-related costs and $1.9 million of transaction-related costs. The components of operating expenses are as follows: Sales and marketing expenses were $19.2 million compared to $10.7 million for 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $7.3 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. R&D expenses were $19.6 million compared to $11.6 million for 2019. The increase was primarily due to a $7 million increase in stock-based compensation expenses. G&A expenses for the year were $88.5 million compared to $47.9 million for 2019, again, the increase was primarily due to an increase of $39.8 million in stock-based compensation expenses. Intangible asset amortization was $37.4 million and depreciation expense was $2.4 million during the year. Continuing down the P&L, interest expense was $25.3 million, which reflects about $7.6 million related to our Holdco term loan, which we repaid in its entirety late in December using proceeds from our IPO. Our effective tax rate was a benefit of 1.6% for 2020. Our cash tax rate was 33% for 2020. The difference between the cash and effective tax rates is driven by the impact of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards, valuation allowance, and other components of deferred tax expense that are excluded from the calculation of cash taxes. Net loss for the full year of 2020 was $49.4 million and increase from $8.9 million in the full year of 2019, primarily driven by the increase in stock-based compensation expense. Net loss per share for the full year 2020 was $0.37 compared to $0.07 for the full year of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was $87.9 million compared to $68.4 million for 2019, representing 28% growth. Adjusted net income was $22 million compared to $0.8 million for 2019. Adjusted EPS was $0.17 compared to $0.01 for 2019. Now moving to the balance sheet. We ended the year with $271.4 million of cash and cash equivalents. Our total debt outstanding was $298.8 million after the voluntary repayment of $80 million of our long-term debt in the fourth quarter, with a portion of the proceeds from our IPO. The current debt structure does not include any significant maturity until 2024. Now turning to our full year outlook for 2021. The following are our expectations: Revenue to be in the range of $272 million to $285 million, representing 12% to 17% growth; adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $98 million to $102 million; adjusted EPS to be in the range of $0.20 to $0.24 per share; the cash tax rate to be in the range of 25% to 30%; the effective tax rate to be between 45% and 50%; and finally, fully diluted shares to range between 153 million and 155 million at year-end. Thank you. Now, I'll turn it back to our Chief Executive Officer, William Feehery.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you, Andrew. In summary, 2020 was a very strong year for Certara in a challenging environment. Our Certara team continues to focus on our commitments to customers and deliver strong growth for our shareholders, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that our end-to-end platform is well-positioned to benefit from solid market trends. We expect to capture a larger share of overall biopharmaceutical R&D spend, as we continue to innovate, acquire, and add new solutions to our end-to-end platform. At this point, we will open up the call for questions. Operator, can you please open up the line?
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our first question comes from Vikram Purohit with Morgan Stanley. You may proceed with your question.
Vikram Purohit, Analyst
Great. Thanks for taking my question. First one from me is on the topic of seasonality. Could you talk a little bit about how buying patterns trend throughout the year, both for the software business and for the services business? And how we should kind of think about any possible lumpiness of revenues on a quarter-to-quarter basis going forward?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Hi, Vikram.
William Feehery, CEO
Thanks. Go ahead, Andrew.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Thanks, William. Okay. So, regarding seasonality, I really look at that at three levels. The bookings tend to have less of a seasonal pattern. It's more dependent on client behavior. If you look at 2019, we had 54% of our bookings in the first half, 46% in the second half that was related to one large multiyear booking we had in the second quarter. If you look at 2020, it was 45% in the first half, 55% in the second half. We had a very strong bookings year and momentum for the second half. The revenues, we're a growing company. We grow quarter-over-quarter. There can be some seasonality in the software, particularly around Q1 and Q4, where we have a heavy renewal season. That seasonality is generally offset by growing our tech-enabled services business. And the revenues for the previous two years have been split about 49% in the first half, 51% in the second half. EBITDA tends to follow the revenues. Historically, in 2020, we had a lower percentage of EBITDA in the second half that was entirely driven by the timing of our performance compensation accruals, given the lack of visibility of the full year, the lack of uncertainty with regards to the early stages of COVID. We caught up on those accruals in the fourth quarter and third quarter. If you put those back into the first and second quarters, it exactly follows the same seasonality as the revenue trend.
Vikram Purohit, Analyst
Got it. That's helpful. Thank you. And a follow-up if I could. I just wanted to see if you could talk a little bit about how much COVID contributed to 2020 revenues in terms of, again, both software and for the services business? And how much of the COVID contribution would you expect going forward throughout 2021 and beyond, understanding it's a bit of a fluid situation, but just any thoughts you'd have there would be helpful.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Sure. So, we definitely saw an acceleration from COVID, not necessarily an overall impact on the financial statements specifically for COVID. Our revenues tend to track the work that's ongoing in the industry. So, if it was a priority for our clients, it was a priority for us. We did see some surge of work in the second quarter at the early stages of COVID, but we don't expect a major impact and expect going forward to kind of follow the trend of investment in R&D in the biopharmaceutical industry.
William Feehery, CEO
I believe the best way to approach this is by acknowledging that COVID was significant for us, and we are proud of the contributions we made. However, from a financial perspective, it balanced out. Our teams that were focused on other projects transitioned to work on COVID and then returned to their previous tasks as the pharmaceutical industry evolved. In the second quarter, we likely lost a few projects but gained some COVID-related work, and many of those projects resumed later in the year. Therefore, I don't consider it to have had a substantial financial impact for us in 2019, although it did influence the projects we undertook and their composition to some extent.
Vikram Purohit, Analyst
Okay. Understood. Thank you.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Ryskin with Bank of America. You may proceed with your question.
Michael Ryskin, Analyst
Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. Congratulations on a successful quarter and the positive outlook for 2021. I'd like to start by discussing the cross-selling opportunities between the biosimulation software and services. Can you provide an update on how that developed throughout 2020, especially in the fourth quarter, and share your thoughts on how that might speed up in 2021? Have you noticed any significant developments in this area?
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you, Michael, for the question. We've been ramping up our cross-selling initiatives. In 2020, the percentage of our top 300 customers using more than one Certara solution increased from about two-thirds to around 72%. This is a modest increase, but we have more than two solutions available, which opens up further opportunities. We believe this strategy is significant for Certara and has been a growing opportunity throughout the year. However, we think there's still more potential to explore. We have many customers who we believe could benefit from additional solutions as their drugs progress through the development pipeline. We are also organizing ourselves and utilizing our internal data systems to monitor drugs, which enables us to deliver the right solution to the right customer at the appropriate time.
Michael Ryskin, Analyst
Okay. And can I ask a follow-up? I mean, you discussed a little bit sort of the COVID impact on the revenues, but I was more curious in how would you think about your sales and marketing approach, your sales force out there, especially with new customers outside of sort of the renewal parts of the business? What was the impact of COVID in 2020? How should we think about potentially going back to the prior ways of doing business in 2021 in terms of being able to do more visits with potential customers, sort of were there any headwinds that you observed throughout the year, and how were you able to adapt there?
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you for the question. Like many companies worldwide, we had to make adjustments. Previously, we relied heavily on large conferences for marketing purposes. While many of these events transitioned to virtual formats, they weren't as effective for us. As a result, we significantly increased our investment in digital marketing and virtual meetings, which proved to be successful. It's not only us changing our marketing and sales strategies, but our customers are also adapting how they learn about and purchase solutions. I believe we've tapped into a trend that will continue in the industry regarding these changes. Additionally, we increased our investment in 2020 and plan to continue doing so as we move into 2021, expanding our global commercial presence. We see opportunities to grow our sales, marketing, and business development teams in software, particularly in China and Europe. We made efforts to expand in the second half of 2020, especially after the initial slowdown in hiring caused by COVID. We started accelerating our hiring then, and we believe these investments will pay off as we progress this year.
Michael Ryskin, Analyst
Thanks so much.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from David Windley with Jefferies. You may proceed with your question.
David Windley, Analyst
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. I have a few. Regarding the QSP models that you mentioned being in development and making progress this year, I understand that at least some of those, if not all, are through your consortium model. Could you provide an update on their progress? Are they fully vetted and ready for commercial use? Can you sell them to clients outside the consortium right away, or is there a limitation for now? I would like to understand the timeline for this.
William Feehery, CEO
Okay. So, the answer is it varies. There are a number of QSP models.
David Windley, Analyst
Okay.
William Feehery, CEO
In general, we provide an advantage to the consortium members by giving them early access to the technology. However, in the long run, we can also sell these technologies outside the consortium when they are ready. The consortium is formed to work specifically with these customers, and they benefit from early access. Eventually, when the consortium concludes, typically a few years later, those models become available for a broader market. Occasionally, some consortiums are extended, and we are currently seeing interest in renewing our immuno-oncology consortium. We are also in the early stages of establishing a consortium focused on neurodegenerative diseases, among others. Additionally, some of our QSP modeling is conducted through our own investments, and in certain cases, it is done with a single customer or entirely through our own investments to develop products.
David Windley, Analyst
Got it. Okay. Following up on one of the last questions about your land and expand strategy and selling multiple products to clients, I noticed in Andy's prepared remarks an emphasis on biosimulation. Are you seeing uptake primarily there, or is it more balanced with regulatory and market access uptake as well?
William Feehery, CEO
So we saw particularly in the fourth quarter, a particularly strong uptake in biosimulation. But our growth was pretty broad-based. It included market access and regulatory as well. They both did quite well in 2020 and then in the fourth quarter. So, I guess, the answer is, it's strong in both of them.
David Windley, Analyst
I noted that your bookings balance is increasingly shifting toward your tech-enabled services, which seems to be more pronounced than the 70/30 mix we've observed recently. Do you anticipate that this trend towards services will continue in 2021? Additionally, how is the labor market for the clinical pharmacologists and pharmaconutritionists you employ to support that service provision?
William Feehery, CEO
Great. So, thanks for the question. Maybe Andy, you want to take the first part and then I'll talk about the labor market.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Sure. We have observed a slightly higher growth rate in services compared to software, leading to a change in our business mix. We anticipate that next year's mix will remain consistent with this year's based on our forecasts. In more detail, our services often rely on technology and are frequently tied to our software through customizations or implementations, using our software to deliver those services. Additionally, there are other technology fees involved. Although we experienced a mix shift this year in bookings and revenue, excluding the non-cash stock-based compensation reveals a modest decline in the cost of revenues. This necessitated an increase in efficiency, which I evaluate from a revenue per headcount perspective. Thus, we are confident in our future guidance in that regard. Does that help?
David Windley, Analyst
Yes, it is. Thank you.
William Feehery, CEO
I want to comment on the labor market. We hire a skilled group of individuals and maintain high standards. It’s not easy in the current market, but we have been doing quite well and see significant opportunities for growth. The lessons learned during the pandemic have been beneficial. Our ability to work virtually has widened our recruitment pool. As a global company, we find talent worldwide, and our capacity to do so has improved over the past year. While no company ever feels like they’ve hired everyone they need, we’re continually working on it and feel confident in our ability to grow this model.
David Windley, Analyst
Got it. Very good. Thank you.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you. Thank you, David. Appreciate it.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from Erin Wright with Credit Suisse. You may proceed with your question.
Erin Wright, Analyst
Hey, thanks. There's obviously various models in terms of biosimulation. I guess, how are you thinking about the long-term mix dynamics in terms of drug development stage? Or is it primarily, largely all going to be overweight on the clinical side, longer term? Or do you anticipate any sort of shift in strategy there? Thanks.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you for the question. The foundation of Certara was indeed in the clinical phase, where we initially focused our efforts. The concept was that this stage is where a significant portion of pharmaceutical development expenditures occur. We're not regretting that decision. However, as part of our strategy, we aim to create a comprehensive solution that encompasses all stages of pharmaceutical development. We offer solutions that span from discovery to market access, and we see additional opportunities to enhance this. While we will continue to invest in the clinical and development stages of our business, we may see a shift in our focus over time as we introduce new solutions.
Erin Wright, Analyst
Okay. Great. And on that note, M&A or capital deployment priorities, I know you discussed a little bit about it during the prepared remarks, but anything that in particular that you would be kind of targeting here and at this point, or any holes kind of filled from that portfolio perspective, that'd be great. Thanks.
William Feehery, CEO
Certara has a long history of a disciplined acquisition strategy. We evaluate acquisitions both from a strategic perspective, focusing on whether they enhance our end-to-end solutions for customers during drug development, and from a financial perspective. Historically, we've had a successful track record in this area. In the second half of last year, we stepped back from the M&A market to concentrate on our IPO, but our corporate development team continued to actively monitor opportunities. We are currently tracking several promising technologies that could enhance our offerings. We made one acquisition in the fourth quarter, specifically a company called AUTHOR!, which specializes in regulatory and biostatistics services in Europe. We will provide updates when we have new developments to share as we move forward.
Erin Wright, Analyst
Okay. Great. Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from John Kreger with William Blair. You may proceed with your question.
John Kreger, Analyst
Hi, thanks very much. Hey, Bill, could you just elaborate a little bit more on the AUTHOR! deal? I think you said it just closed a few days ago. Should we view that as sort of a template of the kinds of things you're looking for, and perhaps if you could give us any input on price, or a revenue contribution.
William Feehery, CEO
The AUTHOR! deal was a minor transaction, so we chose not to disclose specific numbers. However, we are interested in smaller acquisitions where we typically find attractive pricing, as well as larger, more transformative deals. This deal falls into the former category. We believe we have a talented and accomplished team that will help us grow our European regulatory biostatistics business, which is one of our key priorities.
John Kreger, Analyst
Got it. Thank you. And then, Andy, I think of the 20% revenue growth that you reported in the fourth quarter, was that all organic, or did you have any sort of an acquisition benefit in that number?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
That was all organic.
John Kreger, Analyst
Great. Thanks. I have a couple of follow-up questions regarding the guidance. At the midpoint, it seems you are anticipating 15% top line growth. Should we consider that services and software will have comparable growth rates around 15%, or do you expect services to outpace that?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Based on our visibility and prior trends, we have observed the software's organic growth rate. If I exclude the runoff contract, which is in the low to mid-teens, and consider the services, they are in the mid to high-teens.
John Kreger, Analyst
Okay. So, that's your expectation for 2021 as well?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Yeah.
John Kreger, Analyst
Great. And then one last one, similar, would you expect biosimulation to grow a little bit faster than regulatory and market access in 2021, or should we assume those three buckets are similar?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
The biosimulation has been performing at a higher growth rate. We have a higher level of presold work in that area.
John Kreger, Analyst
Okay. So, that'll be fast. Great. Thank you.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from Luke Sergott with Barclays. You may proceed with your question.
Luke Sergott, Analyst
Thank you for the question. It appears that your EBITDA margins will decrease somewhat in 2021. Can you provide additional insights on what is happening there and how the operating expenses are expected to progress throughout the year?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Yes. For next year, we are aiming for an EBITDA margin in the mid-30% range. We consider the capacity to make additional investments as needed, particularly in our sales and marketing strategies and in R&D, which could slightly affect the EBITDA margin. This year, we are also experiencing an increase in certain costs associated with being a public company. For instance, the cost of D&O insurance has significantly changed. Therefore, we expect the costs to align with the revenue mix I mentioned earlier, taking seasonality into account. There will be some gradual increases in costs as the business expands over the year.
Luke Sergott, Analyst
That's helpful. As you expand in China, will the business mix reflect what you have in the West, or are there differences in demand for the various software and services?
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you for the question, Luke. We believe that ultimately it will reflect a similar trend. However, the industry in China is at a different stage of development. Currently, we are observing greater demand for software, which is partly due to the fact that we still need to build a significant amount of capability for tech services in that market. Nonetheless, we are confident that Chinese companies are growing, with substantial investment flowing in, including from many western pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, we expect to see similar needs from these companies as we do from pharmaceutical companies in other regions of the world.
Luke Sergott, Analyst
Got it. That makes sense. Lastly, could you provide insight into the annual contract value of the customers who are using two or more solutions? Additionally, how has that annual contract value changed over time?
William Feehery, CEO
Do you want to take that one Andy, or?
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Yeah. I think, the majority of the top 300 are captured in the ACV over a hundred thousand category. 261 of the 300.
Luke Sergott, Analyst
Yeah. It helps. Okay.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
14% growth in the count.
William Feehery, CEO
Thank you, Luke.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to William for any further remarks.
William Feehery, CEO
Well, I would like to thank everybody for joining Certara's first earnings call. I really appreciate you all dialing in. And with that, we will close this and say good evening. Thank you.
Andrew Schemick, CFO
Thank you.
Operator, Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.