Key Takeaways:
Blend Labs Inc. (NYSE: BLND) reported first-quarter revenue of $30.8 million, a 15 percent year-over-year increase that beat guidance, as the financial software firm pivots to an expanded artificial intelligence strategy it projects could add up to 15 percent to top-line growth in 2027.
"Together, I believe these two pillars give us a path to see 10% to 15% incremental growth already for us in 2027 on the top line, and more efficiency and speed as a company internally," Nima Ghamsari, Blend’s co-founder and head, said on the company's May 7 earnings call, referring to the company's external and internal AI agents.
The first-quarter revenue beat was driven by an 18 percent increase in its Mortgage Suite to $17.2 million and a 12 percent rise in its Consumer Banking Suite to $10.8 million. The company reported non-GAAP operating income of $4.1 million, exceeding its guidance range of $2 million to $3 million and marking a significant improvement from $0.7 million in the prior-year period.
The results signal a potential new growth phase for Blend, centered on its AI agent, Autopilot, which has seen early adoption from 65 lenders since its beta launch two months ago. The company plans to begin monetizing the product at the end of June, a key test of whether the AI-driven efficiency gains can translate into a durable revenue stream and offset a projected 100-basis-point market share headwind in 2026 from a large customer roll-off.
Management highlighted the rapid progress of Autopilot, its flagship AI agent for orchestrating lending workflows. As of early May, 22 lenders were using the tool in production, and it had processed over 7,000 applications. Ghamsari noted that the product is already generating a $10 million pipeline.
"This is not a small incremental line item for us," Ghamsari said, describing Autopilot as "a whole new leg of growth."
The company plans to offer paid tiers for "underwriting intelligence," where the agent reads documents, runs calculations, and takes action on loan files. Ghamsari explained that Blend is positioning itself as the "harness" or orchestration layer that channels the power of foundation models from companies like OpenAI or Anthropic into reliable and compliant outcomes for the financial services industry.
Internally, the company is deploying "Blend Background Agents" to automate its own workflows, which it claims has already boosted engineering productivity by more than 1.5 times in 2026 based on pull requests.
Despite the strong quarter and AI optimism, Blend issued a conservative second-quarter forecast, citing higher mortgage rates and softer refinancing conditions. The company expects Q2 revenue between $32 million and $34 million and non-GAAP operating income of $5.5 million to $6.5 million.
Jason Ream, Blend’s head of finance, noted that the company's 2026 outlook is anchored to Fannie Mae's updated forecast, which was recently reduced. "We will remain cautious in our outlook until rates come down meaningfully and refi activity picks up," Ream said.
The company ended the quarter with $59 million in cash and no debt, after repurchasing 11.2 million shares for $18.6 million.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
