SenesTech at Lytham Partners: Focus on Evolve Drives Growth

On Tuesday, 30 September 2025, SenesTech (NASDAQ:SNES) presented at the Lytham Partners Fall 2025 Investor Conference, detailing their strategic advancements in rodent birth control solutions. CEO Joel Fruendt highlighted the disruptive potential of their flagship product, Evolve, in the rodenticide market. While the company showcased strong revenue growth and improved margins, challenges remain in achieving profitability targets.

Key Takeaways

• SenesTech’s Evolve product led to a 56% revenue increase in 2024, driven by a 107% rise in e-commerce sales.
• The company’s gross margin improved to 65% in the latest quarter, up from 54% a year ago.
• Evolve accounted for 83% of Q2 sales, while ContraPest’s contribution declined by 45%.
• Cash balance stands at $11.7 million, providing an operating runway through 2026.
• Break-even revenue target set at $6.5 to $7 million annually.

Financial Results

• Trailing 12-month revenue reached approximately $2 million.
• Evolve revenue surged by 94%, dominating 83% of Q2 sales.
• E-commerce sales contributed 56% of Q2 revenue, marking a 78% growth from the previous year.
• Municipal sales increased seven-fold compared to the prior year’s quarter.
• Gross margins improved to 65.4% in Q2, with gross profit rising by 64% to $409,000.
• Cash balance as of August 5, 2025, was $11.7 million, bolstered by $6.3 million from warrant exercises.
• Shares outstanding increased to 5.2 million following warrant exercises.

Operational Updates

• Evolve’s e-commerce expansion includes platforms like Amazon, Walmart.com, and HomeDepot.com.
• Significant municipal deployments in cities like Chicago, New York, and Baltimore are expected to drive growth.
• International market entry with shipments to Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the Maldives, with plans for Australia and New Zealand.
• Focus on Evolve Rat and Evolve Mouse products, leveraging a new facility in Phoenix for improved margins.

Future Outlook

• SenesTech targets a $1 billion U.S. rodenticide market and a $4.5 billion global market.
• Strategic focus on six market verticals, including consumer and government sectors.
• Aiming for a diverse go-to-market strategy through major e-commerce platforms and international distributors.
• Immediate investments prioritized in e-commerce, international, and government sales.

For further details, refer to the full transcript below.

Full transcript - Lytham Partners Fall 2025 Investor Conference:

Robert Blum, Managing Partner, Lithium Partners: All right, hello everyone, and thank you all for joining us during the Lithium Partners Fall 2025 Investor Conference. My name is Robert Blum, Managing Partner at Lithium Partners, and today we welcome Joel Fruendt, Chief Executive Officer, and Tom Chesterman, Chief Financial Officer of SenesTech, who will be taking us through the company’s slide presentation. SenesTech trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SNES. All right, let’s get started. Joel, Tom, welcome. I will turn the floor over to you for the presentation.

Joel Fruendt, Chief Executive Officer, SenesTech: Thank you, Robert, and good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Rodents are a huge public health problem. They reproduce rapidly. SenesTech has developed a science-based solution that suppresses rodent reproduction in a sustainable manner. We manufacture and market the only registered rodent birth control products that are commercially available. We will show you why rodent birth control is so critical. Please be advised that we may be making forward-looking statements during today’s presentation. Let’s talk about something that you may not be familiar with: rats. Rats and rodents are a global crisis. Rats cause massive economic, ecological, and health damages globally. They cause over $27 billion annually in infrastructure damage in the U.S. alone. They carry 35 known diseases that are derived from rats, and they destroy nearly 20% of the world’s food supply.

Having too many rats is a huge problem for society, one worth spending millions on because they cost billions. This problem is not a new one. It has been an age-old problem, usually addressed using poisons that are ineffective and harmful. The bigger issue is these poisons have a variety of issues, including non-target and secondary poisoning harms humans, pets, wildlife, and livestock. Rodenticide resistance is growing, especially to anticoagulant baits, and rodenticides are increasingly banned or restricted in multiple jurisdictions, high-risk facilities such as schools, prisons, and organic farms. If there’s one thing you remember today, it is this: a rat reproduction fact. Two breeding rats can produce 15,000 offspring in one year with sufficient food, water, and shelter. They reproduce at an extremely rapid pace.

The lifetime expectancy for a female rat is one year, with six to eight litters in that year and six to ten pups per litter. Retikale’s interactive studies show that a pair of rats could produce nearly 500,000 descendants in three years. They are highly intelligent, adaptive, and learn how to avoid adverse outcomes. The reality is that you can’t poison, drown, trap, or gas them fast enough to keep up with this birth rate. While others are focused on the death rate only, we address the root cause of the issue: reproduction and the birth rate. This is our why. We are disrupting the multi-billion dollar rodenticide industry with a scalable, science-driven solution to suppress rodent reproduction sustainably. This is our focus every single day. Our products are safe. There’s no impact of non-target species nor secondary poisoning harms to humans, pets, birds, wildlife, and livestock.

Our products are humane. They don’t cause a painful death, such as rodenticide or traps. Our products allow them to lead their natural life but stop the chain of reproduction. Our products are user-friendly. They are in a soft-bait format that can be deployed easily by a user, either in base stations or by themselves. Most importantly, they are scientifically proven to work. Our solutions have been shown to reduce rat populations by 90% when integrated into an integrated pest management or IPM program, both in labs and, most importantly, in the field. SenesTech is the pioneer in rodent birth control. We developed the first EPA-approved rodent birth control product. We developed the first FIFRA 25(b) minimum risk rodent birth control product. We developed the first rodent birth control product approved in 50 U.S. states and territories, and we are the first to market with patented rodent birth control technologies.

Simply put, rodent birth control works. As I mentioned a moment ago, adding fertility control to an IPM program has been proven to improve efficacy over 90% in less than nine months. It’s important to note, however, that different customers have different reasons to be satisfied. In the poultry industry, rat infestations cost money, as the rats consume or contaminate feed, as they feed on chicks, as they damage equipment, and as the labor required to control the infestation increases. We’ve completed two extensive studies in the poultry industry and one in a large urban setting. In each of these settings, we demonstrated 90% or better improvement when added to the existing integrated pest management program. 90% or better improvement. That’s increased profits in the business settings and decreased rat complaints in the urban settings. In the urban settings, it’s all about voter satisfaction, public health, and infrastructure damage mitigation.

We have created two unique products. Our initial product we introduced is ContraPest. ContraPest is a liquid-based solution that is used primarily for professional applications. It is a very effective product. The market was screaming for a solid-bait product. In January of 2024, we introduced a solid soft bait called Evolve, which significantly changed the company’s trajectory. Evolve has become SenesTech’s top-selling product and changed the game for us by expanding the company’s market and geographic reach. It is easy to deploy, which is suitable for DIY and professional use. It has an EPA minimum risk designation, which defines it as safe to use as directed, having no secondary poisoning of predators and scavengers, and no environmental accumulation or bioaccumulation. It is economical with the initial price point, competitive with other baits, and cost-effective over the longer term. The one-year plus shelf life allows for excellent distribution and retail opportunities.

We answered the market’s call. This was not a science experiment. We have been successfully selling our solution for years. As I mentioned, we have seen a real breakout this past year driven by the introduction of Evolve. A couple of quick traction and proof points. 2024 revenue was up 56%, which has been led by a 107% increase in e-commerce due to Evolve. We have a strong gross margin profile of 65% during the most recent quarter. This compared to just 54% in the year-ago period and mid-40s two years ago. This is due to Evolve. Evolve has changed the game for SenesTech as we have made remarkable strides transitioning and expanding customers towards our higher margin Evolve product line since our Q1 2024 introduction.

Specifically, it has opened doors to key vertical markets domestically and internationally, which has resulted in 94% year-over-year growth during our most recent second quarter. I’ll touch more on these key areas in a moment. Let me just highlight a few key areas that highlight our defensible market position. We really have a moat on rodent birth control that is built on science, regulatory trust, IP protection, and category leadership. First, we have a regulatory head start. Our FIFRA 25(b) exemption plus 48 state and territory approvals. Competitors will face 12 to 18 months of delay and complexity in trying to reach us. Second, our proprietary know-how. We have a filed patent plus a trade secret formula plus the stability of our science plus the bait palatability. The label is not enough to duplicate. Third, we have exclusive data and trials.

Efficacy studies and field trials in New York City, Florida, UC Irvine, and various testimonials. We own the efficacy story and the social proof. Finally, we are the first mover in key distribution channels. Our Amazon store, our retailer field trials, our international exclusive agreements. We lead in key channels with competitive pricing and early shelf space. As I have highlighted, from a competitive standpoint against not only rodenticides but other product categories such as traps and devices as well as natural oils and deterrents, we stack up extremely well across all the important categories. We really are just getting started. We have strong tailwinds to fuel our momentum. Rat populations are increasing. Rodenticide resistance is spreading, and demand for humane, safe, sustainable alternatives is accelerating, all the while public and regulatory pushback against poisons is advancing.

We operate in a very large industry, with the company initially targeting a market in the U.S. which spends upwards of $1 billion annually on rodenticides. Globally, the market for rodenticides is about $4.5 billion. Our products are applicable across six massive verticals: the consumer, cities and governments, pest management, agribusiness, facilities management, and industrial applications. As I mentioned, we are truly disrupting the industry with the only rodent birth control product on the market. Products that can be paradigm-changing do not come along very often, but when they do, they have an opportunity to change the way things have been done for generations. We have that opportunity. Beyond our six market verticals, we have a multi-channel distribution strategy to address these markets. Currently, 60% of our revenue is from e-commerce, which is derived from Amazon, Walmart.com, TractorSupply.com, DIYPestControl.com, and our own website.

We recently launched our Evolve Rat Birth Control product line on HomeDepot.com. This expansion represents a major milestone in both consumer accessibility and retail distribution for the company. We also work with industry-leading distribution companies to address our agribusiness, pest management, and industrial market verticals. We have a direct sales team that is focused on the largest users. We are expanding into brick-and-mortar and big-box retail and have been accepted in a variety of ACE Hardware locations. We have international distributors responsible for regulatory approval with minimums for exclusivity in over 15 countries. While we have large opportunities in each of our market verticals and distribution categories, I think there are three that are worth highlighting just a bit further, starting with e-commerce. As I mentioned, 60% of our revenue comes from e-commerce. That is a 78% increase from a year-ago period.

Amazon, for instance, has been growing about 10 to 15% month over month. Evolve is really the key driver here due to its easy-to-deploy format, which is suitable for the do-it-yourself market. We have expanded e-commerce presence from selling exclusively on our SenesTech e-commerce site to offering Evolve on Amazon, Walmart.com, TractorSupply.com, DIY, and HomeDepot.com. We have also enhanced website functionality on our own website, as well as target marketing strategies to drive our e-commerce. Another key market vertical for us has been cities and government agencies, where we work with local municipalities to bring innovative and sustainable solutions for pest management. Municipal deployments of Evolve are increasingly significant. Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area in Chicago. This is a program by the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, where they had crews of grottens fill bait boxes with Evolve Rat in alleys behind major thoroughfares.

The deployment received extensive media coverage. Additional SSAs are following closely with Old Town Merchants and Residents Association, recently deploying ContraPest in the Chicagoland area as well. In New York City, our pilot program deployment began in April after City Council approval in September of 2024 for a rat contraceptive pilot. We have received additional orders from the City of Baltimore, Los Angeles County, and San Francisco, where our pest control partner, PestTech, initiated a large deployment there. SenesTech’s team was out there every step of the way supporting the deployment, identifying it as a substantial opportunity. We also have done many deployments in the Boston area. Expanded municipal deployments are expected to drive future growth. Initial deployments are focusing on high-impact areas with the goal of evaluating its effectiveness in reducing rodent populations while minimizing environmental and public health risks.

A large, full-scale municipal deployment could be $1 million in revenue annually. A third key area I wanted to focus on is our international expansion. Evolve has really opened international markets. Our strategy is to establish early exclusive distribution relationships in high-growth international markets with partners that demonstrate commitment to our products and access to regulatory approval processes. Approval on commercial product shipments have occurred in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the Maldives. Deployments are expected for later this year in key markets, including Australia and New Zealand. International shipments typically are container-sized orders, which tend to be $100,000 each. A few large orders can really move the needle for us.

As you can see, whether it be the growth rates we are seeing in e-commerce, the potential opportunity within cities and government agencies, large international opportunities, or simply many other market verticals or distribution channels, there are ample shots on goal for us to dramatically drive revenue growth and achieve our ultimate goal of profitability. With that, let’s turn it over to Tom Chesterman, who can dive into the financials. Tom?

Tom Chesterman, Chief Financial Officer, SenesTech: Thank you, Joel. From a trailing 12-month revenue perspective, we are doing about $2 million per year in revenue. Looking more specifically at Q2, Evolve revenue increased 94% and accounted for 83% of our second-quarter sales. ContraPest, which we’ve de-emphasized in recent quarters as we focus on our higher margin Evolve product, decreased approximately 45% and accounted for 17% of our Q2 sales. By the way, we do not expect ContraPest to go away. There are still a number of very loyal ContraPest customers, and there are a couple of states where Evolve is not yet approved. Looking at it from a vertical breakdown, e-commerce is clearly our largest contributor, coming in at 56% of our overall Q2 sales. Overall, e-commerce was up 78% compared to Q2 of last year. Amazon is going well and is the predominant e-commerce channel right now.

Municipal sales, while still a relatively small percentage of total sales, saw a seven-fold increase from a year-ago quarter. As Joel touched on with new deployments in Chicago and New York City in Q2, I think we can continue to grow this market vertically. We’ve had a small amount of international sales during Q2 as we await follow-on orders from a few markets, which ordered at the end of last year. As a reference point, we had more than $50,000 in international shipments in Q4. As Joel mentioned, we have a few potential significant orders pending regulatory approval, which we expect will be key drivers for us later this year. Other contributors during Q2 were in the areas of agribusiness, commercial, pest management professionals, zoos and sanctuaries, and a small amount from brick-and-mortar retail locations so far.

Turning to gross margins and gross profits as a whole, for the second quarter, gross margins were 65.4% compared to 54.2% in Q2 of last year. Looking at it sequentially, gross margins also improved compared to 64.5% in Q1. You can see we’re continually improving our gross margins. Looking at it from a gross profit dollar perspective, gross profit was $409,000 compared to $249,000 in last year’s Q2, up 64%. It was also up sequentially. The key driver here, as I mentioned, is Evolve, which has higher margins than ContraPest. We have also now moved into our new larger facility in the Phoenix area to meet the growing demand for Evolve, a product with new automated capabilities to drive further improvement in gross margins. As this chart highlights, despite our revenue growth, we have also continually decreased our operating expenses.

This will only be further amplified in the quarters to come by the OPEX optimization plan implemented in Q2 2025 to drive further OPEX improvements. The initiatives included pausing of new product development to focus exclusively on the commercialization and growth of Evolve Rat and Evolve Mouse, bringing marketing, regulatory, and intellectual property functions in-house to reduce reliance on external consultants, and optimizing key direct sales efforts, shifting to a focus on high-value customer acquisition in key customer segments and commission-only models. With revenue growth, improved gross margins, and decreased OPEX, we are building momentum towards break-even. We currently believe that our break-even is about $6.5 to $7 million in annual revenues, or a little more than $1.5 million per quarter. We continue to move closer to that inflection point that many companies and investors are looking for.

There still is execution work to be done, but the pathway is clear. Our balance sheet is clearly in the best position it has been in many years. We ended the quarter with $6.1 million in cash, and subsequent to the end of the quarter, we received gross proceeds from warrant exercises, which brought in another $6.3 million. As of August 5, when we last recorded our financial results, we had $11.7 million in cash. Based on the details I just mentioned, this provides the company with an operating runway through the end of 2026 and beyond. We ended the quarter with approximately 3.8 million shares outstanding. The August 2025 warrant exercise would then add an additional 1.5 million shares to that to bring the shares outstanding to approximately 5.2 million shares.

Further, there are 2.2 million short-term warrants at $5.25, which expire in November of 2026, which would enable potentially to bring in more than $11.5 million in cash. Let me turn it over now to Joel for closing comments.

Joel Fruendt, Chief Executive Officer, SenesTech: Great. We have achieved several accomplishments over the past 12 to 18 months, largely driven by our introduction of Evolve. This has expanded our market verticals and also has expanded the broader opportunity to include mice as well as rats. With rapid growth from e-commerce, key pilots ongoing in large cities and government agencies, as well as the pending international launches, there are a number of levers available to rapidly drive revenue growth. As we look to the future, we continue to stay focused on driving operational efficiencies, which, coupled with growth, will allow us to achieve our goals of reaching profitability. A few key takeaways before I wrap things up. SenesTech is involved in a substantial global market with regulatory tailwinds. We have a billion-dollar U.S. rodenticide market, a $4.5 billion market globally. There’s rising bans on rodenticides and pressure for humane, non-toxic alternatives.

We are now past the initial phases of regulatory approval and into deployments and field trials. We are the first mover in rodent birth control. We’re the only company offering a birth control soft bait, Evolve, with EPA minimum risk designation. It really targets the root cause of overpopulation, and that is reproduction. We have a diverse and scalable go-to-market strategy. We have distribution through Amazon, Walmart.com, TractorSupply.com, and major pest control and agriculture distributors. We have active pilots within major U.S. cities: San Francisco, Chicago, New York City. We have regulatory approvals in areas such as Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and expected very soon in Australia and New Zealand. We have a lean, focused growth strategy. We reduced our cash burn by $2 million annually, and we really prioritized immediate investments in e-commerce, international, and government sales, which are all now showing traction.

We have strong revenue growth and expanding margins. Revenue is up 56% year over year to 2024. Gross margins improved to 65% in Q2 of 2025. We now have a clear path to break even at $6.5 to $7 million in annual revenue. Our executive team every day is focused on growth. In closing, focus on the rodent birth rate instead of the death rate. Two don’t become 15,000. Thank you for your time. I’ll turn it back over to Robert.

Robert Blum, Managing Partner, Lithium Partners: All right, thank you so much, Joel and Tom, for the presentation. Thank you to everyone watching here today. If you do have any questions or would like to schedule a meeting with management here, shoot me an email. That’s blum@lithiumpartners.com. If you’d like to learn more about Lithium Partners, you can visit our website or make sure to follow us on LinkedIn to stay connected about future events. Again, Joel, Tom, thank you so much for the time, and we hope everyone enjoys the rest of the conference.

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