SenesTech is trying to prove that a fertility-control bait line can become a real commercial category before the cash balance forces another trip to the equity window. The latest quarter was the first full period of in-house Amazon management, and the channel mix finally showed what direct control is worth. Sales set a company record. Gross margin moved into the mid seventies, and subscription revenue more than doubled the year-ago quarter. That is a genuine operating change, not a restatement of the old research story. The equity still has to live with a cost base that spends more than three times sales. Management itself ties the cash pile only through early next year.
The tension sits in the mix rather than in the headline. E-commerce, including online business buyers, became the largest reported channel for the first time and more than tripled sequentially as Amazon moved from a third-party operator to a company-run storefront. Evolve now accounts for the bulk of product sales. ContraPest is a smaller professional-use liquid that barely grew year over year. Direct business sales fell on the reported line because last year's comparison held a large Amazon bulk transfer and a distributor stocking order. Strip those items and management describes mid-teens core growth, which is progress, not scale. July e-commerce kept rising after the quarter closed, so the print does not look like a single-month spike. What it does not yet show is a commercial bench large enough to replace the old lumpy orders.
Cash is the constraint that rewrites every other number. Mid-year cash sat near $5 million after a first-half drain of more than $3 million. The company already sold stock under the at-the-market facility both during the half and after the quarter closed. Management evaluated going-concern status because the stated runway is shorter than a year, then concluded that revenue growth, expense control, and more facility sales alleviate substantial doubt. Market value has since compressed to about $4 million, below the last reported cash, which is the price of a balance sheet that still needs outside capital. The coming year answers whether Amazon compounding and a newly staffed sales bench shrink the burn, or whether another raise arrives first.