It’s important to note that this is on an earnings basis. Looking at their cash flows presents a slightly better view of operations, with an outflow of 16M, though some would argue their stock based comp of 4M should be included. But it also shows a huge capex expense of almost 20M. This is clearly not just a software business and must be considered like a business that requires real PP&E.

It says something about the industry when "only" a $30.9M annual burn rate sounds small.

The $30M is 20% their annual revenue, or 18% of their current assets. That doesn't seem out of line for a growing business, and is something you can do without Venture Capital.

It is quite small though compared to potential profits.

It's also interesting that the $30M figure is approx their R&D spend! Underscores the importance of offsetting those startup costs with policies that promote public-private partnerships and other subsidies for innovation ;)

Why? Fastly will make a couple people very rich, and they seem to be doing fine without subsidies. Why should public funds go toward concentrating wealth even further?

Well, tech transfer can be a slow process. Primarily because of legal formalities around indemnification, liability, etc. You also have the common scenario where many competitors are working in the same problem domains. Only to find after years of effort that they have independently arrived at eerily similar solutions!

Can you explain to me how the last sentence speaks to the need for subsidies?