NOW's acquisition will expand their position
with media and marketing enterprises while also expanding their
investment in the Canadian technology community.
TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2021 /CNW/ - NowVertical Group Inc.
(TSXV: NOW) ("NOW" or the "Company"), a global
big data software and services company, is pleased to announce that
it has closed its previously announced plans to acquire 100% of the
issued and outstanding securities of Affinio Inc.
("Affinio"), a venture-capital backed audience
insights and privacy-safe customer analytics platform (the
"Transaction").
Affinio's global enterprise customers leverage Affinio's
proprietary graph analytics technology to map previously unknown
affinities and interests among their social audience. The platform
has helped marketers and analysts alike uncover deep connections so
customers can identify unique partnerships, value propositions, and
actionable intelligence.
In February 2020, Affinio began a
partnership to expand its graph analytics technology to live
natively in Snowflake's Data Warehouse. This new approach has
allowed Affinio customers to unlock new analytics opportunities as
they expand use of the platform to facilitate privacy-safe data
collaboration across verticals.
"Affinio enables CPG customers to leverage graph networks on top
of a global data mesh to generate consumer insights that were never
before realized and previously unachievable," said Erik Mitchell, Founder and Principal Consultant
at Seek Data, a leading Snowflake integration partner
and data strategy and analytics consultancy. "Affinio's
integration with Snowflake will allow customers to work across all
of their third-party data providers and partner in a privacy-safe
way, using graph networks to generate consumer insights at scale
without requiring additional first-party data inputs."
NOW will be retaining the entire current Affinio staff as it
seeks to expand its footprint in the local Canadian technology
community. Co-Founders Tim Burke and Stephen Hankinson will also be staying on with
Burke moving into the role of President of Affinio and Hankinson
retaining his role as CTO. NOW plans to grow Affinio's 2020 revenue
by reinvesting to support Affinio's legacy social graph analytics
technology while continuing to expand resourcing and investment in
the Snowflake integration.
"The initial draw with Affinio was its technology and amazing
customers. Taking a data-driven approach to customer analytics and
insights is critical for the modern enterprise and Affinio's graph
technology provides truly novel and actionable insights for
analysts of all stripes," said Daren
Trousdell, Chairman & CEO of NOW. "As we started to dig
in further, though, we came to appreciate the talent, strength, and
drive of the collective Affinio team members and we knew we had an
opportunity too good to pass up."
Transaction Details
Pursuant to the terms of a share purchase agreement dated
October 18, 2021, the Company
acquired Affinio for total aggregate consideration of US$7.3 million, consisting of (i) a cash payment
of US$3 million on closing, (ii) the
issuance of subordinate voting shares of the Company on closing
with an aggregate value of US$1.3
million, at a price per share equal to the Canadian dollar
equivalent of US$1.00, (iii) a
deferred cash payment of US$1.5
million payable on July 2,
2022 and (iv) a deferred cash payment of US$1.5 million payable on March 1, 2023.
Addition of Integral Wealth as Market Maker and RBMG for
Marketing Services
The Company also announces that it has retained Integral Wealth
Securities Limited ("Integral") to provide market making
services in accordance with the policies of the Exchange, for the
purposes of maintaining an orderly market and improving the
liquidity of the Company's common share shares traded on the
Exchange.
In consideration of the services provided by Integral, the
Company will pay Integral a monthly cash fee of C$7,500, plus any reasonable costs and expenses
it incurs in connection with the services provided. The Company has
retained Integral for no less than a three-month term. Integral
will not receive any securities of NOW as compensation pursuant to
the agreement. The Company and Integral are unrelated and
unaffiliated entities.
The Company also announces that it has retained RB Milestone
Group LLC ("RBMG") to provide investor relations advisory
services to the Company for no less than a six-month term. RBMG
will not receive any securities of NOW as compensation pursuant to
the agreement. The Company and RBMG are unrelated and unaffiliated
entities.
About NowVertical Group Inc.
NOW is a global big data software and services company that
helps businesses win in the digital economy by helping its clients
better understand, manage and utilize their data. NOW is focusing
on scaling its current efforts with customers in a variety of
verticals including but not limited to automotive and OEM,
government, law enforcement, healthcare, financial services,
e-commerce, and energy and renewables, and is pursuing an
acquisition strategy focused on profitable and accretive data
analytics software and services companies in other under-utilized
data rich industries. NOW is positioned to be an invaluable tool
for executives and bureaucrats to make data informed decisions
affecting billions of people globally. For more information about
the Company, visit www.nowvertical.com.
Forward–Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward–looking statements (within
the meaning of applicable securities laws) which reflect the
Company's current expectations regarding future events.
Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as
"believe", "anticipate", "project", "expect", "intend", "plan",
"will", "may", "estimate" and other similar expressions. These
statements are based on the Company's expectations, estimates,
forecasts and projections and include, without limitation,
statements regarding the future success of the Company's
business.
The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on
certain assumptions. The forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks and
uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. A number of
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the
results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Readers,
therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such
forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking
statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except
as expressly required by applicable law, the Company assumes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE NowVertical Group Inc.