TORONTO, March 16,
2022 /CNW/ - NowVertical Group Inc. (TSXV: NOW)
("NOW" or the "Company"), a big data, analytics and
vertical intelligence ("VI") software and services company,
is pleased to announce that it is expanding NOW Origin through the
proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding
securities of UK-based, Exonar Ltd. ("Exonar"), pursuant to
the terms of a definitive purchase agreement (the
"Transaction"). NOW anticipates that the Transaction will
close on or before March 31, 2022,
subject to customary closing conditions.
"Recent events have thrown a shifting geopolitical balance in
Europe and across the world into
relief. As both systems and sovereignty are put under fire, it is
critical that public and private sector organizations put in the
effort today to strengthen their data security and governance
structures for an unknown tomorrow," said Daren Trousdell, Chairman & CEO of NOW.
"We believe that NOW Origin has the potential to provide the
necessary support for groups across the world. As part of our
efforts to bolster that offering, we are moving to bring Exonar's
cutting-edge data software into the NOW product suite. Recognized
in 2021 by Tech Nation as one of the UK's fastest-growing scaleups,
Exonar provides a natural fit with our NOW Origin software stack.
With data breaches and cyber security threats on the rise, NOW is
committed to investing in and deploying technology that empowers
our customers to make data-informed decisions around risk
mitigation to protect their organizations and
stakeholders."
Launched in January 2022, NOW
Origin forms the Company's foundational data software set, helping
enterprises secure, mobilize, and fuse the entirety of their
structured and unstructured data regardless of location or format.
It originally consisted of three core products: NOW Fusion, NOW
Privacy, and NOW DataBench, each of which is platform-agnostic and
built to uplift any investment that an enterprise has made into
either their technology stack or staff. As a critical first step
for the development of future automation and AI, Origin will expand
its offerings with the proposed addition of Exonar's Reveal
software solution ("Reveal") to further empower enterprise
organizations in both the public and private sector as they look to
shore up their data's security, mobility, and accessibility.
Reveal supports customers by enhancing readiness and controlled
access to structured and unstructured data sources, minimizing risk
and ensuring regulatory compliance. With its data discovery
software tools, Reveal helps identify the sensitive information
organizations hold, automates its data protection, and
operationalizes the implementation of privacy policies, protecting
clients from financial and reputational damage in the event of a
data breach. The early adoption of Reveal spans key high-growth
industries like pharmaceuticals, logistics, and banking with
notable clients including Glaxo Smith Klein, Arrow Global and
Lloyds Banking Group.
"Today, every
enterprise on the planet requires the ability to
access, utilize, and
protect all of their data, regardless of
source and type. As a part of
NOW, we can enhance our ability to
provide that," said Danny Reeves, CEO of Exonar.
"We are excited by the prospect
of joining the NOW team
to enable our customers to take advantage of a truly remarkable
stack of software and solutions at their disposal."
Leadership Update
The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of
Farid Kassam as President of NOW
Origin. Mr. Kassam is a Toronto-based 30-year industry veteran and a
serial entrepreneur with a background in Big Data and experience in
building, commercializing, and scaling software products across
various industry verticals, including Financial Services,
Hospitality, Healthcare, Telecommunications, and Aerospace. In his
new role, Mr. Kassam will build upon and guide NOW Origin's
product strategy with a primary focus on driving and scaling
product development, integration, and commercialization.
"NOW's mission to empower bolder decisions through
enterprise-wide data solutions is accelerating at a global
scale," said Farid Kassam,
President of NOW Origin. "I'm very excited by the opportunity to
work closely with NOW's experienced teams globally as we build on
this mission and deliver products that enable our customers to
transform their data operations seamlessly into vertically
intelligent organizations."
In conjunction with the appointment of Mr. Kassam, Aimee Lessard is stepping down from her role as
Chief Analytics Officer of the Company to pursue other
opportunities. With NOW's ongoing growth and evolution, analytic
oversight is, by necessity, moving to a more distributed model with
analytic solution providers moving under the NOW Solutions
umbrella, headed up internally by David
Whitmire. The NOW board of directors and management team
would like to thank Ms. Lessard for her contributions to the
Company and wish her every success in her future endeavours.
About Exonar Ltd.
Founded in the UK in 2007, Exonar is one of only a handful
of software solutions available today with the ability to find
and reveal billions of structured and unstructured data records in
detail, enabling businesses to use data to reduce risk, uncover
business value and deliver digital transformation. Exonar's
core software offers enterprise-scale, big data architecture
and machine learning technology that handles diverse data sources
and types to locate sensitive and vital information, enabling
users to manage compliance issues quickly and
securely.
About NowVertical Group Inc.
NOW is a big data, analytics and VI software and services
company that is growing organically and through acquisition. NOW's
VI solutions are organized by industry vertical and are built upon
a foundational set of data technologies that fuse, secure, and
mobilize data in a transformative and compliant way. The NOW
product suite enables the creation of high-value VI solutions that
are predictive in nature and drive automation specific to each
high-value industry vertical. For more information about the
Company, visit www.nowvertical.com.
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.
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. Several
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.
SOURCE NowVertical Group Inc.