Agoracom Blog

Invested in #MMJ stocks like Cannagrow $CGRW Tetra Bio-Pharma $TBP.ca will benefit from IP created at University of New Brunswick

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:06 PM on Monday, September 25th, 2017

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TBP: TSX-V

WHY TETRA BIO-PHARMA?

  • Only pharmaceutical company to have clinical studies for smoked marijuana;
  • Signed a letter of intent with a major player of the healthcare specialty industry
  • Will benefit from the intellectual property created within the cannabis health research Chair from the University of New Brunswick
  • Company is financially sound
  • Filing a clinical trial application in the coming weeks to therapeutic products directorate to initiate its Phase 3 clinical trial of PPP001 in terminal cancer patient
  • Focused on expanding commercialization partnerships internationally for product pipeline – Interest has been shown from the USA, Germany, Ireland, Brazil and Mexico;
  • Initial demand forecasted in New Brunswick for PPP001 using the ACMPR license is more than expected
  • Putting in place the necessary manufacturing capabilities to address this increasing demand and to ensure the highest standards of quality control.

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betterU $BTRU.ca New Customers Include 2 BILLION Dollar Companies With ~ 44,000 Employees, Including Government Owned Bank! #India #education

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 1:38 PM on Monday, September 25th, 2017

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betterU is the Online Education Company Dominating India That We’ve Been Banging The Table On.

Press Release Reveals 2 Of The Clients Are BILLION Dollar Clients:

1.  ‘Dimensions Data’ a USD $7.4 Billion IT Services company with offices in 49 countries and over 30,000 employees.

2.  ‘Dena Bank’ a USD $1.7 Billion bank owned by the Government of India with a branch network of 1773 locations and 13,906 employees. 

Hub On AGORACOM / Read Release

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Invested in Richmont Mines $RIC ? Did you know Monarques $MQR.ca acquired all Richmont’s Quebec assets #Gold #Mining

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 1:28 PM on Monday, September 25th, 2017

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Definitive Agreement to Acquire All Mining Assets of Richmont Mines in Quebec (SEPT 11)

  • All Richmont mining assets, properties and claims in Quebec
  • Will own and operate the Beaufor mine and Camflo mill
  • Retain Richmont’s highly experienced Quebec-based teams
  • Richmont will hold a 19.9% interest in Monarques
  • Richmont invested $2.0 million of $6.5 Million Raised
  • Probe Metals invested $600,000
  • Fonds de solidarité FTQ Quebec invested $1,000,000
  • US $4 million credit facility with Auramet International LLC
  • Repaid In Ounces Of Gold Commencing Oct 31, 2017 to Sep 30, 2018

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betterU Education Corporation $BTRU.ca Secures Multiple Corporate Training Contracts Across Different Industry Sectors

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:51 AM on Monday, September 25th, 2017

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  • Secured 3 additional contracts for employee training across a variety of management, leadership, technology and trade programs
  • ‘Dimensions Data’ a USD $7.4 Billion IT Services company with offices in 49 countries and over 30,000 employees.
  • ‘Dena Bank’ a USD $1.7 Billion bank owned by the Government of India with a branch network of 1773 locations and 13,906 employees.
  • ‘Unibic Foods’ a $13 Million premium cookie manufacturing company is considered one of the fastest growing FMCG Brands with a presence in Australia, NZ and the UK.

OTTAWA, Sept. 25, 2017 – betterU Education Corp. (the “Company” or “betterU”), is pleased to announce that they have secured 3 additional contracts for employee training across a variety of management, leadership, technology and trade programs. The Company is expected to close several additional corporate training partnerships in the upcoming weeks.

betterU’s corporate training team was selected to deliver Instructor-led training (ILT) for:

  • ‘Dimensions Data’ a USD $7.4 Billion IT Services company with offices in 49 countries and over 30,000 employees. betterU’s ILT program will include a Microsoft System Centre Confirmation Manager (SCCM) training program.
  • ‘Dena Bank’ a USD $1.7 Billion bank owned by the Government of India with a branch network of 1773 locations and 13,906 employees. betterU’s ILT program will include soft skill training including time management, communications skills, team building and leadership programs.
  • ‘Unibic Foods’ a $13 Million premium cookie manufacturing company is considered one of the fastest growing FMCG Brands with a presence in Australia, NZ and the UK. betterU’s ILT program will include a Modern Trade Promoters / Merchandisers Best Practices program.

These Corporate wins provide training across Mumbai and Bengaluru and have provided betterU with a gateway for much larger opportunities as well as ongoing repeat business. “Our focus is getting Corporations to see the value proposition across Industry verticals, build their trust and confidence and then open our global offerings to show how we can support the entire needs of their business no matter the type of training they require. This takes time and positive results to continue to drive more opportunities for betterU and our content partnerships and it is one of our top priorities”, said Sameer Vatsa, India’s Country Head of betterU Education Corporation.

betterU’s corporate development team has begun to gain traction across India’s corporate training industry due to its ability to quickly adapt to the needs of the corporation. The team has spent the last several months working to understand each corporation’s requirements and developing a customized plan to meet their needs.

Skills development is a critical part of any corporate environment and with advancing technology and globalization corporations must continually work to ensure their employees receive upgrading skills to stay competitive and innovative. betterU has built a corporate learning ecosystem that provides access to thousands of skills development programs from some of the world’s leading educators. Today’s corporate HR departments must source, negotiate and validate multiple training partners to support their wide range of training across their many verticals of operations. By leveraging the breadth and depth of programs available through betterU, corporations can offer innovative, leading programs across all their needs including for soft skills, leadership, management, IT / Technology, office and more. As a master training partner, betterU can collaborate with an organization to assemble a full service self-paced, Instructor-led and/or blended national programs that can support the requirements of an entire organization.

About betterU

betterU, a global education marketplace, aims to provide access to quality education from around the world to foster growth and opportunity to those who want to better their lives. The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing an integrated ‘education-to employment’ ecosystem. betterU’s offerings can be categorized into four broad functions: to compliment school programs with flexible KG-12 programs preparing children for next stage of education, to foster an exceptional educational environment by providing befitting skills that lead to a better career, to bridge the gap between one’s existing education and prospective job requirement by training them and lastly, to connect the end user to various job opportunities.

www.betterU.ca and www.betterU.in

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information, which may involve risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, competitive developments, risks associated with betterU’s growth, the state of the financial markets, regulatory risks and other factors. There can be no assurance or guarantees that any statements of forward-looking information contained in this release will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These and all subsequent written and oral statements containing forward-looking information are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, betterU disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not place undue reliance on any statements of forward-looking information that speak only as of the date of this release. Further information on betterU’s public filings, including their most recent audited consolidated financial statements, are available at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please visit  http://www.betteru.ca/investor-overview/

Investor contact:

Investor Relations
1-613-695-4100 Ext. 233
Email: [email protected]

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Desktop Metal gets $115 million in funding to deliver metal #3Dprinting for manufacturing $PYR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:37 AM on Monday, September 25th, 2017

  • Desktop Metal has already earned a number of fans with its 3D printed metal technology — Lowe’s, Caterpillar and BMW were all among its earliest clients.
  • As first noted by CNBC, the Massachusetts-based startup is also getting some healthy monetary support, adding $115 million of venture funds to its coffers this week.

The Series D features a number of high profile names, including New Enterprise Associates, GV (formerly Google Ventures), GE Ventures, Future Fund and Techtronic Industries, the holdings company that owns Hoover U.S. and Dirt Devil.

Founded in 2013 by four MIT professors, Desktop Metal isn’t the first company to bring metal 3D printing to market, but it’s probably the most efficient. By its own measure, the company’s machines are able to print objects at up to 100-times the speed of their competitors. That’s good news for those clients using Studio, the prototyping machine the company announced last year — but even more useful for those planning to use the upcoming Production, a system designed to bring the technology to manufacturing.

Speed has been of the main bottlenecks in mainstreaming 3D printing for manufacturing — metal or otherwise. The Production system isn’t going to replace wide scale manufacturing any time soon, but it will make it a more realistic possibility for smaller speciality parts, with its ability to print 500 cubic inches of metal per hour. According to CEO Ric Fulop, that works out to millions of parts per year for a given machine.

“You don’t need tooling,” he tells TechCrunch. “You can make short runs of production with basically no tooling costs. You can change your design and iterate very fast. And now you can make shapes you couldn’t make any other way, so now you can lightweight a part and work with alloys that are very, very hard, with very extreme properties.”

The list of companies that have embraced the $50,000+ Surface is pretty diverse. Automakers like BMW are using it to prototype products, and the local robotics community has also been extremely excited about the device’s ability to print in a broad range of alloys. For smaller companies without access to big machining warehouses, prototyping with metal is a pretty big pain point.

“One of the benefits for this technology for robotics is that you’re able to do lots of turns,” says Fulop. “Unless you’re iRobot with the Roomba, you’re making a lot of one-off changes to your product.”

Desktop Metal is still pretty small, at around 150 people — mostly engineers, according to Fulop. Along with R&D, this latest funding round will go a ways toward increasing that staff and reach, with plans to extend to more markets, including Europe and Asia.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/18/desktop-metal-gets-115-million-in-funding-to-deliver-metal-3d-printing-for-manufacturing/

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betterU Education $BTRU.ca Develops an Application Programming Interface (API) Advancing Access and Automation of the Company’s Global Education Marketplace

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:03 AM on Friday, September 22nd, 2017

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  • Announced the development of the company’s ‘RESTful API’ that will enable the automation and management of global partners and additional services to be made available on betterU’s marketplace
  • ‘RESTful API’ is a services layer of the betterU ecosystem that will enable the company to advance its asset-light model and support scalable global growth

OTTAWA, Sept. 22, 2017 — betterU Education Corp. (TSX-V:BTRU) (FRANKFURT:5OGA), (“betterU”), is pleased to announce the development of the company’s ‘RESTful API’ that will enable the automation and management of global partners and additional services to be made available on betterU’s marketplace. The ‘RESTful API’ is a services layer of the betterU ecosystem that will enable the company to advance its asset-light model and support scalable global growth.

RESTful API
Image of the betterU RESTful API

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c7819d0-078e-4768-94fe-7dc5f719b777.

The betterU ‘RESTful API’ benefits include:

  • the ability for partners to add and manage their content, sign-up promotions, set their pricing;
  • a quick and easy onboarding process for thousands of courses from around the world;
  • the ability to manage partners, programs and course promotions;
  • an opportunity for partners to add and manage jobs postings;
  • a quick and easy onboarding process able to support thousands of jobs;
  • ability to provide access to partners’ online sales data and reports;
  • ability of new partners to be able to register automatically on betterU marketplace;
  • ability of content and other partners to ‘push and pull’ information of all course content;
  • an infrastructure for ‘coming soon’ onboarding portal.

betterU’s RESTful API will enable its partners to dynamically control the content and pricing of courses posted on betterU marketplace. This will enable them to easily come up with ad hoc promotions and post marketing materials on the company’s marketplace all subject to approval stages by betterU.

The advancement of the betterU’s marketplace ecosystem has been an important part of the company’s development. As betterU continues to advance its global efforts with the integrating of course providers, employment opportunities and corporate partners, automated efficiencies will help support rapid growth.  This automation will support reduced ongoing management costs, increase available products and services and support expansion of new company offerings. “The advancement of our RESTful API has been part of the company’s main goals for the last several years. It is wonderful to see the company advancing our technology infrastructure,” said Hagai Amiel CTO of betterU Education Corp.

About betterU

betterU, a global education marketplace, aims to provide access to quality education from around the world to foster growth and opportunity to those who want to better their lives. The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing an integrated ‘education-to employment’ ecosystem. betterU’s offerings can be categorized into four broad functions: to complement school programs with flexible KG-12 programs preparing children for next stage of education, to foster an exceptional educational environment by providing befitting skills that lead to a better career, to bridge the gap between one’s existing education and prospective job requirement by training them and lastly, to connect the end user to various job opportunities.

www.betterU.ca and www.betterU.in

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information, which may involve risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, competitive developments, risks associated with betterU’s growth, the state of the financial markets, regulatory risks and other factors. There can be no assurance or guarantees that any statements of forward-looking information contained in this release will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These and all subsequent written and oral statements containing forward-looking information are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, betterU disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not place undue reliance on any statements of forward-looking information that speak only as of the date of this release. Further information on betterU’s public filings, including their most recent audited consolidated financial statements, are available at www.sedar.com.

For further information, please visit  http://www.betteru.ca/investor-overview/

Investor contact:

Investor Relations
1-613-695-4100 Ext. 233
Email: [email protected]

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Madison Square Garden Company Appoints Head of #Esports Division $GMBL

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:48 AM on Friday, September 22nd, 2017

  • Esports are second only to movies in the 18 to 25 demographic
  • Nick Allen, who until recently was the vice president of esports for video streaming service Twitch, was named the head of Madison Square Gard Company’s “growing esports division,” effective October 2nd

The holding company for Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the New York Knicks just hired a Twitch executive to head up its esports efforts.

Nick Allen, who until recently was the vice president of esports for video streaming service Twitch, was named the head of Madison Square Gard Company’s “growing esports division,” effective October 2nd, according to the company.

Allen will be responsible for driving the company’s efforts to expand its presence in the esports industry, with a primary focus on operating Counter Logic Gaming (CLG), MSG’s newly acquired esports franchise. In his new role, Allen will serve as CLG’s chief operating officer, working with CLG Founder and President George “HotshotGG” Georgallidis on advancing the company’s initiatives, including creating live, tickets events. He will also be in charge of creating esports events at MSG venues across the country.

The Madison Square Garden Company operated a number of high profile venues around the country including New York’s Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre; the Forum in Inglewood, CA; The Chicago Theatre; and the Wang Theatre in Boston. The company also owns the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and the New York Liberty (WNBA).

This July, Madison Square Garden bought a controlling interest in Counter Logic Gaming, which was founded in 2010 as a League of Legends team. CLG now fields teams in a variety of esports including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Call of Duty and Super Smash Bros.

“We couldn’t be happier with the addition of Nick to our team here at MSG as we start to take a leadership role in the growth of the esports industry,” Jordan Solomon, executive vice president, MSG Sports, Madison Square Garden Company, said in a prepared statement. “Nick brings with him an extensive knowledge of esports and a deep set of relationships developed through overseeing some of the industry’s most popular events, and he has created initiatives that have continued to grow the gaming community. His vision for the esports space will be an invaluable asset to The Madison Square Garden Company and to CLG.”

Prior to joining Twitch in 2015, Allen was the esports operations manager for Riot Games, establishing the organization’s first team dedicated to the operation of esports competitions, including League of Legends World Championships, Championship Series, and Challenger Series. Before Riot Games, he served as an esports division and operations manager for IGN Entertainment.

Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/news/madison-square-garden-company-appoints-esports-head-w504697

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Marijuana Company of America $MCOA Announces Update on Hemp Growing Trials in Canada $GHG.ca #MMJ

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:17 PM on Thursday, September 21st, 2017

15233 mcoa

– two farmers were contracted in northeast New Brunswick to participate in the trial
– three varieties of hemp were grown on Test Plot 1 (CFX1, CFX2 & CRS1)
– two varieties of hemp were on Test Plot 2 (CFX1 & CFX2)
– three planting densities were utilized (15, 30 & 50 kg/ha)
– straw yields ranged from 1.10 to 2.47 tons/ha
– flower production ranged from 0.79 to 1.69 tons/ha

ESCONDIDO, CA–(Sep 21, 2017) – MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA (“MCOA” or the “Company“) (OTC PINK: MCOA), in conjunction with its joint venture partner, Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC PINK: GBHPF), is pleased to provide an update on the hemp cultivation trials conducted in New Brunswick, Canada.

The field portion of this first-year trial is now complete, with results from laboratory analysis of CBD concentrations of the flowers and leaves expected within the next two to four weeks. For this initial growing season:

– two farmers were contracted in northeast New Brunswick to participate in the trial
– three varieties of hemp were grown on Test Plot 1 (CFX1, CFX2 & CRS1)
– two varieties of hemp were on Test Plot 2 (CFX1 & CFX2)
– three planting densities were utilized (15, 30 & 50 kg/ha)
– straw yields ranged from 1.10 to 2.47 tons/ha
– flower production ranged from 0.79 to 1.69 tons/ha

These results confirm what was seen from casual observation. This year’s yields are somewhat lower than expected, due to the late planting and incomplete field preparation (both which will be rectified for the 2018 cultivation), and lack of rainfall in the spring. In 2018, taller varieties of hemp will be grown to increase straw yields and flowers. For the 2017 trial, the CRS1 outperformed the other varieties in straw production, and CFX2 produced the best flower yields. These results are indicative of the performance of varieties under largely unfavourable conditions.

Future Plans
Farming – As the future focus of the project will be on flower and straw production, other varieties with higher straw and similar flower yields will be selected for next year. MCOA and GHG are currently evaluating a number of varieties for the coming year.

Next year’s production will focus on five experienced farmers cultivating a total of 125 acres. MCOA and GHG have also recruited an agronomist to provide agronomic support to the farmers. Interaction with the farmers will be essential in finding solutions to practical problems that will inevitably arise. To maximize the visibility of the hemp farming experience in the region, farmers were selected across the northeast region of NB.

Industrial site selection – Bathurst appears to be the logical central point to process the straw and flowers coming from as far as Campbellton (75 km to the west) and from Miramichi (75 km to the southeast). The area comprises close to 40,000 acres, mostly in field crops, making hemp an excellent alternative.

There are many industrial sites currently available in the Bathurst region since the closing of the paper mill and mines in the area. The city of Bathurst identified a number such sites in and around its industrial zone that Management recently visited. The mayor of Bathurst and his team were very supportive in the effort to bring processing/job creation to the region. Other sites outside the Bathurst city limits were also explored as possible processing locations.

Research and training – Bathurst is also the site of a very dynamic college, the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau Brunswick (CCNB), with its innovation center designed to support innovation in industry. The project has already benefited from its laboratory capacity in analyzing this year’s hemp samples. The centre is expected to be helpful in addressing some of the technical issues associated with crop production and processing, and training.

Selection of industrial processes.
MCOA and GHG plan to focus on the processing of the flowers for cannabinoid extraction as legislation permits, and the straw for fibre and hurd products. Discussions regarding the engagement of key technological partners is continuing. Once finalized, they will be included in the next version of the project overview that will be submitted to Opportunities New Brunswick in the coming months.

About Global Hemp Group Inc.
Global Hemp Group (“GHG”) is a publicly traded company founded in 2012, headquartered in British Columbia, Canada with base operations in Montreal and Southern California. The Company is focused on the production and processing of hemp and cannabis, and collaboration with companies that will enable GHG to develop and implement the Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone concept. Through partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions, the Company will capture cash flow, revenues and value, and establish a greater collective valuation.

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.
MCOA is a corporation engaged in business including, but not limited to: (1) product research and development of legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD under the brand name “hempSMARTâ„¢”, that targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated for medicinal and recreations use; and, (4) the expansion of its business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment mature and develop.

Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as “anticipate”, “seek”, intend”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, or similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov.

For more information, please visit the Company’s websites at:
MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com
hempSMART.com
agoracom.com/ir/MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica

Marijuana Company of America, Inc.
Investor Relations
1+(888)-777-4362
[email protected]

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betterU Education Corp. $BTRU.ca – How To Monetize A Developing Country

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 1:11 PM on Thursday, September 21st, 2017
betterU Education Corp. is a global education marketplace that provides access to quality education from the top educators into emerging markets such as India.
To date, the company has enlisted over 10,000 programs from over 50 institutions and 8 countries. betterU has also announced several global strategic partnerships that have gone unnoticed by the general public, with each deal having the potential to generate enormous value for its shareholders.

Current Price: C$0.42
Shares Outstanding: 51.8 million
Market Capitalization: C$21.8 million

Currently focused on the hundreds of millions of potential customers in India, betterU aims to equalize education around the world by providing accessibility, choice, and affordability, all within an ‘Amazon’ like platform providing opportunities to those who want to better their lives. The company’s vision is to provide a better education, which can lead to a better job and ultimately create a better life by bridging the gap between education and the job industry.

betterU was founded in early 2013, and it took over 4 years to put the foundation in place, including global leadership, localized teams, international partnerships, mass marketing, support technologies and infrastructure to operate in India.

It took more than 2 years to establish the company’s operating entity within India including incorporating, banking and an ability to collect payments in local currency. 98% of the country’s population of over 1.3 billion do not have credit cards to enable them to purchase international education. India is considered a closed currency market, and the only way to transact is to be established as an Indian entity, which has been for many foreigners too lengthy of a process to set-up.

This was one among many significant barriers to entries that make it extremely difficult for other educators to do business in India. betterU has the first mover advantage, and is the only global education marketplace established for emerging markets.

The business model is simple, betterU provides mass marketing across India, collecting all registrations payments, user data and then connects the learner seamlessly into a content partner’s learning environment. betterU holds back 20% to 50% of revenues collected as their fee depending on the partner’s brand and offering that is available. betterU has over 10,000 courses in its arsenal, provided by reputable institutions such as edx’s Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Udemy, Pluralsight, Skillsoft and more.
(Sample of content partners, Source: betterU)

Education In India – Big Business

There is no denying India is a large market. Ever since Jim O’Neill, the global economist at Goldman Sachs, coined the phrase ‘BRIC’ in the early 2000s, India has proven to be a financial juggernaut on the world stage. The country is singled out due to its young population, healthy savings and investment rates, and its increasing integration into the global economy. In fact, for the first time, India was the first on the World Bank’s growth look in 2015-2016.By extension, the education sector provides massive opportunity, with almost 30% of the population between the ages 0-14, and 260 million students enrolled in more than 1.5 million schools. Over 34 million students are enrolled in ~50,000 colleges and institutions for higher education, making it the largest vertical in the world. The education sector is currently valued at $98 billion, and is expected to climb to $144 billion by 2020.
Intuitively, the online education market will be growing just as fast. In a recent study released by KPMG, the sector is currently valued at $250 million, and is expected to reach ~$2 billion by 2021. This growth will be primary fueled by paid users, which is expected to grow from current 1.6 million users to 9.5 million in 2021. The largest segment of online education is re-skilling and certification, currently valued at $93 million, and expected to grow to $463 million by 2021.

Strategic Partnership With The Largest National Media Company
betterU’s head office is located in Ottawa, Canada, but it also has local offices in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. One of the key shareholders in its Indian entity, Skillsdox India Private Ltd., owned 50% by betterU and 50% by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. (the Times Group), the largest media company in India.

betterU and the Times Group have entered into an investment and marketing agreement, where the Times Group will make an in-kind investment of ~$30 million into Skillsdox India. The Times Group will provide media-based marketing that will cover 80% of India. This partnership provides betterU with immense exposure and penetration for education in India.

Last month, the company launched a visibility campaign, and saw 14,000 visitors with a bounce rate of 29% versus the average of 50%. Last year numbers saw a 3% conversion to registrations, 40% of whom ended up buying. The company’s social media followers grew from ~20,000 over the last year to now over 130,000 in just the last 6 weeks.

The company has only used $1 million of the in-kind investment, and is now building out a digital campaign to fully utilize the marketing partnership. Once this campaign is fully active, it will provide a significant pipeline of learners to the platform.

Strategic Partnership With The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC)
Prime Minister Modi has a vision to skill 500 million people by 2022. Thus, many global educators are clamoring for a spot at the table, however, most simply do not have the infrastructure to do so. betterU’s unique approach of pre- and post assessments to determine the ideal learning path has given the company an incredible edge in dealing with a variety of learners and scenarios.

In November 2016, betterU held its first Skills Leadership Summit in Delhi that included many industry, academia and government leaders. A panelist, the CEO of TSSC, Lieutenant-General Kochhar outlined the importance of skills development and the required collaboration between industry and educators.

betterU fostered this relationship, and after 10 months of discussions, an MOU was executed with the TSSC to jointly support the skilling of millions of workers in the telecom sector. The two organizations will combine efforts to support multiple initiatives, including the development of country-wide learning centres; the development and acquisition of localized educational programs; development of rural area mobility learning; and the further advancement of a customized skilling platform.

The TSSC expects the need to skill over 8.8 million people in the telecom sector by 2022, and will do so by utilizing the portfolio of courses available through betterU’s global education marketplace. This will be an incredible collaboration once formalized, and will provide a robust and steady stream of revenue for betterU.

Strategic Partnership With NASSCOM/IT-ITes SSC

Similar to the TSSC MOU, betterU have begun formal discussions and due diligence with NASSCOM/IT-ITes SSC for the purpose of skilling millions of professionals across the IT sector. In show of support for betterU and Canada’s commitment to bilateral trade, Brian Parrott, Minister Commercial and Senior Trade Commission Services from the Canadian embassy, was also present at the meeting.Robust Pipeline

Speaking with management, there is a variety of opportunities in the pipeline at various stages of development. Each has the potential to either bolster revenues or provide game changing cash flow to the table.betterU is on the cusp of consummating a partnership with one of the largest technology companies in the market, which will allow this company to establish itself in India with a strategic partner who can collect its revenue. This can lead the way to a larger, more formal agreements down the line.
betterU’s most recent partnership is with the Central Bank of India to provide instructor led leadership training in Mumbai for all their Assistant General Managers. The company is currently expecting feedback on the training results, and looking forward to continue building its relationship.

Proven Management Team – Brad Loiselle

Brad Loiselle, President, CEO, Founder, is a serially successful entrepreneur, with an exit in the online education space already.He was the founder of Canada’s largest supplier of licensed paper goods, EasyWrapLines, which manufactured and distributed licensed paper goods products (gift bags, wrapping paper, etc.) for entertainment companies such as Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and Fox Entertainment, just to name a few.

After this venture, Brad was in China and saw the struggles of education up close. He thought that technology was the perfect way to organize the space, and realized no one was offering content to the online masses. He created his own methodology, built the platform, and hit the conference circuit to get the word out.

His company, iPal (Interactive Professional Applied Learning), provided a full development solution to online education. His focus was to create a company that would eventually bring quality education to the mass population of the emerging markets.

iPal developed courses for employees at companies such as BMW, Scotia Bank, IATA, Service Canada College, and Knightsbridge. In fact, it was Knightsbridge that eventually acquired iPal in July 2011, using the methodology to build courses across North America.

Brad saw the potential of what online learning could bring to the developing world, and built betterU to service this lucrative space. Brad has a significant equity position in betterU and has entered into a volunteering pooling agreement to restrict his shares for sale on the exchange, and maintains the burning desire to build a leading company to eventually sell off to a major tech company.

The online education space is a hot sector. Some notable acquisitions include Tutor.com acquiring IAC for an estimated $40 million; Pearson Education buying a controlling stake in TutorVista for $127 million. Chan-Zuckerberg, Sequoia and others have -backed Byju for over $125M; Chegg acquiring InstaEDU for $30 million; and Linkedin acquiring Lynda.com for $1.5 billion.

Moving Forward

At a $20 million market cap, betterU is undervalued.It appears there is a lot of interest on the investment front, and we believe Brad will be able to secure a significant investment in the next six months.

The company will experience rapid organic growth through its partnership with The Times Group, with each partnership in the pipeline offering significant leaps in valuation once solidified.

Brad is a proven company maker, and it also helps he already has a significant exit in the online education space. This will be his third home run, and at current prices the perfect entry into this company.

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Fundamental Research Re-Initiates Coverage on New Age Metals Inc. $NAM.ca with Largest Undeveloped Primary #PGM Deposit in Canada

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:13 PM on Thursday, September 21st, 2017

New age large

  • Advancing its River Valley PGM project to a Preliminary Economic Assessment in 2018
  • Project has a measured and indicated resource of 91 Mt grading 0.84 g/t Pd + Pt + Au, 0.06% Cu, and 0.02% Ni, containing 3.9 Moz PdEq (palladium equivalent)
  • Currently pursuing a 16,500 ft drill program to confirm and expand the newly discovered high-grade near surface resource on the northern portion of the project
  • Palladium prices have almost doubled since the end of 2015
  • Also has a portfolio of five hard-rock lithium projects in Canada

Global platinum production was approximately 5.5 Moz, and global palladium production was approximately 6.6 Moz in 2016. To put in perspective, global gold production was 99.2 Moz in 2016. The following charts show the top platinum and palladium producers in the world. 


Canada is the fourth largest platinum (8% of global), and third largest palladium (11% of global) producer. The U.S. imports approximately 1.38 Moz of platinum (92% of its demand) and 1.92 Moz of palladium (86% of its demand) every year. The strong reliance on imports indicates the importance of PGM projects in North America. 

Canada is the fourth largest platinum (8% of global), and third largest palladium (11% of global) producer. The U.S. imports approximately 1.38 Moz of platinum (92% of its demand) and 1.92 Moz of palladium (86% of its demand) every year. The strong reliance on imports indicates the importance of PGM projects in North America. 


Palladium has been one of the best performing commodities in recent times as prices were up 96%, from US$500 per oz at the end of 2015, to the current price of US$980 per oz. 

READ ENTIRE REPORT

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