Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:23 PM on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019
SPONSOR: North Bud Farms Inc. (NBUD:CSE) Sustainable low cost, high
quality cannabinoid production and procurement focusing on both
bio-pharmaceutical development and Cannabinoid Infused Products. Click Here For More Information
NBUD: CSE
—————
Canadians spent $41 million on weed in first month after legalization
Canadians bought $54 million Canadian ($41 million) of marijuana from stores in the first full month after sales were legalized, some of the clearest evidence yet of the market’s potential.
Canada’s figure for November released Wednesday follows an earlier estimate that sales were $43 million Canadian in the first two weeks following legalization on Oct. 17.
The Ottawa-based agency added cannabis to standard monthly reports on retail sales as part of wider effort to update the nation’s economic accounts.
“Retail figures will vary as new stores continue to come on line and
the marketplace continues to evolve,†the agency’s report said.
The potential for a market worth between $5.5 billion Canadian and
$10 billion Canadian a year created a boom in the value of producers
such as Canopy Growth Corp. and Aurora Cannabis Inc. Canada became the
first Group of Seven nation to legalize the drug as Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau said prohibition was a failed system that gave profits to
criminal gangs and allowed rampant youth consumption.
Tags: Marijuana, tsx-v, weed Posted in All Recent Posts, North Bud Farms Inc | Comments Off on North Bud Farms Inc. $NBUD.ca – Canadians spent $41 million on weed in first month after legalization $ACB $WEED.ca $HIP.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:51 PM on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
—————————-
Nasdaq Leads $20 Million Investment in Enterprise Blockchain Startup Symbiont
Nasdaq today made its largest investment in enterprise blockchain, leading a $20 million Series B in Symbiont,
a startup working to bring new kinds of assets that are custodied by blockchain to mainstream adoption.
The investment, which also includes Citi Ventures, Galaxy Digital,
and Raptor Group, marks the latest escalation in an arms race among
traditional exchanges looking to capitalize on the technology that was
once thought of as an existential threat.
Instead of being disintermediated by blockchain technology, which
like bitcoin offers the potential for counterparties to move value
without a trusted third party, exchanges like Nasdaq and others are
partnering with those companies to study the technology and,
increasingly, to use it.
As part of today’s investment, Nasdaq is also announcing a commercial
integration that could see the company, which runs 26 exchanges for
equities, options, bonds, derivatives and commodities in the United
States, Scandinavia, the Baltic region, Armenia, and others, expand
into new areas.
“We see this huge opportunity to be able to go all over the globe
with Nasdaq,†said Symbiont cofounder and CEO Mark Smith. “And use this
marketplace solution from origination to finality, including ways you
can buy and transact new types of instruments backed by our
smart-contract technology.â€
The Series B investment brings the total amount raised by Symbiont to
$36 million, with previous investors including Fenbushi Capital and
Medici Ventures, Overstock.com’s blockchain investment arm. This is the
first time investing in Symbiont for each of the Series B investors. The
terms of the investment are not being disclosed.
The investment comes at a time when leading cryptocurrency startups are cutting back on staff after last year’s catastrophic drop in prices.
Smith says most of the money will be spent to move out of the WeWork
offices in front of the famous Wall Street bull statue that have served
as the company’s home for the past five years, and to hire new
blockchain engineers. Symbiont has grown quickly recently, doubling its
staff to 30 employees in 2017 and doubling aging in 2018. While Smith
doesn’t expect that rate of growth to continue, he says most of the
recent investment will be spent on new hires.
“The overwhelming place we’ll be spending that money is continuing to grow our team,” he added.
Unlike public blockchains such as bitcoin and ethereum that anyone
can build on, and permissioned blockchains developed by IBM, R3 and
others and given away to the open source community, Symbiont’s
blockchain and smart-contract solution, Assembly, was built for
permissioned use from the beginning.
Assembly lets users originate and issue traditional securities, what
Smith calls “smart instruments,†and acts as the sole custodian of the
assets. By integrating with the Nasdaq Financial Framework (NFF) for
building financial applications, Smith says, Assembly will help the
exchange streamline the process for finding, executing and settling
liquidity.
Startups and larger clients of Nasdaq—and Symbiont’s other
partners—can then use Assembly to build solutions for a wide range of
marketplaces, including tokenized ownership of real-estate and artwork,
both of which would be new lines of business for Nasdaq. Importantly,
the commercial integration between Symbiont’s Assembly and NFF is not
exclusive. Both companies are free to work with competitors.
Symbiont’s existing customers include investing management giant
Vanguard, financial data provider Ipreo, purchased by IHS Markit in
2018, and Lewis Ranieri, an early proponent of mortgage-backed
securities. Symbiont also played a pivotal role in helping the state of
Delaware pass a number of new measures designed to give companies
confidence that shares they issue on a blockchain will be legally
recognized.
While Delaware’s new administration has largely pivoted from its
original plan and is now working with IBM on an alternative, Smith
revealed today that former Delaware governor Jack Markell now serves on
Symbiont’s board of directors. “The new administration took a
wait-and-see approach,” said Smith, alluding to the potential impact
blockchain could have on Delaware’s existing business model. “They
wanted to see how it would affect their constituents.”
Nasdaq and Citi had already invested in blockchain startup Chain, a
potential Symbiont competitor that was acquired by the Stellar
Development Foundation, the organization behind the Lumen (XLM)
cryptocurrency, currently valued at $2 billion. In turn, Chain helped
Nasdaq and Citi build Linq, an early end-to-end solution for instantly
settling private securities, first tested in 2015. Other Nasdaq
blockchain investments include Paris-based Stratumn, which builds
enterprise blockchain applications, and CFTC-regulation cryptocurrency
trading platform, ErisX, which recently added ethereum cofounder Joe Lubin to its board of directors.
Showing a possible path forward for Nasdaq, which has 3,400 companies
listed on its exchanges, one of its biggest competitors, the
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), recently announced it was opening its
own cryptocurrency exchange, Bakkt, later this month, after making its own batch of exploratory blockchain investments.
“We are committed to discovering and investing in innovative
technologies to help build our future market infrastructure,†said Gary
Offner, head of Nasdaq Ventures, in a statement. “We are pleased to
support this important, growing area for creating unique institutional
applications of blockchain technology.â€
Technology has transformed the learning landscape. What can we look forward to this year? Video-based learning, microlearning, and AI-driven chatbots that function as teachers’ assistants.
Change is the only constant! And when I look around, I can see the
pace. Thanks to smartphones and internet penetration, sometimes the
change is so rapid that we don’t even realise it. For instance, Netflix/
Amazon Prime has so quickly become a part of our everyday lives that
they have replaced the cable television for a lot of us.
Similarly, in the past few years, the learning landscape across the
globe has also undergone significant disruption on the back of
technological advancements. The growth and proliferation of
communication technology, bolstered by deeper penetration of internet
connectivity and smart devices, made digital learning a household name
in 2018.
And, as we work our way through January 2019, it makes sense to look
back at what worked in 2018 and what would be the guiding principles for
2019. One thing is for sure; online learning is here to stay and grow!
The year that was: digital learning trends in 2018
In 2018, educational institutions and organisations truly embraced
virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) to boost learning outcomes
among students. While the technology is still in its nascent stage in
India, several leading AR/VR startups are creating inventive educational
products for schools, colleges, and corporations.
AR/VR has resulted in the development of collaborative online
learning. Virtual collaborative learning environments have enabled
learners to work together as a group in technology-based learning
systems and benefit from shared knowledge.
Gamification, or game-based learning, is another trend that gained
momentum in the past year. Through the immersive learning technique of
gamification, learning new skills has become an engaging and a fun
activity. Gamification, powered by artificial intelligence and machine
learning, has witnessed stellar developments, with its global market set
to grow from $1.65 billion in 2015 to $11.1 billion by 2020, at a CAGR
of 46.3 percent.
Adaptive learning was another big advancement in 2018, with learning
platforms realizing the potential of programmes that are customised as
per the needs and capabilities of specific learners. As digital learning
continues to gain traction and attract learners who wish to upskill
themselves independently, leading digital learning platforms have
uniquely personalised the process.
Looking ahead: what 2019 has in store for digital learning
Video-based learning has emerged as the most scalable learning method
since it truly democratises education by making it accessible to
everyone. And it’s not only the reach; video-based learning has proven
to be more effective with our changing cognitive abilities. According to
an article published by Psychology Today, the human brain
processes videos 60,000 times faster than text. The method of explaining
and demonstrating a topic through videos boosts retention as it appeals
to more than just the sense of sight. In fact, a study on millennials
concluded that over 75 percent millennials turned to YouTube and other
channels for “How to†and explainer videos on various concepts. Leading
online learning platforms are eyeing this opportunity and investing more
in the video-based learning segment.
The rise in video-based learning is leading to a newer concept called
microlearning wherein bite-sized videos with succinct information are
shown to learners. When learners are exposed to information in short
bursts repeatedly, they grasp concepts quicker, leading to amazing
learning outcomes. Microlearning, also conceivable in the form of short
quizzes, info-graphics, or audio clips, has huge potential and could
possibly transform the education sector in 2019 and beyond.
The learning landscape in 2019 is also set to be revolutionised by
AI-driven chatbots, who can perform tasks from guiding to motivating
learners, while they move forward on their upskilling journey. In fact,
this method of aiding learners through chatbots was successfully
implemented when the Georgia Institute of Technology used IBM’s Watson
AI to facilitate student support. For online learning platforms,
chatbots can become teachers’ assistants and answer routine queries put
up by learners.
According to a study by KPMG, the Indian online education industry
will touch $1.96 billion by 2021, with an increasing number of learners
finding online learning more convenient and in tune with their learning
pace. Extrapolating for the current scenario and future projections, it
is evident that the online learning industry is going ahead full
throttle, fueled by innovative technologies and eager learners.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of
YourStory.)
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:18 AM on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019
Production activities at the Beaufor Mine extended until April 2019, taking place in known stopes with a smaller workforce
Sustained positive contribution of custom milling at the Camflo mill
During the quarter, successfully completed a positive feasibility study on its Wasamac deposit (see feasibility study), which can be summarized as follows:
Projected annual average gold production of 142,000 ounces over 11 years
Pre-tax NPV of $522 million
Pre-tax IRR of 23.6%
Production cash costs of US$550 per ounce
MONTREAL, Jan. 23, 2019 – MONARQUES GOLD CORPORATION(“Monarques” or the “Corporation”) (TSX: MQR) (OTCMKTS: MRQRF) (FRANKFURT: MR7) is pleased to report its production results and corporate highlights for the second quarter ended December 31, 2018. Amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Production highlights
Monarques produced 4,417 ounces of gold in the second quarter, up
23% from the first quarter but down 19% from 5,444 ounces last year.
The Corporation recorded revenues of $11.4 million in the second quarter from the sale of 5,169 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,656 per ounce (US $1,254),
combined with revenues from custom milling operations, which were up 2%
from the first quarter and more than 71% year over year.
“These positive results for Monarques in the second quarter reflect a
number of factors, including better grades from known stopes at the
Beaufor Mine, higher gold prices and the sustained contribution of
custom milling activities at Camflo,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarques. “We will continue
mining the ore remaining in the known stopes at Beaufor over the next
few months, which should allow us to continue producing until April 2019.
To reduce costs and in anticipation of the upcoming suspension of
production activities at Beaufor, we stopped doing exploration and
development work a few months ago and currently have 51 employees at the
Beaufor Mine, compared to approximately 130 employees prior to the
announcement of the suspension. I would also like to thank our employees
for their outstanding performance during the quarter.”
Production statistics
Three months ended December 31, 2018
Three months ended December 31, 2017
Six months ended December 31, 2018
Six months ended December 31, 2017
Beaufor Mine
Ore processed (tonnes)
26,079
35,005
55,454
35,005
Gold recovery (%)
98.50
98.68
98.26
98.68
Ounces produced
4,417
5,444
8,325
5,444
Ounces sold
5,169
5,444
8,441
5,444
Corporate highlights
On October 23, 2018, the Corporation provided new results from the Probe Metals Inc. 2018 drilling program on the Monique property, located near Val-d’Or, Quebec (see press release).
On December 3, 2018, the Corporation reported positive results from the feasibility study prepared by BBA Inc. for the Wasamac Gold project (see press release).
On December 13, 2018, Monarques announced that it had
closed a nonâ€brokered private placement of an aggregate of 3,029,606
flowâ€through shares at a price of $0.33 per flow-through share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $999,769.98 (see press release).
On December 18, 2018, the Corporation reported that it
had consolidated its position around its Wasamac property through an
exchange of mineral claims with Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. (see press release).
Monarques Gold Corporation (TSX: MQR) is an emerging gold mining
company focused on pursuing growth through its large portfolio of
high-quality projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently owns close to 300 km² of gold properties (see map),
including the Wasamac deposit (measured and indicated resource of 2.6
million ounces of gold), the Beaufor Mine, the Croinor Gold (see video), McKenzie Break and Swanson
advanced projects and the Camflo and Beacon mills, as well as other
promising exploration projects. It also offers custom milling services
out of its 1,600 tonne-per-day Camflo mill.
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this press release involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
Monarques’ actual results, performance and achievements to be materially
different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied therein. Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility
for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
Tags: gold, gold demand, monarques, tsx-v Posted in Monarques Gold | Comments Off on Monarques Gold $MQR.ca Produces 4,417 Ounces of #Gold and Generates $11.4 million in Revenue in its Second Quarter $GDX.ca $ECR.ca $MZZ.ca $QMX.ca $IMG.ca $IAG $MUX
We all are aware that EdTech market is expected to touch $1.96 billion by 2021 with nearly 9.6 million users.
India Today Web Desk January 22, 2019 Ed-tech or education technology is on the rise with more learning trends about to show up in 2019.
Ed-tech or education technology has arrived in India. With BYJUs
already getting into the unicorn club, the time has come for other
startups who have been doing some good work consistently to pace up the
growth and make 2019 the year of Ed Tech in India, in addition to the
obvious Fin Tech.
We all are aware that EdTech market is expected to touch $1.96 billion by 2021 with nearly 9.6 million users.
However based on my experience of over 7 years in Education
Technology space, let me try to share the Top 5 Ed Tech Trends which
will decide how the sector shapes up in India in 2019.
1. Tryst with vernacular learning content
Regional and vernacular content is thriving in all respects, be it
entertainment, communication or the digital space. Like any other
sector, in 2019, edtech companies cannot afford to miss out at the
language content internet consumers.
After all, the next 500 million to 1 billion internet users in India are going to be language users, across age groups.
Regional language users will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate
(CAGR) of 18 per cent to reach 536 million in 2021, while English users
are expected to grow at a CAGR of three per cent.
And hence, this will be the defining trend of ed-tech companies too
for expansion to leverage a good chunk of overall pie of internet
consumers in India.
CareerAnna, the largest platform to learn in Indian Languages,
already offers indepth vernacular learning content in 3 languages —
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, in addition to English, and is witnessing a month
on month growth of over 200% in non-English categories.
Like Nelson Mandela said, If you talk to a man in a language he
understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language,
that goes to his heart, and education technology companies need to
appreciate this emerging trend.
2. Bite-sized learning is the future of learning
As a new education trend, bite sized learning content can help students learn quickly.
Time constraints and the rapid proliferation of mobile phones have given birth to the bite-sized learning modules.
Bite-sized learning was, till now, restricted to only news,
with news aggregators like NewsBytes and Inshorts making good use of the
opportunity. This trend has now penetrated the e-learning space as
well.
CareerAnna has also come up with bite-sized videos containing mocks, study plans, exam strategies etc.
As per an EdTechReview report, India’s mobile download would rise to
22.7 billion in 2021, and since bite-sized learning is both affordable
and convenient in nature, the revenue generated by the ed-tech industry
is bound to grow manifold.
3. Curated content over open learning
The preference of curated content over open learning content is a rising ed-tech trend.
Though schools and colleges are archaic institutions, the world of
education is undergoing a digital transformation one day at a time.
Content curation is the process of collecting relevant information and
presenting it in a meaningful way.
Learning in India cannot be ever seen as a primary source of
education unless the curriculum is well defined by educators having
relevant experience.
Education technology platforms need to perform appropriate
curation to bring in the best educators and not just let anyone teach
the aspiring students.
Platforms like Coursera, Career Anna, Great Learning which have
embraced this as the part of the culture are perceived to be much
effective and outcome-oriented primary learning sources by consumers.
However, open learning platforms like Unacademy, which let
inexperienced college students with almost no credentials to form more
than 95% of educators, are seen as a mere backup source by consumers
much like youtube channels.
Such platforms hail only when content is free and struggle to monetise because of the lack of credibility of educators.
Thus, curated platforms shall lead in 2019 and open platforms may have to go back to the war room.
4. Personalised mentorship by certified educators, not university students
Not anyone and everyone should be allowed to teach students.
CareerAnna, Brainnr, and Vedantu are some names which employ
certified and trained individuals to come onboard and impart quality
knowledge to their users.
Aspiring online tutors then make a demo video for screening and eventually start uploading tutorials on their website.
Live online tutoring presently constitutes of 1% of the supplementary
education market, but its future looks extremely promising.
5. Nail your dream job through up-skilling
Skilling up, combined with the right aptitude and attitude is the stairway to any lucrative job.
Sectors like Data Science, Digital Marketing, Google
Analytics, Machine Learning, Growth Hacking and Marketing are witnessing
high demand presently.
As many as 58 million jobs would be created in Artificial
Intelligence by the year 2022 and the IT sector would see the creation
of 2.5 lakh fresher jobs in 2019.
CareerAnna’s skill-up courses have helped over 9000 professionals in
India to secure placements with giants like Cognizant, Dell, Samsung,
Wipro, Infosys, to name a few.
To conclude, I must say that 2019 shall be an exciting year for
ed-tech companies with a vast opportunity to tap next billion internet
users, but challenging as well as lot of experiments, failures,
learnings would be taken to have the next ed-tech unicorn of India,
riding on the wave of new internet consumers.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:13 AM on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
————————
MIT Professor: Blockchain Can Allow for More Inclusive, Borderless Economy
“Only a true decentralized system, where the power is really so spread that is going to be essentially practically impossible to attack them all and when you don’t need to trust this or that particular node, is going to bring actually the security we really need and deserve.â€
Blockchain can allow for the creation of a borderless economy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Silvio Micali claimed in a interview on Bloomberg’s Daybreak Asia, Jan. 21.
Speaking on the show, Micali outlined three major properties of
blockchain systems that must function simultaneously to enable a more
inclusive and borderless economy — security, decentralization and scalability.
According to MIT’s Ford Professor of Engineering, until recently, only
two of those three basic properties could have been achieved
simultaneously at any time.
When asked about scalability in particular, Micali stressed that a
decentralized system really needs superior technology to provide the
same level of participation and confidence that is enjoyed by
centralized systems.
When asked about security breaches in blockchain systems, Micali stated that centralized systems are far more vulnerable to hacking attempts, pointing to the frequency of security and privacy breaches that repeatedly take place among centralized institution of various sorts.
The professor expressed optimism about blockchain in terms of
security, noting the level of security built into the concept of a
trustless system:
“Only a true decentralized system, where the power is really so
spread that is going to be essentially practically impossible to attack
them all and when you don’t need to trust this or that particular node,
is going to bring actually the security we really need and deserve.â€
Recently, a group of major United States universities, including MIT, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, announced the launch of Unit-e, a cryptocurrency project touted as a “globally scalable decentralized payments network.â€
Earlier in January, MIT Technology Review issued an article claiming that 2019 will become the year when blockchain technology finally becomes normalized.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:45 PM on Monday, January 21st, 2019
KUU: TSX-V
Why Kuuhubb?
All time app downloads of +50M
Quarterly* sessions of +200M
Quarterly* active users of +14M
Quarterly gross* revenue of $4.9M
Partnerships: Kellogg’s and Samsung
Aggressive Global Growth Plans Now Underway
Japan Already Established Japan Mobile Revenues
Have Surpassed The USA For 3 Consecutive Years
India, Korea and China Are Forthcoming
Global Social App Comparables Are Trading At $58/Monthly Active User (MAU) (Excluding Facebook)
The Company’s Differentiator? Kuuhubb Delivers Mobile Gaming &
Lifestyle Apps Geared Towards Female Audiences. KUU Is Now Focusing On
Asian Markets, The World’s Largest & Fastest Growing Mobile Games
Market
Portfolio
Kuuhubb growth is undeniable, with rapid
growth in revenues quarter over quarter. The company’s flagship app
(Recolor) has experienced strong growth in downloads, sessions and
monthly active users, indicating a winning product
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:28 PM on Friday, January 18th, 2019
SPONSOR: Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: EGLX) Uniting gaming communities with 80 owned and affiliated websites, currently reaching over 75 million monthly visitors. The company has year to date revenue of $7.4 million representing a 625% increase over the same period in 2017.
EGLX: TSX-V
———————-
This week in esports: Shell, Puma, Mercedes-Benz, Panini
This week in esports has proven that the industry still has pulling power when it comes to bringing in major non-endemic companies.
Energy company Shell, athletic brand Puma, and collectibles company Panini have all entered esports in the last few days!
By: Adam Fitch
This week
in esports has proven that the industry still has pulling power when it
comes to bringing in major non-endemic companies. Energy company Shell,
athletic brand Puma, and collectibles company Panini have all entered
esports in the last few days!
We have a
twice-weekly newsletter that informs you of every significant happening
in the business and industry side of esports, feel free to subscribe here.
LEC enters partnership with energy company Shell
Riot Games has brought in energy giant Shell as a partner of its newly-franchised European competition, LEC.
Shell
will power the Baron Power Play segment of the LEC broadcast and it will
offer XP incentives for German fans. The British-Dutch oil and gas
company will also act as the main partner of the 2019 DACH Premier Tour.
North
American organisation Cloud9 has partnered with Puma, marking the German
athletic apparel company’s first venture into esports.
The deal
specifically involves Cloud9’s LCS team and is expected to last the
duration of the Spring Split. Puma will provide trousers and trainers on
match days, as well as occupying a spot on the team’s jersey.
Mercedes-Benz and FC Köln purchase stake in SK Gaming
ESforce has agreed to sell 67% of its stake in German organisation SK Gaming to FC Köln and Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz).
Mercedes-Benz
will appear on the front of the organisation’s jersey, while the German
football club will have its #effzeh branding located on the sleeves.
Panini enters esports through compLexity Gaming partnership
Sticker
and trading card company Panini has entered esports through a
partnership with North American organisation compLexity Gaming.
The
one-year deal is partially seen as compLexity helping Panini enter
esports in an efficient and natural way – it’ll also result in trading
cards and posters being made for the organisation.
Inxeption, which began operations in 2017, aims to use blockchain
technology to improve various processes for businesses, including
product design, manufacturing and supply chain management.
Neither party has revealed the scope of the deal, which will
reportedly see Inxeption and the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund work in
tandem in future to develop new features for Inxeption’s platform.
“Business customers need secure platforms that protect their customer
data and proprietary information, while making it easy for them to
interact and even collaborate more effectively with their customers,â€
Inxeption CEO and co-founder Farzad Dibachi commented in the press
release.
Describing its product as an e-commerce platform for the B2B market,
Inxeption joins a steadily increasing pool of blockchain initiatives
focused on using distributed technology to make complex corporate
systems more transparent.
UPS CMO Kevin Warren stated in the press release that “Inxeption’s
technology is attractive to UPS because it helps unlock new efficiencies
for customers using B2B e-commerce platforms.â€
Supply chains have proved a particular area of interest amongst firms developing blockchain solutions in 2019. Several blockchain-based supply chain projects have been announced in the past week alone, as diverse as cobalt supplies and food for the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
The Inxeption partnership reveals UPS’ belief in blockchain’s
potential, despite cautionary words from a senior executive last month
that forecast little impact from the technology in 2019.
“We have a small team looking at blockchain, but we are still
searching for the killer use case,†the company’s executive vice
president of technology and chief digital officer Linda Jojo told mainstream media in December.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:11 AM on Thursday, January 17th, 2019
Completed a $1,250,000 equity investment by HT Overseas Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of HT Media Limited, for the purchase of 2,976,190 common shares of the Corporation at $0.42 per share
OTTAWA, Jan. 17, 2019 — betterU Education Corp.(TSX VENTURE: BTRU, Frankfurt: 5OGA) (the “Companyâ€) would like to provide an update on its funding activities.
betterU is pleased to announce it has completed a $1,250,000 equity
investment by HT Overseas Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of HT
Media Limited, (“HTâ€) for the purchase of 2,976,190 common shares of the Corporation at $0.42 per share (the “Private Placementâ€)
with a hold period expiring on May 17, 2019. As previously announced on
December 21, 2017, HT’s $10 million investment is provided to betterU
in eight (8) tranches over two years, this being the 3rd tranche with
the full investment immediately being paid to HT’s Media Groups by
betterU to support betterU’s mass marketing efforts across India. Over
the last year, HT’s marketing investment in betterU has resulted in an
increase of partnerships and the content required to support our efforts
in building betterU’s platform: Education for All. In 2016,
betterU had only 235 courses available on its platform, by 2017 betterU
reached close to 12,000 and by the end of 2018, betterU surpassed over
52,000 programs. The efforts of our team, along with the media
investment from HT, has helped betterU create a larger platform of
global educators, tutors, and service providers who all focused on
supporting India’s education needs across many subjects and industries.
Content acquisition has been part of the betterU’s core focus as it also
supports technology being developed by betterU to help solve India’s
mass skilling challenges across industries.
betterU, over the last few months, has been working on multiple
funding opportunities motivated by the ongoing delays from the $100M
investment from TUC Co, Ltd. (“TUCâ€). These delays have not been explained in detail to betterU because according to GDS Holdings Ltd. (“GDSâ€),
they are under confidentiality agreements with their investment
partners. betterU has received over 400 emails over the last year with
discussions not only with TUC and GDS, but also with other organizations
that are also part of TUC’s investment portfolio. betterU has been in
active discussions with the CEOs for multiple groups in Canada and the
USA with whom TUC and GDS have also promised funding. Despite the
ongoing support and assurances made by TUC and GDS however, with these
ongoing delays, it is not sustainable for betterU to rely solely on TUC
or GDS, so betterU has had no choice but to seek other
investment opportunities as outlined further below. betterU’s agreement
with TUC and GDS will remain active and when and if GDS funds are
released they will be in accordance with the terms of the agreement
executed by TUC and betterU on February 1, 2018.
The Term Sheet with AIP Asset Management Inc., AIP Inc. (“AIPâ€)
for financing of $2.5 Million previously announced October 15, 2018, is
currently under review by betterU. AIP requires as a condition to
closing the financing that a subordination agreement (“SAâ€)
be executed by the creditors of betterU. After betterU’s creditors
reviewed the SA provided by AIP, they felt it was punitive to their
rights as creditors and decided not to sign it. betterU has been in
discussions with AIP to determine alternative solutions and while AIP is
willing to provide betterU with more time, at a cost, they still
require that betterU’s creditors execute on the SA. A further update to
the market will be forthcoming as this materializes further.
Additionally, in early October 2018, betterU was invited to present
to dozens of investors organized by a Montreal investor relations firm
known to betterU, Mi3. During these events, betterU was introduced to
the CEO of Quantiium Capital Management Corporation (“QCMCâ€) an
alternative funding group located in Montreal QC who expressed interest
in betterU. Over subsequent months, betterU met with their leadership
teams in Montreal, Toronto and at betterU’s office in Ottawa. Following
QCMC’s due diligence process, a Letter of Intent was offered and
executed by both parties on December 5, 2018 which supports an
investment of 5 Million Euro (approximately CND$7.5M) through a credit
facility backed by QCMC. The agreements are currently under development
with QCMC and the credit facility is expected to be issued in favour of
betterU this month. Further details will be provided to the market as
the agreements and timelines materialize. All investments are subject to
board of director and TSXV approvals.
betterU wants to emphasise that they have no control over the
timelines of these investments and are providing an update to the market
with the information they are provided with. An update on the betterU’s
advancements in revenue, technology and growth objectives will be made
available by next week.
About betterU
betterU, a global education to employment platform, 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 perspective learners by developing an
integrated education-to-employment ecosystem. betterU’s offerings can be
categorized into several broad functions: to compliment school programs
with flexible KG-12 programs preparing children for next stage of
education, to provide access to global educational opportunities from
leading educators, 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 perspective job requirement by
training them and lastly, to connect the end user to various job
opportunities.
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.
