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TSX Venture Exchange: ANTI.P
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 14, 2020 /CNW/ - Antera Ventures I
Corp. ("Antera" or the "Company") is pleased to
announce that further to the letter of intent entered into on
July 26, 2020 (the "LOI") with
Wishpond Technologies Ltd. ("Wishpond"), it has entered into
a binding merger agreement effective on September 10, 2020, with Wishpond, and
1264881 B.C. Ltd. ("Antera
Subco"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antera (the "Merger
Agreement") in respect of completion an arm's length
reverse-takeover transaction of Wishpond by Antera (the
"Proposed Transaction"), which will constitute the
completion of Antera's Qualifying Transaction (as such term is
defined in Policy 2.4 – Capital Pool Companies of Corporate
Finance Manual of the TSX Venture Exchange (the
"Exchange")).
The completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to the
satisfaction of various conditions that are customary for a
transaction of this nature, including but not limited to: (i) the
completion of a concurrent brokered financing for gross proceeds of
a minimum of $3,000,000 and a maximum
of $3,500,000 (the "Private
Placement") through the issuance of Subscription Receipts (as
defined herein); (ii) the approval by the directors of Antera and
Wishpond of the Proposed Transaction and the matters related
therein; (iii) approval of the Consolidation (as defined
herein) by the shareholders of Antera; and (iv) the receipt of all
requisite regulatory, stock exchange, or governmental
authorizations and consents, including the Exchange.
Subject to satisfaction or waiver of the conditions precedent
referred to herein and in the Merger Agreement, Antera and Wishpond
anticipate that the Proposed Transaction will be completed no later
than February 28, 2021. There can be
no assurance that the Proposed Transaction or Private Placement
will be completed on the terms proposed above or at all.
Trading in the common shares of Antera (the "Antera Common
Shares") is currently halted in accordance with the policies of
the Exchange and will remain halted until such time as all required
documentation in connection with the Proposed Transaction has been
filed with and accepted by the Exchange and permission to resume
trading has been obtained from the Exchange.
The Qualifying Transaction
The Proposed Transaction will result in Antera acquiring all of
the issued and outstanding securities of Wishpond in exchange for
the issuance of securities of Antera, which will result in Wishpond
becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antera; the existing
shareholders of Wishpond will own a majority of the outstanding
Antera Common Shares (after completion of the Proposed Transaction,
referred to herein as the "Resulting Issuer Shares") and
Antera will be renamed "Wishpond Technologies Ltd." (the
"Resulting Issuer") or such other name as Wishpond may
determine. Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is
anticipated that the Resulting Issuer will be a Tier 2 technology
issuer listed on the Exchange.
The Proposed Transaction is contemplated as an amalgamation
under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) between Antera Subco and
Wishpond and will not constitute a non-arm's length Qualifying
Transaction or a related party transaction pursuant to the policies
of the Exchange.
As consideration for the acquisition of all of the outstanding
securities of Wishpond, holders of the issued and outstanding
common shares of Wishpond ("Wishpond Common Shares") and
Class BB non-voting participating shares of Wishpond ("Wishpond
Non-Voting Shares" and together with the Wishpond Common
Shares, the "Wishpond Shares") will receive approximately
3.243993 post-Consolidation (as defined herein) Antera Common
Shares for each one (1) Wishpond Share (the "Exchange
Ratio") held. Excluding unvested incentive stock options, the
outstanding capital of Wishpond to be acquired by Antera at the
Exchange Ratio is comprised of the following:
- An outstanding Wishpond convertible debenture convertible into
88,075 Wishpond Common Shares concurrent with the closing of the
Proposed Transaction, which will be exchanged into approximately
285,714 Resulting Issuer Shares;
- An outstanding debt conversion agreement (the "Debt
Conversion Agreement") in the amount of $4,503,975 convertible into 1,851,205 Wishpond
Common Shares, which will be exchanged into approximately 6,005,300
Resulting Issuer Shares; and
- 9,569,167 Wishpond Shares, which will be exchanged into
approximately 31,042,319 Resulting Issuer Shares.
In addition, there are currently 130,500 outstanding unvested
incentive stock options of Wishpond, each exercisable for one
Wishpond Non-Voting Share, and holders thereof will receive
approximately an aggregate of 423,341 incentive stock options of
the Resulting Issuer, each exercisable to acquire one Resulting
Issuer Share, pursuant to the Exchange Ratio. The final structure
of the Proposed Transaction is subject to the receipt of tax,
corporate and securities law advice by both Antera and
Wishpond.
Assuming the Private Placement is fully subscribed, it is
estimated that there will be approximately 44,666,667 Resulting
Issuer Shares outstanding upon closing of the Proposed Transaction,
and 45,298,757 Resulting Issuer Shares on a fully-diluted basis,
with existing securityholders of Antera holding approximately 6.35%
of the Resulting Issuer Shares on a fully-diluted basis, former
securityholders of Wishpond will hold approximately 83.35% of the
outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares, on a fully-diluted basis, and
subscribers for Subscription Receipts holding approximately 10.30%
of the outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares, on a fully-diluted
basis.
Immediately prior to the completion of the Proposed Transaction,
it is anticipated that Antera will consolidate its issued and
outstanding Antera Common Shares on the basis of approximately
4.6467 pre–consolidation Antera Common Shares for each one (1)
post-consolidation Antera Common
Share (the "Consolidation").
Upon closing of the Proposed Transaction, a finder's fee in the
amount of $25,000 plus applicable
taxes will be payable to Angad Capital Inc., an arm's length party
to both Wishpond and Antera.
The Private Placement
Wishpond has entered into an agreement dated August 31, 2020 with Beacon Securities Limited
(the "Lead Agent"), as lead agent and sole
bookrunner, on its own behalf and on behalf of a syndicate of
agents including PI Financial Corp. (the "Agents"), pursuant
to which Wishpond shall complete the Private Placement of
subscription receipts of Wishpond (the "Subscription
Receipts") at a price of $0.75
per Subscription Receipt (the "Issue Price") for aggregate
gross proceeds of a minimum of $3,000,000 and a maximum of $3,500,000. Each Subscription Receipt shall be
deemed to be exercised, without payment of any additional
consideration and without any further action on the part of the
holder thereof, for that number of Wishpond Common Shares equal to
a fraction, the numerator of which is one, and the denominator of
which is the Exchange Ratio, upon satisfaction of certain escrow
release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions") as
described in a subscription receipt agreement to be entered into by
the parties (the "Subscription Receipt Agreement"). Each
Wishpond Common Share received by holders of the Subscription
Receipts shall then be converted into Resulting Issuer Shares
pursuant to the Exchange Ratio. For clarity, each Subscription
Receipt shall result in the issuance of one Resulting Issuer Share
following the completion of the Proposed Transaction.
The gross proceeds of the Private Placement less 50% of the Cash
Fee (as defined below), which will be paid upon closing of the
Private Placement, will be deposited in escrow at closing pending
the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions. If either: (i)
the Escrow Release Conditions are not satisfied on or before the
escrow release deadline to be stipulated in the Subscription
Receipt Agreement; or (ii) prior to such escrow release deadline,
Antera and/or Wishpond advises the Agent or announces to the public
that it does not intend to satisfy the Escrow Release Conditions,
the Subscription Receipts will be cancelled and the escrowed funds
shall be returned to the holders of the Subscription Receipts in
accordance with the terms of the Subscription Receipt
Agreement.
In connection with the Private Placement, the Agents will be
paid a cash commission equal to 8% of the gross proceeds raised
under the Private Placement (the "Cash Fee") and be issued
such number of share purchase warrants (the "Agents'
Warrants") as is equal to 8% of the Subscription Receipts sold
under the Private Placement, with the exception of investors
identified on a president's list in which the Cash Fee and number
of Agents' Warrants shall be reduced to 3% for the respective
subscriptions. Each Agents' Warrant will entitle the holder to
acquire a Resulting Issuer Share at the Issue Price for a period of
twenty–four months following the completion of the Proposed
Transaction. In addition, Wishpond will pay the Lead Agent a
$25,000 corporate finance fee upon
closing of the Private Placement.
The Private Placement shall be completed on such date to be
determined between Wishpond and the Lead Agent.
Wishpond intends to use the net proceeds from the Private
Placement for sales growth, product development, strategic
acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
Wishpond Financial Information
Set forth below is certain financial information from Wishpond's
unaudited financial statements in Canadian dollars.
|
Six Months
Ended 30-Jun-20
|
Fiscal Year
Ended 31-Dec-19
|
Fiscal Year
Ended 31-Dec-18
|
Revenue
|
3,514,553
|
6,050,303
|
4,307,770
|
Year-Over-Year
Growth (%)
|
21%
|
40%
|
53%
|
Gross Profit
Margin (%)
|
66%
|
66%
|
68%
|
EBITDA
|
201,448
|
124,612
|
(326,449)
|
EBITDA Margin
(%)
|
6%
|
2%
|
-8%
|
Insiders of the Resulting Issuer
Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is anticipated
that the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer will consist of
five nominees: Ali Tajskandar (Chairman), Hossein Malek, Arinder
Mahal, Jordan Gutierrez and
Olivier Vincent. The senior
management of Wishpond shall became the management of the Resulting
Issuer, specifically: Ali Tajskander as Chief Executive Officer,
Juan Leal as Chief Financial
Officer, Jordan Gutierrez as Chief
Operating Officer, Nicholas Steeves
as Chief Product Officer, Dennis
Zelada as Chief Technology Officer and Kendra Low as Corporate Secretary.
Ali Tajskandar, Founder, Chairman, CEO and Board Member
(North Vancouver, British
Columbia) - Ali has over 20 years experience as a
software engineer, entrepreneur, technologist and CEO. In 2009, Ali
founded Wishpond with the goal of simplifying marketing for
business owners. Under Ali's leadership, Wishpond has expanded its
technology suite to include a lead generation platform, award
winning email marketing platform, and an advanced marketing
automation system. Prior to Wishpond, Ali worked in a number of
high-tech startups including SoundLogic (acquired by Lucent),
Seance Software, and Bitspan Network. Ali holds a B.ASc. in
Computer Science from Simon Fraser
University and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.
Juan Leal, Chief Financial
Officer (Vancouver, British
Columbia) - Juan Leal
joined Wishpond in January 2020 to
lead the financial transformation and corporate development
strategy of Wishpond. Prior to joining Wishpond, Juan was a
Vice President at KPMG's Corporate Finance practice in Western Canada advising North American
companies on acquisition strategies and leading mid-market buy-side
and sell-side M&A transactions across a variety of industries.
Juan obtained the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA-CA) and
Chartered Business Valuator (CBV) designations through KPMG and
obtained an honours Bachelor degree in Business Administration from
Simon Fraser University.
Jordan Gutierrez, Chief
Operating Officer and Board Member (North
Vancouver, British Columbia) - Jordan is a serial
entrepreneur, mentor, and keynote speaker. Jordan joined Wishpond
in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer in charge of revenue, growth,
and marketing. Prior to Wishpond, Jordan founded Laleo, the largest
medical e-commerce website in Latin
America boasting eight figure revenues a year. Jordan's
accomplishments earned him several awards such as Western Canada's Entrepreneur, SFU Student
Entrepreneur of the Year, and Canada's Entrepreneur Student of the Year.
Jordan holds a degree in Economics from Simon Fraser
University.
Nicholas Steeves, Chief
Product Officer (Vancouver, British
Columbia) - Nick joined Wishpond in 2011, and has
held various roles in marketing, customer success and product in
that time. In his time with Wishpond, he has led the development of
Wishpond products, including Landing Page Editor, Website Popup
Builder, Website Form Builder, Marketing Automation, Leads
Database, Shopify Marketing Automation Integration, Contest Apps,
and more. Prior to joining Wishpond, Nick obtained a
Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of
the Fraser Valley.
Dennis Zelada, Chief
Technology Officer (Berlin,
Germany) - Dennis
Zelada brings over 12 years of experience working in a
variety of technical roles throughout his career. In earlier years,
Dennis worked as a university professor teaching Computer Science
and Programming and IT Security and Algorithms at Mariano Galvez
University in Guatemala. He also
worked as a Team Lead/Senior Architect at Xerox Corporation and as
co-founder at Browsy Inc., a smart fullscreen web browser
application. In 2016 Dennis was appointed as CTO of WiseBuffet Inc.
where he built and scaled a team of 98 engineers across different
time zones. Dennis was instrumental in growing WiseBuffet Inc. from
a small startup to up to a large organization with more than one
thousand employees, delivering solutions to millions of users
globally. Most recently, Dennis worked as the CTO of ClosedWon
Inc,, an all-in-one social selling workspace. Dennis holds a
Bachelor in Software Engineering from Mariano Galvez University in
Guatemala.
Kendra Low, Corporate
Secretary (North Vancouver, British
Columbia) – Kendra has more than 15 years of
experience working in corporate and sustainability governance. An
experienced corporate secretary, corporate and sustainability
governance professional and business strategist, she has advised
boards and managed the governance function for both publicly traded
and not-for-profit organizations through different phases of
organizational growth including start-up, financing and
development. Ms. Low has served as VP Administration &
Corporate Secretary of Baja Mining Corp. (TSX:BAJ) from
May 2008 to May 2012. She is the co-owner and Chief Executive
Officer of Vancouver Corporate Solutions Inc., a private corporate
secretarial and governance services firm. Ms. Low is also the
founder and principal of Kalamandra Consulting Inc., a private
corporate governance and strategic advisory consulting services
firm that has worked with large energy, pulp & paper, and
mining companies in addition to a host of smaller not-for-profit
organizations. In addition to her corporate secretarial work, Ms.
Low serves as a director and Audit Committee Chair of Libby K
Industries Inc. (TSXV:LBB.P), which is currently completing
its Qualifying Transaction with Plurilock Security Solutions Inc.
Ms. Low holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Kinesiology degree from the
University of British Columbia.
Hossein Malek, Board Member
(West Vancouver, British Columbia)
- Hossein Malek is Wishpond's
primary investor supporting the Company from an early stage.
Hossein is an executive with a strong track record, wide range of
functional experience and demonstrated ability to lead
organizations through rapid growth. Recognized as a top
entrepreneur in Canada, Hossein
founded two companies in the converged voice and data applications.
In 2000, Hossein successfully sold one of his companies,
SoundLogic, to Lucent Technologies. Hossein holds a Bachelor's
degree in Computer Science Engineering from Western Michigan University and a Master of
Computer Science from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Arinder S. Mahal, Board Member
(Toronto, Ontario) - Arinder
has a range of experience in the tech industry including executive
and operational management, investment banking, mergers &
acquisitions, and strategic advisory. He is currently the
founder & CEO of Antera Inc., a technology focused merchant
bank and is a board member of NanoXplore Inc.
(GRA-TSX). Previously he led the technology
investment banking teams at Echelon Wealth Partners, Dundee Capital
Markets, and was a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting.
Arinder has a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Victoria and a MBA from Schulich
School of Business, York
University.
Olivier Vincent, Board Member
(North Vancouver, Canada) -
Olivier Vincent is a serial
entrepreneur and technology executive. Olivier has a strong track
record running or creating mobile, artificial intelligence, and
search-based companies. He was founder and CEO of Canpages Inc., a
digital local company which grew to over $100 million in revenue before being sold for
$225 million. Recognized as an
authority in the world of local, mobile and artificial
intelligence, Olivier is a future enthusiast and is always looking
for ways to build things that make life easier, better, or funnier.
He was recently the President of WeatherBug, a division of
GrountTruth Inc., a 15 million-users app in the world of weather,
and is currently the co-founder and CEO of Autozen Technology Ltd.,
an innovative marketplace startup in the automobile world. Oliver
holds a Masters of Engineering in Computer Science from ENSTA Paris
and a Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris.
Nasim Arianpoo, Insider (North
Vancouver, British Columbia) - Nasim Arianpoo is
the founder and Chief Executive Officer at LeanTechnique Ltd., an
online platform that provides businesses with key performance
indicators and process failure alerts in real time. Previously,
Nasim worked as a software developer at StartSolutions and
Telecommunications Pvt. Ltd. and Dyaptive Systems Inc. Nasim holds
a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the
University of British Columbia.
Golnaz Navabi, Insider
(West Vancouver, British
Columbia) - For over 35 years, Golnaz Navabi has supported entrepreneurs as an
investor and advisor. Previously, she worked as a software engineer
with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Golnaz
holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Sorbonne University and
a Bachelor of Software Engineering from Simon
Fraser University.
In addition to any other positions disclosed above, each of Ali
Tajskandar, Hossein Malek, Nasim
Arianpoo and Golnaz Navabi are
expected to be Insiders of the Resulting Issuer as a result of the
number of Resulting Issuer Shares which are expected to be held by
them following completion of the Proposed Transaction. Each of Ali
Tajskandar, Nasim Arianpoo, Hossein
Malek and Golnaz Navabi are
control persons (as such term is defined in the policies of the
Exchange) of Wishpond, however it is currently anticipated that
none of such individuals will become control persons of the
Resulting Issuer.
Sponsorship
Sponsorship of a Qualifying Transaction is required by the
Exchange unless a waiver from the sponsorship requirement is
obtained. Antera intends to apply for a waiver from sponsorship for
the Proposed Transaction. There is no assurance that a waiver from
this requirement will be obtained.
About Wishpond
Wishpond is a provider of marketing focussed online business
solutions based out of British
Columbia. Wishpond offers an "all-in-one"
marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion,
lead generation and sales conversion capabilities. Wishpond
replaces entire marketing functions in an easy to use platform, for
a fraction of the cost. Wishpond serves over 2,000 customers
who are primarily small-to-medium size businesses (SMBs) in a wide
variety of industries.
Wishpond's vision is to become the leading provider of digital
marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success
online, regardless of their industry or size. Wishpond has
developed cutting edge marketing technology solutions and continues
to add new features and applications with great velocity. In
addition to offering specific lead generation tools, Wishpond also
provides advanced marketing applications integrated and managed
from a centralized platform.
Wishpond employs a subscription-based SaaS (Software as a
Service) model where customers subscribe to the company's software
and services through annual or monthly recurring plans.
Substantially all of the company's revenue is subscription based
recurring revenue which provides excellent revenue and cash flow
visibility.
About Antera Ventures I Corp.
Antera is a capital pool company created pursuant to the
policies of the Exchange. It does not own any assets, other than
cash or cash equivalents and its rights under the Merger Agreement.
The principal business of Antera is to identify and evaluate
opportunities for the acquisition of an interest in assets or
businesses and, once identified and evaluated, to negotiate an
acquisition or participation subject to acceptance by the Exchange
so as to complete a Qualifying Transaction in accordance with the
policies of the Exchange.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer and Reader Advisory
Not for dissemination in the United
States or for distribution to U.S. newswire services. The
securities offered have not been registered under the U.S.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities
Act"), or any applicable state securities laws and may not be
offered or sold in the United
States or to, or for the account or benefit of, a person in
the United States or a U.S. person
(as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent
registration under the U.S. Securities Act and any applicable state
securities laws, or compliance with an exemption therefrom. This
press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the
securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale
would be unlawful.
Certain information in this press release may contain
forward-looking statements. This information is based on current
expectations that are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might
differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking
statements. Antera assumes no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those reflected in the forward
looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws
applicable to Antera. Additional information identifying risks and
uncertainties is contained in filings by Antera with the Canadian
securities regulators, which filings are available at
www.sedar.com.
Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number
of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance
and if applicable pursuant to Exchange requirements, majority of
the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the
transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is
obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be
completed as proposed or at all.
Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the
management information circular or filing statement to be prepared
in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information
released or received with respect to the transaction may not be
accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the
securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly
speculative.
TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the
merits of the Proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor
disapproved the contents of this press release.
The Antera Common Shares will remain halted until such time
as permission to resume trading has been obtained from the
Exchange. Antera is a reporting issuer in Alberta, British
Columbia, and Ontario.
SOURCE Antera Ventures I Corp.