Freckle Reports Financial Results for Fiscal 2019

Double digit quarter over quarter revenue growth from measurement and data products supplemented with improving traction from Killi identity product

TORONTO, March 9, 2020 /CNW/ - Freckle Ltd. (TSXV: FRKL) (the "Company"), a leader in privacy-compliant data and offline media measurement, announces its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2019 ("2019").

 Financial Highlights

• Q4 2019 revenue was $1.0 million, up 17% versus $862,000 in the year-ago quarter and up 17% versus $863,000 in Q3 2019;
• Full year 2019 revenue of $3.5 million increased 11% versus $3.1 million in 2018;
• Recurring revenue, year to date, increased to 64% of total revenue versus 30% in 2018;
• Q4 2019 gross margin was 58% versus 67% in Q4 2018 and 73% in Q3 2019;
• Full year 2019 gross margin of 66% compared to 68% in fiscal 2018;
• Cash balance of $2.4 million and zero corporate debt.

Killi Product Highlights for Q4 2019

• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) per month improved by 250% from Q3 2019 to Q4 2019 and 827% from 2018 to 2019;
• Cost Per Acquisition for new users (CPA) decreased 9% from Q3 2019 to Q4 2019, and 22% from 2018 to 2019;
• Integrated a second leading international third-party survey provider, creating additional high-margin, recurring international revenue;
• Integrated an incentivized mobile video provider, providing Killi users with compensation for every video they view;
• Launched the Killi application in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) with distribution in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand bringing total global markets to five, and total addressable audience to approx 400m;
• Combination of reduced CPA plus increased ARPU is accelerating core unit economics towards cash neutral user acquisition model where revenue equals acquisition cost.

Freckle Product Highlights for Q4 2019

• A successful focus on the USA market lead to 87% of 2019 revenue being generated in the US, compared to 69% in 2018;
• Announced partnership with iCrossing, a US-based advertising agency owned by Hearst Communications, for offline measurement.

"During Q4, we continued to focus on our core unit economics of Killi, our direct-to-consumer (DTC) data privacy product, while also launching into three new Asia-Pacific markets; Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, extending our addressable market to approximately 400 million people," said CEO Neil Sweeney. "We're pleased that user revenue (ARPU) and retention continued to rise during the quarter while the cost of acquisition (CPA) continued to fall.  In the past quarter we have added an additional survey company to the product as well as an incentivized video provider to allow for new ways for our users to monetize their data.  Not only do our survey conversion metrics continue to improve (the percentage of people that complete revenue generating surveys) but we have also introduced a data dividend for the passive sharing of Killi location data, which we believe will increase the lifetime value (LTV) of each of our users while also assisting in generating higher ARPU. We have several new modules planned over the coming quarters that will assist our key metrics, and help us get us to a cash flow positive model that will allow us to increase our customer acquisition spend. Overall, we're pleased with our Q4 results as Freckle delivered 17% revenue growth over the same period last year. Freckle is well positioned to continue to grow throughout 2020 as customers continue to look to validate the efficacy of their digital market campaigns. Although Killi is our focus, we are seeing significant interest from large media groups that are looking to utilize our measurement and data products to improve the outcomes of their campaigns."

BUSINESS OUTLOOK

Our team remains focused on being recognized as the global leader in consumer privacy, a market that continues to expand in size with persistent changes to data privacy regulation around the world and Google's recent announcement of the depreciation of third party tracking.  We believe we are the leader in this space and are sitting in between the two largest macro trends in the data and technology ecosystems, each worth billions of dollars per annum.  Our goal is clear - to improve unit economics to a cash flow neutral position. This is the only goal. Not scale. Scale is a vanity metric that without core unit economics is a very fast way to burn capital.  That is not our priority.  We track the same metrics and business models as other global DTC brands, such as Uber, Airbnb and Warby Parker, where the focus is on a lower funnel conversation metric; the difference between the cost to acquire a new Killi user and the value they generate over their lifetime using Killi. When lifetime value ("LTV") is lower than user acquisition cost, all new users COST money. By focusing on closing the disparity between CPA and LTV, scaling becomes neutral and then profitable.  When we hit this inflection point, scale will become the number one priority.  We refer to this model as The Triangle. To help achieve our goals, our focus for Q1 2020 includes the following:

• Expand the Killi application outside of the mobile ecosystem to make available online,
• Expand the Killi product to an additional one to three new countries,
• Passive Revenue vs Active Revenue. Introduce a dividend income module for consumers to allow them to be compensated for their data 'passively' vs having to engage 'actively' in surveys and videos exclusively in order to be compensated,
• Introduce a comprehensive user referral program to customers to allow them to socially share the product while reducing internal CPA,
• Increase the ARPU of Killi customers at a double-digit rate, further reducing the disparity between CPA and LTV
• Increase survey conversion rates for users inside of Killi, leading to improved retention and ARPU.
• Announce an additional six figure upfront additional agency deal for Freckle,
• Announce large data partnership with a financial institution for retail traffic monitoring for Freckle
• Demonstrate quarter over quarter revenue growth similar to the levels of late 2019 for the Freckle product,
• Improve the Freckle data product by expanding the distribution and breadth and revenue of this data taxonomy

CONFERENCE CALL TO DISCUSS 2019 FINANCIAL RESULTS

President and CEO Neil Sweeney and CFO Andrew Elinesky will host a conference call to discuss the results and the 2020 outlook at 4:30pm EST the same day.  All interested parties are invited to participate in this conference call and should dial the numbers below 10 minutes before the starting time.

Date: Monday, March 9, 2020

Time: 4:30pm EST

Dial-in number: [phone], [phone]

Conference ID: FRECKLE

Replay: Available at freckleiot.com

About Freckle Ltd.

Freckle's consumer identity mobile application "Killi" (killi.io) allows consumers to take back control of their digital identity from those who have been using it without their consent. With Killi, consumers can opt-in and select specific pieces of personal information that they would like to share with companies, as well as answer specific surveys, and be compensated directly for these answers.  Download it here.

Freckle, via its data and offline measurement products, also allows leading brands and platforms to measure the effectiveness of their advertising by independently matching media spend to in-store visitation while remaining media agnostic. Freckle's technology is used by Fortune 500 brands like McDonald's, Lexus, Walmart, Verizon and AT&T, and is a core component of the top demand-side platforms (DSPs) and data management platforms (DMPs) used around the world.

For more information, please visit freckleiot.com / killi.io

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

Non-IFRS Measures

This press release includes certain measures which have not been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") such as CPA, ARPU and revenue growth. The non-IFRS measures presented are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. None of the foregoing non-IFRS measures is an earnings measure recognized by IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. The Company believes that these measures may offer useful supplemental information but are subject to inherent uncertainties and limitations and rely on various assumptions by the Company and should, therefore, not be relied upon for the purpose of making an investment decision. Readers are cautioned that CPA and ARPU should not be construed as alternatives to net income (as determined under IFRS), as indicators of financial performance or to cash flow from operating activities (as determined under IFRS) or as measures of liquidity and cash flow.

For further information, please refer to the audited condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ending December 31, 2019 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for more information.

DISCLAIMER FOR FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking and may constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Company anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information and forward-looking statements. Such information or statements may include, but is not limited to: comments with respect to strategies; expectations; planned operations; future actions, growth and financial well-being of the Company; that the Company will continue to be a leader in privacy-compliant data and offline media measurement; expansion of the Killi application outside of North America; introduction of an additional third-party research engine in the Killi application; increasing ARPU for Killi; addition of incentivized video modules to the Killi application; improvement of the Killi UI; improvement of the engagement and user retention; securing an international data distribution deal; expansion of Freckle's global presence; securing additional partnerships in 2020; quarter over quarter revenue growth in 2020; sustaining current recurring revenue; building Killi into a legal global DTC application for Data Privacy; making Killi available online; the Company introducing a dividend income module and a referral program for its users; and, improving key data metrics.. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: whether the Company will continue to be recognized as a leader in privacy-compliant data and offline media measurement; whether the Company's expansion into APAC will expand its reach to 400 million people; whether the Company will be able to achieve cash neutral user acquisition; whether the market will require consumer opt-in for data use; whether the Company's improvements to Killi will result in increased revenue and customer retention and growth; whether the Company's focus on closing the disparity between CPA and LTV will increase its profits; whether the Company is able to enter into an international data distribution deal and expand the Company's global presence; whether the Company is able to enter into new partnership agreements; whether the Company's team will continue to grow; and whether the Company's technology will continue to be used by Fortune 500 Brands..  These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe'' or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirement. 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 jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

SOURCE Freckle Ltd.

please contact: Andrew Elinesky, CFO, [phone], [email protected]; Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations, [phone], [email protected]