Wishpond Reports Record Annual Revenue and Positive Adjusted EBITDA for Fiscal 2020

Positive outlook for 2021 with strong balance sheet and MRR (monthly recurring revenue) exceeding $1.0M in Q1-2021.

VANCOUVER, BC, April 29, 2021 /CNW/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (the "Company" or "Wishpond"), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, announces it has filed its audited annual consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for fiscal 2020, representing the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2020.

Ali Tajskander, Wishpond's Chairman and CEO commented: "2020 was a monumental year for Wishpond, as we accomplished record financial results and commenced trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). This represents the beginning of our journey as a publicly traded company with very ambitious plans to grow both organically and inorganically through strategic acquisitions, with the goal of expanding our product offerings and opening new markets and verticals. I am also very pleased with our fourth quarter 2020 financial results, in which we achieved record revenue with 38% organic revenue growth compared to the same period last year, and we reported positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ and cash flow for the quarter. Since our year end, we completed our first two acquisitions of Invigo Media and PersistIQ. I am extremely satisfied with the progress we have made with integrating these two acquisitions and the positive contributions they will have this year to our revenue growth and profitability profile.  I am also very pleased to report that we exceeded a historic milestone of $1.0 million in MRR (monthly recurring revenue)⁽¹⁾ in Q1-2021."

Fiscal 2020 Annual Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record annual revenue of $7,882,018 during fiscal 2020, compared to revenue of $6,050,303 generated during fiscal 2019, an increase of 30%.
  
  
• Wishpond achieved Gross profit⁽¹⁾ of $5,229,099, representing a 34% increase from fiscal 2019, driven by an increase in overall revenue. Wishpond achieved a Gross margin⁽¹⁾ percentage of 66% during fiscal 2020, comparable to fiscal 2019 at 64%.
  
  
• During fiscal 2020, Wishpond achieved an operating loss of $1,645, compared to an operating loss of $377,670 in fiscal 2019.
  
  
• During fiscal 2020, Wishpond achieved positive cash from operations of $3,215,024, compared to $419,080 in fiscal 2019.
  
  
• During fiscal 2020, Wishpond achieved Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $494,902 compared to Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $103,477 in fiscal 2019.
  
  
• As at December 31, 2020, Wishpond had $7,305,546 in cash and no long-term debt.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record quarterly revenue of $2,254,771 during Q4-2020, compared to revenue of $1,634,652 generated during Q4-2019, an increase of 38%.
  
  
• Wishpond achieved Gross profit⁽¹⁾ of $1,455,475, compared to $908,794 during Q4-2019, representing an increase of 60%, driven by an increase in overall revenue. Wishpond achieved a Gross margin⁽¹⁾ percentage of 65% during Q4-2020, compared to Q4-2019 at 56%.
  
  
• During Q4-2020, Wishpond achieved an operating loss of $4,022 compared to an operating loss of $129,845 in Q4-2019.
  
  
• During Q4-2020, Wishpond achieved positive cash from operations of $2,147,902 compared to $306,278 in Q4-2019.
  
  
• During Q4-2020, Wishpond achieved Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $121,151 compared to an Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ loss of $18,747 in Q4-2019.

Fourth Quarter 2020 Business Highlights:

• On October 15, 2020, Wishpond completed its previously announced brokered private placement financing of 6,133,000 subscription receipts at a price of $0.75 per subscription receipt, for gross proceeds of approximately $4.6 million, which included an upsize from the original offering amount of $3.0 million and the full exercise of the over-allotment option.
  
  
• On November 24, 2020, Wishpond converted debts in the aggregate amount of approximately $4.66 million into Wishpond common shares in connection with Wishpond's qualifying transaction (the "QT") with Antera Ventures I Corp. ("Antera"), giving Wishpond greater flexibility in its operations and resulting in the Company having no debt or debt instruments on its balance sheet.
  
  
• On December 8, 2020, Wishpond completed the QT and Antera changed its name to "Wishpond Technologies Ltd.".
  
  
• On December 11, 2020, the common shares of the Company commenced trading on the TSXV under the symbol "WISH" as a Tier 1 technology issuer.

Events Subsequent to December 31, 2020:

• On January 8, 2021, Wishpond announced the completion of the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Invigo Media Corp. and its affiliates, EverGenius LLC and Invigo Media LLC (collectively, "Invigo"). Based in Surrey, British Columbia, Invigo is a profitable and growing marketing technology and services company primarily focused on serving medical clinics. Over the last six months prior to the acquisition, Invigo had achieved an annualized revenue run-rate⁽¹⁾ of approximately $2.7 million and EBITDA margins⁽¹⁾ exceeding 20%.
  
  
• On February 5, 2021, Wishpond completed a bought deal short form prospectus offering of 4.6 million common shares of the Company at a price of $1.75 per share, for gross proceeds of $8.05 million, which included the exercise in full of the underwriters' over-allotment option.
  
  
• On February 23, 2021, Wishpond launched its Payments Product, a new service enabling merchants to collect payments directly from the landing pages, without the need to refer them to an external website or payment gateway. This feature is expected to represent a new source of revenue for the Company as it will be collecting fees on payments processed through its landing pages and websites.
  
  
• On February 26, 2021, Wishpond completed the acquisition of all of the equity interests in PersistIQ, Inc. ("PersistIQ"). Based out of San Mateo, California, PersistIQ is a high performing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company which provides sales engagement technologies to empower salespeople and entrepreneurs. PersistIQ has a base of approximately 800 clients and has generated annual revenue⁽¹⁾ of US$1.1 million with EBITDA margins⁽¹⁾ of approximately 20% in 2020.
  
  
• On April 14, 2021, Wishpond launched its Funnels Product, a new feature that allows for progressive lead profiling and upselling opportunities. Such features represent a powerful addition to the landing page editor, increasing its effectiveness at profiling and converting new leads.
  
  
• On April 22, 2021, Wishpond launched its new fully managed Outbound Sales Solution by its subsidiary, PersistIQ. This new solution features an enhanced sales automation platform and a service package that gives B2B small business owners access to PersistIQ's award-winning technology, outbound sales strategies and a team of experts to help accelerate growth.

Outlook: 

Management expects continued organic growth driven by reinvestments in salesforce and internal capacity expansion, in addition to further strategic acquisitions contemplated for the balance of the year. The Company expects healthy year-over-year revenue growth in Q1-2021 with MRR (monthly recurring revenue)⁽¹⁾ exceeding $1.0 million. The Company also expects increased operating spend in Q1-2021 as compared to Q4-2020, primarily as a result of increased headcount in Wishpond's sales and research and development teams in Q1-2020, which are necessary investments for the long-term growth of the Company. Management expects both revenue and profitability to accelerate in the second half of 2021 due to growth from new product launches, a larger sales team and significant revenue contribution from new acquisitions.

"We are very optimistic of our outlook for the remainder of 2021," said Juan Leal, Wishpond's Chief Financial Officer. "We have a very strong balance sheet with cash balance currently exceeding $10 million to execute on our disciplined acquisition strategy. We are expecting to achieve record revenue growth in 2021."

Selected Financial Highlights: 

The tables below set out selected financial information relating to Wishpond and should be read in conjunction with Wishpond's annual consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto, and MD&A for the twelve months ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, copies of which can be found under Wishpond's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

	Three months ended		Twelve months ended
	December 31, 2020	December 31, 2019	December 31, 2020	December 31, 2019
Revenue	$2,254,771	$1,634,652	$7,882,018	$6,050,303
Gross profit^(1)	$1,455,475	$908,794	$5,229,099	$3,901,297
Gross margin^(1)	65%	56%	66%	64%
Adjusted EBITDA^(1)	$121,151	$(18,747)	$494,902	$103,477
Net increase in cash during the period	$6,041,190	$226,318	$7,036,610	$121,266
Cash - end of the period	$7,305,546	$269,536	$7,305,546	$269,536

Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA

		Three months ended		Twelve months ended
		December 31, 2020	December 31, 2019	December 31, 2020	December 31, 2019
Loss before income taxes		$(2,160,195)	$(124,420)	$(2,215,493)	$(428,298)
Depreciation and amortization		$107,227	$102,249	$395,898	$387,603
Interest expense		$5,665	$8,064	$26,781	$43,097
EBITDA^(1)		$(2,047,303)	$(14,107)	$(1,792,814)	$2,402
Reverse takeover listing expense		$2,114,085	-	$2,114,085	-
Acquisition related expenses		$72,594	-	$72,594	-
Foreign currency gains		$(16,049)	$(25,459)	$(27,507)	$(18,814)
Other Income/Expenditures		$(20,122)	$11,970	$27,895	$26,345
Stock based compensation expense		$17,946	$8,849	$100,649	$93,544
Adjusted EBITDA^(1)		$121,151	$(18,747)	$494,902	$103,477

Footnotes:
1	EBITDA, EBITDA margin, adjusted EBITDA, monthly recurring revenue, annualized run rate, gross profit and gross margin are not financial measures recognized by generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. See "Cautionary Statements - Non-GAAP Financial Measures".

On Behalf of the Board of Wishpond

"Ali Tajskandar"

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

About Wishpond Technologies Ltd.

Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Wishpond is a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions. Wishpond's vision is to become the leading provider of digital marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success online. The Company offers an "all-in-one" marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion, lead generation, and sales conversion capabilities from one integrated platform. Wishpond replaces entire marketing functions in an easy-to-use product, for a fraction of the cost. Wishpond serves over 2,900 customers who are primarily small-to-medium size businesses (SMBs) in a wide variety of industries. The Company has developed cutting-edge marketing technology solutions and continues to add new features and applications with great velocity. The Company employs a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model where substantially all the Company's revenue is subscription-based recurring revenue which provides excellent revenue predictability and cash flow visibility. Wishpond is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker "WISH". For further information, visit: www.wishpond.com.

Cautionary Statements

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this press release, Wishpond has used the following terms ("Non-GAAP Financial Measures") that are not defined by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), but are used by management to evaluate the performance of Wishpond and its business: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"), adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), gross profit and gross margin. These measures may also be used by investors, financial institutions and credit rating agencies to assess Wishpond's performance and ability to service debt. Non-GAAP Financial Measures do not have standardized meanings prescribed by GAAP and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Securities regulations require that Non-GAAP Financial Measures are clearly defined, qualified and reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures. Except as otherwise indicated, these Non-GAAP Financial Measures are calculated and disclosed on a consistent basis from period to period. Specific items may only be relevant in certain periods. [See the disclosure under the heading "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" in Wishpond's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for a discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and certain reconciliations to GAAP financial measures.] The intent of Non-GAAP Financial Measures is to provide additional useful information to investors and analysts, and the measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS. The measures should not, therefore, be considered in isolation or used in substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other issuers may calculate Non-GAAP Financial Measures differently. Non-GAAP Financial Measures are identified and defined as follows:

• Gross profit and Gross margin: The Company defines "gross profit" as revenue less cost of sales and "gross margin" as gross profit as a percentage of revenue. Gross profit and gross margin should not be construed as an alternative for revenue or net loss determined in accordance with IFRS. The Company believes that gross profit and gross margin are meaningful metrics in assessing the Company's financial performance and operational efficiency.
  
  
• EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA: EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as alternatives to net earnings, cash flow from operating activities or other measures of financial results determined in accordance with GAAP as an indicator of Wishpond's performance. The Company defines "Adjusted EBITDA" as EBITDA less foreign currency losses (gains), net other expenditures (income), and stock-based compensation. The Company believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful financial metric as it measures cash generated from operations which the Company can use to fund working capital requirements, service future interest and principal debt repayments and fund future growth initiatives.
  
  
• EBITDA margins: EBITDA margin is a profitability ratio that measures earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, as a percentage of total revenue.
  
  
• Annualized revenue run-rate: Annualized revenue run rate considers revenue over a number of specified recent months during the year and projects them over a 12-month period to estimate the annual revenues of the company based on recent performance.
  
  
• Monthly recurring revenue: Normalized measure of predictable monthly revenue.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements that are not reported financial results or other historical information are forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Company, its subsidiaries and the industries in which they operate, including statements about, among other things, expectations, beliefs, plans, future operations, origination of additional targets in which the Company may hold an interest and acquisition opportunities for the Company, business and acquisition strategies, opportunities, objectives, prospects, assumptions, including those related to trends and prospects, and future events and performance. Sentences and phrases containing or modified by words such as "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "intend", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targets", "projects", "is designed to", "strategy", "should", "believe", "contemplate" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions, are not historical facts and are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, such forward-looking statements has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control, including, but not limited to, the risk factors discussed in the continuous disclosure materials of the Company which are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the 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.

SOURCE Wishpond Technologies Ltd.

Pardeep S. Sangha, Investor Relations, Wishpond Technologies Ltd., Email: [email protected], Phone: [phone]; Kellen Davison, Communications, Wishpond Technologies Ltd., Email: [email protected], Phone: [phone]