Wishpond Achieves Record Quarterly Revenue with 74% YoY Growth in First Quarter 2021

Wishpond achieved record revenue, completed two acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet with an over-subscribed bought deal equity offering for aggregate gross proceeds of $8.0 million during its historic first quarter as a public company.

VANCOUVER, BC, May 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQB: WPNDF) (the "Company" or "Wishpond"), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, announces it has filed its interim consolidated financial statements (the "Interim Financial Statements") and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for Q1 2021, representing the three months ended March 31, 2021. Copies of the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A are available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

"First quarter 2021 was a historic quarter for Wishpond as it was the first full quarter since becoming a publicly listed company.  During the quarter we achieved record revenue, completed our first two acquisitions and raised over $8.0 million through a bought deal equity offering."  said Ali Tajskandar, Wishpond's Chairman and CEO. "I am very pleased with our first quarter results in which we accomplished year-over-year growth of 74% compared to the same period last year. First quarter results were driven by strong organic growth in the quarter and contributions from the acquisitions of Invigo and PersistIQ.  Thus far the integrations of both Invigo and PersistIQ have performed as expected.  I am pleased to report that as at the end of March 2021, Wishpond achieved $1.2 million in MRR (monthly recurring revenue)⁽¹⁾, setting the stage for strong financial results for the second quarter." 

First Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record quarterly revenue of $2,890,580 during Q1 2021, compared to revenue of $1,662,973 generated in Q1 2020, an increase of 74%.
• Wishpond achieved gross profit⁽¹⁾ of $1,796,936 in Q1 2021, representing a 71% increase from Q1 2020, driven by an increase in overall revenue. Wishpond achieved a gross margin⁽¹⁾ of 62% during Q1 2021, comparable to Q1 2020 at 63%.
• During Q1 2021, Wishpond had negative Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $318,779 compared to positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $3,610 in Q1 2020. The decrease is primarily attributed to increased costs in ramping up both the sales and product development areas of the Company in preparation for strong anticipated growth in the second half of fiscal year 2021.
• As at March 31, 2021, Wishpond had $11,208,105 in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $7,305,546 in cash and cash equivalents as at December 30, 2020. The increase in cash resulted from the proceeds of the bought deal equity offering and was offset by cash outflows to fund the Invigo and PersistIQ acquisitions. The Company has no long-term debt as of March 31, 2021.

First Quarter 2021 Business Highlights:

• 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.

Events Subsequent to March 31, 2021:

• On April 14, 2021, Wishpond launched its Marketing 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's PersistIQ subsidiary launched its new fully managed Outbound Sales Solution. 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.
• On May 12, 2021, the Company received approval to begin trading on the OTCQB Venture Market ("OTCQB"). Shares of Wishpond began trading under the ticker "WPNDF" as of May 12, 2021. The OTCQB is a Venture Market that was established as a premier market for early-stage and developing U.S. and international companies to gain exposure to a wider network of investors.

Outlook: 

Wishpond's goals for 2021 are to: (i) increase the Company's MRR through organic growth and acquisitions; (ii) accelerate organic growth with investments in the Company's sales and marketing teams functions; (iii) achieve positive adjusted EBITDA for the full year; (iv) follow a disciplined acquisition and capital allocation plan; (v) invest in research and development to expand the Company's product offerings and intellectual property; and (vi) gain synergistic benefits from acquisitions through cross-selling the Company's products and services across the different parts of the growing organization.

Despite headwinds in foreign exchange from a weakening US dollar, Wishpond is on track to achieve strong organic growth in Q2-2021 driven by increased capacity in the Company's sales team, positive contribution from its acquisitions and new product related revenues. The Company also expects its higher level of operating spend to continue in Q2-2021, primarily as a result of increased headcount in Wishpond's sales and research and development teams, which are necessary investments for the long-term growth of the Company. Management expects both revenue and profitability to further accelerate in the second half of 2021 as these investments begin to contribute to the Company's revenue growth.

Juan Leal, Wishpond's Chief Financial Officer commented, "We ended the quarter with a very strong balance sheet having over $11 million in cash, which we believe to be sufficient capital to execute on our near-term acquisition opportunities. We are very pleased with the acquisitions of Invigo and PersistIQ and have developed a robust pipeline of additional acquisition opportunities. We remain very optimistic of our outlook for the remainder of 2021."

Conference Call Details:

Selected Financial Highlights: 

The tables below set out selected financial information relating to Wishpond and should be read in conjunction with Wishpond's Interim Financial Statements, including the notes thereto, and MD&A.

Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA

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 impacts of COVID-19, including governmental restrictions, risks related to the intellectual property, the technology and marketing industries and securities markets generally, risks related to international operations, risks related to general economic conditions, fluctuations in competitive conditions, exchange rates and other changes, the risks of acquiring and integrating other businesses, delays in the development of new products and technologies, changes to the regulatory environment in which the Company operates, 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. Although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results to be not 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. 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. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information, and should not necessarily rely on the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A to project the future financial performance of the Company.

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.