Wishpond Reports Record Revenue and Cash Flow for Q3-2022

• Wishpond achieved record revenue of $5.5 million in Q3-2022, representing approximately $22 million in annualized revenue run-rate⁽¹⁾, driven by the Company's continued focus on organic growth and successful product and sales integrations of its acquisitions.
• Wishpond achieved record positive cash flows from operating activities of $0.7 million in Q3-2022 as a result of cost optimization efforts and higher revenue in the quarter.
• The Company expects continued growth, greater profitability and increased cash flows in 2023.

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQX: 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 (the "MD&A") for Q3-2022, representing the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022. Copies of the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A are available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Ali Tajskandar, Wishpond's Chairman and CEO commented, "We are thrilled with our third quarter results which were the strongest in the Company's history with record revenue and Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾. I am especially proud of the cashflow performance in the third quarter with the Company generating $0.7 million of positive cashflows from operations. As part of a cost reduction initiative launched in Q2-2022 to drive profitable growth, Wishpond continued to scrutinize all new expenditures with the intent to optimize operations and achieve cost-saving synergies. As a result, the Company was able to achieve record positive cash flows from operations and record positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ in Q3-2022.  Wishpond has now achieved positive cash flows from operations for the second quarter in a row, a tremendous accomplishment allowing the business to further strengthen its balance sheet. Consequently, we expect Wishpond to have the flexibility to continue to invest in organic and inorganic growth initiatives without the need to go to the market to raise additional capital."

Ali Tajskandar adds, "We continue to experience increasing demand for our products and have not witnessed any slowing down or negative impacts due to external macroeconomic conditions. Our outlook remains positive as we head into 2023 with increasing sales, positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾, and positive cash flows. We expect to continue to grow rapidly as our sales pipeline remains robust and we begin to introduce bundled solutions to our customers."

Third Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record quarterly revenue of $5,483,256 during Q3-2022, a 38% increase compared to revenue of $3,976,965 generated in the same period of 2021 (Q3-2021). The increase in revenue is primarily attributable to the Company's expanded sales team and product integrations from its acquisitions.
• Wishpond achieved gross profit⁽¹⁾ of $3,629,111 in Q3-2022 compared to $2,760,709 in Q3-2021, representing a 31% increase from Q3-2021, primarily driven by an increase in overall revenue.
• Wishpond achieved a gross margin⁽¹⁾ of 66% in Q3-2022 (69% in Q3-2021). The gross margin⁽¹⁾ achieved in Q3-2022 is within the historical range of 65% to 70%.
• In Q3-2022, Wishpond had record positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $593,047 ($204,322 in Q3-2021), an increase of 190%. The improvement is primarily driven by higher revenue and continued cost management initiatives and operational efficiencies initiated earlier in the year which are expected to result in more than $1.0 million in annual cost savings.
• In Q3-2022, Wishpond had record positive cash flows from operating activities of $670,595 (negative $134,219 in Q3-2021).
• As at September 30, 2022, Wishpond had $2,701,267 in cash and short-term investments and no debt (June 30, 2022: cash and short-term investments of $2,654,878 and no debt). Cash balances have held steady despite a quarterly cash earnout payment to Viral Loops in Q3-2022 and continued investment in the growth of the business.
• Wishpond has a credit facility with a major Canadian bank for $6,000,000, which remains undrawn and fully available to the Company as of September 30, 2022.

Third Quarter 2022 Business Highlights:

• On July 12, 2022, the Company announced the launch of an all-new Website Builder product that includes lead tracking and segmentation tools, personalization abilities, advanced forms and pop-ups, integration with Wishpond's email marketing tool, referral marketing, calendar functionality, popups, and more. The Website Builder is expected to increase customer retention, reduce churn, and increase customer satisfaction.
  
  
• On July 20, 2022, the Company announced three new awards from Gartner, one of the world's most reputed platforms for business software reviews and research. Wishpond received the GetApp Category Leaders Award for content marketing, the Software Advice Front Runners award, and was included in the Capterra shortlist for 2022.

Events Subsequent to September 30, 2022:

• On October 3, 2022, the Company announced that it completed the integration of its recently acquired subsidiary, Viral Loops, resulting in improved growth in the combined businesses due to greater cross selling and bundling opportunities with larger deal sizes. The completed integration of Viral Loops with the Wishpond platform allows contacts and data to be synchronized between Viral Loops and Wishpond, enabling Wishpond customers to grow their business with referrals and Viral Loops customers to use Wishpond's platform for their marketing activities.
  
  
• On November 2, 2022, the Company announced that Lloyed Lobo had joined its board of directors as an independent director and member of the Audit Committee effective November 1, 2022. Mr. Lobo replaced Arinder Mahal, who resigned from the Board effective November 1, 2022.

Outlook:

Management believes Wishpond's outlook for the remainder of the year and heading into 2023 remains strong and resilient. The business has felt no material impacts due to recession, inflation, supply chain, or other macro-economic effects. Instead, the Company's performance is better than ever and extremely positive across all of its acquisitions and for the entire company as a whole. Wishpond expects to achieve record revenue and cash flows in Q4-2022, driven by the growth of its sales team and the introduction of bundled product offerings. Furthermore, the Company expects to maintain its strong organic growth profile into next year as its revenue and earnings growth are projected to continue in 2023 with further integration of its acquisitions, an increase in cross-selling opportunities, new product launches and higher customer retention.

Management expects cash flows generated by the Company to continue to be re-invested in the business and allocated in a disciplined manner, which may come in the form of future acquisitions, share repurchases, or to accelerate organic growth. Wishpond has a clean balance sheet and expects to continue to fund the growth of its sales team and new product launches from cash flows from operations, without having to raise any additional equity or debt capital.

Wishpond's objectives heading into 2023 are to continue growing its business both organically and inorganically and to continue demonstrating a disciplined capital allocation strategy to maintain profitability and increase its cash position while increasing sales.  Wishpond has a robust sales pipeline and will look to drive revenue growth in 2023 by investing in the Company's sales and marketing functions, cross-selling the Company's products and services and introducing bundled packages of its product lines to new customers.

David Pais, Wishpond's Chief Financial Officer commented, "Wishpond remains in an extremely strong financial position with a clean and healthy balance sheet, increasing cash flows and record performance demonstrated through the achievement of record revenue, Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ and cash flow generation. Our cost optimization efforts have paid off, resulting in increasing profitability and cash flows. We are going to continue building off this momentum by growing our EBITDA⁽¹⁾ and further strengthening our cash position in 2023. Based on the Company's performance thus far, we are expecting very strong results in Q4-2022 and we look forward to sharing those results in the new year."

Webinar Conference Call Details:

As previously announced, Wishpond will be hosting a webinar conference call to discuss its Q3-2022 results today at 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST).

To register for the webinar, please visit the following URL: https://bit.ly/WISH_Q3Results

Please connect 5 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure time for any software download that may be required.

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 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 on one integrated platform. Wishpond replaces disparate marketing solutions with an easy-to-use product, for a fraction of the cost. Wishpond serves over 4,000 customers who are primarily small and medium-sized 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", and on the OTCQX Best Market under the ticker "WPNDF". For further information, visit: www.wishpond.com.

Cautionary Statements

Summary Information

Information presented in this press release may be only a summary of all available information and does not purport to be a full representation of all figures, notes and discussions provided for in the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A. Readers are cautioned to read the entirety of the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A, and to not rely only on the information presented in this press release. This press release is qualified in its entirety by the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A and in the event of conflict between the information in this press release on the one hand, and the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A on the other hand, the information in the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A shall govern.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this press release, Wishpond has used the following terms ("Non-GAAP Financial Measures") that are not defined by IFRS, but are used by management to evaluate the performance of Wishpond and its business: adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), monthly recurring revenue, annualized revenue run-rate, 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 IFRS 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 IFRS 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 "Additional GAAP and Non-GAAP Measures" in Wishpond's 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 as a 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.
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an alternative 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 Loss before income taxes less interest, depreciation and amortization, remeasurement of contingent consideration liability, filing fees, credit facility setup fees, earn-out remuneration, foreign currency losses (gains), acquisition related expenses, net other expenditures (income), reverse takeover listing expense, 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.
  
  
• Monthly recurring revenue: The Company uses monthly recurring revenue, or MRR, as a directional indicator of subscription revenue going forward assuming customers maintain their subscription plan the following month. MRR is the total of all monthly subscription plan fees paid by customers in effect on the last day of that period. If customers pay for more than one month upfront, the amount is divided by the number of months in the subscription period. Discounts are deducted prior to the calculation and one-time payments and metered based charges are excluded.
  
  
• Annualized revenue run-rate: Annualized revenue run-rate, or ARR, annualizes the Company's revenue run-rate. ARR is calculated by multiplying the Company's MRR by twelve.

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, all information contained under the heading "Outlook" herein, references to expected results from future operations, financial results or operational activities that may be undertaken by the Company, the results of the Company's cost-savings initiative, any future acquisitions, share purchases or other activities done to grow the company both organically or inorganically, 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 "expect", "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 and are based on, among other things, the expectations and analysis of current market trends and opportunities of management of the Company, 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, economic uncertainty and instability as a result of the ongoing inflation and supply chain issues, increasing interest rate climate and recessionary risks, COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, instability in global commodity and securities markets, shifts in consumer and institutional spending and marketing strategies, the changing global market and competition for the products and services supplied by the Company, and the additional 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.