Operational highlights: Q1 2017
The following were key aspects of the Company's overall operational achievements in Q1 2017:
White label partnership with Canadian Tier 1 bank : Go-to-market activities with a Canadian Tier 1 bank were launched in February, with 40 sales reps trained and beginning conversations with clients. The bank closed its first small sale in the quarter and is quickly building a healthy pipeline of existing clients and new prospects.
Certified integration partnership with Oracle: Oracle and VersaPay announced a certified integration and marketing partnership for Oracle JD Edwards. The Company has several clients that use JD Edwards and expects to win many more through this agreement with Oracle.
Sale of Merchant Service business: The Company completed the sale of the PofS Merchant Service Business and has received $10,000,000 in cash, of which $500,000 has been placed in an escrow account for 12 months to cover potential purchase price adjustments and other potential liabilities. The proceeds allow the Company to focus on the ARCTM business in 2017.
New features drive strong increase in customer adoption: ARCTM's Intelligent Email and Express User Access features, designed to make it easier than ever for end-customers to begin using ARCTM had a very positive impact in the quarter. End-customers on the platform grew from 29,100 companies at the end of December 2016 to 46,300 companies at the end of March 31, 2017, an increase of 60%.
The following were key aspects of the Company's financial performance in Q1 2017:
Continued investment in ARCTM: Consistent with its growth strategy, the Company accelerated the go-to-market plan for ARCTM. The Company has actively hired sales and marketing staff, and is working on growing its development group. VersaPay has also started working with its Canadian partners to aggressively build its customer pipeline.
Revenues increased by 67% year over year: Revenues increased 67% to $486 thousand (Q1 2016: $292 thousand) and losses from the continuing operations decreased by 3% to $1.90 million (Q1 2016: $1.96 million) for the three months ended March 31, 2017.
Operating expenses increased by 5% year over year: Expenses increased primarily in Sales and Marketing as new employees were added throughout the quarter to grow the ARC™ team .