Okay, you’re aware, or should be aware, of the fast-approaching Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) Public Investor Day (PID) taking place at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto on November 18, 2015. This day-long forum, geared to connect top Canadian tech plays with investment professionals through presentations, sessions, pitches, exhibits and one-on-one meetings, will be emceed by Dianne Buckner, famed host of CBC’s Dragons’ Den and Venture.
Stockhouse.com is proud to be a title sponsor of this transformative event which will not only provide both networking and deal-making opportunities for Canada’s best tech firms, but it will also strengthen thought leadership through keynote speakers and expert panel discussions. The prestigious CIX Public Top 20 list has been released and contains a who’s who of Canada’s tech elite. We’ve been giving a quick overview of those that made the grade; all of which will be at PID to present and will be available for meetings with attendees. Those wishing to partake can get more info and reserve their ticket here.
Okay, now on to the Public Top 20 list. Our first company is out of this world, literally. UrtheCast (TSX: UR, Forum) is democratizing Earth imaging from space with its two Earth Observation (EO) cameras mounted on the Russian side of the International Space Station (ISS). The company is able to capture video and imagery data with its Ultra HD video camera, known as Iris, and its medium resolution camera, Theia. The result is then downlinked to ground stations all over the planet where it is either distributed to partners or customers, or displayed on the UrtheCast web platform.
Initially I was caught up in the hype, but began having second thoughts about the longevity and usefulness of UrtheCast’s offering. There was political turmoil in Russia, technical issues with the installation and the equipment, and there were only two cameras in play. None of which gave me confidence. However, UrtheCast didn’t wither under the challenge. Instead it pushed forward, made the necessary technical fixes, reached its First Light milestone (delivery of imagery and video) and announced a deal that would add two more cameras on the NASA side of the ISS.
It didn’t stop there, the company inked deals with Pepsi, and then announced its intention to develop the world’s first commercial optical + SAR EO satellite constellation with the acquisition of Elecnor, S.A.'s Earth Observation ("EO") business. The transformative transaction also seeded the company’s constellation efforts with the Deimos-1 and Deimos-2 satellites. Markets reacted with enthusiasm and UrtheCast was easily able to close a subscription receipt offering of ~$99.0 million which it would use to partially fund the acquisition.
I spoke with UrtheCast CEO, Scott Larson, back in July and was suitably impressed. His business acumen, corporate vision and market knowledge eased my earlier concerns. Therefore it was of little surprise Larson was able to grow a company he started in his basement almost five years ago with the lofty goal of putting a couple cameras on the ISS, to a globally recognized EO supplier with revenues of over $15.0 million during Q3 2015. Admittedly the company is still solidly in growth phase, but when the constellation launches between 2019 and 2020, it will be full steam ahead for UrtheCast.
Back on Earth, Spectra7 Microsystems (TSX: SEV, Forum) is facilitating the optimization, miniaturization and/or mass adoption of such technologies as 4K panels, Ultra HD displays, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality displays, Drones and Data Centres, with the company’s ground-breaking analog chip technology. In the drive to make things smaller and more portable, manufacturers have reached a bottleneck when it comes to shrinking interconnects. Electro-magnetic interference, signal loss and cross-talk associated with traditional methodologies stymie efforts, but Spectra7’s technology can enable the removal of up to 90% of the bulk and metal typically required to maintain signal integrity in the face of the aforementioned impairments.
Such interconnect improvements provide manufacturers the opportunity to, among other things, make 4K Ultra-HD displays incredibly light, bendable and translucent. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality wearable display are no longer overwhelmingly cumbersome. Electronic products we use every day, like smartphones, laptops and tablets, will benefit from sleeker designs and improved performance. Basically, Spectra7 has the ability to positively impact a multitude of industry verticals.
It’s been an active year for Spectra7, starting with the company reporting a record Q4 and YE with an 88% increase in revenue back in January. Short thereafter, the TSX Venture Exchange tipped its hat and awarded the company a ranking in its 2015 TSX Venture 50®, selecting it as one of the top ten performing companies in Technology and Life Sciences. Later in March, Spectra7 announced its Active-C chip which would enable ultra-thin USB 3.1 consumer interconnects. Without even a month going by, the company announced that it had reached a record amount of over 20 design-ins with leading original equipment manufacturers.
May was no different when the company reported $7.7 million in cash and a 79% gross margin, a 3% increase over the matching 2014 period. June and July saw Spectra7 graduate to the TSX and deliver the industry’s first active interconnects for the exploding Augmented Reality market. Despite their IP and rapid growth, what I really like about Spectra7 is the robust nature of its pipeline. It doesn’t depend on the success of any one product or brand. If the markets on the whole succeed, chances are Spectra7 will as well and when those markets mature, Spectra7 will most likely be considered a formative and integral player.
TIO Networks (TSX: V.TNC, Forum) is democratizing the online bill payment process through an internet enabled platform which enables a wide range of biller partners such as retail chains, city and municipal organizations, wireless carriers and general loan providers, to give their customers the convenience of paying their bills at any one of 70,000 payment locations across America.
Fast, convenient and secure, customers can pay their accounts through a multiple of access points including, self-serve kiosks, POS (Point of Sale)/clerk-assisted locations, smartphone apps and more. With over 10,000+ billers on the TIO Network including AT&T, Duke Energy and Dish Network, TIO handles over a million transactions per month and processes over $6.0 billion in bill payments annually. The company also provides a money order service for retailers, consumer pre-paid wireless and a rental payment service through its subsidiary, Global Express.
Financial institutions have traditionally been the conduits for bill payments; therefore those without a bank account have typically found themselves with few options when it came to paying their bills. The under-banked make up approximately 25% of the population in the United States and TIO provides a unique, cost-effective solution for this widely untapped demographic.
When it comes to the bottom line, TIO is performing admirably. The company reported a cash-positive Q3 with a 147% increase in adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. The bottom line still shows red at the nine-month mark, but the way things are going, it may turn black by the end of the fiscal cycle. With $35.84 million in cash and no long-term debt, TIO looks like it may bat one out of the park.
VidWrx (TSX: V.VID, Forum) is revolutionizing the video production process for corporations and organizations through a suite of video marketing solutions on a cloud-based platforms. Video is becoming the strongest method with which to tell your story. Traditionally, the process to produce quality video content was only available to large corporations with big budgets who could find and enlist large production houses to do the work. All that has changed with the democratization of video production and nearly everyone can have access to the power of visual story telling. However this new-found access comes with its own set of challenges.
Companies are faced with coming up with a creative idea, sourcing a video production and editing team, auditing the work to ensure quality and then marketing the end result. This is a gargantuan task with no guarantee of the desired result, so companies are once again left out in the cold, even with the technological emancipation. VidWrx has stepped forward to simply this process by handling it front to back, giving companies large or small, quality finished product in 14 days without any logistical headaches. Marketing personnel can fill in an easy online request form and have as much or as little involvement in the project as they like.
VidWrx’s cloud-based platform also provides an easy conduit through which the finished product can be ported to the various multi-media outlets such as Youtube or Facebook which the customer wants to use. VidWrx also provides online tools which give the customer advanced metrics that they can make actionable decisions from regarding their video campaign.
Traction has been building for the company with VidWrx reporting a 40% increase in sales from the preceding quarter and a 72% increase in sales from the matching 2014 period. Speaking of sales, the sales backlog also grew to $1.89 million, 27% over the previous quarter and a whopping 124% from the same time last year. Reseller Partners grew sales 12% from the prior quarter and 42% over the year-ago quarter. With more than 10 major SaaS marketing platforms including Marketo and Oracle-Eloqua and revenues climbing 101% from this time last year, VidWrx is a company to keep your eye on.
All this said, this is my opinion and you should do your own due diligence before making any investment decisions.
--Gaalen Engen
https://twitter.com/gaalenengen
Like I said at the top, if you wish to participate in this year’s CIX and wish to attend, you can click here for more info.
CIX Public Investor Day
Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Location:
MaRS Discovery District
101 College Street | Toronto, ON | M5G 1L7