Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal BulkONE® bulk
acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today it has concluded a
private placement offering in which it sold 2,640,819 shares of Common Stock at $5.50 per share (the “Offering”), for aggregate
gross proceeds of $14,524,504 before expenses.
The financing was led by Akoustis Co-Chairman, Jerry Neal, and included both institutional and accredited
investors. The Company previously held two closings totaling $6.4 million in gross proceeds which is part of the $14.5
million announced today.
Jeff Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, commented, “We continue to improve the capability and performance of our premium high frequency
BAW RF filters as we drive toward commercialization of our technology. We are excited about our four existing customer engagements
including the recent purchase order from one of the five largest smartphone manufacturers in the world for delivery of
prototype BAW RF filters targeting both high band LTE and 5GHz WiFi.”
The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering principally to support operations and the continued development and
qualification of its premium high-band BAW RF filters utilizing its patented single-crystal piezoelectric materials. Drexel
Hamilton, LLC, Joseph Gunnar & Co., LLC and Katalyst Securities, LLC acted as placement agents in connection with this equity
raise.
Akoustis is pioneering next-generation materials science to address the market requirements for improved RF
filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline
BAW technology deployed today. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal
piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material properties drive electro-mechanical
coupling, which translates to wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by leveraging the Company’s high-sound
velocity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric materials offer high-thermal conductivity
along the path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter. The Company has announced four customer
engagements for its premium high band BAW RF filters in frequencies ranging from 1.5 GHz to 5.2 GHz and remains focused on customer
design engineering engagements, as well as technology and product qualification for commercial manufacturing in first-half of
calendar year 2018.
The offer and sale of the foregoing securities was made in a transaction not involving a public offering and
have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), or applicable state securities laws.
Accordingly, the securities may not be reoffered or resold in the United States except pursuant to an effective registration
statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and such applicable state securities
laws. As part of the transaction, the Company has agreed to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange
Commission for purposes of registering the resale by the investors of the shares of common stock purchased by such investors.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities,
nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the
registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state. Any offering of the securities under the resale registration
statement will only be by means of a prospectus.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that designs and
manufactures its unique, patented BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) RF filters for mobile and
other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back
end. Its BulkONE® technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and
consumers to diminish Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF
polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001 certified
commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 /
class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters,
MEMS and semiconductor devices. Akoustis is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, but
are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, representations and contentions and are not historical facts and
typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed
differently. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject
to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include,
without limitation, risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to
semiconductor process manufacturing; the early stage of our BulkONE® technology presently under development; our ability
to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property
rights; our ability to successfully market and sell our technologies; the ability to achieve high volume manufacturing in the
first-half calendar year 2018 and the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our technologies, the rate and degree of
market acceptance of any of our technologies and our ability to raise funding to support operations and the continued development
and qualification of its premium high-band BAW RF filters utilizing its patented single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These and
other risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in
other reports and statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks, uncertainties and
assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not
occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking
statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking
statements included in this presentation speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly or
privately any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual
results or to changes in our expectations.
Akoustis Contact Information:
COMPANY:
Dave Aichele
Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
VP of Business Development`
704-997-5735, ext. 106
daichele@akoustis.com
INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com
