POSaBIT Begins Trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange
TORONTO & SEATTLE, April 8, 2019–(BUSINESS WIRE)–POSaBIT Systems Corporation (“POSaBIT” or the “Company”), a leading financial technology company delivering unique blockchain-enabled payment processing and point-of-sale (POS) systems for cash-only businesses with a focus on the cannabis industry, today announced that following the completion of its reverse takeover transaction it has begun trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the ticker “PBIT”.
This is a significant achievement for POSaBIT and we are proud to make this important transition from the private to the public markets. The past year has been an exciting one for the company, marked by a series of milestones. We continued to expand geographically in the California, Colorado and Washington markets, successfully completed the acquisition of DoubleBeam, and rolled-out a fully-integrated POS and payments platform that fulfills an unmet need in the cannabis industry.
Ryan Hamlin, co-founder and CEO of POSaBIT
Our service is now in use at over 120 cannabis merchants across various US states. We are pleased with our traction in the market, as demonstrated by our strong year-to-date growth, and are very encouraged by the continued momentum we saw as we closed out 2018.
2018 Corporate Milestones
- For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2018, the Company generated USD $1.39 million in revenue (with cost of sales of USD $1.4 million), a 266% increase over the prior year comparable period (and an increase in cost of sales of 226% over the prior year comparable period).
- The Company expanded its footprint in California, Nevada, Oklahoma, Colorado and Washington.
- In February 2018, POSaBIT completed the acquisition of DoubleBeam, which specializes in POS payment processing for the Hospitality sector.
- The Company enhanced its payment service offering by developing incremental features to sell and accept both Litecoin and Bitcoin for purchases, as well as perform EMV card compliance on debit card transactions – helping merchants navigate complex payment requirements.
- POSaBIT designed and released a new front-end POS console that is uniquely suited for cash-only merchants such as the Cannabis industry. This entirely new console offers an array of key features, including loyalty programs, in-store digital menus, online ordering / in-store pickup, inventory management, state seed-to-sale compliance, and customizable discounts.
- POSaBIT also completed all of the necessary state requirements to support the Leaf system, a seed-sale track and trace software system used by regulators in the State of Washington.
- The Company moved its corporate headquarters to a larger location in Kirkland, WA, which will support continued growth and expansion plans.
- Pursuant to private placement financings undertaken in conjunction with the listing, POSaBIT generated gross proceeds of $1.3M.
“We believe our all-in-one payment and POS solution provides a unique and compelling offering that enables cash-only businesses, like those typical to the cannabis industry, to provide their consumers with an alternative to cash, while still satisfying retail customer experience expectations,” Hamlin added. “We believe the cannabis industry represents a large and growing opportunity for our offerings. With the successful completion of our listing on the CSE, we are pleased to have the additional capital needed to accelerate our growth in this rapidly expanding market. Our solution fills an unmet need, enables merchants to remain compliant in a highly regulated industry, and drives sales. We think this is a winning combination that will fuel our growth in 2019.”
POSaBIT was founded and incorporated in 2015 and is led by a team of executives with deep expertise across the technology space. POSaBIT Co-founder and CEO Ryan Hamlin brings over 27 years of software development, management experience, and entrepreneurship, including founding PlaceFull in 2011 and holding former leadership posts at Microsoft and MSN. Co-founder Jon Baugher heads up sales execution, revenue growth, and customer success utilizing his 28 years of global hardware and software technology sales experience. Full biographical information for the leadership is available here.
Reverse Takeover Transaction Details
POSaBIT, formerly Foreshore Exploration Partners Corp, changed its name to POSaBIT Systems Corporation and acquired by way of a plan of merger all of the issued and outstanding shares of POSaBIT, Inc. through the merger of its wholly-owned subsidiary with POSaBIT, Inc. as the surviving entity. POSaBIT now has a total of 75,431,225 common shares issued and outstanding, with the directors and officers of the Company, in aggregate, holding 20,434,034 shares, which are subject to escrow restrictions. In connection with the merger, POSaBIT assumed the outstanding stock options of POSaBIT, Inc. and has outstanding an aggregate of 12,305,468 stock options to acquire common shares in the capital of the company.
Tormont Group Inc. acted as advisor to POSaBIT in connection with the transaction and listing.
Financial Reports
Full details of the financial and operating results for the third quarter and first half of 2018 are described in the company’s consolidated financial statements with accompanying notes and related management’s discussion and analysis. These documents and additional information on POSaBIT are available in the final prospectus dated March 25, 2019 of the Company, a copy of which is available under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Financial Outlook
POSaBIT provides guidance based on current market conditions and expectations. Please refer to the comments below regarding forward-looking statements.
For the full year ended December 31, 2018, the company currently expects:
- Transactional sales to total approximately USD $22 million
- Revenue run rate to total approximately USD $5 million, which includes the DoubleBeam acquisition
- To expand its footprint in California, Colorado and Washington, and enter into several other recreational legal states in the US.
For the full year 2019, the company currently expects:
- Transactional sales to be over USD $100 million, assuming the average store processes between USD $350,000 and USD $500,000 per year through the POSaBIT service
- Revenue to grow in the range of approximately 80% to 100%
- Cost of sales in the range of $5.5 million to $6.0 million
- To expand its footprint to 5 additional recreational states and up to 10 additional medical states, based approximately on adding 2 states in the first quarter, 3 in the second quarter, 4 in the third quarter and 6 in the fourth quarter.
About POSaBIT
POSaBIT (CSE: PBIT) is a financial technology company that delivers unique and innovative, blockchain-enabled payment processing and point-of-sale systems for cash-only businesses. POSaBIT specializes in resolving pain points for complex, high-risk, emerging industries like cannabis with an all-in-one solution that is compliant, user-friendly and utilizes top-of-the-line hardware. POSaBIT’s unique solution provides a safer and transparent environment for merchants while creating a better overall experience for the consumer. For additional information, visit: www.posabit.com.
