Wishpond Reports Continued Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA Growth in Q4-2023 and Fiscal 2023

• Wishpond achieved record annual revenue of $23.1 million in its fiscal year 2023, an increase of 13% compared to its fiscal year 2022. The Company achieved revenue of $6.1 million in Q4-2023, representing an annualized revenue run-rate⁽¹⁾ of over $24 million, driven by sales of the Company's next generation marketing platform, Propel IQ.
• Wishpond achieved Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $0.8 million in its fiscal year 2023. The Company has now had positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ for the sixth quarter in a row.
• The Company expects to accelerate its growth in 2024 driven by an increase in Propel IQ sales and the launch of SalesCloser AI, a virtual AI sales agent that can conduct sales calls and demos in multiple languages with minimal human intervention.

VANCOUVER, BC, April 18, 2024 /CNW/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQX: WPNDF) (the "Company" or "Wishpond"), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, announces it has filed its audited annual consolidated financial statements (the "Annual Financial Statements") and management's discussion and analysis (the "MD&A") for its fiscal year ended December 31^st, 2023, representing the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023. Copies of the Annual Financial Statements and MD&A are available on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

Ali Tajskandar, Wishpond's Founder and CEO commented, "2023 was a transformational year as Wishpond underwent the two most significant new product initiatives in the Company's history ? the first being the launch of Propel IQ, our next generation marketing platform, and the second being the development of a suite of AI powered marketing tools, including our flagship SalesCloser AI product. We believe the combination of Propel IQ and SalesCloser AI, positions Wishpond for the next phase of the Company's growth. Propel IQ firmly places Wishpond in an elite league amongst very few digital marketing companies that boast an all-in-one bundled sales and marketing platform. Meanwhile, the recently launched SalesCloser AI product launch is garnering tremendous interest in the industry. We believe artificial intelligence is going to change the way that companies will do sales calls and product demos, and SalesCloser AI is leading the charge in this evolution."

Ali Tajskandar further adds, "We are very excited about the Company's outlook for 2024. In Q4-2023 we completed the transition of our sales team to selling our new Propel IQ product which we expect will be a key driver of revenue growth this year. Furthermore, we have seen Propel IQ has higher gross margins, lower customer churn⁽¹⁾ and greater customer lifetime value⁽¹⁾, compared to the Company's other product offerings. We are expecting to improve profitability this year as we aim to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ in each quarter in 2024. We expect our cash position to improve in 2024 as revenue grows and the Company has now paid all of its earn-outs related to prior acquisitions. We feel confident in our ability to fund the Company's future growth through cash flow from operations and the Company's $6 million credit facility, with future financings only needed for executing on acquisition opportunities."

Fiscal 2023 Annual Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record annual revenue of $23,088,138 during its fiscal year 2023, compared to $20,478,834 in its fiscal year 2022, an increase of 13%. Revenue growth was primarily driven by organic growth resulting from strong product demand for the Company's new Propel IQ marketing platform.
• The revenue from a major customer reduced from $2,849,671 in 2022 to $1,537,380 in 2023. Without this decrease in revenue from email delivery services, revenue from the rest of the business would have increased by 22%.
• Wishpond achieved record gross profit of $15,190,124 in its fiscal year 2023 (2022: $13,556,839), representing a 12% increase from its fiscal year 2022, driven by an increase in overall revenue.
• Wishpond achieved a gross margin percentage of 66% during its fiscal year 2023 (2022: 66%), in line with the Company's historical performance.
• During its fiscal year 2023, Wishpond achieved record Adjusted EBITDA of $758,807 (2022: $647,667), an increase of 17%. Adjusted EBITDA growth was positively impacted by the Company's cost-cutting measures over the past year.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record quarterly revenue of $6,061,057 during Q4-2023, compared to $5,909,918 generated in the same period of 2022 (Q4-2022).
• Wishpond achieved gross profit of $3,994,574 in Q4-2023, a slight decline compared to the prior year (Q4-2022: $4,030,818) primarily due to some fixed costs related to revenue from a major customer.
• Wishpond achieved a gross margin percentage of 66% during Q4-2023 (Q4-2022: 68%), which is in line with historic averages.
• During Q4-2023, Wishpond achieved positive Adjusted EBITDA of $14,807 (Q4-2022: $687,335). The reduction of Adjusted EBITDA is attributed to a 24% year-over-year increase in Sales and Marketing expenses due to the expansion of the Company's sales team in the fourth quarter and an increase in Propel IQ related sales and marketing activities. In addition, the Company had an 18% year-over-year increase in G&A expenses in the fourth quarter due to higher costs related to the development and imminent beta launch of SalesCloser AI.
• As at December 31, 2023, Wishpond had $1,424,585 in cash and had drawn down $994,658 from its credit facility (December 31, 2022: cash of $2,692,644 and no debt). The reduction in cash balances was caused in part by earnout payments for previously acquired businesses, investment in R&D for the development of AI marketing tools including SalesCloser AI, ramping up sales and marketing costs with the launch of Propel IQ and changes in working capital.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Business Highlights:

• On October 3, 2023, the Company announced the integration of Brax with Facebook, a strategic enhancement in the way that businesses manage their advertising campaigns on the world's largest social media platform. This new integration paves the way for advertisers to harness the power of Brax's advanced ad creation tools and robust rules engine, enhancing their return on investment while streamlining their ad management processes.
• On December 7, 2023, the Company announced it filed a non-provisional utility patent, entitled Virtual Artificial Intelligence (AI) Representative, to protect the underlying technologies of its upcoming SalesCloser AI platform that can perform automated demos, calls and presentations. The technology is a breakthrough in AI-powered presentation technology utilizing advanced large language models and deep learning techniques for voice synthesis. This innovative AI-based platform acts as a "Virtual AI Representative" and can engage in conversations and deliver presentations in real-time through various meeting applications, showcasing its versatility and efficiency.

Business Highlights Subsequent to December 31, 2023:

• On February 7, 2024, the Company announced the beta launch of its proprietary AI-powered sales platform, SalesCloser AI, a virtual AI agent that the Company anticipates will be able to deliver personalized, round-the-clock sales calls and product demos with minimal human intervention.
• On March 5, 2024, the Company provided an update on several key metrics for Propel IQ:
  • Since launch, the number of Propel IQ customers has increased to over 500 users.
  • Monthly Recurring Revenue ("MRR")⁽¹⁾ from Propel IQ customers has increased approximately 10-fold over the past year.
  • The customer churn rate for Propel IQ is up to 40% lower compared to some of Wishpond's other product solutions.
  • The customer lifetime value ("LTV")⁽¹⁾ is over 20% higher than customers of other Wishpond solutions.
• On April 4, 2024, the Company announced the launch of SalesCloser AI, a next generation virtual sales agent that would be able to deliver personalized, round-the-clock sales calls and product demos in a similar manner to a live human sales agent. The platform can work 24×7 to engage leads, close deals, and service customers in ten different languages. SalesCloser AI can also be adapted for use across a diverse range of industries such as software/SaaS, professional services, financial services, education, travel & hospitality, insurance, and more.

Outlook:

Wishpond expects to achieve record revenue and Adjusted EBITDA in 2024, driven by increasing traction of the Company's new Propel IQ bundled product, ramping up the size of its sales team and new sales from the recently launched SalesCloser AI virtual agent. The Company continues to have an active pipeline of sales opportunities and robust demand for its products. Management is pleased to announce the Company's key goals for 2024 are as follows:

• Accelerate organic revenue growth and increase Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).
• Achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA in each quarter in 2024.
• Leverage the Propel IQ platform to improve margins⁽¹⁾, decrease churn and increase customer lifetime value (LTV).
• Ramp up sales of the Company's new SalesCloser AI product.

David Pais, Wishpond's Chief Financial Officer commented, "I am extremely proud of the entire team at Wishpond as we managed to grow the business last year and maintain positive EBITDA⁽¹⁾ while launching Propel IQ and completing the development of SalesCloser AI. We look forward to reporting higher revenue growth and profitability in 2024 with an improving cash balance."

Wishpond also announces the departure of its CTO, Dennis Zelada effective April 18, 2024, who left to focus on other opportunities.

Webinar Conference Call Details:

As previously announced, Wishpond will be hosting a webinar conference call to discuss its year-end financial results today at 10:00 AM (PT) / 1:00 PM (ET).

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

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 Annual Financial Statements and MD&A.

Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA

Footnotes:

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 is a leading provider of digital marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success online. The Company's Propel IQ platform offers an "all-in-one" marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion, lead generation, ad management, referral marketing, sales conversion and outbound sales automation capabilities in 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, including an AI powered website builder, an AI email automation tool, an AI Sales Agent and continues to add new AI enabled features and applications. The Company employs a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model where most of 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 Annual Financial Statements and MD&A. Readers are cautioned to read the entirety of the Annual Financial Statements and MD&A, and to not rely only on the information presented in this press release. In the event of conflict between the provisions of this press release on the one hand, and the Annual Financial Statements and MD&A on the other hand, the information in the Annual 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, including: gross profit, gross margin, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("Adjusted EBITDA"), MRR, annualized revenue run rate, customer churn and customer lifetime value. 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:

• 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 the Company'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: The Company uses annualized revenue run-rate as an indicator of financial performance that takes the current revenue in the quarter and converts it to an annual figure to get the full-year equivalent.
• Churn rate: The Company defines churn rate as the percentage of customers who have canceled their subscriptions over time. Management believes churn rate to be a useful financial measure because it provides further insight as to what products have the ability to generate continuous customer engagement and revenue.
• LTV: The Company defines customer lifetime value, or LTV, as the average revenue that a customer generates before they churn. Management believes LTV is useful as a forward looking estimate of the average revenue that a customer will generate throughout its lifespan as a customer with Wishpond.

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, future growth of the Company's products and platforms, the future development and increased use of products incorporating artificial intelligence, including SalesCloser AI, improvement in the Company's cash position and increased revenue generation, references to the growth of the Company's product portfolio and future profitability, including whether additional products or features may be developed in the future, and the functionality and timing of such products, financial results or operational activities that may be undertaken by the Company, the results of the Company's cost-savings, research and development and other initiatives, any future acquisitions or other activities done to grow the Company both organically or inorganically, expectations, beliefs, plans, future operations, the impact of broader economic factors including inflation and other general economic risks on 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, risks associated with changes to Propel IQ and SalesCloser AI's revenue and profitability, changes to customer preferences, competition, use cases for Propel IQ and SalesCloser AI, economic uncertainty and instability as a result of the ongoing inflation and supply chain issues, higher interest rate climate, tightening of credit availability and recessionary risks, pandemic related risks, wars, instability in global commodity and securities markets, shifts in consumer and institutional spending and marketing strategies, risks related to data breaches and privacy, 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.sedarplus.ca. 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.