So much news pertains to the Internet of Things and a company dedicated to this topic is Canada's Internet of Things Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ITT; OTC: INOTF; FRANKFURT: 7IT) (“ITT” or the “Company”) a strategic investor and operator of emerging technology companies with innovative IoT, AI and Blockchain solutions.
The company provided an update detailing the milestones and growth initiatives accomplished throughout 2018.
New Leadership:
On December 6, 2018, ITT appointed Ron Shuttleworth as its Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Shuttleworth brings 25 years of experience in the technology sector as an operator, investor, analyst and investment banker, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and financings. As an operator, he has held positions of CEO, CTO and Product Manager with direct experience in fintech, enterprise software and marketing automation. Mr. Shuttleworth also has experience as a venture capitalist investing in early-stage technologies and as a hedge fund analyst responsible for selecting stocks and balancing risk in a portfolio. He was also a top-ranked research analyst for eight years, specializing in technology, media and communications.
New Board Directors:
At the annual shareholders meeting on December 11, 2018, shareholders elected Messrs. Ron Shuttleworth, Libin Zhao, Hon. Jerry Grafstein, Gali Bar-Ziv, and Millard Roth as directors of the Company, with Mr. Shuttleworth and Mr. Zhao being the new additions to the Board.
Mr. Zhao brings more than 30 years of experience in operations, business development and mergers & acquisitions. He is also an accomplished turnaround expert, having assisted a number of companies with refinancing their debt, improving their balance sheets, and creating efficiencies in operations leading to profitability. Mr. Zhao led a coal resource integration program in Guizhou Province, PRC implementing a successful restructuring strategy that achieved leading market share for coal reserves within the province. He created a new business model to help corporations solve short-term cash-flow deficiencies and improve their competitive advantages. Mr. Zhao has successfully led New Hope Asset Management Co., Ltd. which manages six enterprises with total assets of over US$2 billion.
Revenue Milestone:
With the acquisition of Weather Telematics Inc. (“WTX”) on May 31, 2018, ITT recorded its first revenue during Q2 2018. From June 1, 2018 being the acquisition date, to October 31, 2018, WTX recorded revenues of $82,452 (2017- $Nil). Revenues consisted of the sale of predictive road-weather alerts software and hyper-local weather data.
Portfolio Company Updates:
Weather Telematics Inc.
On June 1, 2018, ITT completed the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of Weather Telematics Inc. (“WTX”), a data science company offering smart mobility solutions that improve efficiency by mitigating weather risk, for safer connected and autonomous transportation. For full terms of the transaction, please see press release dated June 4, 2018.
“Weather Telematics is at the forefront of AI-based technologies for predictive road risk alerts and weather analysis that increases efficiency through enhanced safety, mitigating transportation risk,” said James Sutcliffe, Chief Operation Officer of ITT. “We have a robust sales pipeline across multiple industry verticals including: automotive OEM, insurance, logistics & supply chain and are focused and committed to closing several of these sales contracts over the coming months.”
New Hope IoT Intl. Inc.
New Hope IoT Intl. Inc. (the “JV”) continues to develop and expand its offerings of products and solutions for the China market through its relationships with technology providers. On August 14, 2018, the JV entered into a channel agreement with PointGrab Ltd. to market, sell and service its products in China. Leveraging its innovative sensing technology platform, CogniPointTM, PointGrab is poised to pioneer the next generation of office workplace optimization solutions.
Braingrid Corp.
Braingrid Corp. (“Braingrid”) entered into a binding definitive agreement on October 10, 2018 with Match Capital Resources Corp. to list its shares by way of a reverse takeover. Braingrid commenced trading on December 28th, 2018. ITT holds a 5.47 percent minority equity position in Braingrid and is expected to benefit from this liquidity event.