Wishpond Achieves Record Revenue in Q2-2022, Exceeding $20 Million Annualized Revenue Run-Rate

• Wishpond attained 55% year-over-year revenue growth in Q2-2022 with revenue of $5.0 million, driven by Wishpond’s expanded sales team, new product introductions and successfully integrated acquisitions.
• The Company achieved positive cash flow from operating activities in Q2-2022.

• Outlook continues to look strong with increasing demand for Wishpond’s products from SMB customers.

Vancouver, BC – August 24, 2022 – Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH, OTCQX: WPNDF) (the “Company” or “Wishpond”), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, announces it has filed its interim consolidated financial statements (the “Interim Financial Statements”) and management’s discussion and analysis (the “MD&A”) for Q2-2022, representing the three and six months ended June 30, 2022. Copies of the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A are available on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Ali Tajskandar, Wishpond’s Chairman and CEO commented, “We are very pleased with our second quarter results which proved to be the strongest quarter in the Company’s history with 55% year-over-year growth compared to the same period last year.  I am particularly proud of having achieved a significant milestone of $20 million annualized revenue run-rate(1).  Thus far, we have not noticed any slowing down in the demand for our products.  In addition, Wishpond also achieved positive cash flow from operations in the second quarter.   Our outlook continues to look promising for the second half of the year with increasing sales, improving margins, and positive cash flows. Our sales pipeline remains robust and our revenue growth shows tremendous resilience despite the current uncertain economic environment.”  

Second Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:

• Wishpond achieved record quarterly revenue of $5,007,343 during Q2-2022, a 55% increase compared to revenue of $3,226,877 generated in the same period of 2021 (Q2-2021). The increase in revenue is attributable to the Company’s expanded sales team, new product introductions and acquisitions. Wishpond exceeded $20 million annualized revenue run-rate(1) for the first time in Q2-2022.
• Wishpond achieved gross profit(1) of $3,360,715 in Q2-2022 compared to $2,238,143 in Q2-2021, representing a 50% increase from Q2-2021, driven by an increase in overall revenue. Wishpond achieved a gross margin(1) of 67% in Q2-2022 (69% in Q2-2021). The gross margin(1) achieved in Q2-2022 is within the historical range of 65% to 70%.
• Wishpond recorded an operating loss of $658,712 in Q2-2022 ($1,093,556 in Q2-2021). The operating loss reflects continued investment in sales and lead generation, as well as in product development.
• In Q2-2022, Wishpond had negative Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $192,196 (negative $320,027 in Q2-2021). The improvement is primarily driven by higher revenue and recent cost saving initiatives and operational efficiencies achieved in the latter half of Q2-2022 which will result in more than $1.0 million in annual cost savings. 
• In Q2-2022, Wishpond returned to net positive cash provided by operating activities of $81,354 (negative $801,512 in Q2-2021). 
• As at June 30, 2022, Wishpond had $2,484,878 in cash and no debt (March 31, 2022: cash of $4,487,151 and no debt). The reduction in cash was primarily driven by an upfront cash payment of $1,726,646 for the acquisition of Viral Loops Limited (“Viral Loops”) on April 1, 2022, related transaction fees and continued investment in the business. The Company has a credit facility with a major Canadian bank for $6,000,000. As at June 30, 2022, the credit facility remained undrawn and was fully available to the Company. 

Second Quarter 2022 Business Highlights:

• On April 1, 2022, the Company completed the acquisition of certain assets and specific liabilities of Viral Loops Ltd. Viral Loops is a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) company which helps its customers design, create and manage campaigns that result in higher referral visits and revenue for their eCommerce merchants. In consideration for the Viral Loops acquisition, Wishpond provided a cash payment of US$1,380,000 and a one-year performance earn-out that may be paid in cash or by the issuance of the Company’s Shares, at the sole discretion of the Company. The one-year earn-out will be based on the projected revenue of the business and is payable on a quarterly basis.
• On April 20, 2022, the Company announced that the number of Winback’s customer installations had increased by over 50%, including more than 180 Wishpond clients who are trialing the platform under promotional pricing plans. Wishpond also developed and launched new innovative features to the Winback platform over the last quarter.
• On June 15, 2022, the Company announced that the renewal of its Notice of an Intention to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid (“NCIB”) was approved by the TSX Venture Exchange. Under the renewed NCIB, the Company may, during the 12-month period commencing June 20, 2022 and ending June 19, 2023, purchase up to 2,613,316 Shares in total, being 5% of the total number of 52,266,332 Shares outstanding as at June 3, 2022. During the quarter ended June 30, 2022, the Company did not purchase any common shares under the NCIB (Q1-2022: 130,100 shares for aggregate consideration of $157,265). 

Events Subsequent to June 30, 2022:

• On July 12, 2022, the Company announced the launch of an all-new Website Builder product that includes lead tracking and segmentation tools, personalization abilities, advanced forms and pop-ups, integration with Wishpond’s email marketing tool, referral marketing, calendar functionality, pop-ups, and more. Every element of this ground-breaking Website Builder has been designed to help businesses generate leads and sales. The Website Builder is expected to increase customer retention, reduce churn, and increase customer satisfaction. 
• On July 20, 2022, the Company announced its annualized revenue run-rate(1) exceeded $20 million for the first time in the Company’s history.  Also on the same date, the Company announced its cost saving initiatives and operational efficiencies resulted in the Company expecting to realize more than $1.0 million in cost savings over the course of the next twelve months.

Outlook:

Wishpond expects to achieve record revenue and cash flows in the second half of the year driven by increased capacity in the Company’s sales team, positive contributions from its acquisitions and new product related revenues. The Company’s revenue and earnings growth are expected to continue in the second half of 2022 with the integration of its recent acquisitions, and an increase in cross-selling opportunities between products and solutions offered across all of its product lines.  

In line with the Company’s focus on profitable growth, Wishpond is scrutinizing all discretionary expenditures across the organization, with the intent of optimizing operations and achieving cost-saving synergies. The Company has a clean balance sheet and is able to continue to fund the growth of its sales team and new product launches from cash flows from operations, without having to raise any additional equity or debt capital. 

David Pais, Wishpond’s Chief Financial Officer commented, “Wishpond is in a very strong financial position with a strong balance sheet, improving cash flows and solid performance across its businesses.  We are very pleased with the integrations of our most recent acquisitions, Winback and Viral Loops. Furthermore, we are very pleased with our laser focus on realizing cost efficiencies while maintaining our impressive revenue growth.  We look forward to delivering our results and performance in the coming quarters.” 

Webinar Conference Call Details:

Wishpond will be hosting a webinar conference call to discuss its Q2-2022 results today at 10:00 AM (PST) / 1:00 PM (EST).

To register for the webinar, please visit the following URL: https://bit.ly/WISH_Q2Results 

Date:                         Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Time:                        1:00 PM EST (10:00 AM PST)

Dial-in:                    +1 778 907 2071 (Vancouver local)

                                 +1 647 374 4685 (Toronto local)

Meeting ID #:         826 2886 7825

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 Interim Financial Statements and MD&A.

Reconciliation to Adjusted EBITDA

Footnotes:

1. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, annualized run rate, gross profit and gross margin are not financial measures recognized by generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP“), do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. See “Cautionary Statements and Non-GAAP Financial Measures“.

The Company’s new Equity Incentive Plan dated May 12, 2022 (the “New Plan”) was approved at the Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the “AGM”) held on June 14, 2022 and replaces the former Stock Option Plan of the Company (the “Old Plan”) last approved by shareholders on June 30, 2021. The New Plan provides for the flexibility to grant equity-based incentive awards in the form of stock options, as well as restricted share units, deferred share units, performance share units and stock appreciation rights. The New Plan is a rolling 10% plan, allowing for a maximum of 10% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company to be reserved for issuance. At June 30, 2022, the Company’s issued and outstanding totaled 52,266,332 common shares (10% = 5,226,633) and 3,559,814 stock options were outstanding. The New Plan is subject to shareholder approval annually.

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’s vision is to become the leading provider of digital marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success online. The Company offers an “all-in-one” marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion, lead generation, and sales conversion capabilities on 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 and continues to add new features and applications with great velocity. The Company employs a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model where substantially all 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 Interim Financial Statements and MD&A. Readers are cautioned to read the entirety of the Interim 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 information in this press release on the one hand, and the Interim Financial Statements and MD&A on the other hand, the information in the Interim 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 International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), but are used by management to evaluate the performance of Wishpond and its business: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”), monthly recurring revenue, annualized revenue run-rate, gross profit and gross margin. 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 GAAP 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 GAAP 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:

• Gross profit and Gross margin: The Company defines “gross profit” as revenue less cost of sales and “gross margin” as gross profit as a percentage of revenue. Gross profit and gross margin should not be construed as an alternative for revenue or net loss determined in accordance with IFRS. The Company believes that gross profit and gross margin are meaningful metrics in assessing the Company’s financial performance and operational efficiency.
• 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 Wishpond’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: Annualized revenue run-rate, or ARR, annualizes the Company’s revenue run rate. ARR is calculated by multiplying the Company’s MRR by twelve.  

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, expectations, beliefs, plans, future operations, origination of additional targets in which the Company may hold an interest and acquisition opportunities for 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, economic uncertainty and instability as a result of the ongoing inflation and supply chain issues, raising interest rate climate and recessionary risks, COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, instability in global commodity and securities markets, shifts in consumer and institutional spending and marketing strategies, 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.sedar.com. 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.

For further information: Pardeep S. Sangha, Investor Relations, Wishpond Technologies Ltd. Email: investor@wishpond.com Phone: 604-572-6392