CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Gianni Kovacevic: One-on-one with the realistic environmentalist

Sharp. Focused. Radical. Three words that describe Gianni Kovacevic.

He’s also passionate about the energy industry in a way that is unparalleled. In 2016, he published My Electrician Drives a Porsche and drove across the U.S. to promote it on the world’s first zero-emission book tour.

Public Entrepreneur recently sat down with him to chat about the energy industry and his latest venture, CopperBank Resources Corp. (CSE:CBK), a company that is engaged in the acquisition and development of mineral properties.

Who is Gianni Kovacevic and what drives you to be so passionate about the energy industry?

I’m an investor. Within that, I’m a curious investor, and I want to look at investing in the future and all that it entails. I’ve been captivated by the energy space. Effectively, I look at it like technology now. It’s moving forward at a faster pace than most people will appreciate and recognize.

I’m Croatian. My brother and I have been fascinated by the scientist Nikola Tesla, a Serbian born in Croatia, who invented the modern way in which we create and transfer electricity. That spawned our studies – we both went to BCIT and took electrical studies and I’ve followed it like a Harlequin Romance ever since.

What it taught us was that fairytales at the time are now becoming commercially viable when it comes to the electrification of transportation, solar power, wind power and the integration of that. It will be led by the consumer, in my opinion.

What is the future of batteries, and related to that, and how does that shape the future for companies in the battery metals sub-sector?

When it comes to understanding energy, there are three silos: 1. The generation, or creation, of energy, so the creation of electrical energy. 2. The movement of energy. There are three ways to move energy from point A to point B, you can do it with a pipeline, with a ship or a railroad or you can do it with electrical cables. 3. The utilization of energy and that’s where we can look at batteries.

The lithium-ion battery has gotten a lot of press. It’s good for devices, tools, transportation. When you get to the larger, commercial-scale batteries, you’re talking about vanadium-redox or iron-salt batteries. They’re huge – the size of a building – with very simple and abundant ingredients.

So what’s the glue of every system I just went through? Copper. Electricity demands copper.

You are executive chairman of CopperBank.  Tell us about that company and what excites you about its future.

CopperBank is a unique company. It’s a company built by investors, for investors. We appreciate that the future of energy will be copper. We look at investing in junior mining as the highest of high-risk industries.

Our strategy is to acquire projects that have had a significant amount of capital already invested. When the copper price is low, they are un-economic, when the copper price rises, there’s optionality. Our portfolio has growth, optionality and development potential. We can enhance the value – even in a lower-priced copper environment – to offer investors not just the optionality play, but also accretive growth.

We specifically like copper because as a commodity, it will have strong CAGR demand growth. Unlike the oil and gas industry, copper mining has a window where in the next three to four years we have no major copper mines coming online. That’s big news.

You label yourself a realistic environmentalist. What does that mean?

It’s recognizing that about two billion people in the world don’t live like we do. Eventually, they will have access to running water and electricity. There’s nothing that can prevent that. It’s how we do it in the most proactive way possible. All of these things will be led by the consumer. As much as you want to adjust or pivot the behaviour of people, you can’t do this.

What impact will technology have on emerging markets, and particularly on commodities in emerging markets?

You have to look at the per capita usage of commodities. We currently have 7.5 billion people in the world and we’re probably going to climb to about 9 billion. As these developing nations become more developed, the trend is (and we’ve seen this many times) that birth rates fall. So eventually we will go into decline, but that’s an issue for 2050 and beyond. When you look at the per capita consumption of commodities in the next 10, 20, 30 years that’s where I think – as an investor – there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers.

As we pivot to a low-carbon society, things like thermal coal and crude oil will no longer be growth businesses. We’ll see other commodities become the blue ribbon champions – things like copper because it will continue to grow. We will pivot. That amplitude will increase.

What commodity investment opportunities can you not ignore today?

What Tesla has done with its supercharger network. Effectively, they have disrupted the entire incumbent energy system. You can now drive an electric car anywhere in the developed world, due to their super charger network, and it only took Tesla about three years to achieve that.  Think of the gravity of what they have developed in a very short time.  Royal Dutch Shell by comparison, is a $300 billion company that sells 6 million barrels of oil every day through their 44,000 forecourts. Shell is an energy distribution business and good part of their market cap is attributed to selling transportation fuels. That is no longer a growth business.

What have I missed? What else should we have talked about?

The consumer. The consumer will eventually guide the way. The gentrification, urbanization and behaviour of the millennial generation is profoundly different than the generations before. Where is the largest millennial population in the world? It’s in China. There are 415 million millennials and over 100 million have graduated from university. Those educated, urban Chinese want no part of factory jobs anymore. The European/American millennial is saying they don’t want to live in the suburbs of cities anymore. They are more than happy to live in the gentrified area of Kansas City in a condo, and they don’t have a car nor do they want one — they don’t even have a drivers licence, so they are never going to be the customer of Big Auto or Big Oil.

So if one aggregates any 100 of these people. Many don’t have a drivers licence, and if they do it’s for something like a car sharing service like Car2Go. They don’t want ownership, they want access. Or, they will use a service like Uber. So how does this reverberate into what we’re talking about? If we aggregate 30 or 40 of these young people, they require one car, car-sharing, or an uber driver.

When you look at the consumer, guess what? They all used to buy a car. No longer. These types of consumers, that count in the hundreds of millions, are never going to be the future customer of VW, GM or Toyota. If the Big 3 automakers each sell around 10 million cars a year, I will suggest to you that in the future, their car sales will stop climbing. And I believe car sales in general will actually start to fall. Additionally, a good portion of those cars become more fuel efficient and for professional drivers increasingly so they will buy electric. It’s all about cost, not price – the total cost of ownership, not to mention the governmental pressures that are forcing industry to provide zero emission transportation.

We’ll see technology companies getting in the game: Tesla, Apple, Dyson, you name it. There’s a cool factor, green factor, price factor. It’s going to disrupt the whole business model. It’s all been turned on its head. And then you look at one other thing.

I also think it’s always important to think about the Ernest Hemingway quote when you think about car companies: “How’d you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

This story was originally published at www.proactiveinvestors.com on September 8, 2018 and featured in The Public Entrepreneur magazine.

Learn more about Copperbank Resources Corp. at http://copperbankcorp.com and on the CSE website at https://thecse.com/en/listings/mining/copperbank-resources-corp.

Listed Issuers

Crossing the Pond: CSE-listed Auxico Resources Canada becomes first dual-listed Canadian stock on UK’s NEX Exchange

Earlier this year, Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE:AUAG) became the first Canadian security to be dual-listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange and the NEX Exchange in the United Kingdom. Auxico Resources is the first Canadian company to become dual-listed on the NEX Exchange using the fast track procedure, which the London-based exchange has established to help expedite access to its market from companies listed elsewhere around the globe.

NEX Exchange, a NEX Group business, operates a regulated stock exchange in the U.K., with a particular focus on entrepreneurial and growth-stage companies.

Patrick Birley, Chief Executive of NEX Exchange said: “We are delighted to welcome Auxico Resources as our first dual quoted stock with the Canadian Securities Exchange. We have long admired the approach of the CSE and hope that by working together we can offer dual quoted companies greater access to a wide range of investors.”

With this new listing milestone, the CSE continues to grow its international reach. Several securities listed on the CSE also trade on markets in Europe (Frankfurt Exchange) and in the U.S. (OTC Markets).

Richard Carleton, CEO of the CSE, said of the announcement: “We congratulate the team at Auxico Resources for taking advantage of the fast-track procedure we have developed with our colleagues at the NEX Exchange. The listing will open new opportunities for capital raising and secondary market liquidity in the U.K. for Auxico. We hope that Auxico will be the first of many CSE issuers to join the NEX Exchange.”

According to the NEX Exchange’s fast-tracking admissions process, companies already admitted to CSE are eligible to use their accelerated admissions process to join the NEX Exchange Growth Market.

The access granted to CSE-listed firms to this streamlined process is a further recognition of the CSE as a qualified market with international stature and puts the CSE in strong company with some the largest and well-known stock exchanges across the world who also have qualified for access to the NEX Exchange’s fast-track admission process.

Hear from the CSE’s Senior VP of Market Development, Rob Cook, explain more about how companies from outside of Canada are also choosing to list on the CSE in the video clip below.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

The World According to Victory Square: Global tech making a difference on multiple fronts

Technology is changing the lives of every living thing on our planet and at a speed difficult to grasp.  Then there is the question of direction – where is the tech world taking us, and to what end?

To begin understanding these issues, it helps to have insight from someone who lives and breathes technology, but at the same time is not so consumed by it that they lose touch with everyday realities.  Someone driven by the outcome of their efforts for human beings, rather than the pursuit of technology for its own sake.

Shafin Diamond Tejani, CEO of Victory Square Technologies (CSE:VST), is firmly in the former group.  With a vision for his company built around clear opinions on future trends, he speaks sincerely about both increasing shareholder value and the positive influence he and his team can have on local communities…and those not so local.  At the end of the day, Tejani believes the benefits are there for all of us to share.

Public Entrepreneur visited Victory Square headquarters in Vancouver recently for an in-depth discussion of Tejani’s philosophies and thoughts on where technology is headed.  Investors and entrepreneurs alike could learn much from one of the city’s leading lights in technology investing and helping entrepreneurs realize their business and personal goals.

Victory Square invests in companies that are shaping the future, and that means you have some precise views on where technology, and the world in general, is going.  Can you share that outlook with us?  What are you focused on and what do you see for the future that some people might not?

Human nature is very predictable, and history is very cyclical.  If you look at the past few decades you see very clear patterns.  Our focus recently has been on new emerging technologies, which are disrupting established technology and creating completely new industries.  We are seeing things like decentralization, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and virtual and augmented reality being the next big movements.

I started my first company during the early dotcom boom of the mid-1990s.  The Internet and the Web democratized access to information and connected people from all over the world.  We have seen that impact every walk of our lives on a global scale, and it accelerated further with the explosion of mobile phones and smartphones.  We can now say that humankind is almost entirely connected.

Humans generally want to do the same things.  On the Internet they want to access information, purchase things, play games and watch movies.  They also use social media to connect and communicate with one another.  But for the last 25 years, most of these activities have taken place on centralized servers.  Facebook allows you and I to communicate but it’s a centralized platform.  We input the information, but they own that input, and they monetize it to third-party advertisers without us getting a cut of the money.

The impact of global platforms like Google, Twitter, and Facebook leads to problems ranging from the threat of government-ordered censorship to more subtle, algorithmic biases in the curation of material that users consume. These platforms which host and inform our connected public perspectives are unelected, unaccountable, and often difficult to oversee or audit.

We are now living through a new movement to create technologies and services to address these issues. Decentralized technologies that are open source, enabling peer-to-peer interactions in lieu of mediated centralized platforms are the remedy to our current global landscape.

In a centralized system, everything is kept in the same place and can be hacked.  In a decentralized network there may still be a Facebook that can create the network, but we all own our own information and we all participate and benefit from how successful that network becomes.  People will want to do the same things, but the underlying architecture is going to be different.

From an innovation standpoint, Victory Square focuses on things we know.  We like verticals that are commercial and virtually recession-proof.  Sports betting is a good example.

Let’s vector in a little closer.  How do you choose companies to invest in based on your broader view for the future of the world?

Given that we begin by focusing on verticals we know well, the next thing we do is identify a large customer with a pain point.  Then we look at some 80 accelerators we have relationships with around the world to see what problems talented people are trying to solve.  We can bring teams to Canada to evaluate them if they are overseas.  The evaluation will take place over anywhere from three to six months, and by bringing entrepreneurs to Canada there are a number of programs we can take advantage of that help to mitigate our risk.

We focus on verticals that we have a strong track record and experience in, identify a large customer in that vertical, look wide globally to find the best talent, bring it to Canada to give it all of the advantages of being based in Canada, and then we are able to evaluate the tech and the team as they validate with that large customer we have brought them to.

Tech has been commoditized, so it’s your ability to have an operator who can execute efficiently.  Execution becomes the real key.  We look for strong teams and leaders who have built a product that customers are willing to pay for.  And given that commoditization, you need differentiating factors – someone who can speak well and articulate what they are really doing, and then there is that work ethic and hustle that we also look for in an operator.

Give us an example of an investment and the impact it stands to have on the future.

There are 19 companies in our portfolio doing exceptional things.  One of those is FansUnite, which was founded by an accountant and a lawyer who are very passionate about sports betting.  We acquired the company about 18 months ago for $2 million, worked with them to build a unique product, and they just oversubscribed a financing of $4.45 million at a pre-money valuation of $13 million.  FansUnite is aiming to go public in early 2019.

In the sports betting industry, all bettors are generally betting against the house.  You are trusting the house to manage the lines appropriately, trusting them to put the player funds in escrow, and then to pay you out accordingly when the time comes.  Paying exorbitant fees and trusting a centralized third party with your funds was what led to FansUnite incorporating blockchain into their business.

A main pain point is that the house is using a third party to process payments, which means they must charge a fee, and it can be as high as 10%.  That means if you bet $100, only $90 is actually going into the pool, so you have to win 54% of the time just to break even.  They realized that decentralization and blockchain could address this and built their own protocol and currency. FansUnite will become one of the first companies to build the infrastructure that allows any operator to build a blockchain based sports betting application on the protocol.  FansUnite is building the first decentralized application which will be a low-margin sportsbook, taking the fees per bet down to an industry low 1% margin for the book.  There are many other efficiency benefits as FansUnite aims to change the landscape of the sports betting industry.

Your company materials suggest giving back to the community is important to Victory Square.  How does investing in things that make the world a better place fit into the structure of a capitalist enterprise?

My family is from East Africa, and in the early 1970s there was a military coup and we ended up in Canada.  We basically won the lottery by landing in Canada, where we had access to good education, stable government, safety and security.  The advantage we had in Canada and the thankfulness is tied into a responsibility I have always felt, and it has trickled down to our portfolio companies in the form of something we call TKM: Time, Knowledge and Money.

There are some in our team who might not have financial resources to give, but they have time and knowledge.  A graphic designer might donate design services to a philanthropic organization in need of that skill.  Lawyers or accountants can provide legal advice or business planning for charities.

Our focus at Victory Square is on vulnerable children and making sure they have the basics, which means access to nutritious food, education, safe environments, love and support.  We found that not only do we have the time and capacity to do it as a capitalist enterprise, but if often benefits us because it aligns us with the interests of other socially minded entrepreneurs.  There is no negative impact – it is only positive.

There is no typical day for you, but how about a typical week or month?  Give us a look inside the world of a manager at the top of an investment organization.  What are your biggest challenges and how do you keep on top of all the moving parts?

I am fortunate to have an amazing team and we divide and conquer.  If we take September as an example, we are hosting a conference in London called the World Blockchain Forum, where investors, thought leaders and emerging tech companies from all over the world will be gathering, including some of our own.  We’ll be connecting with investors and accessing deal flow in the UK.

Right after that we head to Asia, where we have some portfolio companies.  We will be stopping in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and then we end in Singapore.

Thankfully, Asia is a day ahead because we come straight back to Vancouver for conferences, one of which is Cambridge House’s Extraordinary Future, which we sponsor and are actively involved in, and then the AR/VR Global Summit.  At the end of September, we are in Malta for the Malta Blockchain Summit.

Portfolio companies are global, events we host and speak at are global, our talent pool and investors are global, so we are spread out.  And alongside all of that, we are managing our portfolio companies and day to day responsibilities, so we have to ensure we have a really organized team, but also a really deep and hard-working team so we can successfully execute on everything.

And there are also lots of activities we run on the philanthropic side – educational programs, food drives, golf tournaments, galas and other events.  That initiative is important to us and we have a team that makes sure we devote appropriate time.

Victory Square must have a shareholder group a little different than that of the average public company.  Can you discuss the type of investor that backs you?

We attract a wide variety because we are in many different verticals.  We have exposure to artificial intelligence and machine learning, to VR/AR and blockchain, as well as mobile games and film.  They fall into three categories: institutional investors who have a longer vision, retail investors who don’t fully understand the sector but want exposure, and then there is a big group of investors who support our portfolio companies from the global crypto community.  Given that tech is borderless, we are seeing investor interest from all over the world.

If you could convey just one lesson to a talented, budding entrepreneur, what would you tell them?

There are lots of things I think are key, but forced to make a shortlist, I’d offer an analogy.  If we needed to go to Florida we could get in a car and start driving, but we might not have enough food or money or gas.  We might eventually make it to Florida, but it would not be the most efficient way.

A well considered plan is one of the biggest things.  You need a roadmap for where you want to go.  But you also have to realize that the direction you initially started out on might not work, so you have to be flexible and adjust.  The entrepreneurial journey does not always look like a hockey-stick curve.  It can be very volatile, and having that plan enables you to be better prepared to face the challenges and difficult periods and be persistent and determined to get past it, rather than become frazzled and quitting early.

You also need the right attributes, such as strong work ethic, leadership skills, passion and determination.  If you put enough smart people together with a good idea or opportunity, you are going to figure it out.

This story was originally published at www.proactiveinvestors.com on September 19, 2018 and featured in The Public Entrepreneur magazine.

Learn more about Victory Square at http://www.victorysquare.com and on the CSE website at https://thecse.com/en/listings/technology/victory-square-technologies-inc.

Magazine

Revisiting the Blockchain Revolution: Three tech leaders take stock of the industry’s rapidly shifting landscape

The blockchain revolution: we speak to three industry leaders about how the landscape is shifting

Blockchain is an ingenious invention. That much is clear. It’s distributed. Permissioned. Immutable. It has the potential to be one of the most disruptive forces in business in decades.

Momentum is strong and changes are moving at a rapid pace. But how can blockchain actually be used in the future? Who is moving the space forward? Will the promise of it all be delivered?

Public Entrepreneur spoke to three executives who are leaders in pushing the space forward.

Interviewees:

Kate Hiscox, Founder, Venzee Technologies Inc.

Dean Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Northstar Venture Technologies

Shone Anstey, Executive Chairman, BIG Blockchain Intelligence Group (CSE:BIGG)

Tell me a bit about your background. How did you get involved in this sector?

SA: I am Executive Chairman of Blockchain Intelligence Group having gotten my start with mining cryptocurrency in 2012. Since that time, we’ve done a number of things in the bitcoin space: industrial bitcoin mining (for clients), and built out cryptocurrency technologies and bitcoin mining pool software. At the tail end of 2014, we started work on leveraging our knowledge of search/analytics as it applies to bitcoin. In 2015, we formulated our company, which focuses on cryptocurrency-agnostic search and analytics solutions.

DS: I’ve been involved in the space since 2014, starting with working with friends doing mining out of a garage, and looking at models like a crypto-funded blockchain accelerator, and enabling rent payments with cryptocurrencies. It was quite early and we realized that the market was not quite there yet. I got heavily involved in working with data systems and integration, focusing on enterprise applications in things like health care. In 2017, BlockTech Ventures, now Northstar, was formally established to focus on the development, integration and commercialization of the core technology into existing markets.

KS: I’m a self-taught software engineer. I started coding many years ago and I’ve always had a fascination with technology. As bitcoin started to come into play in 2011/2012, that’s where it became very interesting. Probably about five years ago is when I understood the impact of what blockchain was really going to look like. For Venzee, we started looking at this in 2016.  We focused more on what was the threat or the opportunity to our business and we realized quickly that our software was positioned perfectly.

What is blockchain and why is it important to the future? Explain it to me like I’m your grandmother.

KH: At Venzee, we see blockchain as networks that are just a different type of database in our world. For me, blockchain isn’t actually new, it’s based on an architecture that’s been around for many, many years. It’s great to see it now being applied in a way that’s safer for accountability and transparency.

SA: We’re really focused on cryptocurrencies, in our case bitcoin, which we call the public blockchain. So, we don’t say: what is blockchain? We say: what is bitcoin? It’s a new trust layer of the Internet itself which you can think of as layer 8 to the 7-layer OSI stack. This is the missing component to the Internet that has not been available since its inception 30 years ago. Bitcoin is blockchain, blockchain is bitcoin. The two are connected in ways you cannot separate.

DS: It’s a core foundational technology, like the Internet, that holds all data in an open ledger that cannot be altered and allows for frictionless peer-to-peer transactions of value, replacing the costs and intermediaries that are commonplace in business and finance.
It’s important because of what it can enable, but it takes time for technology to be understood and then adopted. In the future, without knowing it, you and the businesses and platforms you use on a daily basis will be functioning with this technology in one form or another.

How is the market for blockchain solutions doing?  IBM has a big unit and there are lots of smaller companies with various solutions.

DS: The market for blockchain solutions is immense and global and is the key area of focus for Northstar. The reason is, industry knows the technology holds immense value. The challenge is in identifying the opportunities, then being able to build, test and integrate the new technology into existing systems. Commonly, companies are engaging with Ethereum, IBM’s blockchain protocol, or Hyperledger (Linux Foundation). If you look at who is engaging with the technology in a meaningful way, from the Fortune 500 level it’s easier to create a short list of the companies not engaging with it than to describe who is. This is increasing at an incredible pace.

SA: It’s still early. IBM is one company leading the charge. I don’t think we’ve quite seen who has the mantel yet, but I do believe the open-source movement will lead it.

In your view, what will the market respond to in the next year?

SA: I think you’ll see more majors moving into the pure cryptocurrency market.  Companies like ours will help them get through the anti-money-laundering compliance issues. When you look at the amount of money these cryptocurrency exchanges are making, it’s a given. Companies have to play in this field or they will lose their edge. That fact is clear.

KH: At Venzee, we work with a range of clients, from huge retailers (Walmart, New Balance) on down. We’re having a lot of conversations about how blockchain is definitely of interest on an enterprise level. The industry is really starting to think about it — not necessarily implementing it — but they are finding that they are going to have a strategy or a use for this within the next three to five years.

DS: In the next year, we will see continued adoption, understanding, and the market generally understand more about the technology and what it means for industry. Less hype and initial euphoria, and more examples and use cases we can refer to. The technology itself will continue to advance, as it needs to, and we’ll see things like regulation that will come in and really bolster new innovation and capital markets participation in a whole new way.

The industry went through a profile and funding frenzy in the latter part of 2017 but has since gone relatively quiet.  What takes us out of the quiet period?

DS: Further to what I just mentioned; reality, regulation, understanding and a simple precedent for what the technology is doing in the real world. All new technology has this initial “innovation trigger” followed by speculation, and a pullback. That’s where we are, and what was needed. Now we’re in a very exciting time where the tree has been shaken, and the market is in a place to allow for sustainable and pragmatic growth based on more factors than speculation.

SA: Technology is taking a bit of time, which makes sense, particularly when you’re dealing with cutting-edge technology. There’s only value in solving difficult issues. If you’re looking to do something that’s never been done before it will take you three times as long and three times the cost. People don’t understand the mechanics of how everything is being built. From a fundamental standpoint, a lot will change and certainly, from a market standpoint, more money is going to come in, but regardless, the technology and the network is growing and people will continue to latch onto it.

I know I’ve missed something. What have I missed? What are you excited about?

KH: In terms of Canada, I think it’s great to see the CSE moving up and paying attention to blockchain. Canada has the potential to really be a leader in the space.  I was talking to someone recently that out of the 15 known cryptocurrency billionaires in the world, five of them are Canadian.  That’s incredible. A lot of that innovation is coming out of Canada and we’ve got an opportunity here as a country to grab onto this industry and move it forward.

DS: We’re excited for a number of things. We’re excited to see this technology continue to evolve and advance, making its way into the businesses and platforms we all use. We’re excited to see baseless ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) disappear into memory. For regulation, which will open up this new asset class, namely securities tokens (real equity, real assets) to the capital markets in a way never before done. To continue building real solutions for industry, helping advance the sector at large.

SA: Investors want to be able to draw the line between “what’s this technology” to actual real-world use cases. The CSE has been doing a ton of work on this and I think investors are going to be able to wrap their heads around this soon. That’s starting to come. The foundations are being laid. So, what will the next era bring? It creates an incredible opportunity for investors and for entrepreneurs as the new era marches forward.

This story was featured in The Public Entrepreneur magazine.

Event Review

Bringing Extraordinary Ideas into Focus: Review of Extraordinary Future 2018

The energy and enthusiasm entrepreneurs have for change is something the CSE is fortunate to encounter on a regular basis. Regardless of which sector or industry growth-stage entrepreneurs happen to be in, they are collectively immersed in bringing their vision of the future into being.

With that backdrop in mind, the second edition of the Extraordinary Future conference took place in Vancouver on September 19th and 20th and offered the opportunity for thought leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to converge and explore the ideas and technologies driving innovation and growth across the economy.

Extraordinary Future 2018: Bigger, Better, Bolder

Like last year, this year’s show was produced by Cambridge House International and featured an impressive roster of exhibitors, speakers and panelists covering forward-looking topics such as quantum computing, blockchain, finance, eSports and biotech just to name few.

In true entrepreneurial fashion, this year’s show sought to do something ambitious. Building on last year’s positive results, the 2018 conference was extended to two days instead of one and had more speakers, networking opportunities and covered more innovative topics than the inaugural show last year.

Attendance was also strong this year. With over 2000 attendees coming to the show itself. Like all powerful ideas today, however, the impact of the show has only begun to take shape. With almost 50 videos from the conference capturing conversations with panelists and presentations by entrepreneurs, the online reach of Extraordinary Future will continue to ripple outward for months to come.

As the title sponsor for Extraordinary Future, the Canadian Securities Exchange was actively visible at this year’s show on stage as well as around the exhibition floor.

On stage, the CSE cast the spotlight on blockchain – a technology that has the potential to reshape how financial transactions and services are delivered.

Last year the Canadian Securities Exchange became the first exchange in Canada to announce it would enable trading of tokenized securities in conjunction with the launch of a blockchain-based clearing and settlement system.

To that end, CEO of the CSE, Richard Carleton spoke with Dean Sutton from Northstar Venture Technologies Inc. in a fireside chat on the role that distributed ledger technologies will play in capital markets and, in turn, how capital markets can prepare for a significant step change in the investing ecosystem. Included in that discussion was the CSE’s tokenized security program and further details on the clearing and settlement engine.

On day two of Extraordinary Future, James Black, VP of Listings Development, moderated a panel discussion on the future of blockchain and the capital markets. Featured on the panel were Dean Sutton of Northstar Venture Technologies, Zayn Kalyan of Trackloop Analytics Corp. and Shone Antsey of Blockchain Intelligence Group.

The CSE was also visible on panel discussions and around the show floor. Nine exhibitors listed on the CSE and representing a diversity of sectors and technologies – including several companies working on technology to innovate the fast-moving cannabis sector – were on hand to showcase their companies.

Check out the CSE’s Facebook page for more pictures from around the show floor.

A Space for Bold Ideas and Bleeding-Edge Innovation

Extraordinary Future also featured panelists and presenters on topics with massive implications to the way in which live our lives.

Famed whistleblower Christopher Wylie provided a fascinating narrative of the power of personal data and how it can be leveraged or exploited to impact society on a massive scale, as evidenced by the role of data-driven campaigning in the US elections. In the biotechnology sphere, the conversation about psychoactive substances was put into perspective by Hamilton Morris, star of VICELAND’s “Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia”

Extraordinary Future was not only about close-to-market opportunities like augmented reality or quantum computing, the show also gave space to ideas and technologies that are on the cutting edge of the innovation conversation.

The panel on hydrogen-powered autonomous underwater vehicles, for example, illustrated how advances in clean fuel, telemetry and machine learning are likely to lead to many fascinating permutations and applications of these technologies in the future.

Of course, it’s one thing to dream big, but another to turn those grand visions into real products or solutions, which is where another key feature of the conference steps in, namely investment capital.

Capital-Powered Innovation

As with last year’s show, there were several keynote presentations focused on where investment capital can play a role in helping to fund and grow ground-breaking companies.

The deal room was a central part of the show floor design, with the fishbowl-style setup enabling attendees to watch in real-time, the organic process of deals happening between investors and entrepreneurs.

Another favourite of this year’s show was the “Off the Radar” pitch competition, which took place on the first day and featured technology entrepreneurs from healthcare, eSports and caregiving.

The competition featured a panel of distinguished investors and entrepreneurs as well as a top prize of media services valued at $50,000. Amir Heyari, founder of Diabits, took top spot in the competition describing machine learning and its application to healthcare data systems in the management of diabetes.

 Can’t Wait for Extraordinary Future 2019

Suffice to say there was lots to take in at this year’s show. Entrepreneurs of all stripes demonstrated the creativity and innovation that is alive and thriving here in Canada and the impact it is having across the globe.

This year’s show reiterated a basic tenet of growth stage opportunities: that innovators and capital markets will have to work hand in hand to bring game-changing technologies to market.

Another point that this year’s show reinforced is the value of giving bold ideas (and the entrepreneurs putting them forward) a platform to showcase their stories.

For the Canadian Securities Exchange, one of the best things about working towards an extraordinary future is that we look forward what every day brings. Stay tuned for more content and see you in 2019!

Magazine

Public Entrepreneur Magazine – Extraordinary Future Issue – Now Live!

With technologies like blockchain, clean tech and AR/VR poised to change the way we live, work and invest, there has never been a more exciting time to be an entrepreneur.

This “Extraordinary Future” edition of Public Entrepreneur casts its gaze forward to highlight the promising technologies of tomorrow and the entrepreneurs working to bring those stories to market.

CSE-listed companies featured in this issue include:

  • BIG Blockchain Intelligence Group Inc. (CSE:BIGG)
  • Victory Square Technologies Inc. (CSE:VST)
  • Copperbank Resources Corp. (CSE:CBK)
  • Cellcube Energy Storage Systems Inc. (CSE:CUBE)
  • Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (CSE:BOLT)
  • One World Lithium Inc. (CSE:OWLI)
  • Cannvas Medtech (CSE:MTEC)

Also featured in this issue is an insightful interview with thought leaders in the blockchain space from Blocktech Ventures, Venzee Technologies and BIG Blockchain Intelligence Group.

Check out the latest issue of Public Entrepreneur magazine below and be sure to check out highlights from the Extraordinary Future conference on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.

 

Service Providers

Reviewing Your Company’s Communication Policy

When was the last time your board reviewed the company’s communication policy? When the company needs to communicate information, whether internally or externally, who handles it? Do you have a process in place to ensure that your message is clear and that it reaches its intended audience? What about shareholder, stakeholder or media inquiries, is there a designated person who responds to such inquiries and does everyone in the company know what to do if they are approached for a comment about your company or the services that you provide?

As a board, company communications can be a tricky subject to oversee, particularly in today’s technologically advanced world where things can be disseminated in an instant. When you have good news to report or are promoting an exciting event, it seems much easier to maintain control of the message and find a welcoming, receptive audience. But when you need to communicate a difficult message to shareholders, stakeholders or the public this is when you will really benefit from having a communication policy with a well-defined process in place. Following are some of the key items for your board to consider when developing or reviewing your communication policy:

  • Who the policy applies to – i.e. officers, directors, employees and consultants
  • Who will draft, implement and periodically review the policy for effectiveness?
  • Who will be responsible for preparing the communication? Will it be done by an individual or by a pre-determined committee? Are there any particular circumstances when the responsibility may change?
  • How will the information be disseminated, via a newswire service, an internal communication list/newsletter/blog or other method?
  • Who will be designated to respond to inquiries?
  • Will the communication policy include electronic communication such as email and social media or will that require a separate policy?

A communication policy is important for all companies. It helps to build a strong, consistent image both internally and externally and is critical in protecting your reputation. If your board hasn’t adopted or reviewed the communication policy lately you may want to suggest that it be added to the next agenda for discussion.

This story was written by Canaglobe Compliance Solutions and featured in Service Providers magazine.

Service Providers

The Benefits of Cross-Trading in the United States

For many Canadian companies, the successful listing of their security represents an important milestone.  It’s a sign of recognition, prestige and success, demonstrating to the market a desire to be open and transparent.  There are many reasons why a company may choose to list its shares – to raise capital, increase its valuation and diversify its shareholder base.  But many companies are unaware that there are limitations as to what can be achieved by solely listing in Canada.   They may not be cognizant of the fact that many U.S. investors are unwilling or unable to invest in foreign markets, and that the information they make available locally may not be widely-available to U.S investors.  So, what is the best way to bridge this gap and access the world’s largest market for capital expansion and growth? Cross-trading.

There are numerous benefits to Cross-Trading in the U.S:

  • Diversifying your shareholder base
  • Making your financial information, research, pricing, and risk assessment more broadly available to U.S. investors
  • Appealing to those investors who prefer securities traded domestically ($USD)
  • Enhancing visibility among broker dealers by supporting broker and sell-side compliance

A national exchange, such as NYSE or Nasdaq, may be perceived to be the natural home and fit for most foreign issuers looking to access a deep pool of institutional investors. However, foreign issuers, such as those in Canada, are subject to U.S. exchange requirements and different accounting standards that can become duplicative, time-consuming and cost-prohibitive for global IROs with limited budgets. On the contrary, cross-trading on the OTC Market allows a company to leverage its existing reporting standards to make its disclosure available in the U.S. The simplified requirements to trade OTC remove duplication, are less-resource intensive and require fewer expensive experts.  This secondary trading solution helps to remove trading restrictions and complements the company’s home market reporting process.  In turn, a company improves its ability to maximize shareholder value, achieve better visibility and a fair valuation in the U.S. public market, while increasing the effectiveness of its investor relations program.

Cross-trading also presents both Canada and the US with reciprocal opportunities for issuers to enhance market liquidity, creating additional investing opportunities in a company’s home market and abroad.  Providing a cost-effective trading environment in which to raise capital and build global investor awareness.

In addition to cross-trading, OTC Markets Group Inc. and the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) recently developed a first-of-its-kind North American capital formation and visibility solution for start-ups looking to go public.  This alliance offers issuers the benefits of the IPO listing on the CSE, combined with secondary trading on OTC Markets’ OTCQX Best Market/OTCQB Venture Market.  This affords investors and the broker dealer community greater access to a breadth of financial information, increased global investing opportunities and more efficient trading of international issuers shares.  Simple processes and fixed fee structures remove many of the barriers of cost, time and complexity typically associated with going public on an exchange.  Helping companies bridge the gap and expand their footprint– paving the way for capital expansion and growth.

This story was written by OTC Markets Group and featured in Service Providers magazine.

Service Providers

Top 10 Tips to Improve News Releases for your CSE Listed Company

Global consumption of news is at an all-time high. Our digital lives keep us constantly connected and fed with a steady diet of emails, shares, tweets and more. The result is that people actually have less time to read than ever before.

So, how do you create news releases that will get the attention of an overstimulated audience?

Here are 10 tips to help your company’s news stand out:

  1. Focus on the headline
    • Include your company name and an action item.
    • The headline is your best chance to make a statement and to capture the reader’s attention. Use the opportunity to make an impression.
  2. Keep it concise
    • Many will not read beyond your headline and first paragraph, make your point early and get the important details across promptly.
    • Less is more in an era where the average person is overwhelmed with content.
  3. Use multimedia
    • A picture/map/chart/video will increase viewership of a news release and provide a visual representation of the message.
  4. Include a quote
  • Readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to the first quote.
  • A quote adds a human element to the news and provides great content for journalists.
  1. Link back to your website
    • Your news release shouldn’t explain every detail. A link will encourage readers to visit your site for more information.
  2. Use social media
    • Your investors are using social media and you should as well.
    • “Like,” “Share,” “Re-Tweet” your own releases and encourage other to do it too.
  3. Stay active
    • A news release should be issued at least once per quarter. This helps you to maintain momentum, build a historical timeline of announcements and keep your story relevant.
  4. Build and maintain your own contact list
    • Allow investors and potential investors to subscribe to your mailing list.
    • Collect contacts within your industry – media, analysts, bloggers.
    • Include the list on your news distribution.
  5. Think like a “skimmer”
    • Let’s face it, your readers are scanning through your news release (a natural consequence of our time-starved society) – so create your news release for the eyes of a skimmer.
    • Let readers quickly find what they’re looking for and catch their attention by using the tips in this list.
  6. Use a reputable newswire
  • Although you can promote your own story, nothing takes the place of a trusted newswire.
  • In a world of “fake news,” an emphasis on authentication will only grow stronger.

You are one among thousands of public companies in North America, all competing for the attention of enthusiastic, research-driven investors. If a news release is your best tool for marketing your company, consider your audience’s perspective, reading habits and research needs. Implement these 10 tips. And then enjoy an increase in reader feedback; an increase in awareness of your company; and an increase in your confidence that your news releases are effectively promoting your message.

Author:

Ian Tennant
Director
Newsfile Corp.
www.newsfilecorp.com

This story was written by Ian Tennant and featured in Service Providers magazine.

Service Providers

A Solution to Getting to Know Your Shareholders

Reality Check: How Well Do You Know Your Shareholders?

No, really — how well?

Most public companies suffer from a lack of information that is typically found in small private companies. Small private companies experience the support of friends and family, small family offices or even venture capital firms that speculate on their behalf. Actually, public companies don’t operate much differently. They, too, experience the support of friends, family and seed investors. The difference is that one day the IPO lures a company in to go public.

The “Problem” with Going Public

It begins when bankers, institutions and small funds lead the way in offering your company to go public. Some stay for a while and some are small gain-focused funds or institutions that are out on day one, making their money on the run up of the IPO. The end result: You’re left with hundreds, if not thousands, of shareholders. You have no clue who they are, what they represent, what their expectations are and, again, who they are.

I call them “boosters.” Boosters are a group of very intelligent, well-connected individuals that operate under the acronym “IRO” as a consultant and/or firm and want to help your company find new shareholders. It’s their job to make introductions to people in their networks. If you do well in presenting your story and delivering and your guidance is on target, you will find shareholders. Rinse and repeat with non-deal-road-show investor conferences and inbound interest. Before you know it, you’ve gone from 25 friends and family investors and one local fund in your network to more than 3,000 shareholders, some of which own up to 10 percent of the company. Then it hits you: You don’t know who these people are, who knows whom and if this even affects your company.

The Solution: Shareholder ID

It’s absolutely essential to the success of your public company that once a year you conduct a sound shareholder identification analysis. If you have sustained volume and people coming in and out of the story and people accumulating more and more, then you should consider hiring a firm to help manage this for each quarter. First, a robust Shareholder ID program will identify street positons in variant forms, objecting beneficial holders (OBO) and non-objecting beneficial holders (NOBO). Then, the program will identify the registered positions analysis to see if firms and individuals show up on both lists. A robust Shareholder ID program will not only highlight the brokers and banks that hold ownership, but also the underlying shareholder(s), and if that shareholder is party to another firm or group who also owns shares in your company. This is where activists come in; this is where share voting is greatly improved; and this is where real relationships are formed.

Every shareholder has a price horizon; it’s important you know this, for many reasons. One, you should understand how much time you invest in getting to know them, what else they invest in, whom they know, where they went to school and what they model your business out to be. The more you get to know your shareholder, the more you will understand these things. The more you understand these things, the quicker you can step up the shareholder base.

The more you get to know your shareholder, the more you will understand these things.

The more you understand these things, the quicker you can step up the shareholder base.

I’m a realist, and I enter a relationship with a shareholder knowing that if she/he makes a decision to purchase some shares in my company in the open market, most likely she/he will be my friend for a short period of time. This works. I don’t want a marriage — I have one. What I do want is to make them money, plain and simple. And I do that by executing my strategy, communicating my message and delivering. No disrespect intended when I say to any shareholder, either individual or firm/institution, that I want to sell when they’re ready and move on to the next one, to build a relationship with a new one, and repeat this process again. Every now and then, however, you find fans, regardless if they are high net worth people or firms, that love your business, your industry and you. They become the glue of your shareholder base, and they are rare. You might not even know who they really are.  Do you want your company’s biggest fans to be a stranger to you and your management team? I think not!

Do you want your company’s biggest fans to be a stranger to you and your management team?

Over the past 10 years, I have met hundreds of CEOs that don’t know their shareholders, don’t understand the mechanics of their shareholder base, and refuse to invest the time or resources in learning it. By contrast, I have met a very small percentage of C-level executives who get this simple exercise and have the best shareholder bases I have ever seen.

Ask your IRO, your outsourced IR firm or even your transfer or annual meeting management company for help. If they can’t do this for you, they should refer you to a trusted company that can.

This story was written by ACCESSWIRE and featured in Service Providers magazine.