TORONTO, ON (July 5, 2021) - EQ Inc. (TSXV: EQ) (“EQ Works” or the “Company”), a leader in geospatial data and artificial intelligence driven software, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of all of the shares of Integrated Rewards Inc., and its consumer facing application Paymi.com ("Paymi"). Paymi is a cloud-based marketing platform that uses card linking technology to enable consumers to receive cash back rewards for credit and debit card transactions and offer merchant partners the ability to understand more about their customers to drive greater sales and increase market share.
With this acquisition, EQ Works enters the incentive and loyalty data market with a fully commercialized scalable application. Ingesting millions of transactions in real-time from multiple sources, Paymi creates aggregate, real-time, privacy centric, anonymized customer spending profiles. Paymi’s proprietary zero party data will be incorporated into the Company's LOCUS platform to provide deeper and richer actionable insights and offer direct-to-consumer (DTC) clients the ability to target, reward and incentivize new customers through unique and customized acquisition opportunities.
“As the economy prepares to reopen after a difficult 14 months, the ability to utilize data to better understand consumer spending patterns and re-engage with the most desired customers has never been more important” said Geoffrey Rotstein, President and CEO of EQ Works. “By combining Paymi’s transactional data with EQ’s geospatial data and AI-driven analytical capabilities, we are perfectly positioned to help our clients more effectively invest in critical reopening and growth strategies.”
Transaction Highlights and Benefits
The Paymi acquisition provides several immediate and long-term strategic benefits for EQ Works.
It adds a new revenue stream and facilitates expansion into multiple new customer verticals;
It adds an innovative proprietary technology platform that accumulates 100% consent based zero party data in a privacy focused environment; and
Access to these data sets will organically enhance LOCUS’s leading analytics and AI framework with proprietary zero party data.
Paymi has secured over 350,000 linked credit and debit cards to date, processed over $80 million of transactions through its platform, and over $10 billion in customer spend and has an existing contract with one of Canada’s tier-1 banks.
For LOCUS, the Company’s proprietary data processing and analytics software-as-a-service platform, Paymi will provide additional data sets and enable businesses to close the loop between digital geospatial and real-world consumer actions.
For consumers, Paymi’s technology provides a seamless and frictionless experience to securely connect credit and debit cards, and provide consumers with the ability to redeem cash back rewards through modern, instant payment means such as Interac™ e-Transfer.
For retail merchant partners, Paymi provides strategic and anonymized information on consumer share of wallet and competitive shopping habits, helping enhance campaign strategies and increase brand loyalty.
“As a leader in geospatial data and analytics, EQ continues to focus on improving our data analytics capabilities to drive better strategic and tactical decisions based on data” said Zane Mistry, General Manager of Incentives, of EQ Works. “Paymi has grown significantly in a very short period to become a recognized leader and innovator within the incentives and loyalty vertical and bring both a new business and revenue stream with high quality transactional data to evolve those capabilities. We are delighted to welcome the Paymi team to EQ.”
In addition to a customary working capital adjustment, the purchase price payable on closing is $2,500,000 payable in cash, of which $2,000,000 will be paid in the manner directed by Paymi and $500,000 will placed into escrow for indemnity purposes. Of the funds held in escrow, $375,000 will be released after 12 months and $125,000 will be released after 18 months, in each case subject to any claims by EQ Works.
About Paymi
Founded in 2014, Paymi (www.paymi.com) specializes in driving true and precise Share of Wallet growth. It provides the tools and expertise for new customer acquisition, category and trade area growth, retention of high value customers and strengthening brand loyalty. Paymi uses card-linking technology to offer cash back on the purchases a customer makes with its merchant partners, both in-store and online, with any linked credit and debit card. Paymi provides its merchant partners with unique marketing advantages through insight into individual customer share of wallet and cross-category spending habits. Paymi merchants leverage this data to design and optimize their customer offers based on the true potential ROI of each customer segment.
About EQ Works
EQ Works (www.eqworks.com) enables businesses to understand, predict, and influence customer behaviour. Using unique data sets, advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, EQ Works creates actionable intelligence for businesses to attract, retain, and grow the customers that matter most. The Company’s proprietary SaaS platform mines insights from movement and geospatial data, enabling businesses to close the loop between digital and real-world consumer actions.
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Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those regarding the performance of Paymi following the acquisition by the Company, the strategic benefits of Paymi for the Company, the release of funds held in escrow, and the Company’s ability to grow its existing business. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by such forward-looking statements. EQ Works is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or otherwise.
Peter Kanniah, Chief Financial Officer – 416-260-4326 • 1235 Bay Street, Suite 401 Toronto, Ontario M5R 3K4 press@eqworks.com • www.eqworks.com
Bill Mitoulas, Investor Relations – 416-479-9547 • bill@venturenorthcapital.com