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Biomind Research Corp. and Crosswinds Holdings Inc. Announce Definitive Agreement to Complete Reverse Takeover

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Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – February 22, 2021) – Crosswinds Holdings Inc. (TSX: CWI) (“Crosswinds“) and Biomind Research Corp. (“Biomind” or the “Company“) are pleased to announce the execution of an arm’s length binding definitive agreement (the “Definitive Agreement“) between Biomind, Crosswinds and Crosswinds’ majority shareholder, pursuant to which Crosswinds has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Biomind (the “Proposed Transaction“). Following the completion of the Proposed Transaction, Crosswinds (the “Resulting Issuer“) will continue the business of Biomind, being the research, development and commercialization of innovative psychotropic pharmaceutical products for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological conditions. The Resulting Issuer intends to apply to have its common shares listed and posted for trading on the NEO Exchange (the “Exchange“) under the name “Biomind Labs Inc.”

About Biomind

Biomind is a biotech research and development company aimed at transforming the ancestral therapeutic knowledge from natural psychotropic plants into novel pharmaceutical drugs and nanotech delivery systems for a variety of psychiatric and neurological conditions. Through its acceleration platform, Biomind is initially developing novel pharmaceutical sole and combined formulations of the main four natural psychedelic molecules, N, N-dimenthyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin, mescaline and ibogaine with the aim of identifying novel pharmaceutical compounds for treating a wide range of therapeutic indications. For each of the natural psychedelic molecules, Biomind is seeking to design a library of 20-30 novel molecules in order to create an extensive portfolio of patentable molecules to be marketed by Biomind and/or licensed to large pharmaceutical companies. Through an authorized third party contract research organization (CRO), Biomind has designed six initial clinical trials of which one has already commenced and another two are anticipated to begin in early March 2021. These initial clinical trials are planned to be completed in Brazil, a jurisdiction which conducted the first randomized, placebo-controlled and government authorized clinical trial of psychedelic assisted treatment for a psychiatric disorder, thereby providing Biomind with a unique advantage to accelerate the molecule to market lifecycle. Biomind anticipates conducting additional clinical trials in the near future in Brazil as well as in Switzerland and the United States.

Proposed Transaction

It is currently anticipated that Crosswinds will acquire all of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Biomind (“Biomind Shares“) by way of a three-cornered merger pursuant to a plan of merger under the laws of the British Virgin Islands whereby a newly incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of Crosswinds will merge with Biomind (the “Merger“) with the resulting entity (“MergerCo“) continuing as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Crosswinds. The Resulting Issuer will continue the business of MergerCo. The final terms and structure of the Proposed Transaction may be revised in order to give effect to applicable financial, legal, tax and securities considerations.

As consideration for the completion of the Proposed Transaction, and subject to customary adjustments, including any consolidation of the outstanding common shares of Crosswinds (the “Crosswinds Shares“) that may be effected prior to closing, holders of Biomind Shares will receive such number of common shares of the Resulting Issuer (each, a “Resulting Issuer Share“), for each one (1) Biomind Share (the “Exchange Ratio”), as is equal to the issuance price of the Biomind Shares pursuant to the Concurrent Financing (as defined below), multiplied by the quotient which results when CDN$1,000,000 is divided by the fully-diluted number of Crosswinds Shares outstanding on the closing of the Proposed Transaction. The Exchange Ratio is based on a valuation of Crosswinds, on a fully-diluted basis, of CDN$1,000,000. Any outstanding options, warrants or other exchangeable or convertible securities of Biomind will be exchanged, on an equivalent basis, for securities of the Resulting Issuer.

Completion of the Proposed Transaction will be subject to the satisfaction or waiver of a number of conditions including, among others, (A) the completion of the Concurrent Financing (described below) on or before May 20, 2021, (B) receipt all necessary board, shareholder and regulatory approvals of Crosswinds and Biomind for the Proposed Transaction and related arrangements, (C) each party being satisfied with its legal and financial due diligence review of the respective party and its business; and (D) approval of the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares on an applicable Canadian stock exchange.

It is anticipated that pursuant to the Proposed Transaction, Crosswinds will change its name to Biomind Research Inc. (the “Name Change“) and continue from under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) into British Columbia under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) (the “Continuance“).

The Proposed Transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021.

Concurrent Financing

Biomind has retained Canaccord Genuity Corp. (“Canaccord“) as agent and sole bookrunner, to sell, on a best efforts private placement basis, subscription receipts of Biomind (each, a “Subscription Receipt“) for aggregate gross proceeds of up to approximately CDN$20,000,000 (the “Concurrent Financing”).

Upon satisfaction of certain escrow release conditions customary of financings of this nature, and subject to adjustment in certain events, it is anticipated that each Subscription Receipt issued in connection with the Concurrent Financing shall be exchanged, without payment of any additional consideration and without further action on the part of the holder thereof, for one (1) Biomind Share. Upon the completion of the Proposed Transaction, holders of Biomind Shares issued upon conversion of the Subscription Receipts will be entitled to receive for each Biomind Share so held, without payment of any additional consideration and without further action on the part of the holder thereof, freely tradeable Resulting Issuer Shares in accordance with the Exchange Ratio. The issue price, as well as the definitive terms of the Subscription Receipts and Concurrent Financing will be determined in the context of the market at the time of the Concurrent Financing and will be subject to the provisions of a subscription receipt agreement, and an agency agreement to be entered into between the Company, Crosswinds and Canaccord.

Upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, the net proceeds of the Concurrent Financing are expected to be used to further develop the clinical arm of the business in Brazil, the United States and Switzerland in order to secure a global market entry for the novel pharmaceutical drugs developed by Biomind and registered under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), Health Canada, Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA), among others, and for general working capital purposes.

Biomind and Crosswinds will provide further details regarding the Concurrent Financing, including a determination of the issue price of the Subscription Receipts in due course by way of press release.

Resulting Issuer Board and Management

Subject to applicable shareholder and Exchange approvals, on completion of the Proposed Transaction it is anticipated that the board of directors and management of the Resulting Issuer will be reconstituted to include the individuals set out below. The Resulting Issuer expects to identify additional directors prior to the completion of the Proposed Transaction.

Alejandro Antalich – Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Antalich is the former Chief Executive Officer of ICC Labs Inc. (TSXV), the first publicly traded company in the world to sell cannabis to a federal government. Through strategic foresight, determination, commitment, responsibility, teamwork and passion, he led ICC Labs to its successful sale to Aurora Cannabis (TSX) in November 2018. A genuine entrepreneur, born with a truly commercial instinct and vision on business growth, with expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, operations, manufacturing and product development. A savvy negotiator that manages unique relationship building skills, he led the negotiations of a multimillion transaction with one of the largest players in the cannabis space.

Oscar Leon – Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Leon is a highly experienced Certified Public Accountant with a solid background in Financial Management, Accounting, Project Finance and Risk Analysis, with extensive experience in Agriculture, Cannabis Mining and Hydropower Industries, U.S. and Canadian GAAP and IFRS knowledge and SEC and Canadian regulatory reporting and filing experience. Mr. Leon, with a strong sense of teamwork, quality and ethics, is a results-oriented individual who demonstrates his abilities to the benefit of the organization, Mr. Leon has over three decades of experience as a Certified Public Accountant and over two decades of experience as CFO, Financial Controller, Chief Accountant for several Uruguayan, Canadian and American Companies.

Juan Presa – Chief Legal Officer

Mr. Presa is an attorney at law from the Catholic University in Uruguay. He has proven experience in legal advice in different lines of business, specializing in Corporate, Commercial and International Law. He worked with companies from diverse industries such as agriculture, mining, cannabis, FinTech, and listed companies both on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. He also developed the business expansion of companies through South America, Asia-Pacific and Africa, and participating in mergers and acquisitions of both public and private companies, public offerings and private placement financings.

Ravi Sood – Director

Mr. Sood is managing director of Signal 8 Limited based in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Sood has been a founder of and the principal investor in several businesses in emerging markets and currently serves as Chairman of Jade Power Trust (TSXV) and Galane Gold Ltd. (TSXV) and as a director of Eve & Co Incorporated (TSXV). He was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Navina Asset Management Inc., a global asset management firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Sood led the investment activities of Navina and its predecessor company, Lawrence Asset Management Inc., from its founding in 2001 until he sold the firm in 2010. Mr. Sood was educated at the University of Waterloo (B.Mathematics) where he was a Descartes Fellow and the recipient of numerous national awards.

Additional Information

The Crosswinds Shares are not currently listed on any stock exchange. Additional information with respect to the Concurrent Financing and the Proposed Transaction will follow in subsequent press releases.

All information contained in this press release with respect to Crosswinds and Biomind was supplied by the parties respectively, for inclusion herein, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

About Crosswinds

Crosswinds is an Alberta based company and is a reporting issuer in all provinces and territories of Canada. The Crosswinds Shares were de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 28, 2019. Crosswinds does not currently conduct any active business operations and all former operating entities have been dissolved. Crosswinds’ sole asset is cash.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to United States persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

For more information please contact:

Biomind Research Corp.
Alejandro Antalich, CEO
E: [email protected]
T: +598 92 251500

Crosswinds Holdings Inc.
Trumbull Fisher, CEO and Director
E: [email protected]

Cautionary Notes

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to, completion of satisfactory due diligence, completion of the Concurrent Financing, Exchange acceptance and, if applicable, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed, or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement or other disclosure document to be prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Crosswinds should be considered highly speculative.

Forward-looking Information

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes “forward-looking information”, within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “aims”, “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “target”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur”, “be achieved” or “has the potential to”. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, among others, statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of Crosswinds, the anticipated completion of the Proposed Transaction, the Concurrent Financing and the Merger, the reconstitution of the Resulting Issuer Board, the completion of the Name Change and Continuance, and the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares on the Exchange. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and Crosswinds disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/75147

Fintech

How to identify authenticity in crypto influencer channels

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Modern brands stake on influencer marketing, with 76% of users making a purchase after seeing a product on social media.The cryptocurrency industry is no exception to this trend. However, promoting crypto products through influencer marketing can be particularly challenging. Crypto influencers pose a significant risk to a brand’s reputation and ROI due to rampant scams. Approximately 80% of channels provide fake statistics, including followers counts and engagement metrics. Additionally, this niche is characterized by high CPMs, which can increase the risk of financial loss for brands.

In this article Nadia Bubennnikova, Head of agency Famesters, will explore the most important things to look for in crypto channels to find the perfect match for influencer marketing collaborations.

 

  1. Comments 

There are several levels related to this point.

 

LEVEL 1

Analyze approximately 10 of the channel’s latest videos, looking through the comments to ensure they are not purchased from dubious sources. For example, such comments as “Yes sir, great video!”; “Thanks!”; “Love you man!”; “Quality content”, and others most certainly are bot-generated and should be avoided.

Just to compare: 

LEVEL 2

Don’t rush to conclude that you’ve discovered the perfect crypto channel just because you’ve come across some logical comments that align with the video’s topic. This may seem controversial, but it’s important to dive deeper. When you encounter a channel with logical comments, ensure that they are unique and not duplicated under the description box. Some creators are smarter than just buying comments from the first link that Google shows you when you search “buy YouTube comments”. They generate topics, provide multiple examples, or upload lists of examples, all produced by AI. You can either manually review the comments or use a script to parse all the YouTube comments into an Excel file. Then, add a formula to highlight any duplicates.

LEVEL 3

It is also a must to check the names of the profiles that leave the comments: most of the bot-generated comments are easy to track: they will all have the usernames made of random symbols and numbers, random first and last name combinations, “Habibi”, etc. No profile pictures on all comments is also a red flag.

 

LEVEL 4

Another important factor to consider when assessing comment authenticity is the posting date. If all the comments were posted on the same day, it’s likely that the traffic was purchased.

 

2. Average views number per video

This is indeed one of the key metrics to consider when selecting an influencer for collaboration, regardless of the product type. What specific factors should we focus on?

First & foremost: the views dynamics on the channel. The most desirable type of YouTube channel in terms of views is one that maintains stable viewership across all of its videos. This stability serves as proof of an active and loyal audience genuinely interested in the creator’s content, unlike channels where views vary significantly from one video to another.

Many unauthentic crypto channels not only buy YouTube comments but also invest in increasing video views to create the impression of stability. So, what exactly should we look at in terms of views? Firstly, calculate the average number of views based on the ten latest videos. Then, compare this figure to the views of the most recent videos posted within the past week. If you notice that these new videos have nearly the same number of views as those posted a month or two ago, it’s a clear red flag. Typically, a YouTube channel experiences lower views on new videos, with the number increasing organically each day as the audience engages with the content. If you see a video posted just three days ago already garnering 30k views, matching the total views of older videos, it’s a sign of fraudulent traffic purchased to create the illusion of view stability.

 

3. Influencer’s channel statistics

The primary statistics of interest are region and demographic split, and sometimes the device types of the viewers.

LEVEL 1

When reviewing the shared statistics, the first step is to request a video screencast instead of a simple screenshot. This is because it takes more time to organically edit a video than a screenshot, making it harder to manipulate the statistics. If the creator refuses, step two (if only screenshots are provided) is to download them and check the file’s properties on your computer. Look for details such as whether it was created with Adobe Photoshop or the color profile, typically Adobe RGB, to determine if the screenshot has been edited.

LEVEL 2

After confirming the authenticity of the stats screenshot, it’s crucial to analyze the data. For instance, if you’re examining a channel conducted in Spanish with all videos filmed in the same language, it would raise concerns to find a significant audience from countries like India or Turkey. This discrepancy, where the audience doesn’t align with regions known for speaking the language, is a red flag.

If we’re considering an English-language crypto channel, it typically suggests an international audience, as English’s global use for quality educational content on niche topics like crypto. However, certain considerations apply. For instance, if an English-speaking channel shows a significant percentage of Polish viewers (15% to 30%) without any mention of the Polish language, it could indicate fake followers and views. However, if the channel’s creator is Polish, occasionally posts videos in Polish alongside English, and receives Polish comments, it’s important not to rush to conclusions.

Example of statistics

 

Wrapping up

These are the main factors to consider when selecting an influencer to promote your crypto product. Once you’ve launched the campaign, there are also some markers to show which creators did bring the authentic traffic and which used some tools to create the illusion of an active and engaged audience. While this may seem obvious, it’s still worth mentioning. After the video is posted, allow 5-7 days for it to accumulate a basic number of views, then check performance metrics such as views, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), signups, and conversion rate (CR) from clicks to signups.

If you overlooked some red flags when selecting crypto channels for your launch, you might find the following outcomes: channels with high views numbers and high CTRs, demonstrating the real interest of the audience, yet with remarkably low conversion rates. In the worst-case scenario, you might witness thousands of clicks resulting in zero to just a few signups. While this might suggest technical issues in other industries, in crypto campaigns it indicates that the creator engaged in the campaign not only bought fake views and comments but also link clicks. And this happens more often than you may realize.

Summing up, choosing the right crypto creator to promote your product is indeed a tricky job that requires a lot of resources to be put into the search process. 

Author Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency  at Famesters

Author

Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency at Famesters

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Fintech

Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space

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The BIS, along with seven leading central banks and a cohort of private financial firms, has embarked on an ambitious venture known as Project Agorá.

Named after the Greek word for “marketplace,” this initiative stands at the forefront of exploring the potential of tokenisation to significantly enhance the operational efficiency of the monetary system worldwide.

Central to this pioneering project are the Bank of France (on behalf of the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. These institutions have joined forces under the banner of Project Agorá, in partnership with an extensive assembly of private financial entities convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

At the heart of Project Agorá is the pursuit of integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised wholesale central bank money within a unified, public-private programmable financial platform. By harnessing the advanced capabilities of smart contracts and programmability, the project aspires to unlock new transactional possibilities that were previously infeasible or impractical, thereby fostering novel opportunities that could benefit businesses and consumers alike.

The collaborative effort seeks to address and surmount a variety of structural inefficiencies that currently plague cross-border payments. These challenges include disparate legal, regulatory, and technical standards; varying operating hours and time zones; and the heightened complexity associated with conducting financial integrity checks (such as anti-money laundering and customer verification procedures), which are often redundantly executed across multiple stages of a single transaction due to the involvement of several intermediaries.

As a beacon of experimental and exploratory projects, the BIS Innovation Hub is committed to delivering public goods to the global central banking community through initiatives like Project Agorá. In line with this mission, the BIS will soon issue a call for expressions of interest from private financial institutions eager to contribute to this ground-breaking project. The IIF will facilitate the involvement of private sector participants, extending an invitation to regulated financial institutions representing each of the seven aforementioned currencies to partake in this transformative endeavour.

Source: fintech.globa

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TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud

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TD Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Google Cloud as it looks to streamline the development and deployment of new products and services.

The deal will see the Canadian banking group integrate the vendor’s cloud services into a wider portion of its technology solutions portfolio, a move which TD expects will enable it “to respond quickly to changing customer expectations by rolling out new features, updates, or entirely new financial products at an accelerated pace”.

This marks an expansion of the already established relationship between TD Bank and Google Cloud after the group previously adopted the vendor’s Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for TD Securities Automated Trading (TDSAT), the Chicago-based subsidiary of its investment banking unit, TD Securities.

TDSAT uses GKE for process automation and quantitative modelling across fixed income markets, resulting in the development of a “data-driven research platform” capable of processing large research workloads in trading.

Dan Bosman, SVP and CIO of TD Securities, claims the infrastructure has so far supported TDSAT with “compute-intensive quantitative analysis” while expanding the subsidiary’s “trading volumes and portfolio size”.

TD’s new partnership with Google Cloud will see the group attempt to replicate the same level of success across its entire portfolio.

Source: fintechfutures.com

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