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Trees Corporation and 1287406 B.C. Ltd Announce Closing of Private Placement

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Calgary, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – December 20, 2021) – Trees Corporation (“Trees“) and 1287406 B.C. Ltd., (“406“) are pleased to announce the closing of the previously announced non-brokered private placement (the “Private Placement“) of subscription receipts of Trees (the “Subscription Receipts“). Pursuant to the Private Placement, Trees issued an aggregate of 101,500,000 Subscription Receipts at a price of $0.02 per Subscription Receipt (the “Subscription Price“) for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,030,000.

Summary of the Private Placement

The Private Placement was completed in connection with the previously announced proposed amalgamation of Trees and 406 (the “Amalgamation“), to be completed pursuant to the terms of an amalgamation agreement between Trees and 406 dated October 26, 2021, as amended and restated on November 10, 2021 (the “Amalgamation Agreement“). As previously announced, Trees has received conditional approval of the Neo Exchange Inc. (“NEO“) for the listing of the common shares (the “Resulting Issuer Shares“) in the capital of the the company resulting from the Amalgamation (the “Resulting Issuer“) on the NEO.

Further details of the Amalgamation were previously announced by Trees and 406 on October 27, 2021 and November 15, 2021 (together, the “Press Releases“) and are set out in the joint information circular of Trees and 406 dated November 12, 2021 (the “Circular“). The Circular constitutes Trees’ “Listing Document” in the context of its NEO listing application. The Press Releases and the Circular are available on the SEDAR profile of 406 at www.sedar.com.

The Subscription Receipts are governed by the terms of a subscription receipt agreement (the “Subscription Receipt Agreement“) dated December 17, 2021 between Trees and Odyssey Trust Company (the “Subscription Receipt Agent“).

Pursuant to and in accordance with the Subscription Receipt Agreement, each Subscription Receipt shall be automatically exchanged, without payment of any additional consideration or any further action by the holder thereof, for one class A common share in the capital of Trees (each, a “Trees Share“) upon the satisfaction or waiver of certain escrow release conditions set out in the Subscription Receipt Agreement (“Escrow Release Conditions“) at or before 11:59 p.m. (Toronto time) on April 16, 2022 (the “Escrow Release Deadline“), all in accordance with the terms of the Subscription Receipt Agreement.

On closing of the Private Placement, the gross proceeds of the Private Placement, less 50% of the Finder’s Fee (as defined below) were delivered to the Subscription Receipt Agent (together with all interest and other income earned thereon, the “Escrowed Funds“), to be held in escrow pending the satisfaction or waiver of the Escrow Release Conditions at or prior to the Escrow Release Deadline, in accordance with the provisions of the Subscription Receipt Agreement.

The Escrowed Funds will be released to Trees upon the satisfaction or waiver of the Escrow Release Conditions at or before the Escrow Release Deadline, at which time each Subscription Receipt shall automatically be exchanged for one Trees Share. Prior to completion of the Amalgamation and in connection therewith, the Trees Shares shall be consolidated at a ratio of between 2:1 and 50:1 (the “Consolidation“), as determined by, and subject to the discretion of, the board of directors of Trees. Each post-Consolidation Trees Share will be exchanged for one Resulting Issuer Share upon completion of the transactions contemplated by the Amalgamation Agreement.

In the event that: (i) the Escrow Release Conditions are not satisfied or waived (to the extent such waiver is permitted) on or before the Escrow Release Deadline; (ii) prior to the Escrow Release Deadline, Trees announces to the public that it does not intend to or cannot satisfy any one or more of the Escrow Release Conditions; or (iii) the Amalgamation Agreement is terminated in accordance with its terms at any earlier time, then Trees will direct the Subscription Receipt Agent to return to the holders of the Subscription Receipts an amount equal to the aggregate purchase price for the Subscription Receipts held by such holder plus a pro rata share of any interest or other income earned on the subscription proceeds (less applicable withholding tax, if any). To the extent that the Escrowed Funds are insufficient to refund 100% of the aggregate purchase price of the Subscription Receipts to the holders thereof, Trees will be liable for and will be required to contribute such amounts as are necessary to satisfy any shortfall.

In connection with the Private Placement, Trees paid certain finders an aggregate cash fee of $45,000 (the “Finder’s Fee“) and issued warrants to purchase up to 175,000 Trees Shares (the “Finder’s Warrants“). The Finder’s Warrants shall be exercisable upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions for a period of two years from the date of completion of the transactions contemplated by the Amalgamation Agreement at an exercise price per share equal to the Subscription Price, as may be adjusted to account for the Consolidation, as applicable.

All Subscription Receipts issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period in accordance with Canadian securities laws. Following completion of the Amalgamation, the Resulting Issuer Shares received upon the exchange of Trees Shares underlying the Subscription Receipts will not be subject to a statutory hold period in Canada.

Upon completion of the Amalgamation, the proceeds of the Private Placement are anticipated to be used by the Resulting Issuer: (i) for legal and other costs related to the transactions contemplated by the Amalgamation Agreement; (ii) to open additional cannabis retail locations; and (iii) for general administrative expenses and working capital purposes.

About Trees

Trees was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) (the “ABCA“) on February 2, 2018. On December 15, 2020, Trees changed its name from “Budbank Information Systems Corp.” to “Trees Corporation” pursuant to the filing of articles of amendment pursuant to the ABCA. Trees’ registered and head office is located at 1600, 520 – 3rd Ave SW, Calgary AB, T2P 0R3.

Trees is an independent retail cannabis operator that currently operates six fully licensed retail cannabis stores that sell cannabis products and accessories in the Province of Ontario. Trees intends to enter the British Columbia retail cannabis market upon the closing of the acquisition of 1015712 B.C. Ltd. (“101“) pursuant to the terms of the second amended and restated asset purchase agreement (the “101 Purchase Agreement“) entered into between Trees and 101. 101 currently operates five existing retail cannabis stores in the Province of British Columbia. The closing of the transactions contemplated by the 101 Purchase Agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent, including the receipt of certain licensing approvals and related regulatory consents.

In addition to the six retail cannabis stores that Trees currently owns and operates in the Province of Ontario, Trees has completed the construction and build-out of two additional stores, which stores have received conditional licenses to operate, with final approval subject to the completion of final regulatory inspections. Trees has also identified an additional seven unbuilt cannabis retail store locations for which it has received conditional license approvals from the provincial regulator, with final licensing approvals subject to completion of store construction and final regulatory inspections.

About 406

406 was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) as “1287406 B.C. Ltd.” on February 3, 2021 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of 1289625 B.C. Ltd. (“406 Parent“). Pursuant to the arrangement agreement dated March 25, 2021 entered into among 406, 1289625 B.C. Ltd., 1287390 B.C. Ltd., 1287398 B.C. Ltd., 1287401 B.C. Ltd., 1287405 B.C. Ltd., 1287396 B.C. Ltd., 1287409 B.C. Ltd., 1287411 B.C. Ltd., 1287412 B.C. Ltd. and 1287413 B.C. Ltd., 1289625 B.C. Ltd., 406 Parent reorganized its capital such that each holder of common shares disposed of their holdings to 1289625 B.C. Ltd. and, in consideration therefor, received, among other things, certain 406 Shares, which resulted in 406 ceasing to be a subsidiary of 1289625 B.C. Ltd.

406 is a reporting issuer under the securities laws of the jurisdictions of Alberta and British Columbia and currently has 3,850,000 406 Shares issued and outstanding. None of its securities, including the 406 Shares, are listed or posted for trading on any stock exchange and no public market exists for any securities of 406. 406 has no material assets and does not currently conduct any business operations.

406’s head office is located at 3400 22 Adelaide S.W., Toronto, ON M5H 4E3 and its registered and records offices are located at 1200 Waterfront Centre, 200 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V7X 1T2.

Further Information

All information contained in this news release with respect to Trees and 406 was supplied by the respective party, for inclusion herein, without independent review by the other party, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

Completion of the Amalgamation is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, final NEO acceptance. There can be no assurance that the Amalgamation or the listing of Resulting Issuer Shares on the NEO will be completed as proposed or at all.

Readers are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Circular, any information released or received with respect to the Amalgamation may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Resulting Issuer should be considered highly speculative.

The NEO has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed Amalgamation and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

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 U.S. persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

For further information, please contact:

1287406 B.C. Ltd.

James Ward
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director
Email: [email protected]

Trees Corporation

Jeff Holmgren
Executive VP & CFO
Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include but are not limited to statements or information with respect to: the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions; the use of net proceeds from the Private Placement; the terms and conditions of the Amalgamation; the completion of the Amalgamation; the receipt of final approval to list the Resulting Issuer Shares on the NEO; and the details of any securities issuances, exchanges or cancellations in connection with the Private Placement and the Amalgamation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as “estimate”, “project”, “belief”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect”, “plan”, “predict”, “may” or “should” and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information.

With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, 406 and Trees have made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about general business and economic conditions of Trees and the market in which it operates. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Although management of 406 and Trees believe that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information herein will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to: risks relating to the Private Placement; risks relating to the receipt of all requisite approvals for the Amalgamation and/or other ancillary transactions, including the approval of Trees and 406 shareholders and the NEO; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time. 406 and Trees do not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. 406 and Trees assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release
publication, distribution or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/108113

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

The post TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

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