Fintech
Marble Issues Annual Shareholder Letter
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – December 22, 2021) – Marble Financial Inc. (CSE: MRBL) (OTC PINK: MRBLF) (FSE: 2V0) (“Marble” or the “Company”), an AI-driven financial technology company, is pleased to provide the following shareholder letter from Marble CEO Karim Nanji.
Dear Shareholders,
I thank you for supporting our Company and its mission to become a leader in providing financial solutions that will positively change the lives of many Canadians. It has been our goal from the onset to offer an alternative, prescriptive solution to the millions of people across Canada who are either underbanked or marginalized from mainstream financial services. In 2022, we strive to bring our unique solutions to the millions of financially underserved consumers in the United States.
2021 has been a transformative year for Marble as we were successful in accomplishing key initiatives on both operational and corporate fronts.
We augmented our direct-to-consumer customer (D2C) acquisition strategy with the launch of our business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy that leverages our proprietary SAAS engagement platform and technology in partnering with financial services providers in the industry. This includes the release of our B2B product Marble Connect, which provides our clients with unique insights, data and scoring algorithms to better understand and assess their existing and potential customers. Mable’s technology can now be embedded inside our partners’ business processes and technology to improve the likelihood of customers transacting with them while also providing their consumers with a path towards financial wellness.
2021 was an exciting period for us as we positioned the Company for growth and expansion within the alternative financial services space. This year, we successfully accomplished multiple key corporate objectives, which included: completing the acquisition of Inverite Verifications Inc.; announcing 15 new B2B partnerships for Marble Connect and Inverite; securing a $10 million credit facility to relaunch our Fast-Track loan program; closing a $2 million financing; completing the definitive agreement for exclusivity for the Point Deductions Technology via the Marble Connect Application Programming Interface (API) and executing new product and operational initiatives.
Moreover, our Company has set new records on a number of fronts. Inverite reached a new monthly paid transactions volume milestone of 92,794 in November 2021, the MyMarble platform now has over 25,000 members and Marble Learn has increased its total course enrollments to 7,956. Additionally, Inverite has collected over 1.6 million unique customer financial data points on its platform to date. The aggregation of this data will complement our data science and machine learning initiatives and enable future monetization efforts by helping our partners conduct a more accurate financial and credit assessment of their consumers. Furthermore, we believe this would help more consumers achieve their financial goals.
As we continue to scale our Company, I wish to remind our Shareholders that the progress we made so far is only the beginning and that we are in pursuit of various growth initiatives that will take us a step closer to reaching new heights.
Fostering key B2B relationships
The acquisition of Inverite marked an important inflection point in our Company’s history as we have now brought advanced AI-driven banking verification solutions under the Marble umbrella. We now own this proprietary technology, which significantly accelerates the decision-making process for alternative lenders seeking to adjudicate consumers seeking credit.
As mentioned above, the launch of our Marble Connect, our B2B ‘white label’ API is transformational. This product and technology will benefit the alternative financial services industry by enabling businesses in this space to better understand their consumers such as their needs and qualifications. We believe it will improve customer engagement and retention, lower customer acquisition costs while increasing customer lifetime value for both Marble and our partners in the alternative financial services landscape.
To reiterate, these two platforms have established new business relationships for our B2B segment in which we announced 15 new clients in 2021 through Marble Connect and Inverite.
The growth in our B2B segment is imperative to our overall expansion strategy because it not only helps Marble penetrate new niche markets within the lending and alternative financial space but also, allows us to instantly adopt new customer data through our B2B partners who transact in both Canada and the United States. Moving forward, this will form the basis of our expansion strategy to enter the U.S. market without incurring exorbitant costs for marketing and delivering our products and services south of the border.
Focusing on our products and product development
While one of our goals is to scale up the delivery of the MyMarble platform and reach of our core product offerings, we are also focused on enhancing our product portfolio to create a multi-faceted and comprehensive offering for our users.
In July 2021, we entered into a $10 million arm’s length definitive credit facility agreement with Cypress Hills Partners Inc., a non-affiliated Canadian-based alternative specialty lender to facilitate additional Fast-Track loans. We are pleased that as of December 3, 2021, we have relaunched our Fast-Track loan program. Having the credit facility available should assist with our loan growth efforts as we are seeing increased demand for our Fast-Track loan product given the current macroeconomic environment. We also joined the Financial Data And Technology Associations (FDATA) as a member to advance our Open Banking and Data Privacy strategy. I believe that the next iteration of financial services will stem from the collection and study of user data to determine the most competitive financial solutions for consumers. This will be key to identifying distinct customer patterns, resulting in us understanding our customers better to offer them greater value in the services we deliver.
We launched two new products this past year including the ‘GIC Savings Loan’ with Jenson Graf Risk Management Inc., a leading credit solutions provider, and ‘Marble Boost’, a 12-month interest-free credit improvement program, which provides credit-challenged consumers with a unique savings and credit improvement offering. Boost offers our subscribers a 1-year paid subscription to MyMarble Premium through an innovative installment loan.
To further extend our suite of financial solutions, we will be introducing CreditMeds, a proprietary diagnostic tool that provides an online assessment to consumers and recommends debt re-structuring options based on their financial well-being.
I look forward to our future growth, scaling our platform and launching new products that are currently in development. The North American market continues to provide us with an opportunity to offer solutions for most consumers that remain underbanked and financially marginalized from mainstream financial services. I believe that we will be able to capture new opportunities within this market and help millions of underbanked and underserved consumers through our unique platform and technology.
Additions to our leadership and advisory team
We have expanded our management and advisory team with industry experts through the additions of the following individuals, who will strengthen our leadership team as we strive towards significant growth:
Lawrence Rhee – Special Situations Advisor
Mr. Rhee has been actively involved in the Canadian technology industry for over 20 years, having advised many technology companies in Canada. He has held senior investment banking and equity research leadership roles at firms such as Haywood Securities, GMP Securities and Genuity Capital.
Rose Zanic, CPA, CA – Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Zanic is a self-employed corporate finance professional with over 25 years of capital markets and corporate finance experience. She has previously served as Senior Vice-President, Corporate Finance with Wolverton Securities Ltd. for 19 years where she oversaw the firm’s corporate finance and syndication department.
Our plans for 2022 and beyond
In laying the groundwork to increase user growth and conversions in 2022, we plan to achieve multiple catalysts through the execution of impactful strategic initiatives next year. Our key focus will be to accelerate the expansion of our B2B segment, mainly through Marble Connect and Inverite to secure more business partners. We will also work towards completing and releasing new products for both our consumers and corporate clients, in order to provide a broader selection of solutions to drive revenue growth through multiple product offerings. Lastly, we are initiating our entry into the U.S. market through our existing business partnerships that are transacting on both sides of the border.
On behalf of the Marble family, we would like to thank our Shareholders for your confidence, support and patience to date. The pandemic and the macroeconomic environment have changed the financial lives of many. However, it has also brought a tremendous opportunity for Marble to capitalize on the largest sector of the economy that is not being served – the underbanked.
We anticipate a great year for Marble, and we look forward to sharing our journey and growth with all of our Shareholders. Our platform continues to gain greater customer traction, highlighted by the gains in our membership and transactional growth. We also look forward to reaching new milestones and setting the stage for another transformative year in 2022 that will lead to significant shareholder value creation.
I hope that all of you will have a wonderful holiday season in the comfort of your family and loved ones.
Happy Holidays!
Best Regards,
Karim Nanji,
CEO of Marble Financial Inc.
About Marble Financial Inc. (CSE: MRBL) (OTC PINK: MRBLF) (FSE: 2V0): Marble’s proprietary MyMarble platform utilizes the power of machine learning, data science, and artificial intelligence, in leveraging its proven data-driven strategies through technology solutions Connect, Inverite, MyMarble (formerly Score-Up), Fast-Track, Maestro and Boost to engage in and navigate a clear path towards financial wellbeing and a meaningful credit score, since 2016, Marble is proud to have empowered thousands of marginalized consumers to a positive financial future, and we continue to establish ourselves as leaders in financial wellness through the licensing of our proprietary products on the MyMarble Platform.
For further information about Marble Financial, please visit: mymarble.ca
Mike Marrandino, Executive Chairman
T:(855) 661-2390 ext. 104 Email: ir@marblefinancial.ca
NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated. Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except for historical facts, the statements in this news release, as well as oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by Marble, are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking information included in this release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/108316