Rubric Capital Management Files Definitive Proxy Statement for Xperi Inc. 2024 Annual Meeting




Rubric Capital Management Files Definitive Proxy Statement for Xperi Inc. 2024 Annual Meeting

Sends Letter to Stockholders Outlining Urgent Need for Change to Restore and Rebuild Value

Highlights Poor Operational Performance, Egregious Executive Compensation and Reckless Capital Allocation Under Incumbent Board

Urges Stockholders to Vote FOR Rubric’s Nominees Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad on the WHITE Proxy Card

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rubric Capital Management LP (“Rubric”), an investment advisor whose managed funds and accounts collectively own approximately 9.0% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Xperi Inc. (NYSE: XPER) (“Xperi” or the “Company”), today filed its definitive proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its nomination of Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad for election to Xperi’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the Company’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled to be held on May 24, 2024.

Rubric also sent a letter to Xperi stockholders outlining the urgent need for change at the Company in order to reverse its history of underperformance and poor decisions under the incumbent Board and drive long-term stockholder value.

The full text of the letter follows:

April 17, 2024

Dear Fellow Stockholder:

At Xperi Inc.’s (“Xperi” or the “Company”) upcoming 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is scheduled to be held on May 24, 2024, you will be presented with a choice: maintain the status quo of underperformance by voting for an incumbent Board of Directors (the “Board”) which has overseen years of stockholder value destruction, or elect to the Board two new directors with the perspectives, skills and expertise to help set Xperi on a trajectory of sustained growth and profitability. As a large, long-term Xperi stockholder who, like you, has seen the value of our investment deteriorate, we urge you to choose the latter by voting FOR our director nominees – Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad – on the enclosed WHITE proxy card today.

RUBRIC IS ALIGNED WITH YOU AND HAS A PLAN FOR CHANGE

Rubric Capital Management LP (“Rubric”) manages funds and accounts which collectively own approximately 9.0% of Xperi’s common stock, making us the Company’s third largest stockholder. We have been stockholders of Xperi since its spin-off from its predecessor company on October 1, 2022, and we were stockholders of Xperi’s predecessor company since 2017.

We invested in the Company due to its attractive portfolio of innovative enablement technologies and our firm belief in their significant monetization potential. Unfortunately, from our perspective, this potential has been squandered under the oversight of the current Board, and stockholders have paid the price.

We take no pleasure in publicly criticizing companies or directors and prefer to spend our time working collaboratively with the boards and management teams of our portfolio companies to help drive sustained value. We have taken this same constructive approach to our engagement with Xperi’s Board and management team across the duration of our investment. Unfortunately, in our view, this Board has shown that it is more focused on granting excessive compensation to executives than it is engaging with stockholders to improve the Company’s performance. Simply put, the direction of the Company is untenable, and we believe meaningful change is required in the boardroom to ensure stockholder value is not eroded further.

Rubric has a clear roadmap for change and value creation that benefits all stakeholders. We have identified two highly qualified, independent director candidates – Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad – with the leadership experience, marketing knowledge, and financial and corporate strategy expertise that is urgently needed to stem the tide of losses at Xperi and drive long-term stockholder value. We are confident that Mr. Lacey and Ms. Conrad will act as dedicated advocates for the interests of ALL Xperi stockholders, and will work tirelessly to address the poor operational performance, egregious insider compensation and reckless capital allocation practices that we believe have continued to plague the Company.

Vote for restoring and building value at Xperi. Please vote your enclosed WHITE proxy card TODAY for the election of Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad. Vote by telephone, over the Internet, or by signing, dating and returning your WHITE proxy card in the postage-paid envelope provided.

XPERI AND THE CURRENT BOARD HAVE A HISTORY OF UNDERPERFORMANCE

Underperformance has been idiomatic to Xperi throughout its life as a standalone company – and earlier. Since the completion of Xperi’s spin-off, the Company’s shares have materially underperformed any comparable benchmark, declining by approximately 28%. During this same period, the S&P Software Index (GICS: 451030) had a total return of approximately 74% and the Russell 3000 returned approximately 42%.¹

See XPER Share Price Performance chart.

While this underperformance is alarming, the duration of measurement is too short to warrant censure on its own. Xperi’s former parent company, Xperi Holding Corporation (“Xperi Holding”) (n/k/a Adeia Inc. (“Adeia”)), which shared all but one director from the Company’s current Board, similarly underperformed comparable benchmarks on both an absolute and relative basis. Xperi Holding shares were down approximately 27% on a trailing 3-year total return basis coming into the spin-off, underperforming the Russell 3000 by 52% and the S&P Software Index (GICS: 451030) by 81%.²

Contrast this with the performance of Xperi’s predecessor company under Rubric director nominee Thomas A. Lacey, who served as CEO of the business from 2013 to 2017 and oversaw stockholder returns that were double the rate of the Russell 3000 (21% vs 10% CAGR),³ and it becomes clear to us what – or who – is responsible for the destruction of stockholder value.

XPERI’S POOR MARGINS HAVE LED TO UNACCEPTABLE UNDERPERFORMANCE

Xperi’s margin performance has been similarly underwhelming when compared to peers, and points to an excessive expense structure that desperately needs to be addressed in order to unlock stockholder value.

The facts speak for themselves. Despite operating at a similar revenue scale to, and having higher gross margins than, its Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) peer group,⁴ Xperi’s LTM Adjusted EBITDA margins are ~1,700 basis points below peers.⁵

To put Xperi’s level of operational underperformance in context for stockholders, simply achieving peer margins (which are within the target ranges Xperi provided at its 2022 Analyst Day), and valued using a median 2024 peer group multiple of 11.0x EBITDA, Xperi would be worth approximately $29 per share, representing an increase of approximately 170% over its current price.⁶

XPERI’S BOARD SEEMINGLY REWARDS INSIDERS TO THE DISADVANTAGE OF STOCKHOLDERS

To make matters worse, Xperi has instituted a compensation program that seemingly rewards insiders to the disadvantage of stockholders. In 2023, the Company issued over 4.2 million RSUs to insiders (approximately 76% of which are not subject to any performance-based vesting), representing approximately 9% of the Company’s diluted share count, and recognized a stock-based compensation expense of approximately $70 million.⁷ This dilution occurred while Xperi grew revenue by only 4% in 2023, and reduced the midpoint of its EBITDA guidance in the third quarter.

To drive this point home, during 2023, Xperi’s former parent, Adeia, which has over twice as many shares outstanding and twice the market capitalization of Xperi, issued only 2.9 million RSUs, or approximately a 2.7% dilution, less than 33% of that experienced by Xperi stockholders.⁸ Adeia’s stock-based compensation expense was only roughly $18 million for the full year (nearly $52 million less than Xperi).⁹

Unsurprisingly, Xperi’s stock-based compensation expense is similarly bloated when compared to its ISS peer group.¹⁰

The fact that this Board deems such an unsustainable and misaligned compensation scheme appropriate, despite Xperi’s staggeringly poor returns, is, in our view, indefensible. It is for this reason that we are seeking to replace two of the three members of the Board’s Compensation Committee – Darcy Antonellis and David C. Habiger – with new independent directors who are committed to prioritizing the best interests of stockholders.

WE BELIEVE XPERI’S RECKLESS CAPITAL ALLOCATION HIGHLIGHTS THE BOARD’S POOR DECISION MAKING AND THREATENS THE PRESERVATION OF STOCKHOLDER VALUE

We have watched and grown increasingly concerned about the capital allocation decisions being made at Xperi. These concerns began when Xperi’s former parent disclosed the existence of its investment in Perceive Corporation (“Perceive”) in 2020. Unbeknownst to stockholders, Xperi’s former parent had been spending upwards of $20 million per year to incubate an AI startup, apparently without regard to cost of capital. At the time (and many times since), we recommended that the Company (and its former parent) sell a partial stake in Perceive in order to provide investors with a metric by which to value Perceive’s potential, while derisking some of the financial drag. Despite those repeatedly stated concerns, it was not until February 28, 2024 that the Company announced that it had hired Centerview Partners LLC to finally conduct a strategic review for Perceive.

Moreover, in December 2023, the Company announced that it agreed to sell its AutoSense division to Tobii AB (“Tobii”) for approximately $42.7 million. Despite what we believe to be a long runway of potential growth driven by regulatory changes requiring additional in-cabin monitoring, Xperi elected to divest this business for zero upfront consideration, instead accepting a $27.7 million promissory note paid in three tranches starting in 2027, and $15 million in future cash payments made over four years starting in 2028.¹¹ In other words, Xperi sold a business it incubated and understands well, and instead became the primary creditor to Tobii, a company that has had negative operating profit in 10 of the last 11 quarters and currently has an enterprise value of approximately $35 million.¹²

These actions are, in our view, emblematic of the Board’s repeated poor decision making and capital mismanagement, which we fear are a grave threat to the preservation of stockholder value.

RUBRIC’S NOMINEES BRING THE EXPERIENCE AND OVERSIGHT REQUIRED IN XPERI’S BOARDROOM

It is apparent that Xperi’s Board as currently constituted cannot be trusted to effectively lead the Company forward and create value for stockholders. Accordingly, we have nominated two highly qualified, independent directors – Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad – who will help bring the necessary rigor and skillset to improve the Board for the benefit of all stakeholders. Our nominees have proven track records of value creation and possess relevant operating and capital allocation expertise that we believe is needed to help Xperi reach its full potential.

If elected, our nominees are committed to working alongside the incumbent directors to:

1. Address the operational underperformance which has directly contributed to the Company’s declining stock price;
2. Design a compensation plan that is aligned with stockholders and truly pays for performance; and
3. Allocate capital in a more efficient and results-oriented manner.

With the right plan and right people in place, we are confident that Xperi can deliver meaningful long-term value to stockholders. We urge you to protect and enhance the value of your investment by voting for Rubric’s director nominees – Thomas A. Lacey and Deborah S. Conrad – on the enclosed WHITE proxy card today. Together, we can make Xperi extraordinary.

PLEASE VOTE YOUR WHITE PROXY CARD TODAY.

If you have any questions, require assistance in voting your WHITE universal proxy card, or need additional copies of Rubric’s proxy materials, please contact our proxy solicitor Okapi Partners at (855) 305-0856 or via email at info@okapipartners.com.

Sincerely,

David Rosen

Managing Partner

Rubric Capital Management LP

____________________

¹ Source: Bloomberg. Calculated as of March 7, 2024.

² Source: Bloomberg. Calculated as of September 30, 2022.

³ Source: Bloomberg.

⁴ See ISS report published on March 31, 2023 in connection with the Company’s 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. Peer group consists of A10 Networks, Inc.; Appian Corporation; BlackBerry Limited; Everbridge, Inc.; OneSpan Inc.; Rimini Street, Inc.; SolarWinds Corporation; Varonis Systems, Inc.; Yext, Inc.; Adeia Inc.; Blackbaud, Inc.; Commvault Systems, Inc.; InterDigital, Inc.; Progress Software Corporation; SecureWorks Corp.; Upland Software, Inc.; Verint Systems Inc.; and Zuora, Inc.

⁵ Source: Xperi Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2024; year-end and quarterly reports filed by ISS peer group members; VisibleAlpha. Calculated on LTM basis as of March 7, 2024. Adjusted Gross Margin defined as (total revenue – (cost of goods sold plus stock-based compensation expense)) / total revenue. Adjusted EBITDA Margin defined as (operating income plus depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expense, transaction and restructuring expenses) / total revenue.

⁶ Source: Rubric analysis with inputs from Bloomberg/VisibleAlpha. Calculated as of March 7, 2024.

⁷ Source: Xperi Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2024.

⁸ Source: Adeia Form 10-K, filed February 23, 2024.

⁹ Source: Adeia Form 10-K, filed February 23, 2024.

¹⁰ Source: Xperi Form 10-K, filed March 1, 2024; year-end and quarterly reports filed by ISS peer group members; VisibleAlpha. Calculated on LTM basis as of March 7, 2024.

¹¹ Source: Xperi press release, dated December 12, 2023.

¹² Source: Tobii year-end and quarterly reports. Enterprise value as of March 7, 2024.

Contacts

Media:

Jonathan Gasthalter/Sam Fisher

Gasthalter & Co.

(212) 257-4170

Investors:

Jason W. Alexander/Bruce H. Goldfarb

Okapi Partners LLC

(212) 297-0720

Harleysville Financial Corporation Announces Regular Cash Dividend and Second Quarter Earnings for Fiscal Year 2024




Harleysville Financial Corporation Announces Regular Cash Dividend and Second Quarter Earnings for Fiscal Year 2024

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Harleysville Financial Corporation (OTCQX:HARL) reported today that the Company’s board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $.31 per share on the Company’s common stock. The cash dividend will be payable on May 15, 2024 to stockholders of record on May 1, 2024.

Net income for the second quarter was $2,112,000 or $.58 per diluted share compared to $3,073,000 or $.82 per diluted share for the same quarter last year.

Net income for the six months ended March 31, 2024 amounted to $4,622,000 or $1.27 per diluted share compared to $6,404,000 or $1.71 per diluted share for the same six-month period a year ago.

Brendan J. McGill, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, stated, “Despite the net interest margin compression experienced across the industry this past year, The Company has achieved solid second quarter results. We continue to benefit from a strong balance sheet and being well capitalized, as well as consistent loan growth and strong credit quality.

We anticipate continued interest margin compression through this 2024 fiscal year as the Federal Reserve continues to work to control inflation. I am extremely proud of our experienced team, as we continue to navigate this challenging interest rate environment. We will continue to maintain our prudent underwriting standards, investing in high credit quality assets, controlling our operating expenses, and practicing sound capital management.”

The Company’s assets totaled $847.4 million compared to $842.9 million a year ago. Stockholders’ tangible book value increased 2.4% to $23.34 per share from $22.79 a year ago.

Harleysville Financial Corporation is traded on the OTCQX market under the symbol HARL ( http://www.otcmarkets.com ) and is the holding company for Harleysville Bank. Established in 1915, Harleysville Bank is a Pennsylvania chartered and federally insured bank, headquartered in Harleysville, PA. The Bank operates from six full-service offices located in Montgomery County and one office located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

This presentation may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, changes in interest rates, deposit flows, loan demand, real estate values and competition; changes in accounting principles, policies, or guidelines; changes in legislation or regulation; and other economic; competitive, governmental, regulatory, and technological factors affecting the Company’s operations, pricing, products, and services.

Contacts

M. Shane Michalak

Senior Vice President/CFO

215-256-8828

Intel Builds World’s Largest Neuromorphic System to Enable More Sustainable AI




Intel Builds World’s Largest Neuromorphic System to Enable More Sustainable AI

Hala Point, the industry’s first 1.15 billion neuron neuromorphic system, builds a path toward more efficient and scalable AI.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–What’s New: Today, Intel announced that it has built the world’s largest neuromorphic system. Code-named Hala Point, this large-scale neuromorphic system, initially deployed at Sandia National Laboratories, utilizes Intel’s Loihi 2 processor, aims at supporting research for future brain-inspired artificial intelligence (AI), and tackles challenges related to the efficiency and sustainability of today’s AI. Hala Point advances Intel’s first-generation large-scale research system, Pohoiki Springs, with architectural improvements to achieve over 10 times more neuron capacity and up to 12 times higher performance.

“The computing cost of today’s AI models is rising at unsustainable rates. The industry needs fundamentally new approaches capable of scaling. For that reason, we developed Hala Point, which combines deep learning efficiency with novel brain-inspired learning and optimization capabilities. We hope that research with Hala Point will advance the efficiency and adaptability of large-scale AI technology.”

–Mike Davies, director of the Neuromorphic Computing Lab at Intel Labs

What It Does: Hala Point is the first large-scale neuromorphic system to demonstrate state-of-the-art computational efficiencies on mainstream AI workloads. Characterization shows it can support up to 20 quadrillion operations per second, or 20 petaops, with an efficiency exceeding 15 trillion 8-bit operations per second per watt (TOPS/W) when executing conventional deep neural networks. This rivals and exceeds levels achieved by architectures built on graphics processing units (GPU) and central processing units (CPU). Hala Point’s unique capabilities could enable future real-time continuous learning for AI applications such as scientific and engineering problem-solving, logistics, smart city infrastructure management, large language models (LLMs) and AI agents.

How It will be Used: Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories plan to use Hala Point for advanced brain-scale computing research. The organization will focus on solving scientific computing problems in device physics, computer architecture, computer science and informatics.

“Working with Hala Point improves our Sandia team’s capability to solve computational and scientific modeling problems. Conducting research with a system of this size will allow us to keep pace with AI’s evolution in fields ranging from commercial to defense to basic science,” said Craig Vineyard, Hala Point team lead at Sandia National Laboratories.

Currently, Hala Point is a research prototype that will advance the capabilities of future commercial systems. Intel anticipates that such lessons will lead to practical advancements, such as the ability for LLMs to learn continuously from new data. Such advancements promise to significantly reduce the unsustainable training burden of widespread AI deployments.

Why It Matters: Recent trends in scaling up deep learning models to trillions of parameters have exposed daunting sustainability challenges in AI and have highlighted the need for innovation at the lowest levels of hardware architecture. Neuromorphic computing is a fundamentally new approach that draws on neuroscience insights that integrate memory and computing with highly granular parallelism to minimize data movement. In published results from this month’s International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Loihi 2 demonstrated orders of magnitude gains in the efficiency, speed and adaptability of emerging small-scale edge workloads¹.

Advancing on its predecessor, Pohoiki Springs, with numerous improvements, Hala Point now brings neuromorphic performance and efficiency gains to mainstream conventional deep learning models, notably those processing real-time workloads such as video, speech and wireless communications. For example, Ericsson Research is applying Loihi 2 to optimize telecom infrastructure efficiency, as highlighted at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

About Hala Point: Loihi 2 neuromorphic processors, which form the basis for Hala Point, apply brain-inspired computing principles, such as asynchronous, event-based spiking neural networks (SNNs), integrated memory and computing, and sparse and continuously changing connections to achieve orders-of-magnitude gains in energy consumption and performance. Neurons communicate directly with one another rather than communicating through memory, reducing overall power consumption.

Hala Point packages 1,152 Loihi 2 processors produced on Intel 4 process node in a six-rack-unit data center chassis the size of a microwave oven. The system supports up to 1.15 billion neurons and 128 billion synapses distributed over 140,544 neuromorphic processing cores, consuming a maximum of 2,600 watts of power. It also includes over 2,300 embedded x86 processors for ancillary computations.

Hala Point integrates processing, memory, and communication channels in a massively parallelized fabric, providing a total of 16 petabytes per second (PB/s) of memory bandwidth, 3.5 PB/s of inter-core communication bandwidth, and 5 terabytes per second (TB/s) of inter-chip communication bandwidth. The system can process over 380 trillion 8-bit synapses and over 240 trillion neuron operations per second.

Applied to bio-inspired spiking neural network models, the system can execute its full capacity of 1.15 billion neurons 20 times faster than a human brain and up to 200 times faster rates at lower capacity. While Hala Point is not intended for neuroscience modeling, its neuron capacity is roughly equivalent to that of an owl brain or the cortex of a capuchin monkey.

Loihi-based systems can perform AI inference and solve optimization problems using 100 times less energy at speeds as much as 50 times faster than conventional CPU and GPU architectures¹. By exploiting up to 10:1 sparse connectivity and event-driven activity, early results on Hala Point show the system can achieve deep neural network efficiencies as high as 15 TOPS/W² without requiring input data to be collected into batches, a common optimization for GPUs that significantly delays the processing of data arriving in real-time, such as video from cameras. While still in research, future neuromorphic LLMs capable of continuous learning could result in gigawatt-hours of energy savings by eliminating the need for periodic re-training with ever-growing datasets.

What’s Next: The delivery of Hala Point to Sandia National Labs marks the first deployment of a new family of large-scale neuromorphic research systems that Intel plans to share with its research collaborators. Further development will enable neuromorphic computing applications to overcome power and latency constraints that limit AI capabilities’ real-world, real-time deployment.

Together with an ecosystem of more than 200 Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC) members, including leading academic groups, government labs, research institutions and companies worldwide, Intel is working to push the boundaries of brain-inspired AI and progressing this technology from research prototypes to industry-leading commercial products over the coming years.

More context: Intel Labs | Hala Point: Video Introduction and Photos

About Intel

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel’s innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

¹ See “Efficient Video and Audio Processing with Loihi 2,” International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, April 2024, and “Advancing Neuromorphic Computing with Loihi: Survey of Results and Outlook,” Proceedings of the IEEE, 2021.

² Characterization performed with a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network with 14,784 layers, 2048 neurons per layer, 8-bit weights stimulated with random noise. The Hala Point implementation of the MLP network is pruned to 10:1 sparsity with sigma-delta neuron models providing 10 percent activation rates. Results as of testing in April 2024. Results may vary.

© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Contacts

Laura Stadler

1-619-346-1170

laura.stadler@intel.com

CORRECTING and REPLACING, Ex-Activision Blizzard Consumer Products President Steve Young Joins Web3 Game Company Param Labs




CORRECTING and REPLACING, Ex-Activision Blizzard Consumer Products President Steve Young Joins Web3 Game Company Param Labs

ABU DHABI, UAE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Please replace the release dated April 15, 2024 with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.

The updated release reads:

EX-ACTIVISION BLIZZARD CONSUMER PRODUCTS PRESIDENT STEVE YOUNG JOINS WEB3 GAME COMPANY PARAM LABS

Blockchain game and technology development studio Param Labs has appointed Steve Young, the former President of Consumer Products at Activision Blizzard, to the board after its recent success with $4 million in revenue over the past eleven months.

Young has spent more than 25 years in consumer products and gaming, initially starting with Unilever Group, leading the growth of its personal care brands such as Suave and Vaseline Intensive Care.

Young has deep experience in growing and managing businesses. He joined the Unilever Group in 1992 in the sales and category management division before becoming a senior brand marketing manager. Unilever grew to become one of the largest fast-moving consumer goods companies, with operations in over 60 countries by 2002. Young was responsible for guiding brand strategy and ongoing management of marketing initiatives. He was responsible for total annual revenues of over $180 million and delivered business plans and full product P&L delivery, including sales and marketing budgets of over $40 million.

Young, who stepped down from his role at Unilever in 2005, joined Activision Blizzard, developing retail programming for its most prominent brands, such as Spider-Man, Call of Duty and more, with over $75 million in budget responsibility for marketing activities. He grew into the role over the next 14 years to become the president of the consumer products group at Activision and chief revenue officer, leading Activision’s global commercial teams, responsible for worldwide digital and retail software sales with total revenue responsibilities of over $2.8 billion.

In a statement, Young admits having a deep and innate love for technology and gaming, which led him to join Param Labs and its game Kiraverse to help the company increase the digital adoption of blockchain technology and its games within broader audiences.

Param Labs is an independent game development studio focusing on blockchain gaming and innovative technology development. The company’s flagship title, Kiraverse, is an open-world action shooter similar to Fortnite or PUBG, with the ability to import NFTs from any collection on the market or game genre for a unique, cross-IP and cross-ecosystem experience. The game has generated over $4 million in revenue over the past 11 months while also announcing a strategic partnership with Loud GG led by YouTuber Bruno ‘Playhard’ Bittencourt.

Within its infrastructure sits Pixel-to-Poly, a model which transforms 2D assets into high-quality, game-ready 3D characters that cost $199 each. Param Labs and its Kiraverse recently partnered with major brands such as GameStop and its NFTs to bring ‘Buck-the-Bunny’ to life in Kiraverse via Pixel-to-Poly. The company also reported having custom characters for web3 gaming company Immutable X and brought NFT projects such as Pudgy Penguins to life in its game.

Kiraverse experienced annual growth of 100% for the last couple of years, selling over 30,000+ NFTs with over $1.5 million in revenues and more than $8 million in trading volume generated the previous year on NFT marketplaces. The Kiraverse game sits in its beta phase. Emphasising scale and swift expansion are critical objectives for our business and its profitability, founder and CEO Anthony Anderson explained in a statement.

The tech startup has received backing and investment from various companies, such as the Abu Dhabi Government, Animoca Brands, Immutable X and more. It has already distributed more than $1 million in value to its NFT holders via tradable skins as of Q1 2024.

As for Steve, the company’s growth and penetration into mainstream gamers remains paramount now that he’s joined the company’s board, as he noted in a statement: drawing on his experience from Activision Blizzard and the Unilever Group, with expertise and network to help with user acquisition, game development and revenue generation strategies, and acting as a sounding board to the executive team.

About Param Labs

Param Labs is at the forefront of leveraging artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies to advance the rapidly growing US$200B+ gaming industry. By addressing some of the most significant challenges believed to limit the sector’s long-term growth, Param Labs is setting new standards for innovation and user engagement. Its ecosystem is crafted to provide gamers with digital ownership over their gaming assets, and to enable the creation of user-generated value across their experiences. With a keen focus on solving apparent issues in the gaming world, Param Labs designs products that not only aim to seamlessly integrate millions of new users into the benefits of Web3 technology but also to empower individual creators and studios. The team is dedicated to developing the necessary tools for effortlessly utilizing the advantages of emerging technologies, paving the way for the future of the gaming industry. Through its efforts, Param Labs is positioned as a pivotal player in transforming how gamers interact with digital content, promoting a more inclusive and dynamic gaming environment. Param’s team boasts experienced professionals from renowned companies such as Activision, EA, and Ubisoft, as well as world-renowned artists Antoni and Marc Tudisco behind the game and character designs.

Contacts

Param Labs
Media:

Sofia Quiroga Lobo

Contact@paramlabs.io

Philippines Telecoms Industry Report 2024-2031, Featuring ABS-CBN, ALT Global Solutions, Bayantel, Converge ICT, Edgepoint, edotco, Globe Telecom, Lopez, Miescor, Mislatel, Radius Telecom and More – ResearchAndMarkets.com




Philippines Telecoms Industry Report 2024-2031, Featuring ABS-CBN, ALT Global Solutions, Bayantel, Converge ICT, Edgepoint, edotco, Globe Telecom, Lopez, Miescor, Mislatel, Radius Telecom and More – ResearchAndMarkets.com

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Philippines Telecoms Industry Report – 2024-2031” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering.

The Philippines Telecommunications Industry Report, 2024-2031 includes an overview of the Philippines market dynamics, market sizing, market forecasts, analysis, insights and key trends.

Key Market Insights

• The Philippines’s telecommunications industry has been dominated by the PLDT-Globe duopoly over the last two decades. Recent reforms and the launch of a third mobile operator will bring competition and innovation in the sector.
• Telecommunications infrastructure investments have more than tripled with the arrival of DITO Telecommunity and Converge ICT to the scene.
• Mobile subscriptions are forecast to continue to grow in the 2023-30 period and fixed broadband subscribers will also continue to grow strongly and increase its household penetration over the same period.
• Expanded coverage, greater affordability, service improvements, increased data usage and smartphone penetration are the main drivers of growth in the telecoms sector. The country continues to expand its fibre-optic network and 4G coverage, backed by strong investment in capital expenditure. Investment in the telecoms sector grew to its highest in 2021 with new mobile market entrant DITO Telecommunity launching that year.
• The overall telecoms market is forecast to grow strongly through to 2030 despite the SIM registration process in 2023 which led to a loss of mobile subscribers in 2023.

Capex Investments

The Capex to GDP ratio remained relatively stable between 2014 and 2018 but soared in 2019. The ratio is forecast to settle back by 2024 peaking in 2021. Both PLDT and Globe are investing heavily in 4G and 5G with PLDT playing catch-up by investing in its network expansion while Globe refocuses on its fixed broadband business after stagnating in 2021.

Mobile Subscribers and Revenue

• A decline of mobile subscribers was forecast in 2023. It is expected that the number of mobile and broadband subscribers will continue to rise steadily to 2030 from 2024 onwards.
• Mobile network operators are facing competitive pressure with the market shifting to unlimited voice and text and data allowance becoming now the sole offering differentiator.
• The publisher benchmarked mobile data pricing across 8 countries in the Asia Pacific region and found that the Philippines is lagging behind in terms of data download but we expect the country to catch up as 4G coverage is accelerating and smartphone penetration is increasing especially in regional areas.
• According to the benchmark study of mobile data pricing, India has the lowest rate per GB at just a few cents per GB, while Australia and China had the biggest cost reduction per GB mostly due to increased data allowance in plans while Singapore remains expensive. The Philippines’ pricing is on par with Thailand’s when benchmarked against neighbouring countries.

Broadband Subscribers – FTTH Push and Fixed Wireless

The Philippines fixed broadband was very much a laggard compared to other ASEAN countries which have invested more heavily in Fibre-to-home infrastructure. PLDT’s FTTH penetration is much lower than in other countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand. After initially focusing on fixed wireless access, Globe shifted its strategy back to FTTH, but remains behind PLDT and Converge ICT. Other efforts from Radius Telecom (part of Meralco) remain small in scope and are so far targeting only wealthy gated community areas of Metro Manila, other large cities or new developments. The biggest growth after PLDT was Converge ICT which is performing very well.

Telecoms Infrastructure/5G/M&A/e-Commerce

The Philippines is a sleeper market for mobile infrastructure, this is largely due to the cosy monopoly enjoyed between Globe Telecom and Smart (PLDT) over the last two decades and also due to the massive red tape required for building a mobile tower. The announcement of the third telco player ignited the market for tower sharing together with the DICT pushing a policy to build over 50,000 new towers shared across the industry, attracting a new category of infrastructure investors that were not participating in the market until now. New tower-build accompanied by fiberisation of the latter will boost the country’s telecoms infrastructure and will be most welcome in the market after two decades of under-investments in the Philippines market.

Mobile operators and specialised towercos are rushing to sign deals but we doubt Globe and Smart will share any existing assets in a hurry unless they are forced to by the regulator.

Most towercos are greenfield operations and are each planning to build about 1,000 to 5,000 towers over the next three years. A large number of new entrants with over 20 towercos signed an MoU with DICT to participate in the build of 50,00 new towers.

The Philippines has one of the lowest ratios of mobile towers per capita and the highest number of subscribers per base transceiver stations (BTS) in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

Investment funds are assigning high valuation multiples to telecommunications infrastructure assets such as mobile towers, data centres, submarine cable and fibre infrastructure. This report outlines some real market examples of how investors view and value these investments with industry examples and EV/EBITDA comparatives and benchmarks.

Most telecommunications operators are in heavy investments phase both in fixed and mobile segments, spending heavily upgrading their 4G network infrastructure. A wave of towercos consolidation is expected in the Philippines but not before 2024-2025, as margins get squeezed further before a new Capex cycle kicking off with 6G by 2030.

The arrival of 4G moved the Internet off our desktops into our palms and pockets, 5G could transform the network from something we carry around to something taking us around either virtually (augmented reality or virtual reality) or in reality (autonomous vehicles), the 5G outcome and benefits beyond fast connectivity remain largely unknown in terms of business models, investments required and timeline.

The increase in smartphone penetration made possible by the availability of low-cost devices has triggered growth in e-commerce, tapping into the potential of the Philippines’s emerging middle class with relatively high disposable income.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Key Statistics

1.1 Philippines Population

1.2 Philippines’ Economy

1.3 Philippines’ GDP

2 Overall Telecommunications Market, 2017-2031

2.1 Market Overview

2.2 Historical Telecommunications Market Revenue, 2017-2023

2.3 Overall Telecommunications Market Forecast, 2023-2031

2.4 Telecommunications Market Capital Expenditure, 2017-2031

3 Telecommunications Operators Profile

3.1 PLDT Profile

3.2 Globe Telecom Profile

3.3 Dito Telecommunity

3.4 Converge ICT

3.5 Other Players Profile

3.5.1 ABS-CBN

3.5.2 Other Cable Operators

4 Mobile market

4.1 Mobile Subscribers Historical and Forecast, 2017-2031

4.2 Mobile Revenue Historical and Forecast, 2017-2031

4.3 Mobile Number Portability on its Way

4.4 Spectrum Holdings

4.5 Mobile Download Data and Pricing Trends

4.6 Mobile Speed Tests

4.7 Internet of Things (IoT)

5 Broadband Market

5.1 Fixed Broadband Subscribers Historical, 2017-2023

5.2 Fixed Broadband Subscribers Forecast, 2023-2031

6 Satellite Internet Connectivity

6.1 Comparing LEO, MEO, and GEO Satellite Orbits

6.2 Satellite Broadband Providers Operators, 2023

6.3 5G NTN: The Next Generation of Satellite Connectivity

6.4 Satellite Internet Market Analysis, 2023-2031

6.4.1 Market Landscape of Satellite Broadband Subscribers, 2023

6.5 Philippines Satellite Broadband Subscribers Forecast, 2023-2031

7 Fixed Telecommunications Infrastructure Investments

7.1 Fixed Digital Infrastructure

7.1.1 National Broadband Network Plans

7.1.2 Submarine Cables

7.1.3 FTTH – a long way to go

8 Philippines Telecom Towers Infrastructure Landscape

8.1 Philippines Telecom Towers Market Analysis, 2023

8.2 Philippines Telecom Towers Market Forecast

9 Thematics/Opportunities

9.1 Consolidation Opportunities

9.2 Diversification Opportunities

9.3 New Telecoms Operating Model

9.4 6G Developments

10 Telco Transaction Database

Companies Featured

• ABS-CBN
• ALT Global Solutions Inc.
• American Tower
• Bayantel
• Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings
• Converge ICT
• DITO Telecommunity
• Edgepoint
• edotco
• Frontier Tower Associates
• Globe Telecom
• Infinivan LCS Holdings
• Lopez Group
• Miescor
• Mislatel
• Now Corp
• Phil Tower
• PLDT
• Radius Telecom
• Royal Cable
• Sky Broadband
• Sky Cable
• Udenna
• Unity Digital Infrastructure

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/f9i120

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world’s leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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NIQ Brandbank launches new product data optimisation solution




NIQ Brandbank launches new product data optimisation solution

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, NIQ Brandbank, the global leading provider of digital product content, is pleased to announce the launch of its new product data optimisation solution, Content Health+, designed to empower brands to set the standard and become category leader with insight into category comparison and content benchmarking. This innovative new solution underscores NIQ Brandbank’s continued commitment to digitalise the shopper experience and deliver best in class product content across omnichannel.

Research conducted by NIQ Brandbank highlights that up to 84% of brands fail to claim at least one of the top three most searched attributes that their product qualifies for. With lifestyle, dietary, sustainable and ethical needs at the forefront of shopper minds, brands are being forced to re-evaluate the quality of product information shared with shoppers online and how it compares with their competitors. Shoppers now expect brands to go beyond the back of pack product information to connect with shoppers across the omnichannel from discovery to purchase.

NIQ Brandbank’s Content Health+ solution enables brands to first identify their content strengths and weaknesses based on their content health score and competitor rank, and secondly, continually improve the effectiveness and integrity of product content and optimise with additional attributes to achieve product content completeness.

Marsha McGraw, Global Managing Director at NIQ Brandbank commented, “We are excited to unveil our new product data optimisation solution, a testament to our continued innovation and commitment to our clients to digitalise the shopper experience. You can’t improve what you can’t measure, and we are proud to give our clients the opportunity to optimise their product content based on actionable insights to win on the digital shelf.”

With NIQ Brandbank’s new Content Health+ solution, brands can:

1. Measure against competition by gauging the content health of product content against competitor products and identify areas of improvement to win on the digital shelf.
2. Quickly identify priority areas for optimisation using a simple traffic light colour scheme to help identify areas of strengths and weaknesses.
3. Drive product matching with a combination of imagery and text, ensuring matches are based on similar styles of products as well as their composition and ingredients.
4. Set the market standards and position as a category leader by utilising actionable insights to drive best in class product content.

For more information please click here.

About NIQ Brandbank

NIQ Brandbank is the leading provider of digital product content solutions powering omnichannel shopping experiences.   

With over 25 years of experience and operating in 39 countries, NIQ Brandbank is the content partner to over 52,000+ brands, 700+ retailers, and wholesalers across the globe, creating a rich online shopping experience, while minimizing the cost and complexity for the industry.   

Visit us for more information.

Contacts

Amy Brown

Amy.brown@nielseniq.com

Lightbeam Health Solutions Recognized as One of the Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies in 2024 by the Financial Times




Lightbeam Health Solutions Recognized as One of the Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies in 2024 by the Financial Times

The Financial Times names Lightbeam Health Solutions on its list of the fastest-growing companies in the Americas for the third year in a row, achieving a 98% growth rate

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$FT #DigitalHealth—Lightbeam Health Solutions, the leader in population health enablement technology and solutions, has been recognized on the list of The Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies in 2024. This prestigious award is presented by the Financial Times and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The awards list was announced on April 4th, 2024, and can be viewed on the FT.com website.

The Americas’ Fastest Growing Companies 2024 ranking identifies companies with the strongest revenue growth between the years 2019 and 2022. More than 30,000 eligible companies were invited to register, but only companies that met various criteria could apply for the ranking. Each honoree’s compound annual growth rate was calculated based on the revenue figures submitted and verified by the companies. The top 500 companies that met various criteria were ranked, with the minimum growth rate to be included was 9.00%. From 2019 to 2022, Lightbeam achieved a 98% annual growth rate, exceeding the minimum by more than 10x.

“On behalf of everyone at Lightbeam, we are honored and humbled to be acknowledged as one of the Americas’ fastest-growing companies for the third year in a row,” says Paul Holt, Chief Financial Officer of Lightbeam Health Solutions. “Receiving a 98% growth rate is a remarkable achievement, and the fact that Lightbeam has scaled its growth consistently over the last three years demonstrates Lightbeam’s resilience and longevity as an enduring population health solution for all types of healthcare organizations. Lightbeam’s growth and success over the years has been a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our excellent team.”

This acknowledgement by the Financial Times is not the first recognition Lightbeam received in 2024. Earlier this year, CareSignal, Lightbeam’s Deviceless Remote Patient Monitoring^® solution was ranked the Best in KLAS^® Remote Patient Monitoring solution with a 91.1% patient satisfaction score. To learn more about Lightbeam’s nationally and internationally recognized solution suite, join us at ATA Nexus from May 5 -7, 2024 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, AZ and schedule time to meet with one of our healthcare IT experts.

About Lightbeam Health Solutions

Lightbeam Health Solutions delivers a proven model for managing patient populations and associated risk. Lightbeam’s population health platform arms payers and providers with the tools they need to facilitate care orchestration and improve patient outcomes while finding success in all value-based arrangements. Lightbeam services ACO REACH, MSSP ACO, Medicare Advantage, traditional Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial populations across the country. For more information, visit www.lightbeamhealth.com and follow Lightbeam on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).

Contacts

Amanda Hunt

media@lightbeamhealth.com

Mogo Reiterates Support for KAOS Capital’s Call for Change at WonderFi




Mogo Reiterates Support for KAOS Capital’s Call for Change at WonderFi

VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOGO) (TSX:MOGO) (“Mogo” or the “Company”), today reiterated the Company’s support for KAOS Capital Inc. (“KAOS”) and its call for change at WonderFi Technologies Inc. (“WonderFi”) (TSX:WNDR), including KAOS’s intention to nominate a new slate of directors to the WonderFi board. Mogo also confirms that the Company has, at all times, acted in accordance with its contractual obligations and applicable laws in respect of its support for KAOS.

Mogo is disappointed that the board of WonderFi has chosen to continue spending time and shareholder money attacking its largest shareholders, including Mogo, in an effort to distract from the operational and governance issues at WonderFi, rather than engaging productively to create value for all shareholders.

About Mogo

Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOGO; TSX:MOGO) is a financial technology company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada with more than 2 million members, $9.9B in annual payments volume and a ~13% equity stake in Canada’s leading Crypto Exchange WonderFi (TSX:WNDR). Mogo offers simple digital solutions to help its members dramatically improve their path to wealth-creation and financial freedom. Mogotrade offers commission-free stock trading that helps users thoughtfully invest based on a Warren Buffett approach to long-term investing – and make a positive impact with every investment. Moka offers Canadians a real alternative to mutual funds that overcharge and underperform with a passive investing solution based on a S&P 500 strategy at a fraction of the cost. Through its wholly owned digital payments subsidiary, Carta Worldwide, Mogo also offers a low-cost payments platform that powers next-generation card programs for companies across Europe and Canada. The Company, which was founded in 2003, has approximately 200 employees across its offices in Vancouver, Toronto, London & Casablanca.

Contacts

For further information:

Craig Armitage

Investor Relations

investors@mogo.ca

US Investor Relations Contact

Lytham Partners, LLC

Ben Shamsian

New York | Phoenix

shamsian@lythampartners.com
(646) 829-9701