[October 20, 2017] |
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Thinfilm Raises $110 Million as NFC Solutions Traction Increases among Leading Consumer Brands
Thinfilm
Electronics ASA ("Thinfilm") (OSE: THIN) (OTCQX:TFECY), a global
leader in NFC (near-field communication) mobile marketing and smart
product solutions, announced on Thursday that it successfully raised
more than $110 million through a private placement with existing
shareholders and new high-quality institutional investors. The proceeds
fully fund the Company's CAPEX requirements and operations leading up to
an anticipated cash break-even point in early Q2 2019. The capital
infusion also strongly positions Thinfilm to realize its vision of
making everyday items 'smart' while leveraging smartphones to bridge the
gap between physical objects and the digital world.
Proceeds from the private placement will be used to fully fund a range
of strategic needs, including the purchase and installation of
roll-to-roll manufacturing equipment, ongoing back-end development, and
expansion of the sales, marketing, and software teams.
Thinfilm's NFC Solutions empower brands to connect directly with
consumers through the simple tap of a smartphone, effectively bypassing
intermediary search engines, social platforms, online marketplaces, and
group-sourced review sites. Recent case studies demonstrate that,
compared to more conventional marketing channels, NFC produces higher
engagement levels, generates more web traffic, and enhances consumer
purchase conversion.
"The substantial funding secured in this private placement is a
testament to both the opportunity that exists in the NFC solutions space
and Thinfilm's ability - as a market leader - to address the increasing
demand among consumer brands of all sizes," said Davor Sutija, CEO of
Thinfilm. "With sufficient financing to get us to cash break-even, we
are now keenly focused on bringing affordable intelligence to billions
of everyday items."
The capital raise follows several milestone achievements by Thinfilm
over the past year related to operations, software, and sales. These
accomplishments center on:
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CNECT™ Platform - Launched in February, the cloud-based
software platform fully integrates with NFC tags, enabling brands and
digital agencies to connect directly with consumers, deliver targeted
content and unique digital experiences through the tap of a
smartphone, and manage/analyze camaigns in real time via the CNECT
portal. As of mid-October, there were 377 companies registered on the
CNECT Platform.
-
New US headquarters - The former Qualcomm (News - Alert)-owned facility was
secured in October 2016, features a 22,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art
fab, and will house Thinfilm's new roll-based manufacturing line. A
grand-opening event on June 15th was attended by more than
200 guests.
-
Roll-based manufacturing line - A dedicated Thinfilm
roll-to-roll team is managing procurement and buildout of the line,
which is expected to be operational for EAS (electronic article
surveillance) tags by year-end 2017 and for NFC tags by Q3 2018. Once
completed, the ultra-high-volume line will have an annual front-end
die (NFC & EAS) capacity in the billions of units.
-
Barbadillo NFC field trial & case study - In July, Thinfilm
and Barbadillo announced the largest on-bottle deployment of NFC in
the wine & spirits industry. The promotional campaign featured 126,000
'smart' wine bottles, integrated with SpeedTap tags and supported by
the CNECT Platform. Results showed that Thinfilm's NFC Solution
generated 54% of brand engagement during the multi-channel campaign,
produced 10x higher traffic than social media, and drove over 30%
consumer purchase conversion.
-
MMA 'Smarties' Award - Thinfilm and Coronado Brewing Co.
received a 2017 North America Smarties™ Award from the Mobile
Marketing Association (MMA) for technology innovations in the
'Internet of Things - Products in the Market' category. Thinfilm has
also launched other in-market deployments of its NFC Solution with
craft beer brewers Oskar Blues and Amplified Ale Works.
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GSK field trial - This month, Thinfilm announced a field trial
with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). SpeedTap tags were used to create
interactive 'smart' shelves that helped educate consumers on GSK's
leading over-the-counter product, Flonase®. The trial was rolled out
in retail stores across Canada.
-
Thinfilm NFC Scanner App for iPhone - Thinfilm launched its NFC
Scanner App for iPhone in September, immediately following Apple's (News - Alert)
release of the iOS 11 operating system. Apple's enhanced NFC support
means that, for the first time, all major mobile operating systems
support smart product and smart package interactions using NFC tags.
Apple's updated OS extends the iPhone's (News - Alert) NFC capabilities beyond Apple
Pay by enabling supported NFC tags to launch mobile-optimized digital
experiences with a single tap from iPhone 7 and later models. As a
result, Thinfilm customers can now leverage NFC - through the use of
conventional tags that fully integrate with the CNECT Platform - to
engage directly with iPhone users and generate high-quality traffic
from digitized 'smart' products.
About Thin Film Electronics ASA
Thinfilm is a global leader in NFC mobile marketing and smart-packaging
solutions using printed electronics technology. The Company creates
printed tags, labels, and systems that include memory, sensors,
displays, and wireless communication - all at a cost-per-function
unmatched by conventional electronic technologies.
Thinfilm offers end-to-end mobile marketing solutions that feature
hardware, label/packaging integration services, and comprehensive
cloud-based management, reporting and analytics. Collectively, these
components deliver a powerful 1-to-1 digital marketing platform through
which brands of all sizes can connect directly with consumers, all with
the simple tap of a smartphone. The resulting disintermediation of
search engines, online marketplaces, and social platforms empowers
brands to control messaging, enhance consumer dialogue, build loyalty,
increase engagement, and drive sales.
Thinfilm's roadmap integrates technology from a strong and growing
ecosystem of partners to bring intelligence to everyday, disposable
items. Its mission is to effectively extend the traditional boundaries
of the Internet of Things to fuel the Internet of Everything.
Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed company in Norway with
global headquarters in Oslo, Norway; US headquarters in San Jose,
California; and offices in Linköping, Sweden; San Francisco; London; and
Shanghai. For more information, visit www.thinfilm.no.
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to
§5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act).
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171020005583/en/
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