WISH Wishpond Technologies Ltd

• Viral Loops achieved a significant milestone with over 3 million participants engaged this year and over 1 million referrals generated year to date.
• Viral Loops experienced significant growth with over 40% increase in Customer Lifetime Value ("LTV")⁽¹⁾ and over 25% increase in Average Revenue Per Account ("ARPU") ⁽¹⁾ year over year, attributable to the shift in selling longer term referral campaigns and new integrations which have increased functionality of the platform.

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQX: WPNDF) (the "Company" or "Wishpond"), a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions, is pleased to provide the following update on its Viral Loops Platform, a platform for creating and managing referral and word-of-mouth marketing programs (the "Viral Loops Platform"). The Viral Loops Platform has reached a major milestone in 2024, engaging over 3 million participants this year and surpassing 1 million referrals year to date, solidifying its position as a leader in the referral marketing industry. Wishpond is also pleased to share that Viral Loops has seen significant growth with over 40% increase in LTV⁽¹⁾ and over 25% increase in ARPU⁽¹⁾ year over year.

Ali Tajskandar, CEO of Wishpond, commented, "It's incredibly encouraging to see such tremendous year-over-year growth with the Viral Loops Platform, a clear testament to the platform's innovative approach to referral marketing, which continues to resonate with businesses across industries. This milestone reflects not only the strength of Viral Loops but also the growing demand for its cutting-edge solutions. We're particularly excited to see increased adoption among Web3 companies and notable campaigns from leading organizations, which demonstrate the platform's ability to meet the diverse needs of businesses across various sizes and industries. At Wishpond, we remain deeply committed to continuous innovation, ensuring our products not only meet but exceed the evolving needs of our clients. The new integrations and features introduced to the Viral Loops Platform this year have significantly enhanced its functionality, enabling businesses to create more impactful campaigns. These achievements reinforce our dedication to helping businesses unlock the full potential of referral marketing as a driver of long-term growth and success."

In the view of management of the Company, Viral Loops has proven to be an important factor in helping businesses increase customer acquisition through incentivized referral campaigns. This year alone, the Viral Loops Platform has launched close to 7,000 campaigns, engaging over 3 million participants and generating over 1 million referrals. Total lifetime figures for the Viral Loops Platform include over 130,000 campaigns, 57 million participants, and 29 million referrals. Management believes these results highlight the Viral Loops Platform's growing success in the referral marketing space.

Viral Loops has achieved significant growth in key customer-value financial metrics alongside its expanding user base. Over the past year, LTV has increased by more than 40%, while APRU has grown by over 25%. This progress stems from a strategic shift towards selling longer-term referral campaigns that focus on tracking customer referrals, as opposed to shorter-term pre-launch campaigns that primarily involve email collection. Additionally, the adoption of new product features and integrations has significantly enhanced the Viral Loop Platform's functionality. Notably, the integration of Stripe, Sendoso, and Tremendous in Q3 2024 enabled businesses to access a wider array of reward options, boosting customer engagement. These advancements underscore Viral Loops' dedication to delivering greater value to its customers, empowering businesses to create more impactful and rewarding referral marketing campaigns.

Founded in 2016, Viral Loops helps businesses unlock their viral growth through powerful referral marketing solutions. It allows businesses to design, create and manage referral programs that reinforce customer loyalty, attract new customers and decrease customer acquisition costs. Viral Loops provides its customers with customizable templates for referral marketing campaigns where customers can refer their network in exchange for rewards. Viral Loops' technology tracks and manages the effectiveness and results of the referral program and enables customers to manage the distribution of the rewards and discounts arising from the campaign.

Grant of Incentive Awards

Wishpond also announced the grant of 1,200,000 performance share units ("PSUs") under the Company's Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan to certain officers for an aggregate of up to 1,200,000 common shares in the capital of the Company. The PSUs were granted effective November 28, 2024 ("Grant Date"). The PSUs vest on the one-year anniversary of the Grant Date based on the achievement of certain specific performance metrics approved by the board of directors of the Company (the "Board").

Ali Tajskandar
Chief Executive Officer
Wishpond Technologies Ltd.

About Wishpond Technologies Ltd.

Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Wishpond is a provider of marketing-focused online business solutions. Wishpond is a leading provider of digital marketing solutions that empower entrepreneurs to achieve success online. The Company's Propel IQ platform offers an "all-in-one" marketing suite that provides companies with marketing, promotion, lead generation, ad management, referral marketing, sales conversion and outbound sales automation capabilities in one integrated platform. Wishpond replaces disparate marketing solutions with an easy-to-use product, for a fraction of the cost. Wishpond serves over 4,000 customers who are primarily small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in a wide variety of industries. The Company has developed cutting-edge marketing technology solutions, including an AI powered website builder, an AI email automation tool and an AI sales agent, and continues to add new AI enabled features and applications. The Company employs a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model where most of the Company's revenue is subscription-based recurring revenue which provides excellent revenue predictability and cash flow visibility. Wishpond is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker "WISH", and on the OTCQX Best Market under the ticker "WPNDF". For further information, visit: www.wishpond.com.

(1) Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In this press release, Wishpond has used the following terms ("Non-GAAP Financial Measures") that are not defined by international financial reporting standards ("IFRS"), but are used by management to evaluate the performance of Wishpond and its business, including: MRR, LTV and ARPU. These measures may also be used by investors, financial institutions and credit rating agencies to assess Wishpond's performance and ability to service debt. Non-GAAP Financial Measures do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Securities regulations require that Non-GAAP Financial Measures are clearly defined, qualified and reconciled to their most comparable IFRS financial measures. Except as otherwise indicated, these Non-GAAP Financial Measures are calculated and disclosed on a consistent basis from period to period. Specific items may only be relevant in certain periods. See the disclosure under the heading "Additional GAAP and Non-GAAP Measures" in Wishpond's MD&A for a discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures and certain reconciliations to GAAP financial measures. The intent of Non-GAAP Financial Measures is to provide additional useful information to investors and analysts, and the measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS. The measures should not, therefore, be considered in isolation or used as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other issuers may calculate Non-GAAP Financial Measures differently. Non-GAAP Financial Measures are identified and defined as follows:

• Monthly Recurring Revenue: The Company uses Monthly Recurring Revenue, or MRR, as a directional indicator of subscription revenue going forward assuming customers maintain their subscription plan the following month. MRR is the total of all monthly subscription plan fees paid by customers in effect on the last day of that period. If customers pay for more than one month upfront, the amount is divided by the number of months in the subscription period. Discounts are deducted prior to the calculation and one-time payments and metered based charges are excluded.
  
  
• Average Revenue Per Account: The Company defines Average Revenue Per Account, or ARPU, as the total MRR divided by the number of subscribers. Management believes ARPU is a valuable financial metric as it provides insight into the effectiveness of the Company's monetization strategy and customer value generation. ARPA also helps track the impact of sales initiatives and product offerings on customer spending patterns.
  
  
• Customer Lifetime Value: The Company defines Customer Lifetime Value, or LTV, as the average revenue that a customer generates before they churn. Management believes LTV is useful as a forward looking estimate of the average revenue that a customer will generate throughout its lifespan as a customer with Wishpond.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements that are not reported financial results or other historical information are forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Company, Viral Loops, and the industries in which they operate, including statements about, among other things, the Viral Loop Platform and its expected maintenance or growth, results from future operations, future growth of the Company's and Viral Loops' products and platforms, the future development and increased use of products incorporating artificial intelligence, improvement in the Company's cash position and increased revenue generation, references to the growth of the Company's product portfolio and future profitability, including whether additional products or features may be developed in the future, and the functionality and timing of such products, financial results or operational activities that may be undertaken by the Company, the results of the Company's cost-savings, research and development and other initiatives, any future acquisitions or other activities done to grow the Company both organically or inorganically, expectations, beliefs, plans, future operations, the impact of broader economic factors including inflation and other general economic risks on the Company, business and acquisition strategies, opportunities, objectives, prospects, assumptions, including those related to trends and prospects, and future events and performance. Sentences and phrases containing or modified by words such as "expect", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "intend", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targets", "projects", "is designed to", "strategy", "should", "believe", "contemplate" and similar expressions, and the negative of such expressions, are not historical facts and are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable and are based on, among other things, the expectations and analysis of current market trends and opportunities of management of the Company, such forward-looking statements has been based on expectations, factors and assumptions concerning future events which may prove to be inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control, including, but not limited to, economic uncertainty and instability as a result of ongoing inflation and supply chain issues, the higher interest rate climate, tightening of credit availability and recessionary risks, pandemic related risks, wars, instability in global commodity and securities markets, shifts in consumer and institutional spending and marketing strategies, risks related to data breaches and privacy, the changing global market and competition for the products and services supplied by the Company, including but not limited to the Viral Loops Platform, and the additional risk factors discussed in the continuous disclosure materials of the Company which are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and are made as of the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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SOURCE Wishpond Technologies Ltd.