ATLANTA, June 1, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- KORE Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: KORE) (NYSE:
KOREWS), the global pure-play Internet of Things ("IoT")
hyperscaler and provider of IoT Connectivity, Solutions and
Analytics, announced today the closing of the acquisition of
Twilio's (NYSE: TWLO) IoT business unit. KORE and Twilio previously
announced on March 27, 2023, that the
two organizations had entered into a definitive agreement for the
acquisition. This acquisition positions KORE to drive the
accelerated adoption of IoT.
As consideration for the acquisition, KORE issued Twilio, the
customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized
experiences for today's leading brands, 10 million shares of KORE
common stock, representing approximately 11.5% of KORE's issued and
outstanding shares.
"The Internet of Things has massive potential, and how
efficiently and quickly it proliferates in the world depends upon
the effectiveness and scalability of the distribution network,"
KORE President and CEO Romil Bahl
said. "With the acquisition of Twilio's IoT business, we are making
it even easier to achieve the benefits of IoT across thousands of
use cases."
As the world's first IoT hyperscaler, the mission of KORE is to
make deploying and managing IoT solutions easier, just as cloud
service Hyperscalers have done with computing and storage.
KORE enriches its portfolio of services that simplify the
complexities of IoT adoption:
- A powerful connectivity suite, including best-in-class eSIM
technologies with KORE OmniSIM™ and Twilio Super
SIM®
- A one-stop-shop for building, deploying, managing, and scaling
IoT operations across the entire lifecycle via award-winning
technologies and world-class facilities
- An accelerated time to market through global, 24/7 customer
support and 20 years of IoT experience through KORE and the newly
acquired Twilio IoT team's depth and breadth of digital
experience
With the added ability of "Build" to the "Deploy, Manage, and
Scale" proposition, KORE can now address every touchpoint across
the IoT journey, simplifying what can be a highly fragmented IoT
ecosystem between hardware, connectivity, data communication,
computing, and analytics.
Notice of Inducement Equity Awards
In connection with the acquisition of Twilio's IoT business
unit, and effective as of the closing date, KORE is granting equity
inducement awards to 18 employees of Twilio covering an aggregate
of up to 1,760,268 shares of KORE common stock as a material
inducement to such employees to commence employment with
KORE.
The equity awards, consisting of grants of time-based and
performance-based restricted share units ("RSUs"), were approved by
the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of KORE and
are being made in reliance on the employment inducement exemption
under the NYSE's Listed Company Manual Rule 303A.08. KORE is
announcing the grant of the equity awards in this news release to
comply with Rule 303A.08.
The time-based RSUs generally vest in installments on each
anniversary of the grant date over three to four years, and the
performance-based RSUs are scheduled to vest based on performance
against certain financial performance criteria over a three-year
performance period, subject in all cases to the recipient's
continued service as an employee through each applicable vesting
date.
The equity awards were granted outside of KORE's 2021 Long-Term
Stock Incentive Plan, but generally have terms and conditions
consistent with those set forth in that plan. KORE intends to file
a Registration Statement on Form S-8 covering these equity
awards.
About Twilio
Today's leading companies trust Twilio's Customer Engagement
Platform (CEP) to build direct, personalized relationships with
their customers everywhere in the world. Twilio enables companies
to use communications and data to add intelligence and security to
every step of the customer journey, from sales to marketing to
growth, customer service and many more engagement use cases in a
flexible, programmatic way. Across 180 countries, millions of
developers and hundreds of thousands of businesses use Twilio to
create magical experiences for their customers. For more
information about Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), visit: www.twilio.com.
About KORE
KORE is a pioneer, leader, and trusted advisor delivering
mission critical IoT solutions and services. We empower
organizations of all sizes to improve operational and business
results by simplifying the complexity of IoT. Our deep IoT
knowledge and experience, global reach, purpose-built solutions,
and deployment agility accelerate and materially impact our
customers' business outcomes. For more information, visit
korewireless.com.
KORE Investors Contact:
Charley Brady
Vice President, Investor Relations
investors@korewireless.com
+1-678-392-2335
KORE Media Contact:
Alisa Moloney
Senior Director of Marketing
Email: amoloney@korewireless.com +1-770-365-8382
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain statements that are not
historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of
the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe,"
"may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend,"
"expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential,"
"seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," and similar expressions that
predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not
statements of historical matters. In particular, statements
relating to the acquisition of the IoT business from Twilio, the
attractiveness of the acquisition transaction from a financial
perspective; the strength, complementarity and compatibility of the
IoT business acquired from Twilio with KORE's existing business;
other anticipated benefits of the acquisition; KORE's business
outlook, objectives, development, plans, growth strategies and
other strategic priorities; KORE's estimated position and strengths
in the IoT business; estimations of addressable markets; and
statements relating to KORE's future growth, results of operations,
performance, business, prospects and opportunities; expectations
regarding up-selling and cross-selling opportunities and intention
to capture increased portions of addressable markets, and other
statements that are not historical facts constitute forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on various assumptions
and on the current expectations of KORE's management. These
forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes
only and are not intended to serve as and must not be relied on by
any investor or other person as, a guarantee, an assurance, a
prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual
events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and
will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances
are beyond the control of KORE. These forward-looking statements
are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including
general economic, financial, legal, political and business
conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the
potential effects of COVID-19; risks related to the rollout of
KORE's business and the timing of expected business milestones;
risks related to the loss, non-renewal, termination or negotiation
of the relationship with customers of the IoT business acquired
from Twilio; risks relating to the integration of KORE's acquired
businesses, including the IoT business acquired from Twilio,
changes in the assumptions underlying KORE's expectations regarding
its future business; the effects of competition on KORE's future
business; and the outcome of judicial proceedings to which KORE is,
or may become a party. If the risks materialize or assumptions
prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the
results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be
additional risks that KORE presently does not know or that KORE
currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual
results to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements
reflect KORE's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events
and views as of the date of this press release. KORE anticipates
that subsequent events and developments will cause these
assessments to change. However, while KORE may elect to update
these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, KORE
specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These
forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing KORE's assessments as of any date subsequent to the
date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not
be placed upon the forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE KORE Wireless