The company, operating under management
of several prominent Canadian technology leaders, will now trade
under the ticker TSXV: ARGH (OTCQX: ARGHF).
TORONTO, June 11,
2024 /CNW/ - Argo Co. (TSXV: ARGH) (OTCQX: ARGHF)
(Steer Technologies Inc.* now d/b/a/ "Argo Co." or the
"Company"), a new technology venture focused on transforming
public transportation and improving mobility in cities, today
announced that effective immediately, the publicly traded entity
will launch Argo as the primary business. Operating under the
business name Argo Co., the Company will commence trading under the
ticker symbols "ARGH" on the TSX Venture Exchange and "ARGHF" on
the OTCQX effective as of markets open today. It is anticipated
that the name of the Company will be formally changed to Argo
Corporation following a shareholder vote at the upcoming annual
general meeting (AGM) on July 24,
2024.
Argo co-founders, Praveen
Arichandran, Qamar Qureshi,
and Sisun Lee, have been appointed to management. Arichandran and
Qureshi will serve as co-CEOs following their February investments
in the publicly traded vehicle and appointments to the board, and
Lee will serve as Chief Product Officer. Holly Lim has been appointed Chief Financial
Officer and Corporate Secretary.
The board of directors of the Company (the "Board") has
also been updated, with Colette
Bridgman and Daniel Habashi
appointed as independent directors on the Board to fill the
vacancies of Junaid Razvi and Dr.
Hamilton Jeyaraj, who have resigned effective immediately.
Arichandran has replaced Razvi as Chairman of the Board.
"We're so proud to be bringing world-class Canadian tech talent
home from across the globe to innovate in Canada and transform how cities move around
the world. We're exploring our initial launch locations and are
inviting all levels of government to partner with us in making our
cities more accessible, connected, and prosperous for everyone,"
said Arichandran, co-CEO and co-founder of Argo. "We'll be sharing
more in the coming weeks about our vision and plan. Building Argo
as a publicly traded company gives everyone the ability to not only
benefit from the technology but also come along for the ride as
owners."
Argo remains committed to the previously announced divestment of
most of its 58.72% indirect equity interest in FoodsUp, Inc. from
STEER. Junaid Razvi, former Chairman
and CEO of STEER, and Dr. Hamilton Jeyaraj, former independent
director, are expected to serve on the board of FoodsUp, Inc. as
part of this transition. This divestment reflects, with finality,
the end of STEER and the launch of Argo.
Argo Team Highlights
- Praveen Arichandran joined Tesla
as head of growth in 2016 at age 25. Without traditional
advertising, he and his team helped transition the company from
retail to a referral and online sales model. Before this, he was a
member of Facebook's early international growth team and led the
Internet.org product team whose products connected over
100M users to the Internet. He's been
an advisor to several companies, including TikTok and Athena, and
was recognized on Forbes' 2019 Under 30 list.
- Qamar Qureshi is a CPA and MBA
who most recently served as the President and Chief Financial
Officer at Knowledgehook. As President of the Americas and Board
Member at University College London's Tech Labs, he oversees
accelerators and early-stage companies across the continent. Qamar
has led digital transformation for Canada's largest financial institutions and
held senior roles at Sunlife Financial and IBM. He has raised
millions in financing and secured precedent-setting sales
contracts, which have featured him in TechCrunch, Entrepreneur
Magazine, and Forbes.
- Sisun Lee was a product manager at Facebook, where he worked
with Argo co-CEO Praveen Arichandran
on building Internet.org products. He then joined Uber to lead
their growth efforts in Southeast
Asia before rejoining Arichandran at Tesla as one of the
founding members of Tesla's growth team. He has since founded and
scaled several companies in consumer product and technology,
including More Labs and Ramper. Lee has been featured in Forbes,
Bloomberg, TechCrunch, and Business Insider for his successful
ventures.
- Holly Lim served as the CFO of
Google's Sidewalk Labs sustainability initiative and, before that,
as CFO of SoundCloud and TuneIn. She brings a wealth of experience
in finance, operations and governance. She will ensure a proper
wind-down of all entity legacy interests and a clean transition to
launch Argo.
- Colette Bridgman has taken some
of the world's leading mobility companies from their earliest days
to clear market dominance. She was one of Tesla's earliest hires
and led the global marketing function through every phase of
business and growth internationally from 2004 through 2017. After
Tesla, she created the marketing function at self-driving system
leader Aurora, taking the company public in 2021.
- Daniel Habashi offers impressive
experience in operations, technology and governance. He serves as
the chief customer officer at SSENSE and as a board member at
Aritzia. Previously, Habashi led operations in North America in over 30 other countries as a
member of TikTok's senior management team. He has also had several
senior leadership roles at Facebook, Instagram, Soho House and
Microsoft.
About Argo
Argo is committed to revolutionizing public transportation with
world-class Canadian tech talent who will return home from around
the globe to further Argo's vision of removing public
transportation barriers in service of a better, more connected
future. You can learn more about the Argo team at
www.rideargo.com.
*As disclosed in this news release, the Company intends to
effect a legal name change to Argo Corporation following the
approval by shareholders of a name change at the AGM. Until the
finalization of such name change, all regulatory filings will
continue to occur under the Company's current legal name, Steer
Technologies Inc.
Forward-Looking
Information
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements as
well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and
intentions. Forward looking statements are frequently identified by
such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate",
"estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events
and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current
opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking
information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of
assumptions, risks and uncertainties, as described in more detail
in the Company's securities filings available at www.sedarplus.ca.
Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected
in the forward-looking statements and we caution against placing
undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update
these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable
law.
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.
SOURCE Argo Co.