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
Habashiappointed 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 Americain 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 STEER Technologies Inc.
