TIDMFFWD
RNS Number : 8511D
FastForward Innovations Limited
12 July 2016
FastForward Innovations Limited
12 July 2016
FastForward Innovations Limited
("FastForward", the "Company" or "FFWD")
Acquisition of additional 5.1% interest in College & Career
Counselor App "Schoold"
The Board of AIM-traded FastForward is pleased to announce that
FastForward's portfolio company, Vested Finance Inc. ("VFI"), an
education technology provider trading under the brand "Schoold",
has successfully raised additional funding of US$1,550,000 in a
Series Seed-2 Preferred Stock ("Series Seed-2") financing, with
significant participation from major Silicon Valley venture capital
funds and other investors.
As part of this funding round, the Company has today subscribed
for 798,374 shares of Series Seed-2, representing a 5.1 per cent.
interest (on a fully diluted basis) in VFI, for a total cash
consideration of US$700,000 (the "Subscription"). The Company has
funded the Subscription from its existing cash resources. FFWD's
investment of US$700,000 brings FFWD's total per cent. ownership in
VFI, including its prior investment, to 12.3 per cent. (on a fully
diluted basis). VFI may raise up to a total aggregate amount of
$3,000,000 over the 90 day period following the closing of this
funding round.
The valuation of VFI for the Series Seed-2 financing is US
$12,225,000 pre-money. The terms of this investment are
substantially similar to those of FFWD's previous investment in the
Series Seed-1 Preferred Stock of VFI (see FFWD's announcement dated
26 January 2016 for additional information), including VFI's
representations and warranties to investors and the voting,
liquidation, anti-dilution protection and other rights of the
Series Seed-2.
Additional Investors:
In addition to the Company, other Series Seed-2 investors
include some of the most recognized and successful firms investing
in the education technology sector, including Social Capital,
University Ventures, Learn Capital, and Professor Joe Grundfest of
Stanford Law School.
Commenting on the transaction, Lorne Abony, CEO of FastForward
noted, "Schoold's progress these past five months has been nothing
short of spectacular and it is no surprise that others have taken
notice. The new investors in this round are some of the most
successful venture capitalists in the world, including some of the
best minds in both education technology and early stage investing.
I expect these new shareholders will prove to be tremendous
additions to the Schoold team, and, by extension, FastForward and
its shareholders."
Schoold update: Achievements since original FFWD investment
VFI has provided the following update:
Since FFWD's last investment, Schoold launched globally in March
2016, and has since quickly become the market leader in iPhone and
Android app store rankings (#1 in college search), user reviews
(4.6 out of 5.0), and total installs, recently surpassing 1,000,000
total installs.
Prospective undergraduates in three months have collectively
engaged with content over 2.3 million times (e.g. via swiping),
checked over 10 million college statistics, and viewed over 2.5
million university or college profiles within the Schoold App.
Additionally Schoold has achieved significant improvements in unit
economics and engagement since launching in February,
including:
1. Cost of domestic (U.S.) user acquisition has declined from
over $2 per user to under $.70 per user, thus matching already low
CAC trends for international users;
2. Organic (unpaid) installs has increased from below 100 per
day to over 1200 per day as of June 2016; and
3. Monthly active users have grown from less than 2,000 on iOS
to over 50,000, and monthly active users on Android have sustained
at levels of 55,000 as of May 2016.
Related Party Transaction:
Mr Lorne Abony and Mr Stephen Dattels, directors of the Company,
are interested in approximately 60 per cent. and 5 per cent.
respectively of the outstanding stock of VFI prior to the
Subscription. Accordingly, the Subscription is a Related Party
Transaction under Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM
Rules"). Mr Stephen Dattels interest in VFI is held by Regent
Mercantile Holdings Limited ("Regent Mercantile"), a company owned
by a trust under which Mr Dattels is a potential beneficiary. Mr
Ian Burns, also a director of the Company, is a Director of Regent
Mercantile so is also not regarded as independent for the purposes
of the transaction.
Accordingly, Mr Jim Mellon and Mr Bryan Smith are the
independent directors of the Company for the purposes of the
transaction (the "Independent Directors").
The Independent Directors, having consulted with Peel Hunt LLP
("Peel Hunt") in its capacity as the Company's nominated adviser
for the purposes of the AIM Rules, consider the terms of the
Subscription to be fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's
shareholders are concerned. In particular, the Independent
Directors noted that:
1. the Subscription is being done on the same valuation as the
investment round completed on 26 January 2016, which was supported
by a 3rd party valuation report by a California based, technology
focused, experienced firm of independent valuers;
2. Schoold's operational and financial performance has exceeded
expectations since the January 2016 fundraising round was
completed; and
3. also participating alongside FFWD in the Subscription, on the
same terms, are three highly credible professional investment firms
who have backgrounds in early stage educational technology and who
have undertaken due diligence into this investment opportunity.
Further information regarding Schoold is available from its
website at www.schoold.co.
For further information on the Company and its investments
please visit www.fstfwd.co or contact:
FastForward Innovations Limited info@fstfwd.co
Josh Epstein / Ian Burns
Peel Hunt Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Dan Webster / Adrian Trimmings / George Sellar
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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