Ackroo signs definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of IQ7/24, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mobi724

OTTAWA, May 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ackroo Inc. AKRAKRFF (the "Company" or "Ackroo"), a gift card, and loyalty marketing technology and services provider, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Ackroo Canada Inc., and I.Q. 7/24 Inc. ("IQ724"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. MOSMOBIF ("Mobi724"), an arms'-length global Fintech company, offering a fully integrated suite of multiple Card-linked Offers and Rewards ("CLO&R"), Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence ("DMBI") and Payment Solutions ("Payment"), have signed a definitive agreement, dated effective May 9, 2019, for Ackroo to acquire certain assets associated with Mobi724's DMBI business.  The DMBI business is the IQ724 loyalty business that was purchased by Mobi724 in 2016 and generated $1.9M of revenue in 2018 across several enterprise and SMB brands in automotive, retail and hospitality.  The IQ724 loyalty business is expected to add $700k-$1M of positive EBITDA contribution to Ackroo once normalized and will help further expand Ackroo's marketing platform and services offering.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Ackroo will acquire certain components of the IQ724 software platform along with a 2-year licensing agreement, all associated hardware and related customer contracts.  In consideration for the acquisition, the Company has paid a $100,000 deposit on signing of the definitive agreement and will make a final one-time cash payment of $2,700,000 on closing.

"We are very excited to be adding the IQ724 digital marketing and business intelligence business to Ackroo," said Steve Levely, Chief Executive Officer at Ackroo. "We first partnered with IQ724 in 2016 to help support our enterprise merchant growth goals while allowing IQ724 to leverage Ackroo to better support their SMB merchant base.  IQ724 was initially a marketing services agency that evolved into technology whereas Ackroo began as a technology company that is evolving into a marketing services provider.  It is because of these initial approaches that Ackroo has always catered well to the SMB market while IQ724 to the enterprise merchant market. As the two Companies have evolved, there has been much more overlap in our offerings and so the timing was right to combine the companies.  Since the initial partnership, IQ724 was acquired by Mobi724 in order to enhance their core business of card-linked offers and rewards.  Now that the IQ724 platform has been enhanced to support Mobi724's needs, they were open to divesting of the management of the clients in an effort to better focus on their core business.  This created a great opportunity for Ackroo to further develop our offering while adding great talent and customers to our growing organization. "

Marcel Vienneau, the CEO of Mobi724 explained: "When Mobi724 acquired IQ724, our main goal was the integration of IQ724's sophisticated business intelligence and loyalty solutions platform with Mobi724's all-in-one ecosystem. Having completed the integration and all of its enhancements, Mobi724 can now offer its clients – payment cards issuers, and major accounts – a truly unique and comprehensive platform. We are confident, that transferring most of our Canadian loyalty contracts to Ackroo will serve the best interests of stakeholders of both companies – as Ackroo grows their operations in Canada, and Mobi724 can focus all of its attention and energies on the rapidly accelerating business developments in the card-linked segment in Latin America. Both companies are committed to working closely to ensure a smooth and seamless transition for the relevant IQ724 clients."

Completion of the acquisition remains subject to a number of conditions, including receipt of any required regulatory and shareholder approvals, and such other closing conditions as are customary in transactions of this nature.  There can be no assurance that such conditions will be satisfied and that the transaction will be completed as disclosed.  While the transaction is not subject to financing, the Company will require additional capital to complete the transaction.  The Company will provide additional information regarding such financing efforts as soon as it becomes available.  The Company does not anticipate that the transaction will require approval of its shareholders.

About Mobi724

"We enable smart transactions anywhere"

Mobi724, a global Fintech company, offers a fully integrated suite of multiple Card-Linked Offers and Rewards, Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence and Payment Solutions (including a mobile EMV compliant payment platform), which work with any payment card, on any mobile device and at any Point of Sale. Mobi724 provides turnkey solutions for card associations, card issuers, banks, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, to create, manage, deliver and track and measure incentive campaigns worldwide in real time. The company captures value from big data to deliver seamless and personalized user experiences for the benefits of all parties in the ecosystem. Mobi724 headquarters are in Montreal, Canada, and the company presently has operations in North and Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.mobi724.com.

About Ackroo

Ackroo provides merchants of all sizes a robust, cloud based multi-currency marketing platform to help attract, engage and grow their customers while increasing their revenues and margins. Through a SaaS based business model Ackroo provides an in-store and online automated solution to help merchants process gift card, loyalty and promotional transactions at the point of sale, provide key administrative and marketing data, and to allow customers to access and manage their gift card and loyalty accounts. Ackroo also provides important marketing services to assist their merchants with utilizing Ackroo's technology solution. Ackroo is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, visit: www.ackroo.com.

For information on Ackroo, please contact:

Steve Levely
Chief Executive Officer | Ackroo
Tel: 613-599-2396 x730
Email: slevely@ackroo.com 

For information on Mobi724, please contact:

Marcel Vienneau
Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 514-394-5200
ir@mobi724.com 

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither 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.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forecasts and forward-looking statements that are not guarantees of future performance and activities and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company has based these forward-looking statements on assumptions and assessments made by its management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Important factors that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the company's ability to raise enough capital to support the company's go forward plans; the overall global economic environment; the impact of competition and new technologies; general market, political and economic conditions in the countries in which the company operates; projected capital expenditures and liquidity; changes in the company's strategy; government regulations and approvals; changes in customers' budgeting priorities; plus other factors that may arise. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.