Abner Labs Acquires Abner Group and ibetmobile Technology for $18 Million
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – February 14, 2022) – Abner Labs announces its acquisition of Abner Technology Group Limited (“Abner Group”) for $18 million in an all-share deal (the “Acquisition”) pursuant to the terms and conditions of a share exchange agreement entered into between the Company, Abner Group, Velocia Investment Management Company SA, Evolution Technologies Limited and Brookwood Capital Corporation (the “Share Exchange Agreement”).
Abner Group owns the ibetmobile sports betting technology.
Following completion of the Acquisition, Abner Group became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and Abner Group’s shareholders became the Company’s largest shareholders.
“Acquisition of Abner Group and its ibetmobile technology underpin the Company’s vision to be a leading sports betting technology company and preferred licensing partner to sports books,” said Dr David Bate, Chairman.
ibetmobile makes watching and betting on live sports as easy as playing video games. “We expect the technology to disrupt the online sports betting market by opening it up to sports fans who never considered betting on sports or found it challenging to bet on sports while watching games. ibetmobile is likely to appeal to young people and first-time visitors attracted by our easy but exciting new way to watch live sports and bet on in-play action during their favourite games on the web site of their favourite sports book” said Dr Bate.
For sports books, ibetmobile complements and does not cannibalize existing online offerings. It is expected to drive traffic to sports book sites, increase advertising opportunities and allow sports books to better understand their customers. “As a white label platform, ibetmobile is a triple-headed beast that may deliver big benefits to sports books. ibetmobile is ideally positioned as a client acquisition monster, an advertising behemoth and a data diva all living within a dynamic live sports viewing and betting platform. This trifecta of capabilities could materially improve the quantity and quality of online betting, even beyond live sports and into fantasy sports, esports and reality television,” said Dr Bate.
The Acquisition represents the first major transaction undertaken by Aber Labs’ new Board of Directors and new management team since their appointment in January 2022. “We are singularly focused on the creation and acceleration of sustainable shareholder value through development and commercialization of the ibetmobile technology. Watch this space,” concluded Dr Bate.
THE ACQUISITION
Abner Technology Group Limited
In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Share Exchange Agreement, Abner Labs acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Abner Group in consideration of its issue of 72 000 000 shares in the capital of the Company (“Shares”) to Abner Group at a deemed price of $0.25 per Share for total share consideration of $18 000 000. Abner Labs also issued 24 000 000 Share purchase warrants (“Warrants”) to Abner Group’s shareholders with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Share at a price of $0.38 per Share for 24 months after the issue date. Pursuant to the Share Exchange Agreement, Abner Labs will also settle a $300 000 trade payable owed by Abner Group if certain milestones are reached within 24 months of the Acquisition.
As a result of the Acquisition, Abner Group became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and Abner Group’s shareholders became the Company’s largest shareholders.
The Board of Directors and management team remain unchanged after the Acquisition.
ibetmobile
ibetmobile makes watching and wagering on real-time ‘in play’ live sports on online devices as easy as playing video games.
ibetmobile is a white label technology platform licensed to sports books to offer their customers under their brands. It does not operate its own book but drives customers to sports books and facilitates play on sports books’ web sites. As such, it expects to have very low user acquisition costs.
ibetmobile is a complex technology ecosystem:
- Dedicated video and data feeds (licensed) for each game and event with redundancies.
- Algorithms (proprietary) convert complex arrays of raw data and odds into rich data.
- An artificial intelligence (‘AI’) neural network (proprietary) integrates feeds, processes data generated by algorithms, converts ‘numbers to words’ to create negative and positive proposition bets expressed as simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions in real time just before events, coordinates platform experience for sports books (clients) and bettors (users), tracks and predicts behaviors/preferences of individual bettors. The AI neural network gets smarter as its gains experience and learns user preferences to improve individual user experiences.
- Risk Management module (proprietary) evaluates AI outputs for integrity, enforces risk management and mitigation strategies based on the distribution of questions, betting behaviors and financial risks, coordinates geo tracking and other risk management functions.
- Hyper-compression technology (proprietary) facilitates connectivity, variable speed controls.
- End-to-end encryption technology (partially proprietary) protects books and users.
Bets appear every 10, 15, 20 or 30 seconds (your choice). You decide the amount you want to bet at the beginning of each game (you can change during the game).
All proposition bets are offered as even money. The simplicity of the ibetmobile is a significant strength and important part of its appeal:
– No odds
– No betting systems
– No complicated bets
Just quick and simple questions based on what is happening in your game, right now.
ibetmobile marries online gambling, video gaming and live sports viewing into a single interactive and immersive user experience. It includes leaderboards, quizzes and links to major social media platforms to deliver a highly sociable and enjoyable experience:
- Gamified user interface creates gaming-like experience that appeals to consumers
- Head to head and group play builds competition and communities of users
- Constant in-play betting opportunities with rolling results create ‘buzz’ like gaming events
- Instant recognition of betting performance
- Leaderboards reward peak performance and build communities of users
- Quizzes pay out rewards, deliver recognition and status that builds communities of users
- Loyalty programs support client retention and build communities of users
- Variable rewards appeal to specific users including social rewards, money, completion bonuses.
ibetmobile expects to appeal to a broad range of users:
- Sports Fans
- Sports Bettors
- Migrating sports bettors (from offline to online betting)
- General Gamblers
- eSports Viewers
- Fantasy Sports Participants
- Social Bettors
Sports books are spending billions of dollars locked in an online war for bettors. ibetmobile attracts existing and new online bettors through multiple channels for multiple reasons. The platform complements and does not cannibalize existing online offerings.
ibetmobile expects to earn revenues from three sources: a portion of all wagers made through the platform; advertising sales; and data sales.
ibetmobile is currently a beta platform that requires further development of the UI/UX interface and back end interface prior to commercialization. Abner Labs has commenced a final platform sprint to achieve scalability and commercialization of the technology in the near future.
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ABOUT THE COMPANY
Abner Innovation Laboratories Limited (“Abner Labs”) is a British Columbia, Canada, company that owns the ibetmobile sports viewing and betting technology platform through a wholly owned subsidiary called Abner Technology Group Limited (“Abner Group”). ibetmobile is proprietary, artificial intelligence (“AI”) driven smart technology that makes watching and wagering on live sports on any online device as easy as playing video games.
For more information about ibetmobile and Abner Labs, please visit: www.abner-labs.com.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Ms Tatiana Munro-Cameron
Vice President, Engagement
Abner Innovation Laboratories Limited
tatiana.munro-cameron@abner-labs.com
Mr Keenan Gentry
Capital Markets Advisor
Abner Innovation Laboratories Limited
keenan.gentry@abner-labs.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain “forward looking information” and “forward looking statements” (collectively referred to as “forward looking statements”). These forward looking statements relate to future events or the Company’s future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “continues”, “forecasts”, “projects”, “predicts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “believes” or variations of or the negatives of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s assumptions as at the date the forward looking statements and include but are not limited to statements and assumptions about: the Company’s vision to be a leading sports betting technology company; the Company’s vision to be a licensing partner to sports books; expected disruption of the sports betting industry by the ibetmobile platform; future client acquisitions; the development, functionality and commercialization of the ibetmobile platform and the timing associated therewith; the ease of use of the ibetmobile platform; application and capabilities of artificial intelligence on the platform; the platform complementing existing online sports betting offerings; expected revenue sources of the ibetmobile platform; potential application of ibetmobile in the live sports market and other market segments such as fantasy sports, esports and reality television; and anticipated competitive advantages of ibetmobile compared to current sports betting platforms available in the market.
Though management believes that its assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from all or any of the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward looking statements.
Risk factors that could cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ from the forward looking statements in this news release include but are not limited to: the Company’s ability to execute its business strategy; adverse or unexpected changes to regulatory regimes related to the sports betting industry; the capabilities and risks of the ibetmobile technology; and general market and economic risks.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements other than as required by applicable law.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/113711