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- Technology company ikeGPS (IKE) has signed an agreement to acquire assets in artificial intelligence company VisualGlobe for at least US$3.3 million (roughly A$4.3 million)
- Under the deal, the software stock is seeking to expand its addressable market across the electricity, utility and communication industries
- In the future, IKE may need to hand over some extra coin to satisfy an earn-in agreement set out in the contract
- Currently, that comprises as much as US$4.99 million (around A$6.51 million) in cash and up to US$2.1 million (approximately A$2.74 million) worth of IKE shares, with payouts assessed over a three-year period
- The addition of Visual Globe’s technology will enable IKE to process pole data that can be collected from new additional sources, including drones and smartphones
- ikeGPS is up 11 per cent following the news, with shares trading at $1.11
Technology company ikeGPS (IKE) has signed an agreement to acquire assets in artificial intelligence company VisualGlobe for at least US$3.3 million (roughly A$4.3 million).
Visual Globe’s artificial intelligence and low/no-code software platform uses machine learning across imagery for feature extraction, enabling it to analyse high volumes of pole data.
The addition of Visual Globe’s technology will enable IKE to process pole data that can be collected from new additional sources, including drones and smartphones, making the IKE’s platform even more attractive to electric utilities and communications groups in the North American market.
While it’s paid out US$3.3 million in cash already, IKE may need to hand over some extra coin to satisfy an earn-in agreement in the future.
Currently, the agreement comprises as much as US$4.99 million (around A$6.51 million) in cash and up to US$2.1 million (approximately A$2.74 million) worth of IKE shares, with payouts assessed over a three-year period.
The earn-out payments are subject to the newly acquired assets delivering revenue targets totalling roughly $27 million in aggregate until March 2024, or 80 per cent of the total earn-out.
This acquisition complements IKE’s existing offering and aligns with the company’s vision to become the standard for collecting, analysing and managing power pole information.
Visual Globe’s AI platform provides the potential for IKE to grow its addressable market within the electric utility and communication industries and to increase the number of transactions that can process efficiently on its platform.
Visual Globe began addressing the electric utility and communications market segment in late 2019, generating just under $750,000 in revenue from this market segment over the past 12 months.
“This transaction with Visual Globe allows IKE to expand our addressable markets and adds important advanced bulk data collection & analysis capability. This enables IKE to continue to disrupt often inefficient or manual work practices across the electric utility and communications markets,” IKE CEO, Glenn Milnes, said.
“Maximizing the volume of pole transactions on the IKE platform is our key revenue driver and we believe this acquisition has the potential to accelerate our business. We have been impressed by what Visual Globe has achieved technically and look forward to adding their team, and this AI capability, to our offering for the benefit of customers.”
ikeGPS is up 11 per cent following the news, with shares trading at $1.11 at 10:53 am AEDT.
