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Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) O2O Platform Connects Consumers, Businesses for ‘Online Lifestyle, Offline Fun’
Although it started mostly as a way for brick-and-mortar merchants to get more customers by offering special deals and discounts via online advertising, a tendency that is still maintained, the Online-to-Offline (O2O) market has rapidly evolved past that point to include all manner of services and to serve as a connecting bridge between consumers and merchants. The market has grown to include click-and-collect services traditionally offered by brick-and-mortar merchants, as well as on-demand services such as Airbnb or Uber, deal sites such as Meituan.com or Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), all the way to services such as fresh market delivery, pick-up dry cleaning, restaurant booking, food delivery, and more.
The expansion of O2O services is likely to play a major part in the growth of China’s massive eCommerce sector, expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2020. With this in mind, a growing number of Chinese companies, such as Shenzhen-based Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), have begun to invest heavily in the O2O sector and have even developed specific software and tools aimed at both merchants and consumers active in this market. Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) last year purchased 20% of consumer electronics chain Suning for $4.63 billion and, earlier this year, invested more than $1 billion in food delivery services Ele.me. In addition, a growing number of O2O businesses will focus on ways of providing services and products to regions where they were previously unavailable. Alibaba’s Taobao platform has actually started a campaign recently to encourage Chinese farmers to sell their products on the platform.
Moxian’s O2O platform targets small- and medium-sized enterprises, including traditional brick-and-mortar vendors, being designed to help them connect with prospects and customers at a deeper level. By integrating social media features, entertainment and gamification, and business intelligence capabilities, the Multi-Channel Social Commerce Platform allows both consumers and businesses to connect and interact under the unique concept of ‘Online Lifestyle, Offline Fun’. More specifically, the comprehensive platform has at its core a proprietary Social Customer Relationship Management tool developed with the specific goal of improving consumer-business interaction by allowing vendors to run targeted marketing and advertising campaigns.
The Moxian+ Business app allows merchants to collect and analyze insightful behavior data about their customers, with the purpose of knowing their audience better and offering each and every user group a more personalized experience. The user data is collected through the Moxian+ User app, dedicated to shoppers, which includes a gaming center, a rewards redemption center and social media networking capabilities. Based on geolocation and a user’s preferences the app also makes personalized shopping recommendations, including vendors, promotions and special deals that are in the user’s vicinity.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Reports 55% YOY Increase in Net Revenues for First Nine Months of 2016
Earlier today, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) reported its financial results from the fiscal quarter and nine-month period ended September 30, 2016. Among the highlights, the company achieved year-over-year net revenue growth of 11 percent for the three-month period, recording $14,009,652. This performance was attributed primarily to organic growth in its North America Transaction Solutions segment. Through an emphasis on value-added offerings for small and medium-sized businesses, Net Element’s North America Transaction Solution segment was up 43 percent over the prior year, recording revenues of $3.4 million.
“Our results are a reflection of our ability to implement our business objectives in a dynamic environment,” Oleg Firer, chief executive officer of Net Element, stated in this morning’s news release. “We continue to be excited about our strategic initiatives for the remainder of the year.”
For the first nine months of 2016, Net Element achieved overall net revenue growth of 55 percent, as compared to the same period in 2015, driven by strong organic growth across its North America Transaction Solution segment, as well as its mobile and online solutions segments. Revenue from the company’s North America Transaction Solution segment was up 53 percent through the first nine months of the year to $29.4 million. Likewise, net revenues from Net Element’s mobile solutions segment were up 43 percent year-over-year, while its online solutions division posted a 92 percent increase in net revenues over 2015.
Net Element’s strong growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. Earlier this year, the company was recognized as one of the South Florida Business Journal’s Top 25 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies. Setting the stage to build on this performance, Net Element has continued to expand its presence in the mobile and online payments space in recent months. In late September, the company announced that wholly-owned subsidiary PayOnline had signed an agreement with Dunkin’ Donuts (NASDAQ: DNKN) to enable payment acceptance for online ordering and delivery services for the chain’s Russian locations. Weeks later, Net Element’s PayOnline subsidiary entered an agreement with ExLine, Kazakhstan’s market leader in courier services, to enable online payment acceptance.
The company’s management team will be discussing these milestones, as well as Net Element’s newly-released financial results, in a conference call on November 15, 2016 at 8:30 AM ET. To access the call, investors should dial +1 (877) 303-9858 (or for international callers +1 (408) 337-0139) and reference the password 18929736. For those unable to attend the call, a recorded replay will also be made available on Net Element’s investor relations website at www.netelement.com/en/ir.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
National Waste Management Holdings, Inc. (NWMH) Announces 269% Revenue Growth for Third Quarter
Before the opening bell, National Waste Management Holdings, Inc. (OTC: NWMH) announced its financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2016. Notably, the company achieved year-over-year revenue growth of 269 percent, recording $1.7 million in total revenue for the quarter. National Waste recorded similar growth for the first nine months of 2016, with total revenue of $4.8 million, which marked an increase of 262 percent from the comparable period of 2015.
This financial growth is largely attributable to the company’s aggressive acquisition strategy, highlighted through the 2015 acquisitions of Waste Recovery Enterprises and Gateway Rolloff Services. National Waste leveraged this strategy once again in June of this year, when it acquired Sivart Services, a roll-off and compactor business located in Worchester, New York, in an effort to expand its geographic footprint in the northeast while supporting additional revenue growth.
“We are pleased to report our third-quarter 2016 results, marking three consecutive quarters of triple-digit quarterly revenue growth. Our third-quarter performance largely reflects the effectiveness of our acquisition strategy and, in correlation, our growing customer base,” Louis Paveglio, chief executive officer of National Waste, stated in this morning’s news release. “Moving forward, we expect to see continued improvements in profitability as a result of our acquisitions of WRE and Gateway in 2015, supported by our acquisition of Sivart Services earlier this year and our rapidly expanding presence in the northeast.”
In addition to its strong financial performance, National Waste made efforts to strengthen its position in the solid waste management industry during the third quarter by expanding its management team. On August 18, 2016, the company appointed Dali Kranzthor to the position of chief financial officer. Kranzthor added considerable financial experience to the National Waste team, having previously served in leadership roles with numerous privately-held and publicly-held firms located throughout Florida. Most recently, he served as the director of audit and assurance and valuation services at a boutique accounting firm in St. Petersburg, where he worked with both large private businesses and high wealth individuals.
“During the third quarter of 2016 we continued to execute on our business model and build our team and footprint through effective management and acquisitions,” Kranzthor added in this morning’s news release. “When I joined National Waste in the fall of this year, I walked into a flurry of progression and look forward to providing my expertise for continued growth for the remainder of 2016 and beyond.”
Moving forward, National Waste could look to continue its revenue growth through the completion of additional accretive acquisitions. In a news release earlier this year, Paveglio stated that National Waste had already identified a number of potential acquisition targets that are consistent with its business strategy. The momentum provided by these and other ongoing initiatives is expected to spur additional revenue growth as National Waste continues to expand its solid waste solutions in order to meet growing demand.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.nationalwastemgmt.com
Achaogen, Inc. (AKAO) Attacks Super Bugs: Plazomicin Phase III Trials Are Underway
The era of the super bug is upon us, and Achaogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAO) has joined the fray against them. For close to one hundred years, antibiotics have lowered the prevalence and severity of infectious diseases. Increasingly, though, it is becoming apparent that the bacterial world is fighting back. Infections of the urinary tract (UTI) and others such as acne, bronchitis and streptococcal pharyngitis (strep throat) are becoming more resistant to the antibiotics that are most commonly prescribed to treat them.
And this threat is compounded by the rise of the super bug, strains of bacteria that have already evolved defenses against a range of antibiotics. However, Achaogen is close to launching a new line of attack against these pathogens. Two phase III trials for its lead product candidate are currently in progress, and top-line results from both are expected in the first quarter of 2017.
Up until the 1930s, we were at the mercy of bacterial infections. Indeed, it was only about half a century before, in 1876, when German physician Robert Koch, in identifying the causes of anthrax, cholera and tuberculosis, showed that bacteria caused disease. In 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming made the astounding discovery that the penicillium mold inhibited the growth of bacteria, and the penicillin extracted there from set a new paradigm for twentieth-century medical science. A PBS story (http://dtn.fm/Yl2DQ) gives some idea of its success:
“In the war, penicillin proved its mettle. Throughout history, the major killer in wars had been infection rather than battle injuries. In World War I, the death rate from bacterial pneumonia was 18 percent; in World War II, it fell, to less than 1 percent.”
Dr. Fleming was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945, and, in his acceptance speech, he issued a prescient warning that the improper use of penicillin might eventually make it ineffective. If the drug could ‘be bought by anyone in the shops, then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily under dose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.’ Unfortunately, this prophesy has come true. Not only for penicillin, but for a wide range of other antibiotics, effectiveness today is markedly down from previous decades.
These dangers are exacerbated by a range of super bugs that are multi-drug resistant (MDR) and include carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Generally, healthy people in their normal environments do not contract CRE infections. Such maladies arise in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care settings. It is for such malaises that Plazomicin is being developed. The drug will be used to treat serious bacterial infections due to MDR Enterobacteriaceae, including CRE.
It is currently being evaluated in two phase III clinical trials. For the first, designated EPIC (Evaluating Plazomicin in cUTI), Achaogen completed enrollment ahead of schedule in September with 609 patients. Top-line results are expected in the first quarter of 2017. The EPIC study is intended to serve as a single pivotal trial supporting a New Drug Application (NDA) for Plazomicin in the United States in the second half of 2017.
The second CARE (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Enterobacteriaceae) Phase III trial is for patients with serious bacterial infections due to CRE. Due to rapid completion of enrollment of the EPIC trial, Achaogen closed enrollment in the CARE trial with 69 patients and expects to announce top-line data from this trial early in the first quarter of 2017 as well. Results from CARE will be submitted with the NDA.
The FDA has granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation to Plazomicin, and development and regulatory review of its use to treat serious and life-threatening CRE infections has been given Fast Track status. The plazomicin program is partially funded by up to $103.8 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
A report (http://dtn.fm/GKWi3) from Aegis Capital Corp. has set a target PPS of $10.00 for Achaogen. The company’s stock, under the symbol AKAO, is currently trading on the NASDAQ at under $5.00.
For more information, please visit www.achaogen.com
Monaker Group (MKGI) – A Growing Presence in Alternative Lodging Rental Market
The alternative lodging rental market is maturing quickly, being one of the fastest growing verticals in the travel industry over the last few years. Already believed to be worth more than $100 billion worldwide, the sector continues to expand rapidly as more and more vacation rentals companies are joining the game alongside the now-famous HomeAway, Booking.com and Airbnb. Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI), a technology-driven travel group that offers comprehensive tourism solutions and personalized tours, already maintains an important presence in the alternative lodging market, with a portfolio of more than one million rental units available.
The vacation rental market began expanding more quickly in the Internet era, starting with booking site VRBO, which was set up back in 1996 by a Colorado couple. The business was acquired by HomeAway in 2006 and became the dominant vacation rental listings hub. In 2015, HomeAway was purchased by Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) for $3.9 billion, a move that consolidated Expedia’s position as one of the largest online travel agents (OTA) operating at the moment. According to Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the alternative lodging rental segment has become a major part of Expedia’s business, now having more than one million bookable listings available. The number continues to grow at a fast rate of over 20 percent, Khosrowshahi said.
Another major OTA, Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) occupies a good portion of the vacation rentals market through Booking.com listings. Booking.com now has about half a million instantly bookable vacation rental properties, which is almost 40 percent higher than in 2015. The approximately 1 million total properties listed on the website make for approximately 23.7 million bookable rooms, 7.3 million of which are in apartments, homes or villas, while the rest are in traditional hotels.
Capitalizing on a global trend of tourists looking for more personalized experiences wherever they travel, the vacation rental market is expected to grow significantly over the next few years, likely reaching $170 billion by 2019. Most of this growth is owed to Europe and the U.S., where the alternative lodging model is highly popular, according to a Research and Markets report (http://dtn.fm/mUT1g). Approximately 24 percent of travelers have opted for alternative lodging during the past two years, while roughly 47 percent are interested in staying at a vacation rental unit in the near future. In the U.S. in 2015, one in three tourists stayed in a private accommodation, which marks a significant change from 2011, when only one in ten Americans used alternative lodging.
With a portfolio of more than 1.1 million alternative lodging rental units available under its NextTrip Resorts platform, and currently in the process of adding more than 200,000 timeshare and resort units by the end of the year, Monaker Group is poised to establish a growing presence in the global vacation rentals market. The group owns several travel-related businesses, but its flagship is undoubtedly NextTrip.com, which allows tourists to plan their trips to the smallest details by offering them access to a wealth of alternative lodging options such as vacation home rentals, resort residences and unused timeshare inventory, all alongside a wide range of hotels, tours, rental cars, airlines, concierge services and more. The platform, launched in February 2016, has grown exponentially, being the first and only real-time booking engine that combines various booking options to meet tourists’ every need.
To further support the vacation rental market, Monaker Group this summer launched a Premium Service for alternative lodging owners, aimed at helping them compete against major travel industry suppliers, including hotels, car rental companies and airlines. The service offers various tools and features that will give homeowners real-time booking capabilities, the ability to update property pricing daily so as to better reflect the market conditions, and other benefits.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
Trevena, Inc. (TRVN) is “One to Watch”
Trevena, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRVN) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering biased ligands to discover the next generation of GPCR targeted medicine. The company is focused on three product candidates:
Oliceridine, for moderate to severe acute pain;
TRV734, an oral use medicine for people in moderate, severe acute, and chronic pain;
and TRV250, for those suffering from migraines.
On November 7, 2016, Aegis Capital Corp. (http://dtn.fm/bB9sC) initiated coverage on Trevena, Inc., offering the company a ‘Buy’ rating with a target price of $14. This rating was released soon after the company reported its third quarter 2016 financial results alongside a corporate update. In the press release, CEO Maxine Gowen reported important progress for the quarter ending September 30, 2016.
According to Trevena’s third quarter report, top-line data from its APOLLO-1 and APOLLO-2 phase III efficacy trials of Oliceridine is on track for release in the first quarter of 2017, and the patient enrollment remains on track in the ETHENA multi-procedure safety study of Oliceridine to support an NDA filing in 2H 2017. Trevena, Inc. also announced that its TRV250 program is on track for IND submission this year.
The company has reported continued engagement at pain medicine conferences, and has hosted an investor webcast featuring presentations on acute pain management by leading clinicians.
Out of the seven analysts who have covered Trevena this year, six rated the company at ‘Buy’ and one at ‘Hold’. In the first weeks of November, Trevena has reported a stock price increase of roughly 50 percent to $5.75 per share as of November 11, an increase of $1.94 per share from its November 3 PPS.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.trevena.com
Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (CLDX) is “One to Watch”
Last month, Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLDX), a company in the business of developing targeted therapeutics for those suffering from devastating diseases for which current treatments are inadequate, found positive results from its phase II study of glembatumumab vedotin in patients with stage III/IV checkpoint inhibitor-refractory. The study showed that patients experienced a confirmed response, with 52% of patients experiencing tumor shrinkage. In addition, by close of market on November 8, 2016, Celldex stock was up significantly as investors reacted to the company’s third quarter earnings report, which surpassed estimates for revenue and EPS. CLDX’s stock rose by nearly 15% to close at $3.78 on 9.01 million shares, more than four times the company’s average.
Aside from its recent growth, Celldex announced the acquisition of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on November 1. Kolltan is a privately owned clinical-stage company that develops new antibody-based drugs and is worth $62.5 million in stock. “Celldex believes Kolltan’s clinical candidates and preclinical platform are highly compatible with the Company’s scientific approach and can be developed independently and in combination with Celldex’s existing product candidates,” according to a statement shared on the Scibility Media website (http://dtn.fm/aD3xZ).
On November 7, Aegis Capital Corp. (http://dtn.fm/bXxJ5) initiated coverage on Celldex Therapeutics, Inc., giving the company a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of $10. In addition, as of November 8, 2016, ClosingBell Active Analyst Ratings (http://dtn.fm/0W6w6) gave CLDX an average stock rating of 3.6 on a one to five scale, with five denoting ‘Buy’ and one indicating ‘Sell’. The numbers above are predicted to allow Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. to fund its operations through 2018.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.celldex.com
Neuralstem, Inc. (CUR) May Lift the Blues with its Novel Neurogenetic NSI-189
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) afflicts about 15 million Americans and is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for those aged 15-44, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Although experiencing the blues is part of the human condition, MDD is more than just the sadness that accompanies misfortune. MDD is a chronic feeling of enervation, loss of interest in activities, pessimism and hopelessness. At one time regarded as caused by supernatural forces, today, modern medical science generally attributes depression to chemical imbalances in the brain. However, with its small-molecule benzylpiperazine-aminopyridine drug NSI-189, Neuralstem, Inc. (NASDAQ: CUR) has evolved a new approach to lifting the blues.
NSI-189 was developed as a result of the research, undertaken by Neuralstem, into neural stem cell lines from the human hippocampus. The hippocampus is a part of the brain involved in memory and the generation of new neurons. In a process referred to as neurogenesis, NSI-189 was shown to stimulate the generation of new neurons in vitro and in animal models. In phase Ib human clinical trials for MDD, NSI-189 demonstrated ‘clinically meaningful’ improvement across all depressive and cognitive measures.
This approach based on neurogenesis is a novel one. Current medications for depression generally attempt to modulate levels of different chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain. The most common type of such treatments is thought to be selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
In addition to the brain chemistry factors that cause depression, modern scholarship has uncovered a link between depression and the physiology of the brain. Those who suffer from chronic depression display reduced hippocampal volume. The healthy hippocampus, however, is a rich source of neural stem cells, from which new neurons are generated, making vital new connections throughout life. Neuralstem believes that stimulating the generation of new neurons in the hippocampus could potentially address the pathology of the depression itself.
Phase Ia trials, testing NSI-189 for use against MDD, kicked off in February 2011 and ended in October 2011. Healthy volunteers, unafflicted by depression, were tested with escalating single administration doses of NSI-189. Later, a similar trial was conducted for depression patients. In phase Ib, which commenced in June 2012 and ended in the fourth quarter of 2013, the safety of escalating doses of NSI-189 for 28 daily administrations in 24 patients suffering from MDD was tested.
At present, enrollment for a phase II trial has commenced. The trial, which is already 50 percent enrolled, is expected to yield top line results in the second half of 2017.
NSI-189 has had a colorful history. This feature in Bethesda magazine (http://dtn.fm/aRw8k) claims that NSI-189 stems from efforts by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), most famously home to the genesis of the internet, to cultivate ‘a “super soldier” who could stay awake and alert for a week at a time’. The contract was later cancelled and Neuralstem turned its attention to developing a remedy for the cell damage that can occur in the sleep-deprived hippocampus.
Neuralstem has the resources to expedite the clinical trial process. Through a recent agreement with the Tianjin Pharmaceutical Holding Group, the company has secured $20 million for completion of the phase II trial. This supplements the $11.1 million in cash on the balance sheet at the end of 2Q16.
In a report by Aegis Capital Corp. (http://dtn.fm/cZW0X), Neuralstem stock has been given a price target of $2.25. The share price on November 7 was $0.23. It seems that NSI-189 is lifting more than the blues.
For more information, visit www.neuralstem.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) Announces Third Quarter Results
Before the opening bell, Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) announced its financial and operational results for the third quarter of 2016, including a review of the October acquisition of MediGain, LLC and subsidiary Millennium Practice Management, LLC, which was the company’s largest acquisition to date. Notably, MTBC’s revenues for the three-month period were $5.3 million, up from $5.2 million in the previous quarter. The company also achieved its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, reporting $130,000 for the third quarter and $209,000 year-to-date.
“We are pleased to announce another quarter of quarter-over-quarter revenue growth,” Mahmud Haq, chairman and chief executive officer of MTBC, stated in this morning’s news release. “Even though we continue to report a GAAP net loss, which is largely a result of non-cash amortization and depreciation expense, we are proud to report four consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA.”
Perhaps MTBC’s most significant achievement in the third quarter, the acquisition of Texas-based medical billing company MediGain, LLC, including substantially all of its assets and its subsidiary, positioned the company to build on its recent financial momentum moving forward. In total, the accounts in good standing acquired through this transaction have annual revenues in excess of $10 million. At a purchase price of just $7 million, the MediGain acquisition is expected to be accretive to MTBC shareholders in 2017, as incremental profits are expected to greatly exceed cost of capital. The acquisition also expanded MTBC’s global workforce, adding experienced team members in North America, as well as talented, cost-effective workforces in Asia.
“The successful closing of this transaction has positioned MTBC to experience exponential growth through access to new, untapped markets,” Haq continued. “In turn, we expect to expand our client base and deliver significant revenue growth in 2017.”
MTBC also reiterated plans for an upcoming offering of additional shares of its non-convertible Series A Preferred Stock in this morning’s update. The company is currently preparing to file a registration statement to sell 400,000 additional shares of its 11 percent Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Non-Convertible Preferred Stock at a price of $25 per share. If all of the shares are sold, the offering will generate roughly $9 million, of which $5 million will be used for the remaining payments related to the MediGain acquisition. This offering is not dilutive to shareholders and is expected to play a key role in positioning MTBC for forward growth.
Following this morning’s release, MTBC management hosted a conference call to discuss the results. An audio webcast of the call will be made available to the investment community on the company’s investor relations website at http://ir.mtbc.com.
For more information, visit www.mtbc.com, and see the company’s fact sheet at http://ir.mtbc.com/events.cfm.
Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALDR) Promises to Relieve Migraine Misery with Leading Drug Candidate ALD403
A research report (http://dtn.fm/w6uT3) issued earlier this week by Aegis Capital Corp. shows that Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALDR) has lived up to its promise since 2004, when it received startup funding from the Army under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Since then the company has been working on the development of new production technologies for humanized antibodies. Now it is close to making the fruits of that research available for the treatment of migraine, inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases with its lead product candidate, ALD403. Results of ongoing clinical trials are quite promising.
Trials of ALD403 go by the acronym “Promise”, which stands for PRevention Of Migraine via Intravenous ALD403 Safety and Efficacy. These clinical trials are taking two paths: Promise 1 for the treatment of frequent episodic migraine (FEM) and Promise 2 for the treatment of chronic migraine (CM).
Phase I clinical trials of ALD403 kicked off in May 2012 for the treatment of migraine headaches. In March 2013, in what is now Promise 1, the first patients were dosed with ALD403 in phase II proof-of-concept clinical trials for the treatment of FEM. In October 2015, pivotal trials of ALD403 for FEM were commenced.
Following on from the initial studies on ALD403, phase IIb clinical trials were initiated in November 2014 for the treatment of CM (Promise 2). In March 2016, positive top line data was announced from the Promise 2 phase IIb study in patients with chronic migraine.
Now, Alder is moving ALD403 into phase III trials for both Promise 1 and Promise 2. For Promise 1, the pivotal trials are expected to report results in the first half of 2017, while results for Promise 2 should be ready about one year later, in the first half of 2018.
Migraine is a neurological disorder that is more prevalent than is commonly presumed. According to the Migraine Research Foundation (MRF), the condition affects about 38 million men, women and children, i.e. about 12 percent of the U.S. population. Worldwide, the illness is the third most prevalent and affects some one billion people. The condition is characterized by intense or throbbing pain in the head, commonly accompanied by nausea, vomiting and high sensitivity to light and sound. Over time, patients may be subject to an increasing frequency and severity of migraine attacks, potentially leading to significant disability. The MRF estimates that U.S. employers lose more than $13 billion each year as a result of 113 million lost work days due to migraine.
Currently approved medications for migraine include beta blockers (such as propranolol), topiramate, sodium valproate and botulinum toxin, or Botox. These generally lead to a range of side effects, including cognitive impairment, nausea, fatigue and sleep disturbance. As a result, only about 12 percent of adults with frequent episodic or chronic migraine take preventive medications, according to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports. Alder believes this creates a significant unmet medical need for new treatments with improved safety and efficacy that can either prevent migraines completely or reduce the frequency to a level where patients can find adequate relief from existing abortive medications.
For more information, visit www.alderbio.com
eXp World Holdings (EXPI) Brokerage Passes 2,000-Agent Mark as More Members Join Every Day
Likely the fastest growing cloud-based brokerage in the United States, eXp Realty recently announced that it has passed the 2,000-agent mark as more and more real estate professionals are choosing to join its ranks every day. A subsidiary of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI), eXp Realty announced that it expanded its agent base to more than 2,000 members in a Twitter post a few days ago.
The Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™ reported having a total of 2014 agents at the end of October, and since then, dozens of new members have joined. This makes it very likely that the company will reach and even surpass its target of having 2,200 agents by the end of the year. In addition to the individual real estate agents that joined the brokerage over the last few days, several realty firms have also entered its ranks. The most recent addition is Arkansas’s number two realty firm, Burch & Co. Real Estate, which transitioned its entire team of 17 brokers and agents to eXp Realty. Before them, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™ was joined by leading Baton Rouge, Louisiana, firm Darren James Real Estate Experts; one of the top realty teams in California – Sacramento’s Brent Gove Team; and South Texas’s top international luxury agent, Miguel Herrera.
This accelerated growth is largely due to the business model proposed by eXp Realty, a model that has been continuously pushing the brokerage further and acted as the driving force behind its continued growth and that of its parent company, EXPI. eXp Realty is, first of all, a brokerage of the future, embracing the latest technologies and virtual and augmented reality advancements to create a tight-knit community of real estate professionals covering 41 states, the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Its use of virtual reality and cloud-based platforms reflects a growing trend in the real estate market that’s expected to reach new heights in 2017, according to the annual PwC report ‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate®’ (http://dtn.fm/dsuI9). The analysis puts emphasis on the increased quality of service that augmented reality can bring and notes that experts expect up to $2.6 billion in real estate VR/AR applications by 2025.
As a fully cloud-based brokerage, eXp Realty conducts all its operations through a virtual reality platform, from agent training to lead generation, leadership meetings, exchanges of ideas and experience, IT services and many more. In addition to helping agents and brokers stay connected 24/7 from the comfort of their own homes, this model also eliminates all the expenses traditionally associated with owning and running a brick-and-mortar office, so brokerage members are able to provide more efficient services to their consumers and increase their own profit without spending too much out of pocket. Another attractive feature of the eXp Realty model is that it gives its members the opportunity to become owners through lucrative revenue sharing programs and by enabling them to become shareholders in exchange for their contributions to the company’s growth and development.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Staying Up-To-Date with Point-of-Sale Industry Trends
Every year, new predictions are published regarding the point-of-sale industry. Optimus Information published an article entitled “5 Point-of-Sale Industry Trends for 2016” (http://dtn.fm/6IyCq), which highlighted some predictions for the past year. These included the growth of cloud-based point-of-sale, people using more tablet point-of-sale systems, the strength of mobile point-of-sale, the ability for full integration with business analytics thanks to new point-of-sale systems, and the acceleration of e-pay and chip card payments.
This year saw an emergence of new cloud-based systems cutting down the use of expensive, proprietary, and hard-to-maintain hardware and software. This phenomenon has allowed merchants to cut out high up-front costs, software issues, and upgrade costs. Not only this, cloud-based point-of-sale systems have given business owners the chance to access their new systems more conveniently from their mobile devices.
However, it is not just the ease of use and lower costs that make cloud-based point-of-sale systems more popular. One of the most important reasons for the adoption of these new systems is the full integration with business analytics and decision processes. This means that data compiled about customers can be integrated with not only the financial side of the business but also business development and marketing functions within the organization.
Another predicted trend that has grown this year is the use of mobile point-of-sale. Mobile point-of-sale systems incorporate customer devices so that they can make a purchase decision on their device without going to a specific location. With this in mind, companies worldwide are adapting their point-of-sale systems to suit growing customer trends.
Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE), a technology driven company that specializes in the emergence of mobile payments and value-added transactional payments, has stayed up-to-date with these emerging trends, allowing it to position itself for growth in the United States. The company’s key products include restaurant, retail, and mobile point-of-sale solutions; retail payment solutions; mobile transaction solutions; and reports and analytics.
The company wants to enable global commerce, driving transactions through all channels. NETE’s solutions are tailored to its clients in order for them to keep up with their customers’ needs. Services they offer include mobile payments, marketing solutions, and business analytics.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
FTE Network (FTNW) – A Unique Opportunity for Explosive Growth
The expansion in data usage and communications has continued to inflate beyond all predictions, with networks rapidly being pushed far beyond originally anticipated requirements. The unparalleled growth is expected to continue as developing technologies challenge existing capabilities, creating an unprecedented demand for improved network infrastructures and associated services.
Florida-based FTE Networks (OTCQX: FTNW) has grown to become a leading global provider of network infrastructure solutions, designing, building, and supporting networking infrastructures for major companies and government organizations in the U.S. and Europe. The company’s telecommunications and technology focused client base faces increased calls for expanding network capacity to satisfy the demands of their own customers for high-volume high-quality content at all levels. FTE’s must-meet goal is to provide the best in fast and reliable voice, data, and digital content delivery, all while living within critical cost limits. The only way to do this is by understanding the whole picture, offering integrated services and technologies in a flexible way that covers all aspects of telecommunication operation, including:
Data Center Infrastructure
Infrastructure Design
Deployment
Testing And Commissioning
Rack, Stack, Power
Cold Aisle Containment And Efficiency Programs
Maintenance
Integration
MDU Design & Deploy
AC/DC Power Plants
Fiber Optics
Row And Network Engineering
Large Scale Deployment
PMO
FTTX Solutions
Underground/Aerial
Deployment
Splicing & Testing
Fiber Characterization
Emergency Restoration
Maintenance
Wireless Integration
Engineering
Deployment
Maintenance
DAS Installations
RF Installations
Site Surveys, Acquisition & Zoning
Audits
Fiber Backhaul Solutions
Full Suite Of Testing
Solutions
Decommissioning
Surveillance & Security
Infrastructure Design
Deployment
Maintenance
Video Surveillance Design And Installation
Wi-Fi Installation
Storage Back-Up Solutions
Access Control
Through the leveraging of advanced technologies in creative ways, FTE has developed a remarkably flexible approach for addressing telecommunication challenges, providing a number of benefits to customers, as reflected in the company’s recent financial performance. FTE’s Q2 2016 financials show a 51% quarter over quarter revenue growth, along with improved margins. The company’s pipeline now totals approximately $166 million in annualized revenue, representing organic growth and a diversified customer base.
FTE Networks has just announced that SeeThruEquity, an independent equity research and corporate access firm, has initiated coverage on the company (available to members at www.SeeThruEquity.com/ftnw).
For additional information, visit the company site at www.FTENet.com, and its Investor Presentation at http://dtn.fm/Tg3oi.
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) Goes HITECH with ChartScribe
Snuggled away under Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress’ response to the Great Recession was the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Among other things, the HITECH Act provided incentives for providers of medical services to adopt electronic health records (EHR) through ‘Meaningful Use’ (MU). Although primarily aimed at stimulating economic activity and creating jobs, the framers of the law hoped that the application of information technology to the provision of medical services would improve healthcare. Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC) (NASDAQ: MTBCP), through its integrated digital transcription and patient charting services, is showing how that can be done.
MTBC’s charting services are designed to help physicians generate accurate, timely patient charts and better manage their time. Providers can conveniently send in digital audio dictations, and MTBC transcribes complete patient charts directly to their EHR portal. A patient chart is a complete record of a patient’s key clinical data and medical history that includes demographics, vital signs, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, progress notes, problems, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results. With MTBC’s charting services, doctors, physician assistants and other medical professionals can have their audio patient progress notes transcribed and the information entered into the appropriate EHR.
The integrated charting services are a core part of MTBC’s proprietary EHR, ChartsPro, the adoption of which will not only make delivery of service more efficient, but allow practitioners to reach ‘Meaningful use’ standards. ‘Meaningful Use’, under the HITECH Act, is the use of certified EHR technology, like ChartsPro, to improve the quality and safety of healthcare. MU sets objectives that providers must meet in order to qualify for the Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance, and Health Insurance Marketplace programs administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
MU objectives were set to roll out in three stages. The first stage had an implementation deadline of year-end 2012 and involved procedures and technology to capture data and share it. It was expected that, by that time, 80 percent of patients would have records that employed a certified EHR technology. In August 2016, a survey conducted by Medscape (http://dtn.fm/YR1ua), a free online resource for physicians and health professionals, found that 91 percent were currently using an EHR system but that, at the end of 2012, just 74 percent were.
Stage two, with an implementation deadline of year-end 2014, had two core objectives. Firstly, eligible professionals were being encouraged to text patients by using ‘secure electronic messaging to communicate with patients on relevant health information’; and, secondly, hospitals must ‘automatically track medications from order to administration using assistive technologies in conjunction with an Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR)’.
MTBC’s digital transcription and patient charting services are fully compliant with MU standards, and a new menu set objective in MU stage two is included. This allows progress notes to be created, edited and signed by the practitioner. Objectives and measures for Stage three include increased thresholds, advanced use of health information exchange functionality, and an overall focus on continuous quality improvement.
Curating patient data is important to the advance of medical science, but a doctor burdened by data collection is one with less time for patients. With the overload of documentation and clerical responsibilities brought on by EHR, having an integrated charting service such as that offered by MTBC is essential.
For more information, visit www.mtbc.com, and see the company’s fact sheet at http://ir.mtbc.com/events.cfm.
Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) – Facilitating Stronger Customer Relationships
Keeping and cultivating satisfied customers is clearly a critical aspect of any company’s success. Building and maintaining strong customer relationships is key, requiring businesses to not only stay in touch with customers, but also to effectively deal with any customer service issues. The most successful businesses have been known to build the most impressive records of customer service, a growing emphasis in the competitive marketplace.
Building a strong relationship with customers is not just an inspiring sign on a wall, it takes serious time and dedication. According to Fox Business (http://dtn.fm/EI3Ai), the most important aspects of building better customer relationships for a business include making every customer interaction count, establishing connections, listening to customers, rewarding loyalty, and efficiently training employees. It is also important for businesses to stay up-to-date with the growing tech needs and opportunities.
Social media continues to develop and change, allowing businesses to interact more easily with consumers and to understand what they want or could use. It is an important tool for anticipating future customer needs and solving consumer issues. Businesses, especially small businesses, are looking to creative outside marketing services to better interact with their consumers. Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) offers exactly such services and more. MOXC is in the business of providing social marketing and promotion platforms that help businesses advertise and communicate via social media. The company’s services are designed to help merchants enhance their interaction with potential customers and/or buyers.
MOXC has its own platform called Moxian+User. The application consists of a proprietary virtual currency, social networking, redemption center, and game center. The company also offers the Moxian+Business application, helping merchants engage with customers, transforming them into members, and allowing them to communicate with customers when it counts.
These two platforms allow businesses to increase repeat sales by building a mobile presence, constantly updating consumers with new products, stories, news, and other information. In addition, the business application allows employees to market the business and address customer service issues while on the move.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Announces Launch of Unified Payments Gift Card Application
Before the opening bell, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) announced the launch of its proprietary gift card application for smart payment terminals. The United Payments gift card application, which made its initial debut last month at the Money 2020 event in Las Vegas, offers small and medium-sized businesses an intuitive way to provide a full suite of gift card-related services to customers, including issuance of new cards, adding value to cards, transferring value between cards, accepting payments using gift cards and checking card balance.
Building on Net Element’s existing omni-channel gift and loyalty platform, the Unified Payments gift card application is fully integrated with “terminal” and “register” applications marketed by leading merchant services provider Poynt. It can also be integrated with any other payment acceptance application developed using Poynt’s payment framework.
“We are pleased to introduce this new software application for smart payment terminals just in time for the 2016 holiday season,” Oleg Firer, chief executive officer of Net Element, stated in this morning’s news release. “In less than a month, and in close cooperation with our partners, our software engineers were able to successfully design, program and test the application on Poynt’s smart payment terminal… Our Unified Payment gift card application is available to all sales partners and merchants nationwide.”
Net Element’s newest application offers numerous benefits for employees, merchants and customers. The application’s intuitive interface can be implemented without any additional training for cashiers, and management has the means to oversee all gift card transactions through Poynt’s smart payment terminal large screen display and online through Net Element’s SalesCentral reporting system. For merchants, the Unified Payments gift card program offers a flexible method to securely increase cash flow by boosting brand awareness while promoting sales and encouraging impulse purchasing.
Just last year, a report by a contributor to CreditCards.com published by Nasdaq (http://dtn.fm/tkTT1) highlighted the widespread popularity of gift cards and other prepaid debit cards. According to the report, the number of payments made with prepaid cards rose 18.5 percent annually from 2006 to 2012, marking the fastest growth rate of all types of payments during that timeframe. Net Element’s decision to launch the Unified Payments gift card application ahead of the holiday season could also prove to be extremely prudent. According to the National Retail Federation, gift cards were the most requested holiday gift item in 2015 for the ninth consecutive year, and all signs point toward a continuation of this trend in 2016.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
Aerie Pharmaceuticals (AERI) Eyeing Innovative Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension Therapies
Aerie Pharmaceuticals. Inc. (NASDAQ: AERI) is a publicly traded clinical stage pharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery of innovative treatments for glaucoma and other eye ailments. Its leading product candidates, Rhopressa™ and Roclatan™, are believed to be effective for most glaucoma patients, based on clinical trials results, and are currently in different stages of development in view of commercialization.
It is estimated that glaucoma patients make up the largest segment of the worldwide ophthalmic market, with glaucoma products and therapies exceeding $4.7 billion in global sales. According to National Eye Institute statistics, there are more than 2.7 million glaucoma patients in the United States at the moment. That number is expected to rise to 4.3 million by 2030.
Aerie Pharmaceuticals’ products are both designed to target glaucoma and lower intraocular pressure specifically. Developed in the form of eye drops administered once a day, both treatments have had very good results and tolerance rates during clinical trials, being designed as the first innovative ocular hypertension lowering mechanisms in more than 20 years.
The company completed its second phase 3 registration trial for lead product candidate Rhopressa™ in September 2015 and is now scheduled to file an NDA for the treatment in January 2017. The NDA filing was initially set for the third quarter of 2016, but it was pushed back to January because of an issue related to the third-party manufacturing site, according to a company press release (http://dtn.fm/6ng3R). Although not necessary for the filing, two more phase 3 clinical trials are being conducted for Rhopressa™ (netarsudil ophthalmic solution), this time focusing on the treatment’s safety. All trials so far indicated that the therapy has a consistent IOP lowering effect for the duration of treatment. Aerie also plans to further explore the positive attributes of Rhopressa™, as test results so far indicated a potential synergistic effect with prostaglandin analogues and possibly neuroprotective features.
Roclatan™ (netalsudil/latanoprost) is currently undergoing phase 3 registration trials, which commenced in September last year. The therapy is a fixed dose combination of Rhopressa™ and latanoprost, an approved glaucoma IOP treatment, and all clinical trials so far have indicated its superior efficacy over its components when taken independently. A second phase 3 trial began in March 20016, while a third one, aimed for European approval, is scheduled for the first half of 2016. If the current phase 3 trials are successful, Aerie intends on filing an NDA for this product in the second half of 2017. Based on the results reported so far, Roclatan™ has the potential of being the most efficient glaucoma and ocular hypertension treatment on the market up to this point.
In addition to these two primary product candidates, the company is also exploring Rhopressa’s possible long-term impact on diseases trabecular meshwork and conducting pre-clinical trials for AR-13154, a small molecule with demonstrated effects in reducing the size of lesions associated with age-related macular degeneration.
Financially, the company last week released its revenue report for the third quarter of 2016, which was described as ‘uneventful’ by an Aegis Capital Corp. analysis (http://dtn.fm/9j0Ow). Aerie ended Q3 with more than $255 million in cash and investments and slightly higher operating expenses, but still within the company’s expected range of $75-$85 million for 2016. The Aegis analysis reiterates a ‘Buy’ rating for the company, and a pricing target of $63, compared to the current $33.60 (on November 3 when the report was released). The report also underlines that the company’s financial performance has little impact on share prices, but rather clinical development success and regulatory approvals are more important.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.aeriepharma.com
New OTCQX Best Market Initiatives Make Going and Being Public Less Painful
Recently disclosed developments to the OTCQX Best Market platform are likely to reduce the pain of going and being public for both domestic and foreign companies. In a note to clients, Jason Paltrowitz, Executive VP of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group, outlined the enhancements, which include access by companies to globally recognized quantitative research coverage, a tightening of eligibility requirements, reduced compliance costs, increased transparency by making compliance status available to broker-dealers, and new promotional tools for companies to reach investors.
OTC Markets Group will work with Morningstar®, a leading provider of independent investment research, to provide OTCQX companies with quantitative equity ratings and research reports. To companies not covered by analysts, Morningstar will provide statistically derived quantitative metrics that mimic ratings by its analysts. The service will allow OTCQX companies to provide investors with an independent view of their performance, and investors will be better able to benchmark a company relative to its sector.
To supplement this effort, the “Research Marketplace”, a joint project with three global equity research firms, was launched in September. This online resource, undertaken with ACF Equity Research, Edison and Sidoti & Company, LLC, will provide OTCQX companies with independent research analyses and investment tools.
The bar to listing on the OTCQX has been raised. Penny stocks, shell companies and blank-check companies have been eliminated. The minimum bid price and market cap standards have been increased. An initial bid price of $0.25 and market cap of $10 million will be required for listing, while a minimum ongoing bid of $0.10 and $5 million valuation has to be maintained.
Corporate governance standards are following best practice. The board of an OTCQX company must include at least two independent directors, have an audit committee with a majority of independent directors and, at least 15 days prior to a mandatory AGM, circulate to shareholders an annual financial report.
It appears that the requirement for an OTCQX Advisor will be abolished, although the rubric to ‘submit an initial and annual OTCQX Advisor Letter’ still appears under Eligibility Standards on the OTC Markets Group website. In his note, Mr. Paltrowitz promised that the OTC compliance team would carry out the ‘ongoing company verification process – without the extra burden and expense of the OTCQX Advisor role and annual letter.’
The OTC Compliance Data File, now accessible to broker-dealers, provides important data points on 10,000 OTCQX and other global securities. This simplifies the process of identifying securities that are compliant under the SEC Penny Stock Rule and FINRA’s OTC Recommendation rule. Information in the Compliance Data File includes reporting status, shell status, audited financials status, number of market participants quoting, bankruptcy status and recent split data.
In October, a new transfer agent program designed to improve the transparency of share information was started. Under the program, SEC-registered stock transfer agents will be able to report their clients’ share data, including authorized and outstanding shares, to OTC Markets Group on a regular basis via a secure, electronic file transfer.
The requirement to be included in a Recognized Securities Manual in order to qualify for Blue Sky Manual Exemption has been abolished from the OTCQX Rules. In addition, OTC Markets Group is asking the federal government to allow OTCQX securities to be designated “covered securities”, which would make them exempt from separate state blue-sky law registration and exemption requirements. At present, 12 states have recognized the OTCQX as a securities manual for purposes of their “blue-sky manual exemption.”
Finally, the size and scope of the OTCQX Virtual Investor Conferences, CEO Interviews and Community Spotlight have been expanded, reaching over 30,000 investors to date. These initiatives are an alternative to the traditional company road show and allow more companies to tell their story to their investor community.
With these enhancements, OTC Markets Group may be driving the final nail in the coffin of FINRA’s OTCBB.
Soligenix, Inc. (SNGX) Late-Stage Biopharma with Bedrock Funding Primed for Commercial Success, Ready to Uplist to NASDAQ
For a late-stage rare diseases focused boipharma innovator like Soligenix (OTCQB: SNGX), with up to $58 million of support for its Vaccines/BioDefense segment coming directly from NIAID contract funding (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the NIH), recent news about the success of its BioTherapeutics segment is propitiously timed, amid the company’s move to uplist to NASDAQ. The company enthusiastically executed a 1:10 reverse split early last month (http://dtn.fm/mtiM2) in preparation for the uplisting, confident that the diligent advancement of its rare diseases pipeline over the preceding years has positioned Soligenix for commercial success, with multiple Phase 2b/3 clinical programs now ready to bear fruit.
A clear 50 percent reduction in the median duration of severe oral mucositis across the board (and a noteworthy 67 percent reduction in the most severely affected) in Phase 2 clinical testing (http://dtn.fm/A7huK) on head and neck cancer patients receiving chemoradiation firmly reinforces the potential of the company’s proprietary innate defense regulator (IDR) technology, upon which Soligenix’s SGX942 (http://dtn.fm/m8wGr) (containing dusquetide) is based. Oral mucositis (breakdown and atrophy of the mouth’s mucosal lining) is one of the common problems associated with chemotherapy (as well as radiation therapy or life-threatening bacterial infections), and it represents a significant unmet medical need for which there are no currently approved therapies. Such excellent efficacy results for the Phase 2 clinical trial of SGX942 gives the company a very strong BioTherapeutics candidate to go along with its novel SGX301 (http://dtn.fm/ZavH7) topical photodynamic therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), and SGX203 (http://dtn.fm/NCc6y) oral formulation of BDP (beclomethasone dipropionate) corticosteroid for low-toxicity treatment of Pediatric Crohn’s Disease (gastrointestinal inflammation) – both of which have received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations.
SGX942’s dusquetide formulation is a first-in-class IDR (short, fully-synthetic peptides) and this Phase 2 clinical trial data provides substantial evidence about the broad-spectrum applicability of IDR technology in other areas, like the one where it was first discovered: infectious disease. Senior VP and CMO for Soligenix, Richard Straube, MD, seemed quite proud of the SGX942 program’s success, explaining that not only does the Phase 2 data validate the same unique biology of IDRs in humans that was observed in previous animal model studies, it also serves as a positive proof of concept for expansion of the IDR platform into other indications, such as infectious disease.
Furthermore, the Phase 2 clinical trial (multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled) data on SGX942 reinforces a pivotal concept about IDR technology’s novel mechanism of action and how it enables an extremely promising therapeutic approach vector for a host of diseases. Because IDRs are able to directly interact with a key protein (p62, or sequestosome-1) that helps regulate natural, selective cell degradation, and thus enhance the body’s own immunological tissue-healing and anti-infective capabilities – the technology is increasingly seen by many as a sort of molecular end-run.
Able to act downstream of innate immune receptors, yet upstream from cytokine and chemokine effectors, this implementation of IDR technology is based on modulating the body’s own reaction to injury/infection, and has been shown to also delimit the inflammation associated with tissue damage. Heading off inflammation at the pass by directly interacting at the key intracellular integration point is a bold approach, and a 16 percent higher complete response (tumor completely gone) at the one-month follow up for SGX942 is nothing to sneeze at.
With a strong worldwide IP position on dusquetide and related analogs, as well as Fast Track designation from the FDA for SGX942 and solid Phase 1 safety/tolerability results under its belt, the future looks bright for Soligenix’s newest rising BioTherapeutics star. Perhaps more importantly, this further validation of the potential of the IDR technology opens the door to a broad array of targets for Soligenix, ranging from antibiotic resistant/emerging infectious diseases, to GI tract inflammation. A recent report by BCC Research puts the global market for infectious disease pharmaceuticals and vaccines at around $103.5 billion as of last year, with a roughly 7.7 percent forward CAGR through 2021, when it is anticipated that the combined value of both types will be around $212 billion.
Having secured SME status with the EMA (European Medicines Agency) (http://dtn.fm/f9uO9) as of Oct 25, earlier projections about Soligenix by analysts such as Zack’s and Aegis Capital now appear to be unmistakably materializing. EMA logistical support will go a long ways toward taking SGX942 through Phase 3, and Soligenix is now auspiciously knocking on the global pharmaceutical market’s door.
Even without really going into the company’s revolutionary thermostabilization (heat stabilization) technology ThermoVax® (http://dtn.fm/HD49d), which could eliminate cold-chain production/refrigeration and give (Alum adjuvanted) vaccines long shelf lives at even higher than normal temperatures – the attractiveness of its Vaccines/BioDefense segment should leap out at investors. By working hand-in-hand with NIAID to proactively muster force against high priority bioterrorism and emerging disease fronts, via technology platforms and specific products that are able to address the institute’s primary concerns, Soligenix has positioned itself perfectly from a developmental standpoint.
As President & CEO, Chris Schaber explained in a CEO Clips broadcast on BTV-Business Television (http://dtn.fm/eC2Pg), Soligenix has been able to brilliantly leverage its government funding in order to better manage the very cash-intensive BioTherapeutics development which has now set the company up for long-term commercial success. Soligenix’s proprietary vaccine RiVax™ (Ricin Toxin Vaccine) (http://dtn.fm/F9bYC) has been developed through a series of competitive challenge grants and the company has even demonstrated a one year stability of RiVax at prolonged elevated temperatures (104 Fahrenheit) utilizing ThermoVax technology. Properties which made Soligenix’s ThermoVax technology an ideal choice for Hawaii Biotech, Inc. when it came to dry stabilizing the key antigen for their Ebola vaccine (http://dtn.fm/5sFkv). A distinct advantage over competing Ebola vaccines, which allows the vaccine to be deployed to and easily shipped/stored within precisely those high temperature regions where Filoviruses are endemic.
Soligenix’s OrbeShield® formulation of BDP for GI-ARS (Gastrointestinal Acute Radiation Syndrome) shares considerable technical overlap with the company’s SGX203 formulation for Pediatric Crohn’s Disease, and the same deep understanding of inflammation and tissue damage is apparent in the company’s SGX201 BioTherpaeutic, designed to prevent acute radiation enteritis (inflammatory bowel syndrome resulting from radiation therapy). This kind of inflammation mastery should really inform investors about the core IP valuation of Soligenix, and even if the company’s Vaccines/BioDefense division weren’t heavily government funded, it would still be an exciting commercial biopharma play on the basis of its highly novel BioTherapeutics offerings.
It would be wise to take a closer look at the company’s first-in-class photodynamic therapy for CTCL, as well as its dusquetide IDR SGX943 (http://dtn.fm/0hAiX), designed to combat even gram-negative bacteria such as the one which causes antibiotic-resistant and potentially fatal Melioidosis infection, in order to get a better sense of just how big the end market potential is for Soligenix’s tech envelope. Soligenix’s IP position is likely the real story behind the story, and it will be very interesting to see what enhanced exposure via the NASDAQ uplifting will do.
For more information, visit www.Solgenix.com
OurPet’s Company’s (OPCO) Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter™ with Biochar gets a Nod from the Vet
At this year’s SuperZoo, The National Show for Pet Retailers that ran from July 31 – August 4 in Las Vegas, innovative pet care outfit OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) launched its new OurPets® Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter™ with Biochar (http://dtn.fm/eI5Py). The timing was opportune. It seems there is growing awareness of biochar’s benefits. In a recent interview (http://dtn.fm/ENg8i), well-known veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker, DVM discussed the virtues of this unique form of charcoal as litter material for cats.
Biochar has a huge surface area because of its porosity. It is also hugely recalcitrant, and so holds on to nutrients, water and smells, the latter of which is an ideal quality for waste management. Biochar also comes in the right particle size, as Dr. Becker explains:
“Studies on the types of litter cats prefer show they are quite particular about particle size. The cat’s evolutionary substrate, for potty purposes, is sand. When kitties started living indoors, clay litter came along and most cats were okay with it. But clay has its own issues.
These days, there’s a wide selection of organic and natural types of litters on the market, but many of them feature big particle sizes, which don’t appeal to most cats. The danger in forcing an objectionable litter on cats is they often develop litter box aversion, which can lead to other problems.”
Just as beneficial, biochar clumps well. Clumping extends the life of the litter and provides a healthier environment for cats. Biochar is also very absorbent. And, of course, biochar litter is 100 percent biodegradable and compostable.
The term biochar typically refers to charcoal that is used to enrich soil. It is most often made by subjecting biomass to pyrolysis (heating without burning). Its property to increase soil fertility has been known to humans for at least two millennia, as the terra preta plots in the Amazonian basis have proven.
Biochar has been found to possess many virtues. Apart from being used as a soil amendment, biochar improves water quality by acting as a filter and acts as a carbon sink. It can trap large amounts of carbon dioxide in the ground for centuries, a process referred to as sequestering. So effective is its role in this respect that policy makers are actively considering its employment as a ‘carbon negative’ agent to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
OurPet’s Company aims to make the waste and odor category a more significant part of its business in the future. Currently, its flagship product in this area is the SmartScoop®. The company has, over the years, developed over 1,000 product lines and has another 30 or so products in the pipeline, plus an intellectual property stockpile of over 170 patents.
OurPet’s Company has been growing at twice the industry rate. It has had, since 2010, a CAGR of about six percent. The two-pronged branding strategy it initiated in 2011 with the OurPets® brand targeting the pet aficionado and the Pet Zone® brand targeting the mass market has, undoubtedly, paid off.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.OurPets.com
New OTCQX Best Market International Interlisting Rules Increase Investor Introductions
Proposed amendments to the listing rules for the OTCQX Best Market are likely to benefit international companies. The rules, which will become effective from January 1, 2017, should make it easier for Canadian and other foreign companies to establish a secondary market in their shares for U.S. investors.
For historical reasons, an OTC listing had come to be synonymous with penny stocks. The earliest OTC precursor, Roger Babson’s National Quotation Bureau (NQB), published a directory of broker-dealer quotations on slips of pink paper: the notorious “Pink Sheets”. Today, the OTC Markets Group is a different animal. It still lists penny stocks. However, it has surpassed the NYSE and NASDAQ in the number of non-penny stocks listed, according to OTC Markets (http://dtn.fm/gI9ar).
Listed companies on OTC Markets Group’s platform are organized into three markets: OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pink. To qualify for the OTCQX Best Market, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance, demonstrate compliance with U.S. securities laws, be current in their disclosure, and be sponsored by a professional third-party advisor known as a Principal American Liaison (PAL). Penny stocks, shells, and companies in bankruptcy cannot qualify for OTCQX.
The OTCQB Venture Market is meant for early-stage and developing U.S. and international companies that are not yet able to qualify for OTCQX. And the Pink Open Market lists foreign companies that may need to limit their disclosure, penny stocks, and shells, and distressed, delinquent, and dark companies not willing or able to provide adequate information to investors.
Companies listed under the OTCQX Best Market fall into three categories: U.S. community banks, U.S. companies, and international companies. OTCQX International is reserved for companies that are already listed on a qualified foreign stock exchange that wish to have a U.S. listing. Two amendments to the qualifying rules are likely to lead to more international listings.
The requirement to retain a Principal American Liaison (PAL) on an ongoing basis will be scrapped. Now it will be possible simply to have a qualified attorney, investment bank, or the ADR bank act as the OTCQX Sponsor during the initial qualification process. Consequently, the annual PAL letter will no longer be needed, nor will companies be required to provide an annual Issuer Compliance Statement to their PAL.
The requirement to be included in a Recognized Securities Manual in order to qualify for Blue Sky Manual Exemption is likely to be removed. The OTC Markets Group is in discussions with the North American Securities Administration Association (NASAA) and state regulators to gain recognition for OTCQX for the purposes of “Blue Sky Manual Exemption” for secondary trading.
The proposed changes will, undoubtedly, offer international companies easier access to the U.S. capital markets.
OurPet’s Company (OPCO) Positioned for Growth Within the $60 Billion Pet Industry
The future of OurPet’s Company (http://dtn.fm/1Ypil) (OTCQX: OPCO), a producer of innovative pet related products, is looking bright thanks to the growth of the pets industry since 2014. Since its foundation in 1995, OurPet’s Company has been dedicated to providing nutritional, medical, physical, and emotional stimulation and value to pets across the U.S.
But, the pet industry has never looked as strong as today. As warmer weather than usual crosses the U.S., sales have boomed in both veterinary and non-medical services. Spending for 2015 came in at a record $60.28 billion, and this figure is expected to grow by the end of 2016, according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA) (http://dtn.fm/7hsjN).
The APPA report includes information regarding market categories such as food, supplies, over-the-counter medications, veterinary care, animal purchases, and more. Although food, veterinary services, supplies and over-the-counter medications still remain at the top of pet industry spending, pet services have shown a record growth of 11.8% between 2014 and 2015 and over 5% growth from 2015 so far this year.
Additionally, according to Pet Business (http://dtn.fm/tf10Q), the industry is predicted to continue to grow as millennials now enter their prime spending years. Generation Y and the millennials are going to be the primary audience for the pet industry, both of which are highly influenced by advances in technology. Fortunately, OPCO’s product line is diverse. The company prides itself on offering the highest quality products to its animal friends, and current industry growth has allowed the company to focus on more innovative technological products such as its OurPets® Intelligent Pet Care™ (http://dtn.fm/X356d) line.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.OurPets.com
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Capitalizing on Canada’s Real Estate Market
Recently, real estate in Canada has reached an all-time high, but it is worth noting that many analysts, including those at the Financial Post (http://dtn.fm/6v2Zh), are convinced that price acceleration in Canada will slow without experiencing a hard landing. The article also reports significantly elevated prices in both Vancouver and Toronto, although these are slowly dropping. In addition, a report entitled ‘Vancouver still top real estate market to watch in Canada: report’ (http://dtn.fm/D2nYz) names Vancouver the top Canadian real estate market to watch in 2017 thanks to millennials.
The article (by News 1130) says that, although housing prices could drop slightly in 2017, Canada is in for a year of continued stability. Not only this, the PWC report ‘Emerging Trends in Canadian Real estate 2017’ (http://dtn.fm/321Sz) states that “the main message is that every regional market offers opportunities for savvy developers and investors—as long as they embrace technology and anticipate their future buyers’ needs.”
With the technological factor in mind, it is no surprise that companies such as eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) are set to capitalize on Canada’s real estate market. With potential tenants and buyers more informed than ever thanks to the Internet, real estate firms are having to adapt to customer’s growing tech needs, a point brought to light by a respondent of the PWC report. The respondent stated, “We’re getting to the point where if people don’t recognize technologies are existing and, moreover, how to integrate them, opportunities are being missed.”
EXPI is the holding company for a number of subsidiaries, most notably, eXp Realty LLC and eXp Realty of Canada. eXp Realty, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®, is a full-service real estate brokerage providing 24/7 access to collaborative tools, training, and socialization through a 3-D cloud office environment. This breakthrough in technology is allowing EXPI to create a business model that increases brokers and agent listings and sales while reducing overhead capital requirements.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Offering Reliable High-tech Payment Solutions to Worldwide E-commerce Enterprises
The payments industry is changing rapidly, with a growing number of users opting to pay for services or merchandise online or via mobile apps. This tendency has led to the emergence of thousands of companies dedicated to facilitating these payments for both the customers and the merchants. As more and more such businesses appear, there is growing concern for the quality and reliability of payment processing services, as well as for security of payment information.
According to a Business Insider report (http://dtn.fm/AW6oF) that takes an in-depth look at the current payment processing ecosystem, 2016 is a busy year for payments companies, as they focus on improving security of information, expanding their mobile service offerings, and building ecommerce capabilities designed to motivate consumers to continue making purchases digitally. It is expected that the volume of mobile payments will grow at a very fast rate in the U.S. and worldwide, being likely to reach $3 trillion by 2021.
In this vast landscape, a company such as Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) easily stands out for its versatility and dedication to offering value-added transactional services and high-quality mobile payment options to the global market. The company has several subsidiaries offering various payment processing solutions, ranging from comprehensive payment processing services for the retail industry to SMS messaging and mobile billing solutions or cloud-based point of sale platforms for the restaurant and hospitality industry. One of the most complex payment options comes from Net Element’s PayOnline subsidiary – a fully integrated e-commerce platform serving enterprises all around the world.
PayOnline, with offices in Russia and the Republic of Cyprus, was set up in 2009 as a dedicated provider of flexible, high-tech payment solutions customized for websites and mobile apps. The company is currently providing services to more than 3,000 companies in regions such as Eastern and Western Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Asia, Asia Major and North America. Dedicated to providing the most reliable service and maximizing its customers’ volume of successful transactions, PayOnline takes the time to study and understand its merchant clients’ business needs and to provide them with payment solutions that are entirely consistent with their main objectives.
The company also offers modern payment technologies such as person-to-person, recurrent payments and one-click payments, as well as technologies for mobile commerce matching all the major operating systems, including Android, iOS and Windows. With multi-channel support of customers and payers, PayOnline is designed to process payments by credit card, e-Wallets or MasterPass.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
Monaker Group (MKGI) Contributing to Iceland’s Tourism Industry
According to Vox.com (http://dtn.fm/P0hY8), Iceland didn’t become a tourist destination until the late 40’s, averaging only 5,300 people from around the globe visiting each year. By the late 90’s, this number grew to more than 200,000 tourists, a number that steadied until 2011, when things changed.
Between 2011 and 2016, the number of foreign visitors to the country exploded, reaching a huge 1.6 million. Not only this, tourist numbers in Iceland are expected to reach two million by the end of 2016. With outlets across the globe promoting Iceland as “a must see destination”, it is no surprise that the number of tourists in Iceland from the U.S. alone now outweighs that of Iceland’s population.
According to a report published by Kayak (http://dtn.fm/qY9fH), there has been a 65% increase in searches for Iceland hotels and flights, particularly in the time surrounding New Year’s vacations. But, in a country that gets bone-chilling cold in winter, with only four hours of daylight, why are so many U.S. tourists choosing Iceland as their holiday destination?
It all started with the island’s volcanic explosion in 2010. The news made headlines, which allowed for positive campaigns to be distributed about the country. Later, a new budget airline called WOW started offering European and North American flights for less than a third of the original price.
This was quickly followed by positive press labeling Iceland as being one of the safest countries in Europe thanks to its lack of terrorist threats. And, finally, Iceland is the perfect country for the Instagram generation today, who see Iceland on social media sites and view it’s sometimes out-of-this-world terrain as if it were Mars.
As a result of this current increase in Iceland’s popularity, travel and tourism companies worldwide are making the country more accessible, and this includes Monaker Group’s (OTCQB: MKGI) Maupintour, the oldest tour operator in the United States. Maupintour believes in helping others experience the wonders of our world and the delights of traveling through highly customized private tours.
The company now offers tours to every continent, with trips varying from one to two weeks. The Maupintour Iceland tour is set over the space of eight days and is called the Fire and Ice Tour. It includes luxury accommodation, private tours of both the cities and the natural parts of the country, a tour of the Northern lights, and private transfers between all locations.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) to Release Third Quarter Results Late Next Week
Before the opening bell, Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) announced plans to release its third quarter financial results for the three-month period ended September 30, 2016, before the market opens on Thursday, November 10. Following the release, MTBC plans to host a conference call for investors in order to review highlights from its quarterly results, including the recent acquisition of MediGain, LLC and its affiliate, Millennium Practice Management, LLC.
The conference call will take place on November 10 at 8:30 am EDT. To access the call, investors should dial 844-802-2438, or 412-317-5131 for international callers, and reference “MTBC Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Call.” A replay of the conference call will be available roughly one hour after the conclusion of the call and can be accessed by dialing 877-344-7529, or 412-317-0088 for international callers, and providing access code 10095250. Alternatively, an audio recording of the conference call will be made available on the company’s investor relations website (ir.mtbc.com) through the end of the year.
To date in 2016, MTBC has leaned on its integrated cloud-based technology platform and sizable international workforce to distinguish itself in the competitive health care IT market. In a recent interview with NetworkNewsWire, Bill Korn, chief financial officer of MTBC, spoke to some of the company’s main accomplishments in 2016. Specifically, MTBC delivered its third consecutive quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA during the second quarter of 2016, raised $7.5 million of non-convertible preferred stock and closed on its tenth and largest acquisition since its IPO in 2014.
Among these achievements, the MediGain acquisition, in particular, is expected to be transformative for MTBC. Completed for a total purchase price that represented a “significant discount as compared to the industry norm of at least one times annualized revenues for a company of MediGain’s size,” Korn noted that “the incremental profits for this acquisition are expected to greatly exceed the company’s cost of capital,” making it accretive to shareholders as early as the first quarter of 2017. Supporting this forecast, the accounts in good standing acquired through the transaction have annual revenues in excess of $10 million.
“[W]e are very pleased to have acquired MediGain, which marks an important corporate milestone as our largest acquisition to date, and demonstrates the highly strategic nature of our successful, acquisition-based growth strategy,” Mahmud Haq, chief executive officer of MTBC, stated in a recent news release.
For more information, visit www.mtbc.com, and see the company’s fact sheet at http://ir.mtbc.com/events.cfm.
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) Helps Improve Health System Quality & Safety with Advanced EHR Software
A few years ago, most doctors were still updating their patient files manually and kept hard copies in their offices to refer to whenever necessary. More often than not, this antiquated system proved cumbersome and inefficient, especially in an emergency situation where a doctor needed to access his or her patient’s medical history quickly and the file went missing or was accidentally misplaced. Potentially leading to a delay in proper care, this medical patient filing system became increasingly obsolete, and a growing number of health care professionals started turning toward electronic health record (EHR) keeping.
Also known as electronic medical records, EHRs have a significant impact on the health care system, improving its overall quality and enhancing patient safety. Electronic health records streamline clinical operations, allow multiple practitioners to access patients’ medical histories, allow convenient storage and retrieval of information, and can help a practice be more operationally efficient. By accessing a patient’s history electronically, doctors can immediately see how a specific condition developed and evolved and decide the best course of action and treatment based on this comprehensive information.
These features have convinced a great number of physicians to switch to EHR systems, with the adoption rate nearly doubling in the United States since 2008 (from 42% to 83% in 2015). In January of this year, roughly 59% of U.S. medical service providers reported using an EHR system, with the slight decline owing to a much larger sampling size. In addition, nearly 35% of health care professionals reported using a fully functional EHR platform with capabilities such as electronic charts, electronic prescribing and integration with imaging and testing centers. Among the specialties with the highest adoption rates are internal medicine and pediatrics, dialysis, nephrology and pathology.
To further encourage the use of EHR systems, the federal government issued a set of ‘Meaningful Use’ standards in 2010, outlining a series of EHR use requirements for doctors wishing to be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid payments. All health care units using EHR systems need to be in line with the Meaningful Use standards by 2017 or risk penalty. At the moment, three-quarters of EHR users reported that their systems meet Meaningful Use requirements, while more than 370,000 physicians or practices have already earned incentive under the program.
The EHR software from top health care information technology provider Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) fully meets all the requirements of any small- to medium-sized medical practice, no matter the size and specialty. Built around the company’s proprietary ChartsPro™ software, this web-based EHR is easy to use and intuitive, being designed to improve the productivity of any practice by automating all its clinical activities. Since it is web-based, it does not require any software download or installation and allows medical professionals to access it anytime, anywhere, using only a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. The system also includes 13 specialty-specific modules, including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, Podiatry, Rheumatology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry.
Some of the Medical Transcription Billing software’s top features include Patient Charts, which allow for the capture and storage of extensive patient information such as vitals, social history and care plan; a Clinical Decision Support System, which helps provide preventative care with evidence-based alerts; a Personal Tab module, which enables detailed documentation of patient demographics; and a host of patient education materials via the MedlinePlus Encyclopedia.
For more information, visit www.mtbc.com, and see the company’s fact sheet at http://ir.mtbc.com/events.cfm.
Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) Giving Businesses a Stronger Mobile Presence with Consumers
With mobile devices continuing to grow in popularity, companies need to adapt their websites and strategies to reach this mobile audience. As a result, organizations are having to build a stronger mobile presence and associated marketing strategy to effectively capture consumer attention.
According to the Huffington Post article ‘5 Key Elements for an Effective B2C Mobile Marketing Strategy’ (http://dtn.fm/qQHn9), the elements that businesses need to consider in order to ensure they are reaching the right audience at the right time with the right content include: social media marketing, tailoring content for mobile use, using mobile-friendly emails, using hyper-targeted ads, and choosing a responsive design. Since social media in particular is widely used on mobile devices, companies now need to make sure that all aspects of their marketing strategies are appropriately tuned to this widely-accepted form of communication.
Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), a company in the business of providing social media marketing and promotion platforms to help merchants advertise through social media, offers two mobile friendly applications: the Moxian+ Business app and the Moxian+ User app. These applications allow merchants to connect more easily with consumers thanks to targeted ad campaigns and promotions, together with consumer behavior data compiled from the Moxian user database.
The Moxian+ Business application allows organizations to convert consumers into members, which in turn helps them build lasting relationships, increasing repeat sales. With the help of this mobile application, businesses can regularly update customers with new products and other information. Not only this, the application mobilizes staff, which allows them to market their business via social media from their mobile devices. The application also offers multi-channel promotional tools, both online and offline, and provides business reports on the go.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com
OurPet’s Company (OPCO) Supports Responsible Pet Ownership with Intelligent Pet Care™ Product Line
September was National Responsible Dog Ownership Month, an initiative started by the American Kennel Club with the purpose of helping pet owners raise healthy and happy dogs by making sure they are aware of all the responsibilities dog ownership entails, from budgeting your furry friend’s health care to making sure it has proper identification and giving it enough love and attention. As a leading provider of innovative pet products, OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) is dedicated to supporting responsible dog and cat ownership through its unique line of intelligent products designed to offer enhanced care and monitoring of your pet’s health.
To raise awareness of the fact that getting a pet comes with a series of obligations, the American Kennel Club has put together a list of basic responsibilities a dog owner must be ready for – requirements that are indeed the sign of responsible pet ownership regardless of whether your new family member is canine or feline. Some of these basics include regular veterinarian exams to make sure your dog’s overall health is good, sticking with your pet’s vaccination schedule to prevent possible severe diseases such as rabies or parvovirus, ensuring a healthy and balanced diet for your dog, keeping it properly hydrated and safe from the elements, and also making sure your dog has proper identification. By following these very simple guidelines, all dog owners can make sure their pets will be happy and healthy for many years to come.
With the OurPets® Intelligent Pet Care™ product line (http://dtn.fm/1O31j), pet owners will find it easier than ever to monitor their furry friends’ behavior and health, enabling them to develop a stronger bond for more complete care. The Intelligent Pet Care™ line is the first that offers a complete range of smart pet health monitoring products by incorporating Bluetooth® technology into everyday pet care. Owners will be able to keep in touch with their pets and be aware of any changes in their behavior or daily routines via the IntelligentPetLink™ smartphone app, available for download for both Android and iOS systems.
The SmartLink™ Waterer – Intelligent Water Fountain (http://dtn.fm/5j5Nw) and SmartLink™ Feeder – Intelligent Pet Bowl (http://dtn.fm/83Esn) are, for instance, crucial for keeping your cat or dog well hydrated and properly fed with fresh water and food, in the right amount. This eliminates the needs of leaving out a bowl of water or food while you’re away, which can be a problem if you have multiple pets and you would have no way of controlling how much food each of them is getting. The SmartLink™ Waterer ensures that your pet always has access to fresh water by sensing when it is near and dispensing clean, filtered water in a waterfall design. The water fountain’s Bluetooth® module then sends regular updates to the owner’s smartphone about their pet’s drinking behaviors, water temperature and more. The SmartLink™ Feeder works in a similar way, dispensing food only when detecting a particular tag that can be attached to your cat or dog’s collar. This system is ideal for a pet on a particular diet that requires meals on specific intervals. All of this information is then communicated to the owner’s phone through the IntelligentPetLink™ app.
The Intelligent Pet Care™ product line also includes the SmartScoop® – Intelligent Litter Box (http://dtn.fm/6LeLV), the SmartLink™ Tag (http://dtn.fm/X9EyX), and the SmartLink™ Gateway – WiFi Pet Care Connector (http://dtn.fm/0IN6p), which converts Bluetooth® signals into long-range WiFi signals to allow monitoring of pets’ activities outside the house.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.OurPets.com
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Announces Addition of Eric Burch Real Estate Team to eXp Realty
Earlier today, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) announced the addition of Eric Burch, principal of the independent brokerage Burch & Co. Real Estate, to the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage®. As part of this move, Burch transitioned his entire team of 17 agents and brokers, which was ranked the number one team in Northeast Arkansas in 2015 in terms of transaction volume, to eXp Realty. With this announcement, eXp Realty has now added three leading real estate teams from markets across the country over the past two weeks.
“Burch & Co. is our heart, our baby,” Eric Burch stated in this morning’s news release. “We wouldn’t be making the transition if we didn’t firmly believe that eXp represents the very best option for us as a team and as individual real estate professionals. With eXp, we can provide better service to our clients and, importantly, the opportunity for true ownership to our agents.”
Burch was formally introduced to the eXp Realty community during the company’s weekly leadership meeting this morning. To view these meetings, visit the company’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/eXpRealty.
eXp Realty has been in a period of rapid growth since the beginning of 2016, expanding its family of agents and brokers by more than 120 percent since January 1. Earlier this month, the company added its 1,900th agent, and management has already set its sights on a goal of 2,200 agents by the end of this year. Through the recent additions of top real estate teams such as Sacramento’s Brent Gove team and Darren James Real Estate Experts of Baton Rouge, as well as Miguel Herrera – the top international luxury agent in all of South Texas, eXp Realty is demonstrating that the value proposition presented by the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® is unmatched in the industry.
“eXp provides top teams and brokerage owners with the opportunity to expand into new markets without additional capital requirements and an agent experience for their members that is collaborative, interpersonal and enriching,” Vikki Bartholomae, president of eXp Realty, stated in the news release. “We welcome Eric and his team to Agent Ownership and look forward to extending that same opportunity to other entrepreneurial brokerage owners, agents, and teams of agents in all markets.”
Since its launch in October 2009, eXp Realty has leveraged an aggressive revenue sharing program that pays agents a percentage of gross commission income earned by fellow real estate professionals whom they attract into the company. In 2013, EXPI transitioned into being a public company before implementing an innovative equity sharing initiative the next year. When combined with the company’s collaborative training tools and immersive, 3-D cloud office environment, this equity sharing model has proven extremely successful, as eXp Realty’s rates of growth and agent retention have greatly accelerated in recent years.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) – Embracing Innovation and Differentiation in the Payment Processing Space
Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) embraces what sets it apart from the competition: a laser focus on specific market expertise and value-added products and services. A global payments-as-a-service company, Net Element operates as a technology provider with an integrated mobile and transactional services platform that serves emerging market clients across North America, Russia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The 150-plus staffers that make up the Net Element team thrive at seeing their ideas turn into innovations that become accomplishments. They develop and deliver customer-engaged, next-generation point of sale systems that anticipate market turns and trends. They present alternatives to cash payment methods that bring added convenience to customers-on-the-go, allowing them to perform commercial transactions right from their mobile devices. And with both the company’s online and offline payment capabilities, they allow merchants to operate their businesses with an anywhere-and-anyhow mentality. Using the most inventive and powerful tools on the web, the Net Element team continues to transform the online and mobile experience, all in an effort to improve relationships, enrich lives and bring communities together.
With its smarter, mobile point of sale systems, Net Element is in a sweet spot for growth, not only in the United States but outside of it as well, and still the company continues to improve how users engage with its products. It has been more than a decade since Net Element launched, and its contributions now extend beyond the mobile payment and value-added transactional innovations offered by subsidiaries like Aptito and TOT Money to the socially-responsible transaction processing options offered by companies like Process Pink and Unified Payments. By focusing on the technological innovations at the core of its products, the company continues to compete with ease in several highly-competitive markets.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
CEO of Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Subsidiary PayOnline Selected to Lead Futuristic Panel at Russian Interactive Week
Before the opening bell, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) announced that Marat Abasaliev, chief executive officer of the company’s wholly-owned PayOnline subsidiary, will lead the futuristic section of the upcoming Russian Interactive Week (“RIW”) 2016. Organized by RUNET Group and held at Moscow’s Expo Center, RIW is the biggest annual event centered on the Russian Internet and offers a combination of a multi-threaded conference, media communication forum and a variety of extracurricular activities. This year’s event, which will be held from November 1-3, 2016, is expected to draw attendance in excess of 20,000 visitors.
Abasaliev’s highly-anticipated session, titled ‘How we will pay in 2020: projections and fantasies’, is scheduled to open the second day of RIW and will focus on forecast changes in Russian Internet payments that are set to take place over the next five years. Abasaliev will be joined by representatives from other market leaders, including MasterCard (NYSE: MA), MTS, VTB24 Bank and Mail Group, who are expected to share their unique views on the rapid development and evolution of the overall payments ecosystem.
In addition to offering his unique insight to conference visitors, Abasaliev’s assessment of the near-term future of the payments ecosystem in Russia and key issues related to electronic and physical payments in the region will also be evaluated by the event’s organizers. According to this morning’s update, the most visionary presenter will be honored at RIW 2020.
“Payment service providers reside at the intersection of information technology and electronic payments directly interacting with payment systems, banks, IT companies and mobile operators,” Abasaliev stated in this morning’s news release. “Taking stock of the payments landscape, we noticed that based on their individual challenges, each of our partners have their own vision of the ‘future payments’ of Russia; thus was born the idea of bringing together key industry players in the payment sector and try to create a shared vision of our future.”
In recent weeks, PayOnline has made significant progress toward expanding its presence in both the Russian payments market and those of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Perhaps the largest headline from this period, PayOnline entered into an agreement with Dunkin’ Donuts (NASDAQ: DNKN) to enable payment acceptance for online ordering and delivery services at the chain’s locations throughout the Russian market. Earlier this month, PayOnline built on this progress through its entry into a new agreement with ExLine, a leading provider of courier services in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Through this deal, PayOnline is helping ExLine enable online payment acceptance services for more than 50,000 customers across its operating region.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
Travel on 195 NextTrips with Monaker Group (MKGI)
A journey of a thousand miles, it has been said, begins with one step. That is as true today as it was 2,600 years ago when the venerable Chinese sage Lao-Tzu, to whom the saying is attributed, lived. Today, however, that thousand mile journey can also start with a single click, along with a little help from Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) and its flagship NextTrip platform. From that portal, the spirited adventurer can take his or her next trip to any one of 195 countries around the world.
Starting with that first click, users can begin their physical journey with a visual one on the NextTrip platform. There, the tormented soul driven by wanderlust or the holiday maker just getting away for a week or two will discover the world through a stimulating collection of videos on various destinations and tour packages. The site features videos on leading global cities like Bangkok, Cape Town, Dubai, Istanbul and Vienna, as well as the world’s five “gateway” cities: Hong Kong, London, Paris, New York City and Singapore. Since would-be travelers are increasingly using video content to make decisions about vacations, Monaker has compiled an extensive media library that has since become one of the company’s most valuable digital assets.
Back in October 2015, Monaker acquired the large and very popular global vacation rental platform, AlwaysOnVacation, which had, at that time, a listing of 65,000 properties in 120 countries. Vacation rental, which includes alternative lodging rentals, is one of the fastest growing segments of the travel market. With AlwaysOnVacation, Monaker also acquired relationships with 60 affiliated partner websites that are making its offerings available in 16 languages to around 700,000 subscribers worldwide.
The AlwaysOnVacation properties are part ‘of close to 1.2 million homes’ that Monaker has ‘under contract’, part of its strategy of cultivating ‘significant partnerships for accessing inventory’. As CEO Bill Kerby has pointed out, inventory of that size would make Monaker as big as HomeAway, which was acquired by Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) in December 2015 for $3.9 billion.
Monaker’s travel assets now include Maupintour, with over 65 years in tour-guided vacations; Voyage.TV, with its thousands of hours of travel footage shot in over 30 countries around the world; AlwayOnVacation, with its 250,000 listed properties; and NextTrip.com.
NextTrip is traveling in areas left uncharted by AirBnB, HomeAway, Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and FlipKey by offering both proprietary and partner-held alternative lodging accommodation. The platform also offers traditional hotel accommodation, timeshare and resort inventory, real-time booking, a bidding platform, video content, car rentals, cruise packages, tours, airline bookings, and access to real live travel agents. It may be time for investors to take that first step and begin the journey with Monaker.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) and Its Magnetic Marketing Mix
Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) is using its new media marketing solution to make a strong play in the Asian marketing industry. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, the company offers some of the biggest interactive marketing products of the mobile internet era for social and business communities. It provides merchants with tangible opportunities to strengthen their outreach to consumers, and it delivers win-win solutions that allow companies to use big data to gain considerable insight into their operations, as well as their competitors’. With its online-to-offline integrated approach, Moxian infuses major mojo into a company’s marketing plan.
When Moxian Chairman and CEO James Tan was interviewed by Asian Fund Space in May 2016, he spoke about the company’s strategies for success. Even more so, the resulting article (http://dtn.fm/7CmAY) revealed the three things management estimates Moxian needs to do to become a successful internet company. One, Moxian needs to identify a market need and its potential to deliver the products that would be in demand. Two, Moxian needs to emphasize quality over quantity with respect to writing and design code. Three, Moxian needs to develop the ability to design and build the infrastructure that will enable it to deliver products and support services to the market it has identified.
It has been three years now since Moxian was founded and the company is still very much technology driven. About half of Moxian’s staff of 170 (approximately 80 people) are focused on research and development (R&D). And, out of these 80 staffers, about 20 focus on end-product development while the remaining 60 are general R&D staffers.
Since its founding in 2013, Moxian has maintained an active product release and operations schedule. In October 2013, it launched its Moxian App 1.0 for beta in China and Malaysia. The following spring, it set up sales and marketing departments in Malaysia and Mainland China, and, shortly after, registered 50,000 merchants and 300,000 global users for its app. By September 2014, it had kicked off development of its Moxian+ platform, and, in the summer of 2015, it opened a new office in Shenzhen and also co-hosted and sponsored the Xinhua New Media Integrated Conference (Moxian’s deal with Xinhua, in particular, marked a major milestone in its development). Finally, later that October, the company completed the launch of its Moxian+ User App and Moxian+ Business App.
Over the years, the thriving new media market has given rise to a fast-growing net advertising sector in China and the rest of the world. In China alone, the advertising market is expected to hit around $80 billion in 2016. With about half of this number coming from mobile ad revenue, Moxian’s management sees this development as welcome news as the company has been preparing to tap into this booming market for quite some time now.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com
eXp World Holdings (EXPI) Brokerage Division Continues Accelerated Growth, Tops 1,900 Agents
Continuing its already significant growth rate, eXp Realty, the real estate brokerage division of eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI), has expanded its agent base to more than 1,900 professionals, reporting a 151% increase in agent count, as compared to the third quarter of 2015. If it continues to expand at the same rate, it is very likely that the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® will hit the 2,200-agent mark by the end of the year.
The company has been experiencing accelerated growth since the beginning of the year, expanding both its agent base and its coverage. With only 864 agents on January 1, it reached 1,500 agents in early August and now has 1,900 professionals across 41 markets in the U.S. and Canada – more specifically covering 41 states, the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada. According to a company press release, the brokerage had 1,816 real estate professionals at the end of the third quarter, compared to 721 agents at the end of Q3 2015, marking an increase of over 151%. Earlier this month, it added its 1,900th agent.
This exponential growth rate is the direct results of eXp Realty’s unique business model. Unlike most competitors that concentrate their activity around a brick and mortar office, eXp’s commercial and residential brokerage relies heavily on cloud-based technologies and an advanced virtual reality platform to build an online community of real estate professionals. The platform allows for a wide range of operations, including agent training, lead generation, IT services, leadership meetings and more. Agents can meet in this virtual reality space to share experiences, exchange ideas with other agents, take online real estate classes and even play a game of virtual soccer.
In addition, the eXp Realty model is based on the idea that all agents should also have the possibility of being owners, so the brokerage offers its members access to lucrative revenue sharing programs and the opportunity to become shareholders based on their contributions to company growth. Since everything is done online, from the comfort of one’s home, agents can provide more efficient service and increase their profit with a lower risk, without having to worry about franchise and desk fees or similar expenses.
This system has allowed for a massive increase in the number of agents, but also for record revenue for eXp World Holdings in the first two quarters of the year, including more than $7 million in the first quarter and $13 million in the second. The financial figures for Q3 have not yet been released. According to eXp Realty CEO Jason Gesing, this growth rate shows that the company has become the brokerage of choice for agents and teams, as well as for brokerage owners that want to increase their profit. He also said his company was very happy with the quality of the real estate professionals who are joining the organization.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) (MTBCP) is Proving to be a HIT in Healthcare Information Technology
Medical practice has come a long way since the time when barber surgeons doctored to the masses. Physicians, in those early times, mostly attended to the wealthy. The ordinary man would have his blood let by the same tradesman who cut his hair. And although they had to earn a daily bread, no physician, presumably, took up the vocation because he considered it a business. Business enterprise was deemed vulgar and beneath one who took the Hippocratic Oath.
Today that stigma no longer stains commercial endeavor. The good medical practitioner can be a good businessperson as well. In fact, the modern Doctor of Medicine (MD), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Nurse Practitioner (NP) or Licensed Midwife (LM) must be. And the suite of Electronic Health Record (EHR), revenue cycle, transcription and data management applications from Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC) (NASDAQ: MTBCP) is helping those professionals be just that. In the healthcare information technology (HIT) market, the cloud-based business administration solutions from MTBC are proving to be quite a hit.
The healthcare landscape is rapidly changing. As in other industries, information technology is altering methodologies and holding out the promise to improve the quality of services while keeping costs down. The industry is under a mandate to move from a fee-for-service approach to a value-based reimbursement one. Under fee-for-service, providers are paid on volume: number of visits, number of tests, etc. With value-based reimbursement, other more sophisticated quality control metrics will be used.
To manage the data generated by these new performance measures requires wholesale adoption of new information technologies. In addition, there is an imperative for providers to move to electronic health record (EHR) systems. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, provides incentives and penalties to physicians and others to adopt EHRs. These two developments have given rise to a virtually new field of healthcare information technology.
The chief financial officer of MTBC, Bill Korn, discussed the implications of these forces for the company with The Wall Street Transcript (TWST) (http://dtn.fm/7dmHx) and the opportunities lying ahead. Korn, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, has been with Medical Transcription Billing since June 2013. He was a co-founder of the IBM Consulting Group, now IBM Global Services, the creation of which marked IBM’s highly successful transition from hardware to services. Korn has been CFO of six other growing technology businesses.
He described MTBC’s business:
“MTBC is a health care IT company. Our clients are doctors’ practices. We typically work with smaller practices, meaning one- to 10-doctor practices, and we provide them with a variety of services. We do their billing, submitting all the claims to insurance, preparing and mailing statements to their patients, and giving them electronic health record software that allows them to record notes of the visit. We provide practice management software for the front office staff to schedule appointments, check insurance eligibility, send out automated reminder calls and text messages about flu shots, etc.”
In addition to these services, practitioners and patients have access to a suite of mobile applications, including apps that the doctors can use to refill prescriptions, apps that the patients can use to look up their records, set up appointments, request prescription refills and check in when they arrive at the practice. Doctors who do not want to type their notes into the EHR can dictate into an app on their iPhone or Android, which will be sent automatically to MTBC personnel, who will listen to it and type the notes into the electronic health record software.
MTBC’s main competitive advantage is its ability and track record to deliver these services effectively and at a cost far less than any competitor. Part of the reason for this, Korn pointed out, is that the company has bought or established a number of overseas subsidiaries, sourcing expertise and talent for much less than is obtainable in the U.S. MTBC’s two largest offices are in Pakistan ‘where we employ 1,500 people at salaries of approximately one-tenth what you would pay in the United States for similarly skilled and educated labor.’
MTBC had 2015 revenues of $23.1 million, an increase of 26 percent over 2014. Now Korn wants to make a quantum leap to $230 million. Can MTBC pull it off?
According to a MarketsandMarkets report (http://dtn.fm/XoA2B), the global healthcare IT market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.4 percent over the next five years, from $117.7 billion in 2015 to $228.8 billion in 2020. Getting just 0.1 percent of that pie five years down the road would certainly do it.
For more information, visit www.mtbc.com, and see the company’s fact sheet at http://ir.mtbc.com/events.cfm.
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Announces Addition of Darren James Real Estate Team to eXp Realty
Earlier today, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI), through eXp Realty, announced the latest addition to its Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® – Darren James of Darren James Real Estate Experts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In his 15 years operating in the real estate industry, James has earned a number of noteworthy honors, including being named the number one REALTOR® in the Gulf States region for total individual production in both 2014 and 2015. His brokerage has recorded similar success, with the Darren James Real Estate Experts team having been ranked just outside the top 50 in terms of transactions by the Wall Street Journal in 2015.
“The eXp Realty business model is more progressive and agent-centric than any I’ve seen in my 15 years in this business,” James noted in this morning’s news release. “This is a tremendous opportunity, not just for me and for my family, but for all of the agents who have been great and loyal contributors to my success.”
James will be officially introduced to the eXp Realty community during this week’s leadership meeting, which can be viewed on the company’s YouTube channel (http://dtn.fm/mg5PA) on Friday at 11:00 am ET.
eXp Realty has been in a period of rapid growth for much of 2016, and it continues to attract leading real estate professionals from across North America with its aggressive revenue sharing program and collaborative, cloud-based resources. Earlier this month, the company announced that its family of agents and brokers had grown to include more than 1,900 members across 41 markets in the United States and Canada, representing an increase of roughly 120 percent from the beginning of this year. EXPI aims to build on this growth throughout the balance of 2016, expanding beyond 2,200 agents by year end.
“Increasingly, eXp Realty is the destination for top producing teams and for brokerage owners looking to increase profitability, achieve scalable growth across markets, and deliver the opportunity of ownership to their valued agents and team members,” Jason Gesing, chief executive officer of eXp Realty, stated in this morning’s news release. “As a company, we are committed to offering a value proposition that is so strong that it would be professionally irresponsible for an agent to affiliate with any other brokerage.”
The announcement that Darren James and his real estate team have joined the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® comes on the heels of two similar announcements over the past two weeks. On October 14, the company announced the addition of Miguel Herrera, the top international luxury agent in all of South Texas, to the eXp team. EXPI followed up on this announcement on October 17 when Sacramento’s Brent Gove team, one of the top real estate teams in California, joined the growing brokerage company. The opportunity for agents and brokers to become owners through eXp Realty’s innovative business model is proving enticing for top real estate professionals from a number of markets.
“The eXp Realty business model is the strongest in the industry,” Herrera noted in a recent news release. “This is the future of real estate and I want to be a part of it.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
OurPet’s Company (OPCO) Achieves Record Results for Third Quarter 2016
Before the opening bell, OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) reported record revenue of $7.26 million for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2016, marking a year-over-year increase of 21 percent. The company’s net income for the three-month period of $495,669, or $0.025 per share, was also up 21 percent from the previous year. All told, when discounting the effects of a one-time U.S. Custom exam refund of $94,000 that was received during the third quarter of 2015, OPCO’s adjusted net income grew by a staggering 57 percent between the third quarters of 2015 and 2016. Dr. Steven Tsengas, president and chief executive officer of OurPet’s Company, reiterated the strong results in this morning’s update.
“With the resumption of shipments to our major specialty pet retail customer, we were firing on all cylinders this past quarter,” he stated. “With the strong third-quarter sales, we are up almost 10% for the nine months of 2016, more than double the pet industry average.”
To view OurPet’s Company’s full third quarter results, visit http://dtn.fm/WxAE3
Over the years, OurPet’s Company has established a position in the growing global pet products industry through a commitment to quality and innovation, and this dedication played a key role in the company’s third quarter growth. Leveraging a sizable intellectual property portfolio that includes more than 170 patents in either issued or pending status, OPCO recently commenced initial shipments of both its environmentally-friendly Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter™ with BioChar (http://dtn.fm/SeMk8) and its technology-powered Intelligent Pet Care™ product line (http://dtn.fm/jPs9U). Based upon the early market acceptance of these innovations and initial sales bookings for the month of October, OPCO’s management team is currently “guardedly optimistic” about the company’s prospects for sustained growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 and beyond.
“Beyond 2016, our strategy is to achieve double-digit growth in sales and net income with an emphasis on developing and launching proprietary, innovative products and entering appropriate new market segments,” continued Tsengas.
Central to these development efforts is a newly-announced partnership with Paulee Cleantec Ltd., an international leader in eco-friendly solutions for the management of human and animal waste. Through this partnership, the two companies will seek to jointly develop and commercialize a portable solution to the growing environmental concerns associated with improperly managed pet waste. Paulee Cleantec has already developed a powerful proof-of-concept waste system that uses an exothermic oxidation process to “convert animal feces into an odor-free ash fertilizer in less than a minute.”
“In addition, we recently completed contracts with a leading direct TV (DRTV) marketing company to test market several of our new electronic interactive cat toys for a possible DRTV campaign to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2017,” added Tsengas. “We have many ‘irons in the fire’ and are very excited about the future.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.OurPets.com
Medical Transcription Billing (MTBC) Expects Significant Revenue Growth after MediGain Acquisition, Expands Team
Leading healthcare information technology provider Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) this month completed its acquisition of medical billing company MediGain in a move widely expected to significantly boost its overall revenue in 2017 and offer improved services to its now enhanced customer base. According to Medical Transcription Billing Chief Financial Officer Bill Korn, the $7 million acquisition of Texas-based MediGain, LLC and its New Jersey subsidiary Millennium Practice Management, LLC, is the largest acquisition in the history of his company.
Medical Transcription Billing has made an initial payment of $2 million for the MediGain assets and will pay an additional $5 million in early 2017. This is a significant discount compared to the industry norm of greater than one times revenue, Korn explained. For organic growth, one of the largest IT companies in the healthcare industry, athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), spent roughly $230 million on sales and marketing last year, with a revenue growth of $172 million, so MTBC paid less than others might spend to grow the business organically.
The deal marks a major corporate milestone for MTBC and shows the power of its acquisition-based growth strategy, Korn said. He added that the revenue cycle management customer accounts and other assets acquired from MediGain have annual revenues of more than $10 million, which is expected to contribute significantly to Medical Transcription Billing’s revenue growth in 2017. In turn, the company expects to greatly improve its operations and services as a direct result of this revenue growth, which will most likely push MTBC further up the list of top providers of technological solutions to the healthcare industry, alongside companies such as athenahealth. In addition, the profits resulting from the MediGain acquisition are expected to exceed the company’s capital costs, so the transaction should be accretive to the shareholders next year.
Another direct result of the MediGain acquisition is the expansion of Medical Transcription Billing’s team. The acquisition enabled the company to add many new members to its North America team and expand its team in Asia to additional countries such as India and Sri Lanka, where there is a highly-qualified and cost effective medical billing workforce. In Sri Lanka, for instance, MTBC now has the largest team of healthcare technology professionals in the country. Also part of the acquisition, MediGain’s former chief operating officer, Gary Smith, will now lead MediGain Practice Management.
As it integrates MediGain and the new revenue cycle management customer accounts, Medical Transcription Billing will continue to leverage its proprietary technology and global team of professionals to improve operations and provide world-class service to all its clients. The company is already serving a wide range of healthcare entities and customers, from individual physicians to medium size medical practices, and has partnered with various healthcare organizations to expand its reach nationwide and globally.
For the Seeking Alpha article on MTBC’s Acquisition of MediGain, visit http://dtn.fm/Nb3Uj, and see http://dtn.fm/b3BMx for additional articles relating to MTBC.
For more information, visit www.MTBC.com
ContraVir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CTRV) Set to Shake Up HBV Therapy Market with Combination Therapy Based on CMX157 & CRV431
A constant theme that comes up in and often dominates the leading edge of the biopharma sector is the building of better mousetraps. This is certainly the case for New Jersey-based biopharma developer ContraVir Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CTRV), whose phase 2a clinical antiviral candidate CMX157 (http://dtn.fm/sQXh9) is knocking loudly on the door of Gilead Sciences’ (NASDAQ: GILD) Viread® (TDF, or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV).
Coming out of the box strong after notably successful phase 1 safety and efficacy trials, ContraVir was quite proud to recently announce (http://dtn.fm/8NxXL) that the ongoing head-to-head phase 2a (multiple ascending dose) clinical study of its highly potent prodrug of tenofovir (TFV), CMX157, is showing serious potential versus Viread. With data points like a 99 percent reduction in viral load (http://dtn.fm/vtJ59) among patients orally dosed with 25 mg of CMX157, compared to a 300 mg TDF dose, the company is obviously excited about CMX157’s ability to deliver significant viral load reduction safely, at a much lower dose. Delimiting systemic/liver toxicity issues has long been the industry brass ring, and it now looks like that goal is considerably within CTRV’s striking distance.
ContraVir sees CMX157 as the backbone of a rapidly emerging combination therapy approach to HBV, where the liver-targeting capabilities of its prodrug candidate help to reduce impact to other tissue systems. There are a list of significant potential advantages for CMX157 over something like Viread at the point of sale, and ContraVir is bucking hard to not only cure HBV, but slice off an ever larger piece of the global HBV therapeutics market, a market that is on track to do a modest 2.4% CAGR through 2024, when it will reach upwards of $3 billion (http://dtn.fm/Y6Qux). The enhanced bioavailability of CMX157’s novel structure compared to existing indications (which also helps deal with liver damage by reducing the indication’s overall circulatory footprint), is now starting to really come to light through the latest clinical results.
Early on, when the company began touting CMX157’s ability to exploit natural lipid uptake mechanisms, and how this candidate showed in vitro HBV aggression 97 times greater than TFV during its phase 1 days, investors should’ve been paying closer attention. The data from this latest clinical work is consistent with extant data stretching back to preclinical work on CMX157, and with around 786,000 people dying worldwide each year (http://dtn.fm/0dQoF) (mostly due to HBV-related liver disease like cirrhosis and liver cancer) from HBV, ContraVir’s work has become a hot topic. CMX157 has previously been found to be well tolerated at dosages up to 100 mg, so the fact that this stuff is basically doing Viread numbers at 25 mg already spells big things for the ongoing dose escalation work being conducted by CTRV.
CMX157 is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is ContraVir’s growing pipeline of candidates, a pipeline which includes an impressive next-gen cyclophilin inhibitor with enhanced potency and selectivity, known as CRV431 (http://dtn.fm/5pmBl). With IND-enabling study work in the offing and a target sometime next year for CRV431 clinical trials, CTRV is really shaping up to be one of the leading alternative HBV therapy developers. CRV431’s ability to attack the life cycle of HBV at numerous points along the arc is a key advantage, and that combination therapy strategy the company keeps pushing really starts to make sense when you take a closer look at the potential advantages of CRV431.
These advantages include a sharp reduction in HBV DNA (in vivo), without toxicity, meaning that liver fibrosis can be hugely downgraded as a complication. Pair that up with a demonstrated ability to actually block entry for HBV into liver cells, and it is little wonder that ContraVir is looking to the horizon for a combination approach with CMX157 as the situation commander, and ancillary indications like best-in-class potency CRV431 on street-sweeper detail. Talk about laying down cover fire: CRV431 is anticipated to be effective against all HBV genotypes, offers broad-spectrum blockage of a large portion of specific HBV protein interaction with host cell cyclophilins, and provides a clearly complementary method of action for CMX157.
In short, the company has both the vision and the technology to deliver on a promise to HBV patients that first became apparent with the emergence of what is now basically a lifetime cure for hepatitis C. The HBV field has been driving hard toward this goal, inspired by what has been done in hepatitis C, and it now appears that New Jersey’s own CTRV could be the one to run this ball into the end zone. Moreover, it was very encouraging to investors to see how the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s highly competitive Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program (which allows New Jersey-based companies to sell R&D tax credits or net operating losses for up to 80 percent of value), provided $1.8 million in non-dilutive funding (http://dtn.fm/ZiI0h) for CTRV, which has been instrumental for this homegrown biopharma success story to put the pedal to the metal on its HBV pipeline.
Hepatitis B is most prevalent in the regions of sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, where as much as 10 percent of the population in certain areas is chronically infected. Globally, the number of infected ranges upwards of the CDC/WHO official figure of 240 million, and with as many as 2.2 million chronic hepatitis B cases in the U.S. alone, CTRV’s technology could mean that the company is sitting on a potential goldmine, a goldmine that could provide a beacon of hope for millions.
The broader therapeutics market for liver diseases was around $7.5 billion in 2014, and a recent report published by Grand View Research sees the antiviral segment as the most promising, with 8.9 percent growth anticipated through 2022 (http://dtn.fm/sLM3O). The overall liver disease therapy market is on track to surpass $12 billion during that same interval, with the Asia Pacific region expected to do a CAGR similar to the antiviral segment, running around 8.8 percent. There is a huge external market for CTRV, and the possibilities of pipeline commercialization are indeed tantalizing.
Many investors are already talking about how instrumental the addition of biotech veteran Thomas H. Adams, Ph.D., to the CTRV Board back in September has been with regard to all of this, by the way. After all, this is the guy who founded antisense biotech innovator Genta, as well as Gen-Probe, which was acquired by the same Chugai Pharmaceutical (http://dtn.fm/50p7O) that later ended up in a strategic alliance with biopharma juggernaut Roche (OTC: RHHBY). Even without addressing the company’s pivotal phase 3 trial of its FV-100 indication, engineered to reduce incident rates and severity of shingles (herpes zoster), as well as the severe post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) pain associated with shingles – CTRV is the kind of near-commercialization contender that many biopharma investors dream of.
The market for FV-100 shows a lot of upside potential, in particular, due to a rapidly accumulating adult population across developed countries. In the U.S., the number of persons 65 years and older is projected to go from just 14.5 percent of the overall population two years ago, to 21.7 percent or more of total population by 2040 (http://dtn.fm/S874v). FV-100 has demonstrated safety and efficacy with clinically meaningful reduction in PHN rates versus GlaxoSmithKline’s (NYSE: GSK) Valtrex® (valacyclovir).
With as much as 10 percent fewer of 350 patients treated with FV-100 requiring some form of narcotics for pain control, this fast-acting, low-dose, once-daily, oral antiviral could really become one of CTRV’s money makers. PHN is the most common/clinically relevant complication with shingles, and FV-100’s pivotal phase 3 trial could spell much needed relief, especially for elderly patients who already have trouble sleeping, or who suffer from other quality of life-diminishing problems associated with shingles.
There is a lot to like about ContraVir, take a closer look by visiting www.Contravir.com
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Offering Specialized Payment Processing, Data Analytics for Retail Industry
As a global technology group specialized in mobile payments and other transactional services, Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) offers a wide range of next-generation point of sale, online or mobile payment solutions, as well as access to intelligent data analytics, business management, and related services. Via its subsidiary, Unified Payments, the group is targeting the retail market in particular by providing merchants with a unique suite of business solutions ranging from payment processing to fraud detection and more.
Ranked #1 by Inc. 500 Magazine, Unified Payments (http://dtn.fm/YP6dN) was the fastest growing in America in 2012 and has been growing and developing at a steady pace ever since then through its customized, award-winning payment solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises. Now a leading provider of bankcard payment processing services in the United States, Unified Payments enables merchants to accept cashless transactions by providing them with a variety of point-of-sale hardware and software solutions, from card readers, transaction processing and fraud detection to business management services, including risk management, merchant business analytics and 24/7 merchant assistance.
Unified Payments allows its merchant customers to accept a wide range of payment options, such as Visa® (NYSE: V), AMEX® (NYSE: AXP), MasterCard® (NYSE: MA), Discover® (NYSE: DFS), gift cards, debit cards and Apple Pay® (NASDAQ: AAPL), with a variety of state-of-the-art point-of-sale solutions and terminals with Near Field Communications (NFC) capability that are also EMV complaint. The company also offers a loyalty card and free gift program to help merchants drive sales, engage customers and increase their loyalty via personalized incentives.
One of the most innovative services in the company’s roster is Unified Payments Insights – essentially an online business dashboard for its merchant customers that offers them a comprehensive view of their businesses. This proprietary analytics platform provides a powerful suite of information never available to small and medium-sized merchants before. With Unified Payments Insights, merchants can access various reports and analytics data to help them evaluate and understand their business’s performance, address any possible issues and eventually increase their sales and revenue.
The platform offers merchants the possibility of comparing their current online reputation, revenue or social media activity to their past performance or to other similar businesses. Users can also check their local revenue rank, monitor their closest competitors and assess the impact various factors have on their revenue, such as bad weather or how active they are on social media. They can also see and keep track of customer reviews on various platforms including Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), OpenTable (NASDAQ: PCLN), TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP), Yelp (NYSE: YELP), Foursquare and others, all of them gathered in a single feed right on their dashboard.
Unified Payments is just one of the several payment processing solutions Net Element offers. Under the umbrella of global mobile payments and transactional processing provider TOT Group, Inc., the company also operates PayOnline – a fully integrated electronic commerce platform, Aptito – a next generation cloud-based point-of-sale payment platform, Restoactive – a digital add-ons provider for legacy point-of-sale systems in the hospitality industry, Digital Provider – a provider of mobile and SMS billing solutions, and more.
For more information, visit www.NetElement.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) CFO Featured in Exclusive NetworkNewsWire Interview
Before the opening bell, NetworkNewsWire (“NNW”), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company that delivers a new generation of communication solutions for business, announced the online availability of an interview with Bill Korn, chief financial officer of Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP). During the interview, Korn joined NNW’s Stuart Smith to discuss MTBC’s operations, recent achievements and the company’s ongoing execution of an acquisition-based growth strategy in order to maintain a competitive edge in the sizable healthcare IT market.
“MTBC has two cores strengths that distinguish us from most of the 1,500 other healthcare IT companies,” Korn explained in the interview. “We have an integrated cloud-based technology platform, which we developed in-house, and we have wholly owned offshore subsidiaries with 1,600 employees in four countries, with labor costs that average about 10% of the labor costs in the U.S. This allows us to provide services which are labor intensive even though we use our technology, and we can deliver these services much less expensively than our customers or competitors can provide them.”
To hear the full interview, visit http://nnw.fm/mtbc-interview-oct-2016
Thus far in 2016, MTBC has successfully achieved a number of milestones. The company has recorded three quarters of positive EBITDA since its IPO in 2014; raised $7.5 million of non-convertible stock on the NASDAQ; and, earlier this month, closed on the acquisition of MediGain, LLC and its Millennium Practice Management, LLC affiliate, marking MTBC’s largest acquisition to-date. The MediGain acquisition was not only completed at “a significant discount as compared to the industry norm,” according to Korn, it is also expected to play a major role in MTBC’s efforts to promote financial growth in the coming months, with the company’s CFO predicting that the acquisition “should be accretive to… shareholders in 2017.”
“We believe that our newly acquired business will contribute to our positive adjusted EBITDA by the first quarter of 2017,” Korn concluded. “By growing our overall revenue greatly through this acquisition, MTBC expects to generate significant operating leverage.”
For more information, visit www.MTBC.com
Monaker Group (MKGI) Helping Consumers Seeking a Rapid and Personalized Travel Planning Experience
According to PSFK’s founder and editor-in-chief, Piers Fawkes (http://dtn.fm/Z7pRQ), “Travelers today are looking for an intuitive, rapid and personalized experience. They understand the trail of contextual data that surrounds them and they expect the smartest travel brands to leverage those data to serve them appropriately.” This is made more obvious by the fact that smaller companies are struggling to fully capitalize on the increasingly connected world we live in.
With Americans spending approximately $814 billion on domestic travel in 2015, according to the U.S. Travel Association (http://dtn.fm/52hVA), it is no wonder they are also investing a lot of time in planning these trips. But with advancements in technology, consumers are looking for a more unique and personalized but also more rapid travel planning experience.
CEO of the online fare aggregator Kayak, Steve Hafner, believes technologies are now changing how travelers book their holidays, saying that customers’ booking experiences will be less point-and-click websites, and more spoken word and chat bots. In an interview with CNBC’s On The Money (http://dtn.fm/uyN4x), he stated, “What we’re seeing is there’s a whole generation of people who are more familiar with text messaging and voice via Siri who are looking for a different interaction with an online travel agency.” Consumers have a need for more rapid, personalized, and mobile booking experiences, requiring companies to build more intelligent systems that offer a modern and on-the-go way for people to book their trips.
An example is Monaker Group’s (OTCQB: MKGI) NextTrip.com, a real-time booking engine that offers customers the opportunity to book various types of accommodation as well as flights, car rentals, tours, and more. NextTrip.com provides an all-in-one travel planner for every aspect of a person’s trip. The NextTrip planner enables travelers and holidaymakers to choose from some eight million trip ideas, and it gives users the opportunity to import bookings to one place on their mobile devices; discover a variety of nearby hotels, bars, and restaurants; save and attach important links to their devices; and collect travel money to split travel costs among friends and family. The free travel planner is an all-inclusive platform that is mobile friendly and allows consumers to book and save information about their trips, no matter where they are in the world.
For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) First in Line to Adapt to Changing Perspectives Among Consumers and Real Estate Industry
Much has changed in the real estate industry over the past decade, with companies modifying everything from their offices and operations to the tools they use and their overall culture. Real estate companies have also changed the way they brand themselves in order to better target younger consumers looking for a more personalized buying or renting experience.
Traditionally, real estate companies have focused their branding on promoting awards and titles, such as being number one or becoming a top producer. Now, with generation X and Y part of the real estate market, things have changed. These younger markets don’t care much for titles and awards. While such new consumers are still passionate about becoming homeowners, they are looking for a wider range of services, coupled with online/mobile access to information.
Gone are the days when real estate agents could quickly and mechanically push clients through the sales funnel. Today, customers can easily switch companies, with no warning, and they expect the full package. They want someone who is going to support them, be knowledgeable, and, above all, is trustworthy from the moment they start searching for a home to the moment they finalize their transaction.
Moreover, customers are not the only ones whose needs have shifted. The requirements of real estate agents and brokers have also changed. Rather than needing an office, agents are more interested in quick availability of important resources. Advances in technology mean that they need instant access to a range of information to keep their clients satisfied, whether they are in an office or in the field.
Non-traditional offices are popping up, with agencies shifting toward smaller or, sometimes, no offices. In addition, they are now focusing solely on the consumer and using more “free” or inexpensive tools such as social media marketing applications, blogs, and search engine optimization (SEO) to reach the right audience.
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI), the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™ that offers its services across the U.S. and Canada, has been powering higher in the industry for the better part of two years thanks to its ability to adapt to the changing perspectives of both consumers and the industry as a whole.
Through the company’s website, sellers list properties, while prospective buyers easily search real-time property listings, and both buyers and sellers have quick access to a network of professional, consumer-centric agents. EXPI has made significant operational changes compared to its competitors, shifting toward a more sustainable industry with virtual and on-the-go training techniques, virtual meeting platforms, and other tools that help agents and brokers collaborate and connect with consumers without depending upon brick and mortar facilities. Based on the changes the industry has experienced over the past decade, EXPI has tailored its services to perfectly suit buyers and sellers of the 21st century.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) Receives Updated Coverage from SeeThruEquity following MediGain Acquisition
Earlier this week, SeeThruEquity, a leading independent equity research and corporate access firm, issued an update on Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP). In the report, SeeThruEquity took a closer look at MTBC’s recently completed acquisition of medical billing firm MediGain, LLC, as well as its affiliate, New Jersey-based Millennium Practice Management, LLC. The transaction was characterized as MTBC’s largest acquisition to date, as well as its fourth deal so far this year and its tenth since 2014. With a total purchase price of $7 million, SeeThruEquity expects MTBC to deploy some of its cash on hand, which was reported at $6.7 million at the end of the second quarter of this year, while also seeking to raise additional capital in order to finalize the MediGain transaction in the coming months.
To view the full SeeThruEquity report, visit http://dtn.fm/kd93J
With news of the MediGain acquisition, SeeThruEquity updated its estimates for MTBC’s financial performance as 2016 winds to a close. In a news release announcing the acquisition, MTBC indicated that it expects MediGain to add significant revenues and spur the company’s financial growth in 2017 while also contributing to its positive adjusted EBITDA. As a result, SeeThruEquity updated its 2017 revenue forecast for MTBC to $35 million and adjusted its EBITDA estimate to $2.5 million. The research firm also revised its 2016 estimates to account for a later-than-expected close to the MediGain acquisition. SeeThruEquity’s 2016 revenue and adjusted EBITDA estimates are now $24.5 million and $0.5 million, respectively, leaning on the assumption of seasonal strength in the second half of the year.
“We are very pleased to have acquired MediGain’s assets at a compelling valuation that represents a significant discount as compared to the industry norm of at least one times annualized revenues for a company of MediGain’s size,” Bill Korn, chief financial officer of MTBC, stated in a recent news release. “Moreover, we believe that our newly acquired business will contribute to our positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end Q1 2017.”
Despite adjusting its revenue and EBITDA figures, SeeThruEquity left its target PPS unchanged in its latest report. According to the update, the research firm continues to view MTBC “as an attractive company in the healthcare technology industry that offers exposure to a massive market opportunity at a compelling valuation.” As a result, SeeThruEquity has placed a price target of $3.85 for MTBC. This figure represents potential upside of about 375 percent when compared to Wednesday morning’s price of $0.81 per share.
For more information, visit www.MTBC.com
OurPet’s Company (OPCO) CFO Scott Mendes Presenting at the MicroCap Conference
Earlier today, OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) announced that Scott Mendes, the company’s chief financial officer, will be presenting alongside executives from 60 other companies at this year’s MicroCap Conference, which is set to take place October 24-25 at the Hotel Monaco in Philadelphia. Mendes is scheduled to make his presentation on October 25 at 5:00 p.m. Planned topics of discussion include OurPet’s Company’s innovative, trend-setting pet products and accessories, including the cutting-edge OurPets® Intelligent Pet Care™ (http://dtn.fm/sOK6q) product line, which leverages Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies to foster a stronger connection between pets and their owners.
For more information on the MicroCap Conference, visit http://dtn.fm/kjJH5
Mendes’s upcoming presentation comes on the heels of a similar presentation by Kathleen Homyock, OPCO’s vice president of sales and business development, at last month’s National Pet Industry Trade Show hosted by the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) Canada. In her presentation, titled ‘Technology Translated to Pet Fitness, Food and Fun’, Homyock offered an in-depth look at how intelligent technology accessories can help pet owners more effectively monitor the health and wellbeing of their pets. These benefits are at the core of the company’s Intelligent Pet Care™ product line, including the SmartScoop – Intelligent Litter Box (http://dtn.fm/7eSSn), the SmartLink Feeder – Intelligent Pet Bowl (http://dtn.fm/8rEpu) and the SmartLink Waterer – Intelligent Water Fountain (http://dtn.fm/6NllS).
“It is always interesting to speak with industry professionals about how smart technology is changing pet products,” Homyock stated in a recent news release. “I was excited to have the opportunity to speak at the show in September and I am even more excited to work for a company that values this technology and continuously works to bring intelligent health and fitness monitoring products into the marketplace.”
OurPet’s Company’s commitment to innovation doesn’t end with its Intelligent Pet Care™ product line. According to data from the American Pet Products Association, there are currently about 175 million companion dogs and cats in the United States alone, with roughly 650 million worldwide. The growth of the pet population in recent years has led to pet waste becoming a significant environmental concern, with companion dogs producing roughly 10 million tons of waste annually in the U.S. OurPet’s Company is currently focused on creating environmentally-friendly solutions to the growing problem. Through a new partnership with Paulee Cleantec, Ltd., OurPet’s Company aims to develop and commercialize innovative solutions to the environmental issues stemming from improperly managed pet waste.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com
Moxian, Inc. (MOXC) Enhancing Relationships between Users and Merchants with Consumer Behavior Data
Consumer behavior is the study of why users buy or do not buy a product or service. This data also includes the why, what, when, where, and how. Consumer behavior attempts to understand the buyer’s decision-making process. It studies individual consumer habits while taking into account things like demographics, age group, religion, and more in order to understand what people want from their shopping experience.
There are, of course, a wide range of factors that can influence customer behavior. Some of these include: the environment, social variables, cultural variables, pricing, promotions, product quality, and customer service. Also, as mentioned above, demographic factors affect customer behavior. These include age, gender, marital status, income, education, and occupation.
With consumer behavior data being at the forefront of e-commerce today, the goal is to know what consumers want before they even ask for it. Algorithms and big data are now enabling retailers to capitalize on their consumers by offering them what they want based on their shopping history and all the other variables.
With marketers now having access to all sorts of useful data, it is no wonder they are able to target prospective clients and consumers and link them to specific merchants and products. Companies such as Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) who are in the business of providing social media marketing and promotion platforms to retailers allow merchants to run highly targeted and successful advertising campaigns.
MOXC enables consumers and merchants to better interact thanks to consumer behavior data compiled in the Moxian database. With this information, merchants are able to identify consumer patterns, identify individual customers, uncover opportunities to deliver integrated and targeted marketing campaigns, and optimize marketing efforts for the future. Moxian works on the basis that consumers and businesses should be able to connect and interact more easily with one another to achieve the concept of “online lifestyle, offline fun.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Adds Brent Gove Team to Growing Brokerage Division
Earlier today, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI), through subsidiary eXp Realty, announced the addition of the Brent Gove team, a leading real estate team operating in California, to its family of agents and brokers. Gove brings nearly two decades of industry experience to the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™. During this time, he earned a spot as one of the 11 most successful agents in the global RE/MAX (NYSE: RMAX) network, completing 429 transactions accounting for about $169 million in sales volume in 2005 alone. Gove then moved to Keller Williams Realty, where he served as CEO and team leader of the company’s most profitable market center in 2010. Despite only switching brokerages once throughout his extensive career in the real estate industry, Gove pointed to the tremendous value proposition offered by eXp Realty as a key driver in his decision to make the jump to EXPI.
“Everyone on my team is excited about the opportunity to become an owner of eXp World Holdings and to be part of a community of agent-owners working closely together with systems and infrastructure that will allow us to continue to grow both as a team and as professionals — building relationships and organizations that span across borders,” Gove stated in this morning’s news release. “eXp Realty represents the best opportunity for us as a team and as individuals.”
The addition of the Brent Gove team to the eXp Realty family continues to build on what has been an eventful October for the company. Just last Friday, EXPI announced the addition of Miguel Herrera, the top international luxury agent in South Texas, to eXp Realty. In the news release, Herrera hailed the eXp Realty business model as “the strongest in the industry.” According to an update issued last week, the company’s real estate brokerage division currently boasts a family of agents and brokers that includes more than 1,900 members across 41 high-demand markets in the United States and Canada. This marks an increase of about 120 percent from the beginning of 2016.
“We are excited, not only by our growth, but by the quality of agents that are being attracted to eXp Realty,” Jason Gesing, chief executive officer of eXp Realty, stated in a recent news release. “Increasingly throughout the year, eXp Realty has become the brokerage of choice for top producing agents and teams, and for brokerage owners looking to increase profits, achieve scalable growth, and deliver the opportunity of ownership to the agents in their organization.”
These growth milestones come on the heels of EXPI’s third annual real estate convention, which took place from October 5-7 in San Antonio, Texas. The company reports that nearly one-third of the agents and brokers licensed with eXp Realty at the time of the event were in attendance, representing more than a threefold increase from the previous year’s convention and marking the first time that the company has sold out one of its major annual events. Russ Cafano, president of EXPI, summed up eXp Realty’s recent performance in a news release.
“[W]e have uncovered a total value proposition which resonates with real estate professionals but to date, no firm had figured out how to implement,” he stated. “Our growth numbers clearly indicate that we have hit a sweet spot in the industry.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (MTBC) Offers Shareholders Additional Details Regarding MediGain Acquisition
Before the opening bell, Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) issued a news release giving prospective shareholders additional insight into the company’s acquisition of MediGain, LLC. In the update, Mahmud Haq, chief executive officer of MTBC, highlighted the importance of the acquisition to the company’s growth strategy.
“As announced last week, we are very pleased to have acquired MediGain, which marks an important corporate milestone as our largest acquisition to date, and demonstrates the highly strategic nature of our successful, acquisition-based growth strategy,” Haq stated.
In the news release announcing the acquisition, MTBC CFO Bill Korn stated that the company completed the acquisition “at a compelling valuation that represents a significant discount as compared to the industry norm.” This morning’s update highlighted that MTBC, through wholly-owned subsidiary MTBC Acquisition, Corp., acquired all of the assets of MediGain and its affiliate for a purchase price of $7 million, which included $2 million paid at closing with a remaining balance of $5 million due at the beginning of next year.
Korn went on to predict that the addition of MediGain and affiliate Millennium Practice Management, LLC to MTBC will “contribute to our positive Adjusted EBITDA by the end Q1 2017.” This assessment was further validated with this morning’s update. In total, the accounts in good standing that were acquired as part of the MediGain acquisition are expected to contribute more than $10 million of annual revenues to fuel MTBC’s financial growth in 2017. With this performance, MTBC management expects incremental profits from the MediGain acquisition to greatly exceed its cost of capital, putting it on course to be accretive to the company’s shareholders as early as 2017.
To learn more about the MediGain acquisition, view MTBC’s Form 8-K at http://dtn.fm/4dGUh
“There are significant synergies between the two companies,” Gary Smith, a provider of leadership to MediGain Practice Management, explained in this morning’s update. “Our global team of professionals and proprietary technology will allow us to continue improving operating margins while delivering world-class service to our clients.”
On October 3, MTBC originally announced the closing of the MediGain acquisition, marking its largest acquisition to date. Included in the transaction, MTBC acquired substantially all of MediGain’s assets, including existing customer accounts, intellectual property, and offshore operations in both India and Sri Lanka. In addition to strengthening its total number of accounts, the acquisition effectively bolstered the MTBC team with talented members in North America while greatly expanding its Asia-based operations into new markets with “talented, cost-effective workforces.”
For more information, visit www.MTBC.com
eXp World Holdings, Inc. (EXPI) Welcomes Top-Ranked Real Estate Agent to eXp Realty, Shares Surge
Shares of eXp World Holdings (OTCQB: EXPI) climbed 12% in Friday’s mid-day trade after the company announced the addition of Miguel Herrera, the top-rated international luxury agent in South Texas, as the newest member of its eXp Realty, LLC real estate brokerage division in San Antonio, Texas. The company’s stock may also be moving on momentum from yesterday’s news that it has grown its family of agents and brokers to more than 1,900 across 41 markets in North America, up from 864 agents at the start of the year.
With nearly 30 years of previous business experience behind him, Herrera launched his real estate career in 2010 and quickly became a recognized leader within and among the luxury agent community.
In 2015 Herrera achieved production of more than $15 million, followed by more than $24 million in 2016. He was aptly named the #1 International Luxury Agent in San Antonio, Hill Country and South Texas by Luxury League, and has been a member of the Platinum Top 50 San Antonio group of agents from 2012-2016.
Herrera was first introduced at a press availability last week when eXp Realty – the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage® – held its third annual conference in San Antonio.
“The eXp Realty business model is the strongest in the industry,” Herrera stated in today’s news release. “I am excited about the opportunity for true ownership, not just for me, but for my loyal and talented team members, and I am excited to teach and coach eXp agents from all markets who aspire to work in luxury on the eXpWorld campus. This is the future of real estate and I want to be a part of it.”
eXp Realty CEO Jason Gesing welcomed Herrera to the team and commented that his “desire to share what he knows is perfectly aligned with our ownership culture and we look forward to his leadership and contributions for many years to come.”
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com
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