Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE: ANVS)

Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE: ANVS) is a late-stage clinical drug platform company pioneering transformative therapies for neurodegenerative disorders such as AD and PD. Annovis Bio stands out by developing a drug that targets multiple neurotoxic proteins simultaneously, aiming to restore axonal and synaptic activity. This innovative approach addresses both the cognitive decline in AD and the motor dysfunction in PD, making Annovis a unique player in the neurodegeneration space.

Lead Drug Candidate: Buntanetap

Buntanetap (formerly known as Posiphen) targets neurodegeneration by inhibiting the formation of multiple neurotoxic proteins, including amyloid beta, tau, alpha-synuclein, and TDP43. This multifaceted inhibition improves synaptic transmission and axonal transport, reduces neuroinflammation, and protects nerve cells from dying. Unlike monoclonal antibody therapies, buntanetap is an orally available small molecule capable of inhibiting multiple neurotoxic proteins at once, positioning it as a comprehensive solution for neurodegenerative diseases.

In a recent Phase II/III Alzheimer's study, buntanetap demonstrated statistically significant efficacy. Patients with early AD showed a significantly higher rate of improvement in ADAS-Cog 11 scores across all treatment doses compared to placebo, with a 3.3 point improvement compared to 0.3 for placebo (p < 0.01). Plasma Tau protein levels also reduced, consistent with previous Phase II biomarker data, further validating buntanetap's mechanism of action.

Similarly, in the recently completed Phase III study of buntanetap in patients with early PD, buntanetap significantly improved disease-related daily non-motor and motor functions in Parkinson's patients who had a diagnosis over 3 years as well as improved cognition in all PD patients. It further underscores buntanetap's potential as a transformative therapy.

Market Opportunity

The aging population presents a significant market opportunity, with nearly 7 million Americans currently suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a figure projected to rise to almost 13 million by 2050 (Alzheimer's Association) (Republican Policy Committee). Additionally, approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. have Parkinson's Disease (SingleCare).

The economic burden of Alzheimer's is immense, with care costs expected to reach $360 billion in 2024 and escalate to nearly $1 trillion annually by 2050. The need for effective, comprehensive treatments like Buntanetap is more critical than ever.

Company Highlights

• Innovative Therapeutic Approach: Annovis Bio uniquely targets multiple neurotoxic proteins, aiming to restore nerve cell health and improve cognitive and motor function in AD and PD patients.
• Robust Clinical Data: Phase II/III studies show significant improvements in cognitive function and biomarker levels in early AD patients.
• Groundbreaking Clinical Insights: Recent Phase III data in Parkinson's Disease patients demonstrates significant improvements in motor and cognitive functions.
• Upcoming Phase III Trials: Plans are underway for an 18-month Phase III trial focusing on biomarker-positive early AD patients, designed to further validate buntanetap's disease-modifying potential.
• Capital Efficiency: Annovis Bio is capital-efficient, with zero debt and multiple global patents extending into the 2040s.

Management Team

• Maria L. Maccecchini, Ph.D. – Founder, President, CEO, and Executive Board Member, founded Annovis Bio in May 2008 with the mission to develop better therapeutics for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases. She has previously been a partner and director at two angel groups, Robin Hood Ventures and MidAtlantic Angel Group, and founded Symphony Pharmaceuticals/Annovis, which was sold to Transgenomic in 2001. Her extensive experience includes roles such as General Manager at Bachem Bioscience and Head of Molecular Biology at Mallinckrodt. Dr. Maccecchini holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Biocenter of Basel, with postdoctoral work at Caltech and the Roche Institute of Immunology.
• Cheng Fang, Ph.D. – Senior VP of Research and Development, is an accomplished neuroscientist with two decades of experience in neurodegenerative diseases. She has a successful track record of scientific publications and contributions, coupled with extensive pre-clinical and clinical development experience. Dr. Fang has been instrumental in advancing the understanding of neurodegenerative disease mechanisms and developing therapeutic strategies.
• Michael Christie, Ph.D. – VP of Process Chemistry, has over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on process chemistry R&D, pilot plant production, and GMP operations. He has held senior management positions at companies such as SmithKline, Rhodia, Teva, and Cephalon, and founded a contract process R&D service company, which was later acquired by ChiRex. Dr. Christie is co-author or co-inventor on several publications and patents. He earned his BS in chemistry from the University of Michigan and his doctorate from MIT.
• Melissa Gaines – Senior VP of Clinical Operations, is an accomplished clinical research professional with over 20 years of experience across academia, contract research organizations, and pharmaceutical companies. She has proven abilities in monitoring and managing Phase I to IV clinical trials, specializing in CNS disorders and extending to a broad range of therapeutic indications. Her CNS experience spans from small Phase I and II studies to large global Phase III trials in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, sleep disorders, and various psychiatric diseases in both adult and pediatric populations. In her current role, she oversees and supports all clinical project activities, driving operational success and ensuring high-quality clinical outcomes.

Arizona Metals Corp. (TSX: AMC) (OTCQX: AZMCF)

Arizona Metals Corp. (TSX: AMC) (OTCQX: AZMCF) is a mineral exploration company engaged in advancing precious and base metal deposits in the state of Arizona. Its flagship copper-gold-zinc-silver asset is the Kay Mine Project, located in Yavapai County. The company also owns Sugarloaf Peak gold project in La Paz County.

The company in October 2022 received permit approval from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for two new drill pads, located approximately 1,200 meters west of the Kay Mine Deposit. These new pads will allow for testing of the company's Western Target, while also allowing for drilling of additional coincident anomalies located between the Central and Western Targets. Construction of the drill road for the Central Target (located 500 meters west of the Kay Mine Deposit) is currently underway, with drilling expected to begin in November 2022. Road construction for the Western Target will begin upon confirmation of BLM acceptance of the company's posted bond, with drilling expected to commence in Q1 2023.

The company is fully funded, with $60 million in cash as of June 30, 2022, to complete the remaining 18,000 meters planned for the Phase 2 program at Kay, as well as an additional 76,000 meters in the Phase 3 program (budgeted at $27 million), which will be used to test the numerous parallel targets heading west of the Kay Deposit, as well as the northern and southern extensions of the Kay Deposit.

Arizona Metals Corp. is based in Toronto, Canada.

Projects

Arizona Metals Corp. owns 100% of the Kay Mine property in Yavapai County, which is located on a combination of patented and BLM claims totaling 1,300 acres that are not subject to any royalties. An historic estimate by Exxon Minerals in 1982 reported a "proven and probable reserve of 6.4 million short tons at a grade of 2.2% copper, 2.8 grams per ton gold, 3.03% zinc, and 55 grams per ton silver." The historic estimate has not been verified as a current mineral resource. None of the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to prepare the historic estimate were reported by Exxon, and no resource categories were used. Significant data compilation, re-drilling and data verification may be required by a "qualified person" (as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) before the historic estimate can be verified and upgraded to be a current mineral resource. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify it as a current mineral resource, and Arizona Metals is not treating the historic estimate as a current mineral resource.

The company also owns 100% of the Sugarloaf Peak Property in La Paz County, which is located on 4,400 acres of BLM claims. Sugarloaf is a heap-leach, open-pit target and has a historic estimate of "100 million tons containing 1.5 million ounces (of) gold" at a grade of 0.5 grams per ton. The historic estimate at the Sugarloaf Peak Property was reported by Westworld Resources in 1983. The historic estimate has not been verified as a current mineral resource. None of the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to prepare the historic estimate were reported, and no resource categories were used. Significant data compilation, re-drilling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the historic estimate can be verified and upgraded to a current mineral resource. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify it as a current mineral resource, and Arizona Metals is not treating the historic estimate as a current mineral resource.

Market Opportunity

The World Gold Council, an industry association representing gold producers with hundreds of mining operations in nearly 50 countries around the world, reports that global demand for gold during the first six months of 2022 was 2,189 tons, a 12% increase in demand over the same period in 2021. Demand came primarily from gold bar and coin investors, jewelry consumers, central bank purchases to bolster currency reserves and technology manufacturing.

The average price per ounce for the period was $1,871, marking a 1% year-over-year increase. The council reported gold mine production for the period was up 3% over 2021 at 1,764 tons. For the remainder of 2022 and into 2023, the council projects flat gold demand with possible slight increases in gold mine production. The council notes that unpredictable geopolitical factors, the Ukraine war for example, and likelihood of global economic slowdown could have significant near-term impact on gold demand and prices.

Management Team

Marc Pais is President and CEO of Arizona Metals. He previously founded and served as President of Telegraph Gold (listed as Castle Mountain Mining), which was acquired by Equinox Gold, a TSX-listed mining company. He has seven years of experience as a Mining Analyst, with a focus on precious metals development companies. He holds a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering (Mineral Exploration) from Queen's University in Canada.

David Smith is the Vice President, Exploration of Arizona Metals. He has 30 years of global precious metals exploration experience, including codiscovery of the Solidaridad/La Sabila deposit in Mexico with deposits estimated at 1 million ounces of gold. His core areas of expertise are managing mineral projects from acquisition to exploration, resource modeling and mineral project development. He holds an M.Sc. from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Pinchot University/Presidio Graduate School.

Paul Reid is the Executive Chairman of Arizona Metals. He previously founded and served as Executive Chairman of Telegraph Gold (listed as Castle Mountain Mining), which was acquired by Equinox Gold, a TSX-listed mining company. Paul has extensive experience as an Investment Banking professional, involved in raising capital, go-public transactions, and advisory services.

Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN)

Cepton Inc. (NASDAQ: CPTN) is a developer of lidar-based solutions that help enable ADAS, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications. The company's products are currently used in a variety of use cases including monitoring airport terminals, enhancing efficiency at highway tolling stations / railways, and securing high value infrastructure. In 2021, Cepton announced it was awarded the largest known ADAS lidar series production award^[1] to support General Motors' (NYSE: GM) Ultra Cruise program and expects to have its lidars in select GM models starting next year. In addition, Cepton is currently engaged with all other top 10 global automotive OEMs.

Cepton was established in 2016 by Co-Founders Dr. Jun Pei and Dr. Mark McCord and has 151 employees. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, with a newly opened Center of Excellence in Metro Detroit, Michigan, and an international presence spanning North America, Germany, Japan, India, and China.

Patented Micro Motion Technology (MMT®)

Cepton was built from the ground up to address key lidar industry challenges for mass market adoption. The company's portfolio of proprietary technology is uniquely aimed at facilitating this industry growth through a combination of performance, reliability, affordability, and design integration.

Key among its innovations is MMT®, a mirrorless, frictionless, rotation-free 3D imaging platform designed specifically for lidars. Its benefits for OEMs and system integrators include:

• Reliability – The durable design uses common, easily attainable materials
• Versatility – The platform is capable of achieving near- to ultra-long range with a wide field of view
• Efficiency – MMT® features a compact form factor, low power usage, and inexpensive components
• Scalability – Its simple design means that scaling-up to high manufacturing volumes is easily attainable

Due to their compact form factor, Cepton lidars are embeddable and ideally suited for advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) integration, whether behind windshield, in headlamp, or in fascia.

Strong Partnership with Koito, a Leading Tier 1 Supplier

Koito Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world's premier Tier 1 auto lighting supplier, originally started an evaluation of Cepton's MMT® based lidars in 2018. In 2020, Koito made a $50 million Series C investment in Cepton aimed at accelerating the company's development and enabling Koito's industrialization of high-performance and high reliability lidar sensors for ADAS and autonomous vehicle (AV) applications.

Through this collaboration, Cepton and Koito were able to secure the largest ADAS lidar series production award^[1] with General Motors as a sole source in the automotive space. The award covers GM vehicles for the initial period of 2023-2027.

The two companies deepened their relationship in August 2021 when Koito committed to invest an additional $50 million in Cepton's business through a Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) transaction in support of Cepton's business combination with Growth Capital Acquisition Corp.

On June 27, 2022, Cepton and Koito jointly announced their intention to expand their existing collaboration efforts to include select future Cepton lidar products and go-to-market activities.

Advancing ADAS in Collaboration with GM

On July 13, 2021, Cepton announced that it had secured an ADAS lidar series production award from a leading, Detroit-based global automotive OEM – the biggest lidar production award by any OEM to any lidar company^[1]. It was later clarified that the OEM was General Motors, and Cepton's lidar is part of GM's Ultra Cruise program.

GM is "expected to deploy Cepton lidars in its next generation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) across multiple vehicle classes and models – not just luxury cars." As such, the agreement marks the potential for "an industry-first, mass-market adoption of lidar technology for automotive ADAS, with an anticipated deployment in consumer vehicles starting in 2023."

On July 28, 2021, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) distributed an article on Medium noting, "Ford has been engaged with Cepton almost since their inception in 2016, both for R&D collaboration and small-scale deployments. Cepton lidar are deployed in some of [Ford's] smart city projects. Based on Ford's guidance, Cepton delivered a custom version of their lidar to enable R&D on advanced ADAS features."

Increasing Applications Across Smart Infrastructure

In addition to its work with leading automotive OEMs, Cepton has entered into partnerships around the world leveraging its lidar-based solutions to improve infrastructure efficiency and safety.

Some recent examples include:

• Traffic Challenges in Cape Town, South Africa – Cepton and Fibre Based Integrations, an established fiber optics systems house, are working together to develop lidar-based vehicle detection solutions to enable citywide smart transportation infrastructure
• Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) Solutions in West Midlands, United Kingdom – Cepton and Vortex IoT, a UK-based IoT solutions company, teamed up to turn UK buses into real-time road inspection tools
• Security & Safety Systems in the U.S. – Cepton partnered with Barrier1 Systems, a top perimeter security solutions provider, to enable the next-generation of early-warning intrusion detection and onsite safety applications
• Smart Railway in Europe – Cepton teamed with Lithuania-based system integrator Belam to improve road user and rail passenger safety by deploying lidar-enabled obstacle detection at railway level crossings
• Real-Time Crowd Analytics at Orlando International Airport – The Indoor Lab, a leading provider of lidar-based real-time foot traffic monitoring, implemented Cepton's award-winning Helius™ Smart Lidar System in a crowd analytics solution that helped Orlando International Airport create one of the world's safest terminals during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Free-flow E-tolling – Cepton partnered with Red Fox ID to deploy lidar as part of their free-flow e-tolling solutions. Deployments include a major highway turnpike crossing multiple states in the United States, and various sites across North America, EMEA, and Asia.

Market Outlook

The global lidar market is forecast to experience considerable growth over the coming years, driven by increased development and adoption in automobile safety applications, environmental mapping, and 3D-modeling. In 2020, ground-based lidar accounted for the lion's share of the overall lidar market, and this trend is expected to continue as the automotive sector continues to rapidly advance adoption across the full spectrum of vehicle classes.

The lidar automotive end market also has high barriers to entry, because it can take substantial time, spanning multiple years, for automotive OEMs to vet and award a production win to a lidar company. It is a commonly held view that the fragmented universe of lidar companies will inevitably consolidate into a handful of companies.

Cepton is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this market growth in the years to come given its head start and established partnerships with leading global OEMs.

Opening a New Center of Excellence in Metro Detroit

On June 16, 2022, Cepton announced the opening of its new corporate office in Metro Detroit (Troy, Michigan). As detailed in the release, the new office will serve as the company's automotive hub as it continues to expand active engagements and initiatives with OEMs.

"I'm incredibly proud that our Silicon Valley company, Cepton, has earned Detroit's trust," Dr. Jun Pei, Co-Founder and CEO of Cepton, stated in announcing the new office. "As we continue to expand our engagements with all of the top ten global OEMs, locating our experienced team in Detroit will serve us well."

Cepton's new office will house members of its senior leadership team, as well as team members engaged in product development, program management, business development, application engineering, sales, and corporate marketing.

Experienced Management Team

Cepton's founder-led team is made up of lidar industry pioneers with decades of collective experience across advanced lidar and imaging technologies.

Jun Pei, Ph.D., is the company's CEO and Co-Founder. He is a technology specialist with a focus in optics and electronics. Prior to founding Cepton, Dr. Pei founded AEP Technology, a firm focused on developing advanced 3D optical instruments. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Mark McCord, Ph.D., is Cepton's CTO and Co-Founder. Prior to founding Cepton, he led advanced development at KLA-Tencor. Dr. McCord also formerly served as an associate professor at Stanford University, where he earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Hull Xu is the company's CFO. He is a seasoned investment banker and electrical engineer who has previously held leadership positions with RBC Capital Markets, Barclays Investment Bank and GE Capital. Mr. Xu has an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

[1] Largest known ADAS lidar series production award based on number of vehicle models awarded

Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN)

Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) is a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving mitochondrial health and protecting neuronal function to treat neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Its lead drug candidate is CNM-Au8®, an oral suspension developed to restore neuronal health and function by increasing energy production and utilization by driving critical cellular energy producing reactions that enable neuroprotection and remyelination to increase neuronal and glial resilience to disease-relevant stressors. CNM-Au8 is being studied in various clinical trials, including the Harvard/MGH Healey ALS Platform clinical trial for patients with ALS; RESCUE-ALS, a completed proof-of-concept clinical trial in patients with early symptomatic ALS; the REPAIR trials, completed target engagement clinical trials showing brain energy metabolite change with CNM-Au8; and a completed MS clinical trial for the treatment of visual pathway deficits in chronic optic neuropathy for remyelination in stable relapsing MS. The company also has a nanotherapeutic platform of drug discovery.

CNM-Au8

CNM-Au8, Clene's lead asset, is a highly concentrated aqueous suspension of catalytically active, clean-surfaced, faceted gold nanocrystals. Multiple pathogenic insults contribute to neuronal death. Mitochondrial dysfunction and NAD+ decline is a common final pathway in neurodegeneration, with NAD+ as a critical determinant of cell survival and function. CNM-Au8's catalytic mechanisms target the energetic deficits, oxidative stress and accumulation of misfolded proteins that are common to many neurodegenerative diseases.

The unique catalytic mechanism of action of CNM-Au8 is hypothesized to act as a neuroprotective and remyelinating therapy in neurodegenerative disease states in order to: (1) drive, support and maintain beneficial metabolic and energetic cellular reactions within diseased, stressed and/or damaged cells, (2) directly catalyze the reduction of harmful, reactive oxygen species ("ROS") and (3) promote protein homeostasis via activation of the heat shock factor-1 pathway, recognized to dampen the cytotoxicity caused by misfolded and denatured proteins, which are known to occur ubiquitously in neurodegenerative diseases.

CNM-Au8 is used in combination with other agents, has no known drug-drug interactions, and is designed to improve function and survival. The clinical effects of both function and survival were seen in its clinical ALS trials, as earlier announced.

More than 500 estimated years of collective exposure across ALS, MS, and Parkinson's disease participants in CNM-Au8 clinical trials and Expanded Access Protocol (compassionate use) programs have been recorded without any observed safety signals.

CNM-Au8 is a federally registered trademark of Clene Inc. Clene, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with R&D and manufacturing operations in Maryland, began in 2013.

Market Opportunity

ALS is the most prevalent adult-onset progressive motor neuron disease, affecting approximately 30,000 people in the U.S. and an estimated 500,000 people worldwide, with a life expectancy of typically three to five years. Clene estimates that global ALS treatment sales will be greater than $1 billion annually within the coming few years. Additional treatments affecting daily function and survival remain the market need.

Additionally, there are more than 2 million MS patients globally, and Clene estimates the market size to be worth more than $23 billion annually. While the MS community has been successful at limiting relapses, non-relapsing MS patients continue to clinically deteriorate even while receiving effective immunomodulatory disease-modifying therapies ("DMTs"). A critical unmet medical need remains for therapeutic interventions that protect neuronal function and myelin health independent of immunomodulation to address progression independent of relapse activity.

Management Team

Robert Etherington is President, Director and CEO of Clene. He has more than 30 years of sales, marketing and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Clene, he worked at Actelion Pharmaceuticals, the largest biopharma company in the European Union prior to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2017, where he led that company's U.S. commercial operations. He began his pharmaceutical sales and marketing career at Parke-Davis, a division of Pfizer, where he rose to the position of Team Leader overseeing the drug Lipitor.

Mark Mortenson is Chief Science Officer at Clene. He is co-inventor of the technology platform developed to produce the company's therapeutics. He is the inventor or co-inventor on 32 other U.S. patents and hundreds of corresponding international patents. He is a former chief patent counsel responsible for 5,500 U.S. and international patents and patent applications. He holds bachelor's degrees in physics and ceramic engineering from Alfred University, a master's degree in materials science from Penn State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Benjamin Greenberg, M.D., MHS, FAAN, is Head of Medical at Clene. He is an internationally recognized expert in disorders of the central nervous system. He is currently professor of neurology and Vice Chair of Clinical and Translational Research in the department of Neurology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He holds a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins, a master's degree in molecular microbiology and immunology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and graduated from Baylor College of Medicine. He served residency in neurology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Morgan R. Brown is CFO at Clene. He has more than 30 years of finance and accounting experience, with 23 years at biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. He has served in similar roles at Lipocine Inc., Innovus Pharmaceuticals, World Heart Corp., Lifetree Clinical Research and NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. He previously worked at accounting firm KPMG. He is a CPA with a bachelor's degree in accounting from Utah State University and an M.S. in business administration from the University of Utah.

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS)

D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) is a leader in quantum computing systems, software and services focused on delivering value to our customers via practical quantum applications for problems such as logistics, artificial intelligence, materials sciences, drug discovery, scheduling, fault detection and financial modeling. As the only provider building both annealing and gate-model quantum computers, the company is unlocking commercial use cases in optimization today, while building the technologies that will enable new solutions tomorrow. Founded in 1999, D-Wave is the world's first commercial supplier of quantum computing solutions.

D-Wave is a pioneer in quantum computing, with a history of delivering the world's first commercial quantum computer; the first real-time quantum cloud service; countless hardware and software product and research milestones; and the planned first cross-platform quantum solution which will deliver both annealing and gate-model quantum computers to customers via an integrated platform. Its current commercial product offerings include: Advantage™ (fifth generation quantum computer), Leap™ (quantum cloud service), Launch™ (quantum computing onboarding service), Ocean™ (full suite of open-source programming tools) and Quantum QuickStart™ (quantum programming training).

D-Wave's relentless pursuit of practical quantum computing has resulted in the technology being used today by some of the world's most advanced enterprises – our customers include more than two dozen of the Forbes Global 2000 companies.

D-Wave's commercial customers include blue-chip industry leaders like Volkswagen, Mastercard, Deloitte, ArcelorMittal, Siemens Healthineers, Unisys, Accenture, BBVA, NEC Corporation, Pattison Food Group Ltd., DENSO and Lockheed Martin. The company owns one of the largest quantum computer intellectual property portfolios in the industry including more than 210 issued U.S. patents. In addition, it has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals.

Advantage™ Quantum Computer

With the Advantage™ Quantum Computer, D-Wave has incorporated two decades of experience and over 10 years of customer feedback to create the first and only quantum computer designed for business applications. The platform features a new processor architecture with over 5,000 qubits and 15-way qubit connectivity. This is 2.5x more connections and more than double the number of qubits than the company's previous generation quantum computer.

D-Wave's quantum computers, first located at the company's facilities in British Columbia, Canada, have been available to North American users through its Leap™ quantum cloud service since 2018. Over the last two years, D-Wave has since introduced new Advantage systems located in Julich, Germany and Marina Del Rey, California, which marked the availability of the first Advantage quantum computer physically located in the United States. This system is part of the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) hosted at USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a unit of the University of Southern California's prestigious Viterbi School of Engineering.

Leap Quantum Cloud Service

D-Wave's customers interface with the Advantage quantum computer through the Leap™ quantum cloud service. Leap delivers immediate, real-time access to the company's Advantage quantum computer and quantum hybrid solver service, all with enterprise-class performance and scalability.

Leap allows developers proficient in Python to get started building and running quantum applications. Through a seamless and secure cloud-based connection, users can easily start solving complex problems of up to 1 million variables and 100,000 constraints.

Using Leap, D-Wave customers have developed quantum hybrid applications for use cases in manufacturing, logistics, financial services, life sciences, materials science, retail and transportation. By eliminating the need to wait hours, days, or even weeks, to get good answers to a broad array of problems, D-Wave is helping businesses accelerate solutions to their complex computing problems.

The Leap quantum cloud service is available directly from D-Wave and also in AWS Marketplace.

D-Wave Launch

D-Wave Launch™ is the company's onboarding platform aimed at helping businesses easily start their quantum journey. Through this program, D-Wave's team of experts and partners aid enterprises in identifying best use cases for quantum and work with them to develop a proof of concept and a production pilot.

From there, the team coordinates with customers to get their hybrid quantum applications up and running, providing ongoing Leap quantum cloud access to ensure the application is operating smoothly and delivering real business value.

Target Verticals

While the potential applications for quantum computing are essentially limitless, D-Wave has identified a number of industry verticals as key areas of focus for its quantum architecture, providing case studies for each. These include:

• Manufacturing – D-Wave worked with Volkswagen to identify a commercial optimization application, the binary paint shop problem, which was run on D-Wave's hybrid solver service. The solver outperformed four purely classical methods on problem sizes at commercial scale (N=3,000).
• Life Sciences – Menten AI makes use of D-Wave quantum computing to assist in the design of novel therapeutic peptides—short strings of amino acids that can act as potent drugs. With the rise of COVID-19, D-Wave's Advantage system made it possible to identify molecules that might be especially well-suited for binding and inhibiting the related spike protein, producing several promising peptide designs.
• Finance – Multiverse Computing, a leader in developing quantum solutions for the financial sector, leveraged D-Wave's hybrid solver service in a collaboration with BBVA, one of the world's largest financial institutions. Multiverse helped BBVA with financial portfolio optimization, using D-Wave's quantum technology to identify a portfolio with 15% risk that yielded a 60% return on investment.
• Logistics – SavantX is using the D-Wave Advantage system to optimize operations at the Port of Los Angeles. By using our quantum technology, SavantX improved cargo handling efficiency at Pier 300 with rubber tyred gantry (RTG) cranes by 60%, and the turnaround time for the trucks picking up those cargo containers by 12%

Market Opportunity

The quantum computing total addressable market is projected by the Boston Consulting Group to grow to between $450 billion and $850 billion over the next 15 to 30 years. For quantum hardware, software and service providers, the near-term TAM (3 to 5 years) is expected to be $400 million to $1 billion, growing to $90 billion to $170 billion over the long-term (15-30 years). Driving factors behind this growth include rising investments in quantum computing tech by governments and an increasing number of commercial use-cases.

Forward-thinking organizations see quantum as an opportunity to move ahead of the competition. From finding efficiencies and reducing waste to decreasing time to solution and solving problems abandoned due to complexity, the business value is real. According to data from Hyperion Research, 80% quantum early adopters are planning to increase their commitment to quantum in the next two to three years, and one-third are planning to invest at least $15M USD in quantum efforts.

D-Wave is strategically positioned – in an industry with significant barriers to entry – as evidenced by a decades-long track record serving a roster of blue-chip customers. The company is singularly focused on helping its customers achieve clear value by leveraging quantum computing in practical business applications. As one of very few quantum companies with a full stack of systems, software, developer tools and services, D-Wave is working to enable enterprises, governments, developers and researchers to access the power of quantum computing, thereby providing an intriguing opportunity for prospective investors.

Prior to listing on the NYSE in August 2022, D-Wave raised over $300 million as a private company with significant investors including PSP Investments, Goldman Sachs, BDC Capital, NEC Corporation, Aegis Group Partners and In-Q-Tel.

Leadership Team

Dr. Alan Baratz has served as the CEO of D-Wave since 2020. Previously, as Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Product Officer, he drove the development, delivery, and support of all of D-Wave's products, technologies, and applications. Dr. Baratz has over 25 years of experience in product development and bringing new products to market at leading technology companies and software startups. As the first president of JavaSoft at Sun Microsystems, he oversaw the growth and adoption of the Java platform from its infancy to a robust platform supporting mission-critical applications in nearly 80 percent of Fortune 1000 companies. He has also held executive positions at Symphony, Avaya, Cisco, and IBM. Dr. Baratz holds a doctorate in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John Markovich has served as D-Wave's CFO since 2021. He brings over 25 years of experience serving as CFO for rapidly growing private and public technology companies across all stages of development. Mr. Markovich has directed the finance, accounting, tax, treasury, M&A, legal, operations, customer service, IR, HR, and IT functions for companies ranging from privately held pre-revenue startups to an NYSE-listed Fortune 500 multi-national company with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue. During his career, he has negotiated and closed over 150 debt, equity, M&A, and joint venture transactions exceeding $2.5 billion in value. Mr. Markovich holds a BS in Business from Miami University and an MBA from the Michigan State Graduate School of Business.

FingerMotion Inc. (NASDAQ: FNGR)

FingerMotion Inc. (NASDAQ: FNGR) is an evolving technological company with core competencies in mobile payment and recharge platform solutions in China. FingerMotion is in the process of developing additional value-added technologies to market to users.

Founded in 2016, FingerMotion's goal is to serve over a billion users in the Chinese market and expand its model to other regional markets. The company has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York City.

Current Offerings

FingerMotion is analyzing and transforming mobile data to improve the lifestyle of the public through technology and innovation. The company's current offerings include:

• Telecommunications Products and Services – FingerMotion's proprietary universal exchange platform, 'PigeonHole Integration System (PIS)', offers seamless integration between telecom operators and online stores. The service platform's offerings include top up and recharge, data plan, mobile phone, loyalty points redemption and subscription plans. The platform offers reliable and secure transactions, real-time reconciliation, simple integration for partners and efficient settlements.
• SMS and MMS Services – The integrated platform is registered as FingerMotion's IP in China and provides a robust back-end control panel for corporate partners to manage their own messaging settings. FingerMotion's clients range from insurance to financial industries, ecommerce firms, airlines and more. The platform offers competitive pricing for partners and provides quick and efficient review to meet timely marketing initiatives.
• Big Data Insights – FingerMotion brings Big Data-enabled insurance solutions through its Big Data Insights arm, Sapientus. The company's strategic partnerships with the largest Chinese telecommunications giants allow access to uncover behavior insights through geolocation and mobile data usage. Its Big Data offerings include risk scoring, precise marketing, simplified underwriting and customized products.
• Rich Communication Services (RCS) – FingerMotion's RCS platform will be a proprietary business messaging solution that enables businesses and brands to communicate their services to customers via 5G infrastructure. The company expects its RCS platform to offer a better user experience, more efficiency and cost-effectiveness when compared to other solutions.

Telecommunications and Insurtech Markets

The global telecommunications market was valued at $1.74 trillion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% from 2020 to 2027. The steady increase is expected to be driven by the adoption of 5G and the increased popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

The Chinese telecom market was valued at $254.1 billion in 2017 and is also constantly expanding. The current Chinese telecom market is dominated by three mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, which together are responsible for around 1.6 billion active subscribers (https://ibn.fm/zfwy9).

In addition, the insurtech (insurance technology) market was valued at $2.72 billion globally in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 48.8% from 2021 to 2028. The large increase is attributed to the rising use of technology solutions for everyday activities like acquiring insurance coverage (https://ibn.fm/TGo7D).

Through its proprietary platforms and technologies, FingerMotion is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the telecom and insurtech markets' growth and opportunities.

Management Team

Martin J. Shen is the Chief Executive Officer of FingerMotion Inc. He has over 15 years of experience in senior management roles within entrepreneurial startups and large multinational corporations. He has acquired a wide range of corporate management, financial oversight and operation administration expertise through these roles. In his most recent role, he founded Imperial Distributors (formerly known as AP Martin Pharmaceutical Supplies Ltd.), establishing the company as the preferred choice for distributional support to regional pharmacies throughout Western Canada. Before founding Imperial, Mr. Shen served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Wales and Son Industrial (formerly Weir Minerals), a firm specializing in global delivery and support for mining slurry equipment. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Vancouver, with work tours in the tax department in Singapore and the tax audit and advisory group in Hong Kong. Mr. Shen is a U.S. Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of British Columbia.

Lee Yew Hon is the company's Chief Financial Officer. From 2006 until November 2020, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Cubinet Interactive Group of Companies, and he also took on the Chief Operating Officer role in 2011. During his tenure, he was instrumental in leading Cubinet and building teams across the Southeast Asia region, setting up financial processes within a short time. Mr. Lee spearheaded the growth of Cubinet to other regions, including Europe, the Middle East and Russia. He received his diploma from Tunku Abdul Rahman College in 1996. He is a Chartered Accountant, a member of the Malaysia Institute of Accountants (MIA) and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (ACMA).

Li Li is the Senior Vice President of FingerMotion. She recently served as Advisor to Shenzhen WuYiKa Technology Co. Ltd., a comprehensive service platform dedicated to online service distribution and payment. The company has become a fast and efficient provider of new media marketing solutions for the mobile internet. She has held high-level management positions with multiple industry names, including Hangzhou JiuYue Information Technology Co. Ltd. and Hangzhou LingXuan Information Technology. Ms. Li started her career in 2004, founding Shanghai ChuangYeZZ Network Technology Co. Ltd. and serving as its Vice President. With the close cooperation of local operators, the company launched SMS, MMS, WAP, mobile JAVA games, Hunan Satellite TV e-magazine and other wireless internet services to meet the rapid development of wireless internet and application requirements. She received her degree from Nanjing Academy of Engineering.

Foremost Clean Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMST) (CSE: FAT)

Foremost Clean Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMST) (CSE: FAT), formerly Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology Ltd., is an emerging North American energy exploration company focused on supporting the clean energy transition. Foremost holds an option to acquire an interest in 10 prospective uranium properties, covering over 330,000 acres in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan.

The company aims to address the growing demand for uranium, a critical element in global energy transition efforts. In partnership with Denison Mines (NYSE American: DNN), Foremost is pursuing a disciplined and dynamic exploration strategy. Foremost's mission is to make significant discoveries through active exploration of its promising, underdeveloped land holdings in the Athabasca Basin. Its uranium portfolio includes projects at various stages of exploration, from grassroots initiatives to advanced, drill-ready targets.

As the world shifts toward a clean energy future, uranium will play a key role as a low-cost, emission-free fuel for electricity generation. Foremost's development plans aim to provide low-cost uranium solutions, capitalizing on the global movement to decarbonize power grids.

In addition to its uranium assets, Foremost holds a secondary portfolio of lithium projects, spanning more than 50,000 acres across Manitoba and Quebec.

Foremost is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Projects

Foremost's portfolio, under its option agreement with Denison Mines, includes 10 properties, many located near high-profile uranium operations like the McClean Lake mill and Cigar Lake mine. Seven of these properties are situated in the eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin, close to well-established infrastructure, while three lie in the northwestern portion of the basin – an area with high potential for new discoveries but little previous exploration.

Through the option agreement, Foremost may earn up to 70% of Denison's interest in the properties. Denison currently owns 100% of nine properties. The agreement includes three phases during which Foremost must issue shares to Denison, appoint Denison representatives to its board, provide cash or share payments, and incur specific exploration expenditures to increase its ownership stake.

Market Opportunity

According to RationalStat, the global uranium mining market was valued at $8.09 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to $11.38 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of over 5%.

Uranium, used in nuclear reactors, produces energy through nuclear fission and is considered a clean energy source as it emits no greenhouse gases during operation. The push to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change is driving the demand for nuclear energy, and thus, uranium.

The uranium market is also poised for growth due to the phasing out of fossil fuels, mine closures, production disruptions, and geopolitical factors such as trade sanctions on Russia and civil unrest in Niger, which have highlighted the urgency for reliable uranium supplies.

Canada, producing about 15% of the world's uranium annually, is the second-largest global uranium producer, after Kazakhstan.

Management Team

Jason Barnard, CEO, President, and Executive Board Member of Foremost, has over 31 years of capital markets experience. He has been directly involved in raising over $500 million for mining and exploration companies. Mr. Bernard began his career with McDermid St. Laurence Securities and later worked at Canaccord Genuity. He has been with Foremost since 2016 and is its largest shareholder. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Carleton University.

Dong Shim, CPA, CA, serves as CFO. He is a partner at Shim & Associates LLP and is registered as a CPA in British Columbia and Illinois. Mr. Shim brings extensive accounting and auditing expertise, having worked with both U.S. and Canadian junior mining and tech companies.

Christina Barnard, COO, has over 20 years of experience in business management, media, and marketing. Her career includes a decade as a senior marketing and media advisor for a national public company and roles in corporate communications and strategy for several public companies.

HeartBeam Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT)

HeartBeam Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT) is a cardiac technology company that has developed the first and only 3D-vector 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) platform for heart attack detection anytime, anywhere. The company's proprietary ECG telehealth technology aims to redefine the way high risk cardiovascular patients are diagnosed in ambulatory and acute care settings. HeartBeam's initial focus is on providing diagnostic data to help physicians with care management of patients with cardiovascular disease.

In August 2022, HeartBeam announced that it submitted its HeartBeam AIMI™ software for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). HeartBeam AIMI is a platform technology to improve the speed and accuracy of heart attack detection in acute care settings. The company is in discussions with the FDA and plans to meet with the agency in an effort to have HeartBeam AIMI cleared in line with its Q1 2023 timeframe, as detailed in a corporate update issued in December 2022.

HeartBeam sees submission of its first product based on its platform technology as an important milestone toward commercialization, which underscores the company's continued progress toward making the HeartBeam AIMI platform widely available to help emergency department physicians quickly and accurately identify a heart attack.

While the FDA conducts its regulatory review, HeartBeam will focus on executing key components of its commercialization plan and subscription revenue model. It will also continue to engage in discussions with strategic institutions, including academic centers, regional healthcare systems and regional community hospital systems that can utilize HeartBeam products.

The company is based in Santa Clara, California.

Products

HeartBeam's development portfolio includes two products:

• HeartBeam AIMI is software that provides a 3D comparison of baseline and symptomatic 12-lead ECG to more accurately identify a heart attack in acute care settings and, as noted above, has been submitted for FDA approval; and
• HeartBeam AIMIGo™, the first and only credit card-sized 12-lead output ECG device coupled with a smartphone app and cloud-based diagnostic software system for remote heart attack detection.

HeartBeam is developing HeartBeam AIMIGo, a medical-grade detection and monitoring technology for use in remote heart attack detection thereby allowing physicians to diagnose a patient's heart attack as it occurs even if the patient is not at a medical facility. The company's system, once approved by the FDA, can be used by patients at home or almost anywhere and anytime to help their physicians assess whether chest pain is the result of a heart attack or another cause. While approximately 82% of chest pain ED visits are unnecessary, patients delay approximately 3 to 4 hours after symptoms begin, increasing mortality rates by 40%. The company's goal is to shorten the time to treatment outside of the medical facility to improve patients' well-being.

HeartBeam AIMIGo is a powerful, portable and easy-to-use prescription-based product. It comprises a smartphone app, a credit card-sized ECG device placed on a patient's chest, the HeartBeam cloud platform, and a digital portal for the physician to view ECG results and direct patient action. For the first time outside of a medical setting, HeartBeam AIMIGo enables patients and their clinicians to determine if symptoms are due to a heart attack, quickly and easily, so care can be expedited, if needed.

Pending FDA clearance, HeartBeam AIMIGo is initially intended to be available by prescription, and is reimbursable under existing remote patient monitoring codes (RPM codes). This provides a new revenue stream to physicians who before did not have a way to monitor these high-risk patients. The RPM codes provide a monthly reoccurring revenue stream to the company, as well. On average, at current reimbursement rates, the practice will receive $1,300+ per year per patient they monitor, and the company will receive $600 per year per patient from this RPM reimbursement.

Market Overview

Adoption rates of telehealth services increased dramatically in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic serving as a major driver of growth. Among the areas seeing the greatest expansion are cardiology, radiology, behavioral health and online consultation.

Encouraging this growth, governments are actively developing new policies and reimbursement guidelines to promote the use of digital health platforms. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), for example, has recently expanded reimbursement for telehealth services. U.S. market growth is also being driven by the rising prevalence of chronic conditions and the growing geriatric population.

Remote heart attack detection is a previously unsolved problem with a massive and underserved market that is several times larger than the $2 billion total addressable market (TAM) in the U.S. for ECG cardiac arrhythmia monitoring.

Approximately 8 million Americans have suffered at least one heart attack, and a total of 18 million have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease (CAD). Based on these figures, HeartBeam projects a total addressable U.S. market TAM valued at $10 billion annually for its HeartBeam AIMIGo solution for remote heart attack monitoring of CAD.

Management Team

Branislav Vajdic, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of HeartBeam, Inc, combines over 30 years of experience in technology development and senior management positions. Dr. Vajdic has been deeply involved with the development of HeartBeam's technology to fit his vision for the company. Prior to HeartBeam, from 2007 to 2010, Dr. Vajdic was CEO and Founder of NewCardio, a publicly traded company in the cardiovascular devices space. From 1984 to 2007, Dr. Vajdic was at Intel, where he held various senior management position. At Intel, Dr. Vajdic was the designer of first Flash memory and two key inventions that enabled Flash as a product and led engineering groups responsible for Pentium 1 through Pentium 4 designs. Dr. Vajdic was awarded two Intel Achievement Awards, the highest level of award for outstanding contributions to Intel. Dr. Vajdic is author of numerous patents and publications in the fields of cardiovascular devices, as well as chip design. Dr. Vajdic holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Robert P. Eno, President of HeartBeam, brings over 28 years of experience with a proven track record of developing markets and commercializing disruptive medical technologies. He has created go-to-market strategies for multiple breakthrough products, including noninvasive FFR_CT diagnostic for coronary artery disease, laser cataract surgery, scanning laser photocoagulation and intravascular brachytherapy. Before joining HeartBeam, Mr. Eno was Chief Executive Officer of Preview Medical Inc., a diagnostic equipment company creating a new category of real-time, in vivo tissue classification for solid tumor cancers using machine learning and proprietary optical signals. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for HeartFlow Inc., leading all aspects of the marketing and product functions for a new category of personalized, noninvasive testing for heart disease, including its initial product, HeartFlow FFR_CT. He has also held senior marketing and sales leadership roles at OptiMedica (acquired by Abbott), NeoGuide Systems (acquired by Intuitive) and Avantec Vacular (acquired by Goodman Co. Ltd). Mr. Eno began his career at Guidant, where he held a series of marketing and strategic planning roles in the Vascular Intervention business. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA, with Honors and Distinction, from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.

Peter J. Fitzgerald, MD, Ph.D., HeartBeam's Chief Medical Officer, is the Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology and Director of the Cardiovascular Core Analysis Laboratory at Stanford University Medical School. He is an interventional cardiologist and holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. Dr. Fitzgerald is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Medicine (Cardiology) at Stanford University and has led or participated in over 175 clinical trials and published over 650 manuscripts/chapters and lectures worldwide. Over the past two decades, he has trained over 150 post-doctoral candidates in engineering and medicine. Dr. Fitzgerald has been principle and founder of 24 medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay area, transitioning 18 of these start-ups to medium/large-cap life science companies. In 2009, he co-founded TriVentures, an Israeli-based incubator/venture fund for early-stage medical technology and digital health. He has also been a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the past 20 years, focused on medical technology and data driven health analytics.

Jon Hunt, Ph.D., HeartBeam's Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, has over 35 years' experience in the medical/medical device industry with extensive domestic and international experience in general management, clinical/regulatory, sales and marketing. He also has diverse experience in Fortune 500 companies, as well as start-up environments. Dr. Hunt was the Vice President of Clinical Science and Technology, Medical Device Innovation Consortium, from July 2019 to July 2021, and Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, Cryterion Medical from January 2018 to June 2019 (acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation in July 2018 for $202M). Dr. Hunt was the Founding President and CEO of Bardy Diagnostics, Inc. from October 2013 to November 2017 (acquired by Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.). Prior to joining Bardy Diagnostics, Dr. Hunt spent the previous 11 years as the Vice President of Clinical & Regulatory Affairs with Cameron Health, Inc. (acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation). Dr. Hunt spent the previous 10 years with Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc., St. Jude Medical and Cardiac Pathways Corporation. Dr. Hunt began his career with Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. (now Boston Scientific Corporation) as the Director of Clinical Programs. He subsequently held positions at St. Jude Medical in Clinical Affairs and as the Business Unit Director for the Cardiac Rhythm Management division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At Cardiac Pathways Corporation, Dr. Hunt held various executive positions as Vice President of International Sales and Marketing and Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing (acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation). Dr. Hunt received his Ph.D. in Motor Control from The Pennsylvania State University, his Master's from California State University, Long Beach and his undergraduate degree from Keele University in the United Kingdom.

Rick Brounstein, HeartBeam's Chief Financial Officer, combines over 30 years of experience in health technology senior management. Since 2017, Mr. Brounstein has been and is currently a partner of Hardesty, LLC, a financial services firm, and Mr. Brounstein is currently a managing director of CTRLCFO, LLC, a firm Mr. Brounstein founded in 2016 to support funded start-ups in life science and technology. From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Brounstein was Chief Financial Officer of NewCardio, Inc., a microcap public company in the cardiology space, and, over his career, he has been with nine other companies in life science or technology, holding positions including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Treasurer and Accounting Manager. From June 2001 through November 2007, Mr. Brounstein held several positions at Calypte Biomedical Corporation, a publicly traded medical device company, including Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. In January 2007, Mr. Brounstein was appointed as the National Member Representative for the 2007 COSO Monitoring Project, which published new guidelines for monitoring internal financial controls in February 2009; Mr. Brounstein subsequently was a member of the FEI task force that issued the updated COSO Internal Control Framework in 2013. In March 2005, Mr. Brounstein was appointed to the SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies. Mr. Brounstein earned his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification while working at Arthur Andersen LLP, formerly a public accounting firm. Mr. Brounstein holds a B.A. in accounting and an M.B.A. in finance, both from Michigan State University.

Ken Persen, HeartBeam's Chief Technology Officer, combines over 28 years of experience in the medical device and digital health industries in engineering and senior management positions. Mr. Persen has been involved in several companies in Cardiac Rhythm Management, holding positions including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Director of Engineering. Since 2016 and prior to joining HeartBeam, Mr. Persen was the Chief Technology Officer at LIVMOR, Inc., a digital health company. In addition, from 2016 through November 2021, he was also Chief Executive Officer of LIVMOR. Prior roles included Director of Engineering at Cameron Health (acquired by Boston Scientific), a late-stage medical device start up, and engineering and management positions at Guidant Corp. (acquired by Boston Scientific), a large medical device manufacturer. He has an undergraduate degree from University of Minnesota, Duluth, with a BA in Computer Science.

McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX)

McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX) is an asset rich diversified gold and silver producer in the Americas with a large exposure to copper through its subsidiary, McEwen Copper, owner of the Los Azules copper deposit in Argentina, believed to be the 8th largest undeveloped copper resource in the world.

Led by a management team with a track record of success, MUX owns and operates mines in some of the most prolific gold producing regions of the Americas. The company proactively took cost-saving measures months ago to lower expenses and increase production across its portfolio of gold assets, driving some production costs below industry averages. Gold and copper prices, already in an upswing, are forecast to enter an explosive uptrend over the next couple years. Drawing from its experience, McEwen Mining planned, prepared and laid the groundwork to capitalize on this emerging opportunity.

The company currently holds a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), placing it in the top 5% of over 4,000 stocks ranked by Zacks, based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises. Seldom is management so aligned with investors' interests and committed to the company's success. With a combined investment of over $220 million, CEO Rob McEwen holds a 17% ownership stake in McEwen Mining and a 13% ownership in McEwen Copper. Acclaimed in the mining industry, McEwen founded Goldcorp, where he increased the company's market capitalization 160 times – from $50 million to over $8 billion. That same vision and tenacity led MUX in creating McEwen Copper.

For McEwen Mining shareholders, beyond the company's exposure to gold upsurges, its 47.7% stake in McEwen Copper is expected to be a blockbuster, turbocharging MUX by creating the world's next prolific copper unicorn.

McEwen Copper

With continuous industrial need, new critical demand for copper is rapidly emerging, increasingly driven by the green energy transition. The price of copper rose from a low of about $2 per pound in 2020 to over $4.60 per pound in May 2024, and strong demand is expected to intensify. A study by S&P Global, titled The Future of Copper: Will the Looming Supply Gap Short-circuit the Energy Transition?, projects global copper demand to nearly double over the next decade, from 25 million metric tons today to about 50 million metric tons by 2035. Based on current trends, S&P Global forecasts annual supply shortfalls to reach nearly 10 million metric tons in 2035.

McEwen Mining owns a 47.7% equity stake in McEwen Copper, the holder of a 100% interest in the Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina, which is ranked the 8th largest undeveloped copper deposit in the world. Current copper resources at Los Azules are estimated at 10.9 billion pounds at a grade of 0.40% Cu (Indicated category) and an additional 26.7 billion pounds at a grade of 0.31% Cu (Inferred category). McEwen Copper also owns a copper exploration project in Nevada, USA, called Elder Creek.

In a 2023 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), Los Azules was estimated to have a 27-year life, producing an average of 321 million lbs. of copper cathode annually, at a cash cost of $1.07 per lb. of copper, in the lowest quartile of the copper cost curve. The project could ultimately become an even larger mine with a longer life, with less than 40% being mined.

The project's 2023 PEA presents a distinctly different development strategy from a prior PEA published in 2017. By proposing a heap leach project using solvent extraction-electrowinning instead of the previously detailed mine with a conventional mill and flotation concentrator, McEwen Copper aims to decrease its environmental footprint and reduce permitting risk, albeit with a lower overall copper recovery, slightly higher unit costs and a delay in immediate cashflow due to extended leach cycles.

Rob McEwen led with a $10 million order, and after securing a $25 million investment from mining giant Rio Tinto's technology arm, Nuton LLC, McEwen Copper closed its non-brokered, private placement offering of $82 million in August 2022. Shortly after, in February 2023, Nuton agreed to invest an additional $30 million into McEwen Copper, and in October 2023, Nuton once again expanded its stake, investing an additional $10 million to bring its ownership position in McEwen Copper to 14.5%.

"We are extremely pleased to have Nuton's strong continued participation in McEwen Copper," Rob McEwen stated in a news release. "Together we are exploring new technologies that save energy, water, time and capital in the pursuit of delivering green copper to Argentina and the world, a product that will contribute to the electrification of transportation and the protection of our atmosphere."

Also in February 2023, FCA Argentina S.A., a subsidiary of Stellantis N.V., one of the world's leading automakers, invested ARS $30 billion in McEwen Copper. In October 2023, Stellantis invested an additional ARS $42 billion, bringing its current stake in McEwen Copper to 19.4%.

"We are delighted to have Stellantis as a partner in the future development of our Los Azules copper project," Rob McEwen said of the investment. "Together, we share a vision to build a mine for the future based on regenerative principles that can achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2038."

Following the capital raise, McEwen Copper is well-funded to advance its Los Azules Project, with a Feasibility Study planned for Q1 2025. MUX strategically reduced its interest to increase its treasury, in order to reduce debt and fund the further development of its gold and silver assets.

Gold & Silver Projects

The Fox Complex

McEwen Mining owns a 100% stake in the Fox Complex in the heart of a prolific gold district in Timmins, Canada.

"When MUX bought the Fox Complex, in late 2017, it was a distressed asset with a history of high operating cost/oz. While it has taken longer than I expected, the cost to produce an ounce of gold is significantly lower," CEO Rob McEwen stated in a news release.

McEwen Mining issued 2024 guidance for its cash cost/oz at the Fox Complex of $1,225-1,325 on annual production of 40,000-42,000 GEOs. Fox Complex produced 44,450 GEOs in 2023, which was within the company's guidance range for production but not cost/oz guidance.

Located in one of the most prolific gold production areas in the world, along the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, the Fox Complex includes the Black Fox mine and Froome mine which together have yielded over 1,000,000 ounces of gold to date. Also, the complex includes the Grey Fox and Stock deposits that have over 1,800,000 ounces in gold resources. The 2.7-billion-year-old Abitibi Greenstone Belt, formed by ancient volcanic activity, has proved to be one of the world's richest and most abundant gold regions, with a total gold content currently estimated at over 300 million ounces.

In May 2024, MUX will commence development of underground ramp access to the Stock orebodies at the Fox Complex. This development will become the primary source of feed following the completion of mining the Froome deposit in 2026. As part of the future mining sequence initiative, the company has already reported a 31% year-over-year increase of gold resources at Stock West and Stock Main (historical Stock Mine), with confirmation of good grading structures plunging to depth. It has also identified Stock East as a potential new near-term source of future revenue.

The Gold Bar Mine

McEwen Mining owns a 100% stake in the Gold Bar mine, located in an area well known for gold production, the southern Roberts Mountains of the Battle Mountain-Eureka-Cortez gold trend in Eureka County, Central Nevada. The Gold Bar mine is on the same geological structure, 25 miles south of Nevada Gold Mines, a Barrick-Newmont joint venture, part of the Cortez-Goldrush complex. This complex contains estimated reserves and resources of over 50 million gold ounces, with an annual production of 1,000,000 gold ounces.

Gold Bar had been mined between 1991 and 1994, producing 134,000 gold ounces. A new facility was built by MUX in 2019. Gold Bar accounted for 42,700 GEOs in 2023, within the company's guidance for the year. For 2024, McEwen Mining issued guidance of 40,000-43,000 at a cash cost of $1,450-1,550. The first half of the year is expected to deliver higher production relative to the second half, due to a scheduled waste stripping phase in the Pick pit, in preparation for the 2025 mining program.

Notably, in April 2024, McEwen Mining announced its entry into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Timberline Resources Corporation (TSX.V: TBR) (OTCQB: TLRS) in a transaction valued at roughly $18.8 million. The merger with Timberline is expected to augment McEwen's existing portfolio of production and exploration projects in Nevada, leveraging synergies between Timberline's projects and the Company's Gold Bar mine.

El Gallo/Fenix

Project Fenix is the proposed redevelopment plan for McEwen Mining's El Gallo Complex in Mexico. There is a long history of mining in this region. MUX began operating it as an open pit, heap leach mine in 2013, which produced 281,000 gold equivalent ounces at average cash cost of $655 per ounce. Due to the transition to deeper sulfide mineralization that is not amenable to heap leaching, mining activities ceased in the second quarter of 2018 and residual heap leaching followed until mid-2023. The redevelopment plan envisions constructing a mill at the existing mine site that will initially reprocess the existing heap leach material, then transition to open pit mining and processing of the sulphide gold and silver mineralization. The company recently acquired a complete process plant on very advantageous terms that has considerably reduced the projected capital requirements for the project.

CEO Rob McEwen stated in a news release, "This acquisition has made Fenix more attractive to build and could provide a new long life mine for McEwen Mining."

The initial development approach is to build a mill to reprocess the material on the heap leach pad and produce in the range of 18,000 – 26,000 oz of gold annually for eight years. Construction of the Fenix project is expected to begin in the second half of 2024.

San José Mine

McEwen Mining is a 49% owner and non-operator of the San José gold and silver mine, located in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, encircling Newmont's prolific Cerro Negro (approx. 300,000 gold ounces produced in 2023). This high-grade underground mine has been operating since 2007 and currently has an expected life of six years with a reserve grade of 296 gpt silver and 5.4 gpt gold.

Exploration is continuing to extend high-grade veins and discover new veins at the complex. San José's drilling programs to define additional resources and reserves have a long history of success due to a high vein density, aided by good geophysical response from hidden veins.

Production guidance for 2024 for MUX's 49% interest is 50,000-60,000 GEOs. As a minority shareholder in the mine, MUX equity accounts for its investment in San José, and receives 49% of the dividends from the mine's free cash flow.

Market Outlook

Mining stocks suffered significant losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this has turned, and many analysts now forecast a gold bull market in 2024 and beyond.

"The operating challenges we faced in recent years have severely damaged our credibility with our shareholders and the market. As a result, few investors have taken a close look recently at our assets," Rob McEwen said in a news release. "If they did, I believe some would see the potential value that I see today… I believe there is considerable potential value in MUX, and that is a big reason why I have a personal financial commitment of $220 million in MUX and McEwen Copper."

Management Team

Robert R. McEwen is Chairman, CEO and Chief Owner of McEwen Mining. He has been associated with the gold industry all his career, with his first 18 years in the investment industry and, since 1990, as CEO of several gold mining companies. He founded Goldcorp and took that company from a $50 million market capitalization to more than $8 billion. He owns 17% of McEwen Mining and is in complete alignment with investors – his investment in MUX and McEwen Copper is $220 million and he takes an annual salary of only $1. He was awarded the Order of Canada and the Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee Award, was inducted into the Mining Hall of Fame, was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and has Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from York University and Western University.

William Shaver is interim COO and a Director of McEwen Mining. He has decades of management and executive experience in mine design, construction and operations. He was a founder of Dynatec Corporation, which became one of the leading contracting and mine operating groups in North America. In 2013, he was recognized as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Most recently, he served as COO of INV Metals. He is a Professional Engineer with a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Queens University.

Perry Ing is interim CFO at McEwen Mining. He has 25 years of experience in the Canadian mining industry. Over the past 15 years, he has held positions as CFO of Mountain Province Diamonds, Kirkland Lake Gold and McEwen Mining. Prior to that, he worked at Barrick Gold and Goldcorp and started his career in the mining practice at PwC. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and is a Chartered Professional Accountant in Canada and Certified Professional Accountant in the U.S.

Adrian Blanco S. is the company's Director of Operations for America and Mexico. He has extensive international experience in several industrial sectors and has held executive positions in Mexico, the United States, Peru and Argentina. He joined the McEwen Mining team in 2015 and has led a successful business transformation toward operational discipline, best business practices and financial profitability at subsidiaries Compañia Minera Pangea and McEwen Mining Nevada. He graduated from an Executive Management Program at IPADE and Harvard Business School.

Michael Meding is Vice President and General Manager of McEwen Copper. He has over 20 years of international experience, primarily with major mining companies such as Barrick Gold and Trafigura, including extensive experience with project development and operations in Argentina. While at Barrick Gold's Veladero mine in Argentina, Mr. Meding played a key role in the turnaround, extension of the mine life and subsequent strategic partnering with Shandong Gold. He holds an MBA from Indiana University in Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Leipzig Graduate School of Management in Germany.

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (NYSE American: PLG) (TSX: PTM)

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (NYSE American: PLG) (TSX: PTM) is the operator of the Waterberg Project, a bulk underground platinum group metals (PGM) deposit discovered by Platinum Group in 2011 and located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The Waterberg Project is planned as a fully mechanised platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold mine, including by-product copper and nickel production, and is projected to be one of the largest and lowest cost PGM mines globally.

The project is a joint venture between Platinum Group; integrated PGM producer Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (OTCQX: IMPUY); Japanese consortium HJ Platinum, which includes trading house Hanwa Co. and the government-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC); and local empowerment partner Mnombo Wethu Consultants (Pty) Ltd. Platinum Group has an effective 50.22% interest in the Waterberg Project.

The company's primary business objective is to advance the Waterberg Project to a development and construction decision. An update to the 2019 Definite Feasibility Study is expected in 2024.

PGMs are essential and precious metals that include platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium. These metals are known for their purity, high melting points and unique catalytic properties. They are utilized in a number of industrial processes, technologies and commercial applications and play a critical role in autocatalysis and pollution control in the automotive sector. The bulk of global PGMs are mined in Southern Africa and Russia.

The unique properties of PGMs are being applied to various technologies as possible solutions for more efficient energy generation and storage, which may create new demand for PGMs. The company's battery technology initiative through Lion Battery Technologies Inc., using platinum and palladium in lithium battery technologies, represents one such new opportunity in the high-profile lithium battery research and innovation field.

Platinum Group Metals Ltd. founded Lion Battery Technologies Inc. in partnership with Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS: JNB) to support the use of palladium and platinum in lithium battery applications. Lion Battery has entered into an agreement with Florida International University to further advance a research program that uses platinum and palladium to unlock the potential of Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) battery chemistries.

Platinum Group is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Waterberg Project

Platinum Group's sole material mineral property, the Waterberg Project, is presently in process with pre-construction permitting; engineering work, including road upgrade and traffic studies; finalization of power and water infrastructure design; and construction camp design.

The company's principal product from the Waterberg Project is planned to be a PGM-bearing concentrate. The concentrate will contain economic amounts of six elements comprising platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, copper and nickel. The company's partner in the Waterberg Project, Impala Platinum Holdings, has acquired a right of first refusal to enter into an offtake agreement, on commercial arm's-length terms, for the smelting and refining of mineral products from the Waterberg Project.

The Waterberg project has proven and estimated reserves of 19.5 million ounces of PGMs and gold. When fully operational, the mine is projected to produce more than 400,000 ounces of PGMs annually during the peak period of steady state production. The life of the mine is projected at 45 years.

South Africa's PGM mining sector remains closely tied to economic developments in the global automotive industry, which in 2022 accounted for approximately 43% of the total global demand for platinum and 82% of the total global demand for palladium.

Market Opportunity

According to a report from Straits Research, a global market and business research firm, the worldwide platinum market had an estimated value of $7.72 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $11.95 billion by 2031. That represents a CAGR of 5.13% over the forecast period.

Platinum, one of the rarest of precious metals, is about 30 times scarcer than gold. It is crucial to the automotive and electronics industries and is also used to make jewelry. Stricter emissions regulations around the world have led to an increased demand for platinum to be used in catalytic converters to reduce automotive emission, the report states.

A report from Allied Market Research estimated the global palladium market at $16.3 billion in 2021 and projects the market will reach $28.6 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 5.8% over the period.

Palladium is also used in automotive catalytic converters for reducing emissions and in jewelry, dentistry, watchmaking, blood sugar test strips, aircraft spark plugs, surgical instruments, electrical contacts and musical instruments.

An increase in demand for consumer electronics has driven demand for palladium-based multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) used to store energy in electronic devices such as broadcasting equipment, mobile telephones, computers, electronic lighting and high voltage circuits, according to the report.

Management Team

Frank R. Hallam is Co-Founder, Director, President and CEO of Platinum Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the mining, minerals and petroleum industry as an operator, principal and founder. He was a co-founder and former CFO of MAG Silver Corp. He was also co-founder and director of West Timmins Mining Inc. and a director of Lake Shore Gold Corp. In addition, he was CFO and director with gold exploration company Tan Range Exploration Corp. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant and was formerly an auditor in the public mining practice of PwC. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

Greg Blair is CFO of Platinum Group. He has been with Platinum Group since 2010 in various roles, most recently as Interim CFO. Prior to joining Platinum Group, he was at a public accounting firm working on public company (mainly mining) audits. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University and has completed the Canadian Securities Course.

Kris Begic is VP Corporate Development of Platinum Group. He has over 25 years of experience in the mining industry and capital markets and has been involved with the raising of over $500 million for various exploration and development projects globally. His efforts are focused on project generation, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, investor relations and marketing.

Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI)

Scinai Immunotherapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCNI) is a biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative immunotherapeutic products primarily for the treatment of infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases.

In collaboration with the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPG) and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), both in Germany, Scinai is developing a pipeline of innovative nanosized antibody (NanoAb) therapies addressing diseases underserved by current treatments and with large and growing markets, such as COVID-19, asthma and psoriasis.

NanoAbs, also known as VHH-antibodies or Nanobodies, are alpaca-derived nanosized antibodies that exhibit multiple significant competitive advantages over existing antibody therapies, including stability at high temperatures, superior binding affinity, more effective and convenient routes of administration and efficient production. Scinai is uniquely positioned to advance nanosized antibody innovation from R&D through commercialization.

The company's highly experienced and successful pharmaceutical industry leadership team includes former senior executives from Novartis, GSK and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Since its founding, Scinai has executed eight clinical trials, including a seven-country, 12,400-participant Phase 3 trial of a prior influenza vaccine candidate, and it built, owns and operates a 20,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art GMP biologics manufacturing facility housing its laboratories, production facilities and offices.

Lead Candidate: Inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb

In December 2021, Scinai signed definitive agreements with the Max Planck Society – parent organization of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences– and the UMG to enter a strategic collaboration for the development and commercialization of innovative COVID-19 NanoAbs.

The company is planning a rapid development path that leverages its expertise and capabilities in biological drug development and manufacturing. Scinai anticipates preclinical proof-of-concept results for an inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb by the end of 2022, with initial Phase 1/2a human clinical trial results expected in 2023.

The intended inhaled mechanism of delivery of Scinai's COVID-19 NanoAb formulation may serve as a significant differentiator when compared to approved monoclonal antibodies, which are injected. Inhaled delivery has shown to be cheaper, more convenient and likely safer for patients and providers.

NanoAb Pipeline: Psoriasis, Asthma and More

The COVID-19 NanoAb development agreement is part of a broader five-year research collaboration agreement signed in March 2022 covering discovery, development and commercialization of NanoAbs for several other disease indications with large market medical needs, including asthma, psoriasis, macular degeneration and psoriatic arthritis.

Scinai has an exclusive worldwide license for development and commercialization of COVID-19 NanoAbs and exclusive options for similar worldwide licenses for NanoAbs for the above mentioned additional large market disorders currently underserved by approved therapeutic antibodies.

Academic research teams from MPG and UMG have verified strong affinity by the new NanoAbs to their biological target molecules and high thermostability. They have also demonstrated strong neutralization by several NanoAb candidates of their respective target molecules. Neutralization studies of the other NanoAbs are expected to begin later in 2022.

Based on the promising results, Scinai will focus development efforts beginning with the following NanoAbs:

• NanoAbs targeting IL-17 as drug candidates for the potential treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis
• NanoAbs targeting IL-13 and NanoAbs targeting TSLP as drug candidates for the potential treatment of asthma

These are conditions for which the antibody target is validated by existing treatments and the mechanism of action is well understood. Both represent large medical needs and growing markets. Scinai anticipates preclinical proof-of-concept for at least one of these NanoAbs in 2023. This is in addition to the aforementioned human clinical Phase 1/2a for the inhaled COVID-19 NanoAb therapy, which is also anticipated in 2023.

CDMO Services

While NanoAb pipeline development is Scinai's core focus, the company also offers its cGMP manufacturing facility, aseptic fill and finish suite, laboratories and experienced professionals for contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services. This offering is designed to keep the Scinai team abreast of the latest industry developments and trends while building experience and generating revenue to support the company's NanoAb pipeline development.

Market Opportunity

COVID-19 treatment, target of the company's lead NanoAb therapy candidate, had an estimated market size of $22 billion in 2021.

Future Scinai drug candidates will target conditions with large markets growing at attractive CAGRs.

The global asthma treatment market was valued at $18.08 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $26.01 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period, according to Fortune Business Insights. The research firm predicts that the global psoriasis treatment market will grow from $26.37 billion in 2022 to $47.24 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.7% over the forecast period.

Management Team

Amir Reichman is Scinai's CEO. He previously was Head of Global Vaccines Engineering Core Technologies at GSK Vaccines in Belgium. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Novartis Vaccines' Global Vaccines Supply Chain Management organization. He was the first employee of NeuroDerm Ltd., a company focused on transdermal drug delivery, and served as Senior Scientist until his departure in 2009. He earned a M.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering from Ben-Gurion University and an MBA in Finance and Health Care Management from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Tamar Ben-Yedidia, Ph.D., is Chief Science Officer at Scinai. She has more than 30 years of experience in immunology, with specific expertise in the development of vaccines. She began her career with Biotechnology General Ltd., working on development of a recombinant Hepatitis-B vaccine. She later joined the Weizmann Institute of Science, working on the design of a peptide-based vaccine against several pathogens. She is widely published, with numerous refereed articles and invited reviews in various scientific journals. She received her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute.

Elad Mark is COO at Scinai. He has over 15 years of biotechnology industry experience encompassing diverse project stages including feasibility studies, conceptual and detailed design, commissioning, qualification and process validation. Prior to joining Scinai, he led Novartis's $800 million investment in a biologics facility in Singapore. With Biopharmax and Antero, both global pharmaceutical engineering companies, he successfully led projects in Israel, China and Singapore. He holds a BSc. in Engineering from the Afeka Tel Aviv Academic College of Engineering and an MBA from the Open University of Israel.

Uri Ben-Or is CFO at Scinai. He has served as CFO with public life science companies traded on the TASE, OTC and Nasdaq. Ben-Or provides his services to Scinai through CFO Direct, a company he founded and for which he serves as CEO. He served as the VP of Finance of Glycominds, a leading biotechnology company, and as CFO of a spin-off from Telrad Networks. He also served as a Corporate Controller at Menorah Capital Markets and as an Auditor at PWC. He holds a B.A. in Business from the College of Administration, an MBA from Bar-Ilan University, and is a CPA.

SuperCom Ltd. (NASDAQ: SPCB)

SuperCom Ltd. (NASDAQ: SPCB) provides secured solutions for the e-government, IoT and cybersecurity sectors. Since 1988, the company has been a trusted global provider of traditional and digital identity offerings, providing cutting-edge electronic and digital security solutions to governments and organizations, both private and public, around the world.

SuperCom's mission is to revolutionize the public safety sector worldwide through proprietary electronic monitoring technology, data intelligence, and complementary services.

The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with offices in California and other regions in the U.S.

Business Units

IoT and Connectivity

SuperCom IoT products and solutions provide advanced electronic monitoring solutions and services to criminal justice agencies, enabling customers to detect unauthorized movement of people, vehicles, and other monitored objects. The company provides an all-in-one, field-proven PureSecurity offender monitoring suite, accompanied by services such as GPS monitoring, home detention, domestic violence prevention, and more. The company's services are specifically tailored to meet each client's needs.

SuperCom's proprietary Puresecurity suite of hardware, connectivity, and software components is the foundation for its criminal justice services and offerings. SuperCom is leveraging its extensive technology expertise to implement groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into various parts of its core offerings. By leveraging the power of AI, SuperCom's PureSecurity platform can offer new abilities, such as amplified data analysis, predictive modeling, and streamlined automation – all geared toward optimizing decision-making and operational efficiency.

Competitive advantages of SuperCom's technology include:

• Long Battery Life (No Tag Charging Required)
• Ultra Lightweight Form Factor
• Next-Gen Location Tech
• Protection of Domestic Violence Victims
• And More

Cybersecurity

In 2015, SuperCom identified the cybersecurity market as a fast-growing space with significant advantages due to synergistic technologies and a shared customer base with its e-Gov and IoT business units. Consequently, SuperCom strategically acquired Prevision Ltd., a company with a strong presence in the market and a broad range of competitive cybersecurity services.

During the first quarter of 2016, SuperCom acquired Safend Ltd., an international provider of cutting-edge endpoint data protection guarding against corporate data loss and theft through content discovery and inspection, encryption methodologies, and comprehensive device and port control.

Both acquisitions significantly expanded the breadth of the company's global cybersecurity capabilities.

e-Gov

Through proprietary e-government platforms and innovative solutions for traditional and biometrics enrollment, personalization, issuance, and border control services, SuperCom has helped governments, and national agencies design and issue secured multi-identification, or Multi-ID, documents and robust digital identity solutions to their citizens, visitors, and lands.

The company has focused on expanding its activities in the traditional identification, or ID, and electronic identification, or e-Gov, markets, including the design, development, and marketing of identification technologies and solutions to governments in Europe, Asia, America, and Africa using SuperCom's e-Government platforms.

Market Opportunity

Data from Berg Insight estimates the market for electronic monitoring solutions will grow from $1.2 billion in 2021 to $2.1 billion in 2026, marking a CAGR of 10.8% for the forecast period.

High recidivism rates, prison overcrowding, and soaring incarceration costs are some factors that are driving the electronic monitoring of offenders' market growth.

An analysis by ReportLinker forecasts that the global cybersecurity market will grow from an estimated value of $173.5 billion in 2022 to $266.2 billion by 2027, achieving a CAGR of 8.9% for the period.

The increased number of data breaches worldwide, the ability of malicious actors to operate from anywhere in the world, the links between cyberspace and physical systems, and the difficulty of reducing vulnerabilities and consequences in complex cyber networks are some factors driving the cybersecurity market growth.

Management Team

Ordan Trabelsi is President and CEO of SuperCom. He has over 15 years of experience as CEO, growing high-tech companies globally. He also has experience in research and development and product innovation, as well as hands-on experience in cybersecurity, encryption, advanced mathematics, and mobile and internet network technologies. Prior to joining SuperCom, he served as co-founder and CEO of Klikot Inc., a global social networking company. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from The Technion: Israel Institute of Technology.

Barak Trabelsi is COO of SuperCom. He has expertise in big data, cyber, mobile, and internet network technologies, as well as extensive experience in product development and strategies. Prior to joining SuperCom, he served as Senior Product Manager at Equinox Ltd. Before that, he served for four years as VP of R&D at Sigma Wave, a wireless, security, and internet-focused company. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Business, as well as an MBA from Tel Aviv University.

Gil Alfi is VP of Sales at Safend Ltd., SuperCom's cybersecurity subsidiary. He joined SuperCom in 2016 as VP of Business Development for Safend. He has more than 18 years of experience in technology companies. He served as an R&D team technology lead for more than seven years and as Director of Product Management for various telecom and wireless companies for more than 10 years. Prior to joining SuperCom, he served as Regional Sales Director at Safend, managing sales regions in Europe and Africa. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from Bar-Ilan University.

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE: WPM) (TSX: WPM)

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE: WPM) (TSX: WPM) is one of the largest precious metals streaming companies in the world. It generates revenue primarily from the sale of precious metals and cobalt while offering investors cost predictability, direct leverage to increasing precious metals prices and a high-quality asset base.

Wheaton seeks to be the world's premier precious metals investment vehicle, delivering value through streaming to all stakeholders. The company has entered into agreements to purchase all or a portion of the precious metals or cobalt production from high quality mines for an upfront payment and an additional payment upon delivery of the metal. By crystallizing value for precious metals yet to be produced, Wheaton works with its partners to unlock and create value.

Wheaton currently has streaming agreements for 18 operating mines and 27 development stage projects. The company's production profile is driven by a portfolio of low cost, long-life assets, including a gold stream on Vale's Salobo mine and a silver stream on Newmont's Penasquito mine.

With its portfolio of long-life, low-cost assets, Wheaton's business model offers investors exposure to commodity prices and exploration upside with a much lower risk profile than a traditional mining company. Wheaton delivers among the highest cash operating margins in the mining industry, allowing it to pay a competitive dividend and continue to grow through accretive acquisitions. As a result, Wheaton has consistently outperformed gold and silver, as well as other mining investments.

The company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Wheaton is committed to strong ESG practices and giving back to the communities in which its mining partners operate.

Business Model

The company's 18 operating mines and 27 development projects in North, Central and South America; Australia; Europe and Africa produce gold, silver, palladium, platinum and cobalt.

Wheaton's streaming advantage comes from investing in high quality assets with predictable production costs. As of July 2024, 93% of Wheaton's current production comes from high margin mines operating in the lower half of their respective cost curves.

The company has contractually defined cost-per-ounce production agreements protecting it from inflationary cost pressures. This cost predictability, with delivery payments per ounce predetermined, translates into direct exposure to potential increases in precious metal prices, providing investors with some of the highest sustainable margins in the industry.

The company has entered into precious metals purchase agreements with 32 different mining companies for the purchase of precious metals and cobalt relating to 18 operating mining assets, in addition to 23 at various stages of development and four that have been placed in care and maintenance or have been closed. These mining assets are located across 16 countries.

Wheaton acquires mine production from its partners generally at or below the prevailing market price. The primary drivers of the company's financial results are the volume of metal production at the various mining assets to which the precious metal purchase agreements relate and the price realized by Wheaton upon sale of the metals it receives.

Wheaton is actively pursuing future growth opportunities, primarily by way of entering into additional precious metal purchase agreements.

Market Opportunity

The World Gold Council, the industry association for the world's gold producers, estimated in 2023 the physical financial gold market, which is made up of bars, coins, gold ETFs and central bank reserves, is worth nearly $5 trillion. The council reports that gold mine production adds approximately 3,500 tons of the precious metal to the world's supply annually, equivalent to about 2% growth.

This historical scarcity and relatively slow production of new supply, as compared to other commodities, is a primary reason gold has retained its value for millennia, according to the council. In July 2024, the market price of gold was approximately $2,450 per ounce.

The Silver Institute, the association of the silver industry, reported in April 2024 that silver use in industrial applications set a new record high in 2023 at 654.4 million ounces (Moz). This figure excludes silver used in production of jewelry or in ornamental and decorative applications.

The institute reported that demand exceeded silver supply in 2023 for the third consecutive year, resulting in a structural market deficit of 184.3 Moz. Production of photovoltaic (solar energy) equipment is now the largest industrial use of the metal and is expected to continue its strong growth trend. In July 2024, the market price of silver was just over $29 per ounce.

Management Team

The company has an experienced management team with a strong track record of success and is well positioned for further growth.

Randy Smallwood is President and CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals and a Director. He previously served as the company's Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Prior to Wheaton Precious Metals, he was the Director of Project Development at Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. He formerly served on the boards of several resource companies including Defiance Silver, Ventana Gold, Castle Peak Resources and Tigray Resources. He holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia and a mine engineering diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Gary Brown is Senior Vice-President and CFO of Wheaton Precious Metals. He previously was CFO of TIR Systems Ltd. and has also held senior finance roles with CAE Inc., Westcoast Energy Inc. and Creo Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in finance and holds professional designations as a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He earned a master's degree in accounting from the University of Waterloo.

Haytham Hodaly is Senior Vice-President of Corporate Development of Wheaton Precious Metals. He previously spent more than 16 years in the North American securities industry. Prior to that, he held the position of co-director of research and senior mining analyst at Salman Partners Inc. He is an engineer with a bachelor's degree of applied science in mining and mineral processing engineering and a Master of Engineering, specializing in mineral economics, both from the University of British Columbia.