The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
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I doubt they currently have any SAFE agreements other than the one with FFWD, as they are supposed to be a bridging facility between funding rounds.
FCT fund raising has been going on nearly 20 months now, I wonder if they have offered other investors the same deal 25% off, I was just wondering that's all
Kierewiet - agree totally. Generally speaking, venture capital raisings have been considerably down in the past two quarters, which is probably unsurprising with markets being spooked by Trumps trade wars, Brexit mess, etc. That's aside from the "crypto winter" which is/was a double-whammy for something like Factom. With regards crypto/blockchain there was always going to be a period of wheat from the chaff separation. It's just unfortunate that investor appetite will be tempered whilst that happens. However, going forwards, the stronger propositions will emerge, and Factom is clearly one of the stronger principles imo, with technology that has massive potential.
Like you say, I think the market has massively overreacted to Lorne's "warts n all" bluntness in the review, and it more reflected frustration that they've not been able to progress things quicker, rather than any material problem
On top of that, as I pointed out previously, Factom Inc doesn't even have to turn into a giant success for FFWD to make money. As long as they manage to secure funding, FFWD would likely be able to sell out, probably at a profit, because they'd be getting their stake at a 25% discount to whatever the raising price is.
The non-conversion now would facilitate that and mean that even in the event of a "low" raising price - FFWD are still getting the shares at a significant discount - so provides a measure of protection of the investment.
Factom have clearly been experiencing problems raising funds these past 12 months, possibly for a multitude of reasons (fall out of crypto winter, blockchain hype vs reality hitting home, problems commercialising their technology, perhaps price negotiation/expectation?). But I think if they can close the DHS deal then that will be extremely helpful for their funding efforts. Surely they should not have problems raising funds if they can secure a $10 million contract with a government agency in what would be one of the first significant real use cases in blockchain? There is no guarantee it will happen but they have gone very far in the process so it's not some long shot.
In my view the market has completely overreacted to Lorne's assessment of Factom Inc. The investment has not been written off or impaired and Factom is both backed and run by people with extremely deep pockets (e.g. Paul Snow and David Johnston) who are likely not going to let Factom fail unnecessarily by running out of working capital if the potential is still there. It's understandable as Factom is of course FFWD's largest and of their highest profile investments to date and expectation was high. Now expectation is completely non-existent and everyone's written Factom off. An out of the blue turnaround of fortune should be received very well by the market.
As for the extension of the SAFE agreement, who knows? It must have been in FFWD's best interest to not immediately convert to equity.
Chills are you still having a phone call with Jay Smith? Ask him about that cryptic 'S3' tweet from the other day please!
We need to all sensibly discuss factom and that safe agreement. It's niggling me. It's our biggest investment which Lorne has already stated he wants to exit. We've transferred the cash, factom are not in a position to raise series b. Why not? Investors are not bitung. Factom isn't profitable. Factom is my worry right now. I've always said it should be sold for intellectual property to the right company. But why did Lorne extend the safe agreement? I guess he had no choice right?