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THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED. ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Supply@ME Capital plc
(The "Company" or "SYME")
Strategic Alliance with VeChain Foundation to provide up to US$10 million of funding for inaugural Inventory Monetisation transactions
&
Launch of the "Web3" stream.
Supply@ME Capital plc, the fintech business which provides an innovative Platform for use by manufacturing and trading companies to access Inventory Monetisation© solutions enabling their businesses to generate cashflow, announces that it has signed a strategic alliance (the "Agreement") with the VeChain Foundation[1] ("VeChain"), a blockchain enterprise service provider focused on supply chain and sustainability, to fund the first inaugural Inventory Monetisation transaction and kick off the "Web3"[2] stream.
The objective of the Agreement is to create a sustainable Web3 environment that will allow direct participation in the Inventory Monetisation journey combining traditional finance with the blockchain space. According to Messari[3] research, the top 100 digital assets in circulation capitalise over USD 1.2 trillion, of which approximately 60% are currencies, like Bitcoin, and stablecoins, like Tether.
The Agreement has two phases, both in terms of investment opportunities and technology development.
In Phase One, a proof-of-concept real transaction will be executed by end of July, involving a client company already selected by SYME from its existing Italian portfolio, with the VeChain Foundation serving as provider of its VeChainThor blockchain and NFT investor.
Following the successful completion of the first transaction and an assessment of the innovative process designed to link digital assets to the real economy, Phase Two will build up an "Inventory Monetisation Platform 3.0" with an expected roadmap of Web3 features, including the issuance of Non Fungible Tokens ("NFT"), digital ownership and B2B marketplaces, decentralised finance (DEFI) and, overall, a governance protocol. For this phase, to be completed by end of December 2022, it's expected the Inventory Monetisation transactions will be also funded by further multiple liquidity providers (crypto asset managers and direct investors through liquidity pools partnerships).
The commitment budgeted by VeChain within the Agreement to directly subscribe the Inventory (NFT-based) Monetisation Transactions is up to USD $10m, of which approx. USD $1.5m immediately releasable to fund the available eligible inventory of the first Italian client selected and the rest, during the Phase Two, for one or more further client companies, also including the current UK portfolio.
Alessandro Zamboni, CEO of Supply@ME, said: "We are delighted to have reached this important milestone, eagerly anticipated by ourselves and our shareholders, to secure the first inventory monetisation transaction. Given the innovative nature of our product offering, the digital asset world is an ideal provider of funding for our unique asset class. Notwithstanding the recent turbulence in the crypto market, the digital economy will play a crucial role in supporting pioneering businesses like Supply@ME."
"As Supply@ME continues to scale, we are mindful of the evolving nature of the commercial and international trade, whereby digital assets are becoming increasingly popular among investors and have the potential to revolutionise the traditional financial services industry. They can also support and educate it for the future, boosting confidence in investing in new structures such as our Inventory Monetisation transactions. By embarking upon this alliance with the highly respected VeChain, an organisation that is unique in the sustainability and supply chain sector, we are working to ensure the business is future-proof and highly scalable. In parallel, we continue to progress our own traditional funding routes which remains strategic for our business model".
Sunny Lu, CEO of the VeChain Foundation, added: "We're always looking to join hands with innovative companies pushing the fore of digital technology. VeChain has demonstrated its ability to dream up, and subsequently deploy, new ideas and ecosystems that harness the revolutionary power of blockchain. We recognised the same potential in Supply@ME and their novel tradFi-Defi inventory management service. We look forward to working with them to co-develop these new systems and provide businesses with an entirely new method of raising value from Inventory Monetisation".
Notes
Supply@ME Capital PLC and its operating subsidiaries (together the "Group") provide an innovative fintech platform (the "Platform") for use by manufacturing and trading companies to access inventory trade solutions enabling their businesses to generate cashflow, via a non-credit approach and without incurring debt. This is achieved by their existing eligible inventory being added to the Platform and then monetised via purchase by third party Inventory Funders. The inventory to be monetised can include warehouse goods waiting to be sold to end-customers or goods/ commodities that are part of a typical import/ export transaction. SYME announced in August 2021 the launch of a global Inventory Monetisation programme which will be focused on both inventory in transit monetisation and warehoused goods monetisation. This programme will be focused on creditworthy companies and not those in distress or otherwise seeking to monetise illiquid inventories.
Contacts
Alessandro Zamboni, CEO, Supply@ME Capital plc, investors@supplymecapital.com
Paul Vann, Walbrook PR Limited, +44 (0)20 7933 8780; paul.vann@walbrookpr.com
Chanice Smith, Cicero/AMO, +44 (0)207 947 5328, chanice.smith@cicero-group.com
[1] https://www.vechain.org/
[2] According to Messari report "Crypto theses 2022", crypto, or the recently en vogue "Web3", is an unstoppable force in the long-term. Web3 is an all-encompassing term that captures cryptocurrencies (digital gold & stablecoins), smart contract computing (Layer 1-2 platforms), decentralized hardware infrastructure (video, storage, sensors, etc), Non-Fungible Tokens (digital ID & property rights), DeFi (financial services to swap and collateralize web3 assets), the Metaverse (the digital commons built in game-like environments), and community governance (DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations).
[3] https://messari.io/