VMob raises $2.17 mln, signs McDonald's deal, shares soar   26 Jan 2015

Article - BusinessDesk

VMob raises $2.17 mln, signs global deal with McDonald's, shares soar

By Paul McBeth

Jan. 26 (BusinessDesk) - VMob, the NZAX-listed mobile voucher developer formerly known as VoucherMob, raised $2.17 million to help fund its global growth aspirations, and separately signed a worldwide deal with McDonald's rolling out its platform immediately in the US. The shares more than doubled.

The Auckland-based company sold 205.1 million shares at 1.06 cents apiece to high net worth individuals, institutions and certain VMob directors in a private placement, it said in a statement. VMob had hoped to raise as much as $3 million before Christmas, but delayed the placements as many interested investors weren't available during the holiday period.

The funds will support its planned growth aspirations in the US by providing it with working capital, it said. As at Sept. 30 it held cash of $2.94 million, up from $504,000 a year earlier.

Separately, the company signed a commercial agreement with McDonald's providing access to 119 markets where the world's biggest fastfood chain operates, and with an immediate roll-out in the US, it said. The terms of the deal are confidential, but build on existing relationship VMob has built with McDonald's in the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan, it said.

The shares climbed 1.4 cents to 2.5 cents, a 127 percent gain, valuing the company at $31.6 million.

VMob seeks to "use mobile to bring shoppers back into stores" using targeted vouchers to build in-store loyalty from data collected on its Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

The company completed a backdoor listing on to the stock exchange's small-cap NZAX in 2012 using the shell company Velo Capital. Since then it has regularly raised capital by issuing shares, and the latest placement will expand that to about 1.5 billion on issue. The company is about one-third owned by interests associated with chief executive Scott Bradley.

(BusinessDesk)

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