Blackbird (LSE:BIRD) — Investor Update

0:01 Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the BLACKBIRD PLC Investor Presentation. Throughout this presentation, you'll be investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged. They can be submitted at any time using the Q and A tab on the right hand of your screen. Just please simply type in your question at any time and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company will review your questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses on the Investor Meet company dashboard and send you an email when they're ready for your review. Also like to remind you that this presentation is being

0:31 recorded. Before we begin, we would like to submit the following poll, and I'm sure the the company would be grateful for your response. And I'd now like to hand over to Ian MacDonough, CEO from BLACKBIRD. Good morning. Good morning, Mark. Thank you very much, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today. Today, we're going to be, talking you through, the the the recent fundraise that we just announced yesterday morning where we have raised approximately £8,000,000, from the AIM market, from institutions and investors to monetize our IP. And the the the title of this of this fundraiser is really called Powered by Blackbird Monetization of the IP. Now the reason for that is that the the core business the core business that is that that sells our product, our Blackbird platform into the media entertainment professional video content creation space, long winded way of saying that that that, you know, media entertainment, m and e, that's our core business.

1:24 We will get to profitability in that business. We have enough resources in in our in the bank, and we are growing at a rate with an a list customer base and a very good reputation that we will reach profitability in that core business. This fundraise is about expanding into new markets. So this is about staying close to our our IP while while utilizing it and leveraging it into new markets that are that are exciting, grow fast, and using video. So without further ado, I'm gonna talk you through, very much the presentation that we gave to the investor community last week. So who who we are and what we do, we are we're an aim listed company. We're Blackbird. We also have a cross trade on the OTCQX market in The US, which is very new and is and is is is is gaining some levels of interest over there. We will be promoting that more in the next year. Presuming we could travel to The US, that is.

2:20 We are we when we when we drew this presentation up, we were at a 100 just over a 100,000,000 market cap, which is a little bit under that now, but it's it's it's there and thereabouts. And we are a company where all the board are investors in the business. All the board are shareholders. And as a reminder, Steven, who's on the call with me today, is is is around a seventeen and a half percent shareholder now. And I, my family and I are just, seven and a half percent shareholders. We participated in this round. Actually, a number of directors did participate in this round, to the tune of around £400,000. So we are, at our heart, an IP company, and that's and that IP is one of the real triggers for for why we went up for this raise today. We're not just a product company. We have, at the heart of our company, 16 patents, including those that are that are pending.

3:16 We're looking to grow that over the next twelve months. But those patents have now got a a really a really interesting first data point. In September this year, we announced our first major contract for our product powered by Blackbird. Powered by Blackbird is not our core product. Powered by Blackbird is the underlying technology that encompasses a lot of lots of patents and other technology besides that allows company to do certain things. And the company in question is going to build a cloud video editing platform on top of BLACKBIRD technology and roll that out to to the to broadcast industry around the world. Very exciting. And, actually, the trigger, the confidence it gives our company and also the industry as whole, and we don't just mean the the media entertainment sector, but also the the video world as as a as a whole, the confidence to to to look at at powered by Blackbird as a way to migrate their companies to cloud.

4:14 I'll come back to that in a couple of minutes later. Now we currently work in this content creation and distribution distribution space. We're a carbon reducing technology. We put a paper out in 2021, early twenty twenty one. Around around that, we were it was ratified by a third party called Green Element who demonstrated that BLACKBIRD can be up to 91% more carbon efficient than our peers in the video editing market. That is something that's got us an awful lot of of attention over the last, few months and something that we'll be we'll be building on in in in months to come. We also offer that that's actually allowed us to to to win from the London Stock Exchange, the green economy mark. The green economy mark is given out to companies where more than 50% of their activities is is related to reducing carbon.

5:01 As a 100% of our activities are related to reducing carbon, then we were we were we were good candidates for that. Only 5% of the London Stock Exchange currently has the green economy mark out of the two and a half thousand companies that are listed. We also offer freedom and resilience to the cost to to the customers and to the end users that we that we work with. So I started with this company in late two thousand seventeen. At the time, and no exaggeration, we were doing £200 deals, into the London SoHo postproduction market. We've recently just signed our first €2,000,000 deal, so, I hope you would see that in in taking a project tool, from a very small part of the product postproduction world into a global SaaS enterprise platform, we are we are certainly starting to deliver.

5:52 We have a tier one client base that includes the NHL, the NFL, the The US, state department. It includes, Univision, CBS, A and E Networks, and and and many others. It's a very enviable client base, and they're the most exacting clients. So they do know that we're they've got a a very powerful and and precise product. Our revenues is about 2.3 x from when I started. Prepare to see more more growth in that in in the coming months. And we've created, quite a lot of shareholder value. As I say, we're this is our primary interest to us because we we're all shareholders ourselves, but it's around around a 10 to 12 x of of shareholder value. And most interestingly, over the last few months, I think, we've become a technology licensor. Technology licensor means that we can we can license our core tech to companies that are that are building cloud video platforms.

6:44 And the most interesting point about that as it relates to this presentation is it doesn't just have to be in media and entertainment. In our space, though, we are we are recently crowned best tech company 2021 by sports pro who are a very, well well known body within the industry. That's after last year being, awarded the best emerging tech company of 2020. So as you can see, our reputation is is in is in very good shape as we move into new markets. Now this chart this this chart, attempts to illustrate how the development of the technology in those last four years has led to an ever increasing opportunity in the commercial space. So back in 2018 when I was when I just started, we we launched our new codec, BLACKBIRD nine, which was much higher quality and much lower data rate in order to in order to to make it much more efficient to use to use Blackbird.

7:36 That was followed up in 2019 by the rollout of our JavaScript product. And JavaScript allows everything now to be done in a browser, which means it's ultimately scalable. Basically, anyone who has a browser can can can then just log on to Blackbird. And that really allows a much larger scale of of customer. That actually that actually drove the TownNews expansion. Following that, we we innovated by having a SOC two certification in 2020 ratified, and we've just been yeah. We we we're just going through our our latest renewal of that. That that really allows us to talk to the very biggest and the very best in in media entertainment because they can feel secure around around the the the the cybersecurity of the of the company and the processes around that. In 2021, we've started to open up the APIs, and they are they're they're progressing at pace.

8:25 The APIs have allowed us to do deals such as the the EVS OEM, which we're with the with the largest sporting event the world saw this last summer. For for for for reasons of confidentiality and commercial interest, I'm not allowed to say which ones they are, but it was a very large event. We've also now increased our town news numbers to 80 stations. We just re recently announced that. So this this is obviously a a moving a moving story. And we also closed a deal recently with Eurovision Sport, and the APIs have allowed us to do that. Eurovision is a name synonymous, of course, with a with a with a with a with a song contest. This was not about the song contest. Eurovision is also the production arm of the EBU, which is the European Broadcast Union with a 115 different member organizations across 50 plus countries.

9:13 Now Eurovision Sport is produces sport in 17 different disciplines, including cycling, athletics, swimming, etcetera, all centrally for for for those 115 different member organizations to access, edit, and publish from. BLACKBIRD is now at the heart of that operation. We've we've we've we did the first deal back in September, and we're already being talked about expanding that that that those services into new entities. So this is this is a growth story, I think, that can be bit can be looked at in the same way that the town news story is. So it starts we'll start small and land and expand. The largest company that we mentioned on here, we can't mention, but it's a global broadcast company. It is it is now taking our our our core patents and our core technology and building their own platform on top of.

10:03 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the trigger for this for this in this race. What is powered by BLACKBIRD? What is it doing for the customers or potentially doing for the customers that we're talking to? Well, on the on the left hand side here, there are a number of features that it includes, like codecs and libraries and rendering and and publishing and compression. But what it really does what what what I think is interesting for for for this audience is that it allows companies to migrate from CapEx models, hardware models into SaaS models, into cloud models. And it can do that efficiently, cost efficiently, speed efficiently, time efficiently, bandwidth efficiently, hardware efficiently in a resilient way that can also lead to to carbon reduction as well, so as an added bonus.

10:50 So that is why companies are interested to talk to us. That is why we have quite a number of conversations ongoing after the launch of powered by BLACKBIRD because moving moving workflows to the cloud is is is really the way that that that all video companies are going, and it's, again, not just media entertainment.

11:09 So this similar to the chart I showed you a couple of slides ago, this this is a chart again over time which shows how our approach to the market has has has related to the to the to the tech advancements. So forget the £200 deals I mentioned at the beginning. The the first real deals that I started signing were around infrastructure deals. So we mentioned some of these like CBS Sports and A and E. That will continue. We're not we're not gonna stop doing that. They're fantastic deals to to to be associated with. It's great to be at the very front front edge and at the coalface of of of major media, infrastructure. But we also layer onto that OEM partnerships through the likes of TownNews, Tata, EVS, etcetera, where we can scale through using other companies' tech stacks, being part of the company's tech stacks, and and sales teams.

11:57 The APIs have come on top of that, which allowed us to do the likes of Eurovision and these big sporting events where lots of international media owners or or or rights owners can log in to Blackbird as a hub. The keyword there is hub, to allow for for for the for the Blackbird magic to take place. And then powered by Blackbird is the is the very latest iteration of that. So it's an advancement again. This raise is not about any of that. This raise is about these three blocks on the top, which which were on new areas close to our IP that that that have have significantly growing markets that we want to approach and and and tackle, address. The first of the these is is the player market, is the video distribution market. Our player, which some of you might have seen on previous a previous roadshow a couple of years ago, has some unique aspects to it that are patented again, that allow for for for content to be distributed in a very efficient, very fast, way, but also in a way that allows for a huge amount of data to be to be recorded and and and noted. So that means every every every access, every view, every share, every reshare, every clip and share right up to the millionth or the billionth share can be recorded at at source because the content is never moving.

13:14 And that also allows for some very exciting, we believe, monetization possibilities through the player. The other two areas that that we're going to be looking at are the creator space and the enterprise space. The creator space, I have a slide on, so I won't work well on it here. The enterprise space is is probably a little bit further out, but this this includes everything from defense to security, surveillance, aerospace, medical, you name it. Anybody that's that's that is using video as a means for their business rather than as a product of their business, we would we would encapsulate in the in the enterprise space. Now just to just to hammer these these these points home really, I've we've we've we've drawn up this kind of dartboard like approach, to show where we're currently focusing on where and where future opportunities are. If you look at that yellow circle in the middle, that is the Blackbird IP, the the the the 16 patents today that that will increase.

14:08 And as you move away from the IP, you can see how we've we've we've got certain ways that we can go. Within this is all media and entertainment. So we built our Blackbird platform, which is which is growing very nicely and and and is and is has great reputation. As we move out of that, away further from the IP, we will move into public cloud. And that that that that public cloud allows us to do quite a few different things. First of all, it allows us to scale in a in a in a in a infinite way as as as our customers get bigger and bigger. It also allows us to create a marketplace product, which allows for self-service for the long tail of media entertainment. So this is these these are these are gonna be increasing our addressable market and also allowing for a for for a a potential realization of of becoming a standard within the industry.

14:57 Now as you move further from that, a lot of the companies in our sector are starting to roll up. What does roll up mean? Well, it means buying companies that are adjacent to you. So, potentially, in our case, it would be potentially buying asset management or graphics or storage or those kind of things.

15:13 We don't see that as a as as the most logical route for for for Blackbird at this point. We think that that is that is something that takes us away from our IP and doesn't really build on what is different about us as a company. What we would prefer to do is move into the other areas of video that are the video world that are much closer to our IP. So that is that is really building on the power by BLACKBIRD model to approach distribution, the creator space, the enterprise space. And we we like to move across this dartboard in a clockwise manner. So if you see you see in that orange circle, you can see distribution, creator, enterprise, etcetera. On top of that, then you've got the likes of AI integration or marketplace where we're a hub, OEM, again, where we're a hub, and personalization where our player has has, again, some unique patented aspects of it that can drive personalized video.

16:05 If you move then out of the circle to the to to the red circle from that angle, then it's I think the areas that there become really more exciting than than a roll up. You get into the areas of data, either data compression because that's what the software does or in terms of sitting on an awful lot of data from from from various sources that will allow for big data analysis. So we're not gonna get into that into that at this state this stage. We're gonna refocus on the on on the inner circles at this stage, but just shows you the strategic opportunities that that that are that are in play for Blackbird as we as we grow.

16:39 Now Steven's gonna take you into this this the take to his next slide. This is not the inner workings of Steven Streeter's mind, but I think that he will be able to simplify this a little bit with some some great commentary and explain. Yes. Thank you. We do have a version that builds, but I think this has got everything here we need to know. So I'll start with the capabilities, which are the big circles and ovals at the back. So that's things like capture, content creation. So those are things that we use every day in our professional product. And distribution and AI and Blackbird 10 are related features. And the important point about this is that content creation is not the biggest market that our technology can be used for. Distribution is by far the biggest market. And inside that, you have the specializations.

17:26 And the one I'd like to draw your attention to is the player. So we have a player. It's used every day by our professionals, and they use it for things like review and approval. Some of our clients have actually made their own b to b websites. The A and E has showed one in their webinar earlier this year. But, of course, it's all b to b. They only have a few viewers, which is sort of slightly misses the point of the technology in the sense that it's very applicable to large audience. So what we'd like to do is to extend that. We would like to own the viewers. We'd like to extend it outside just the content creation side, have access to the data because the players, some of you may know, is actually a program. So it's not just playing back video. It can do anything. It can monitor what people watch, what they like, what they don't like.

18:13 It also allows clipping and sharing. And if you go into the monetization step, this is the big next big step for us. We're going to add monetization into the player. So it's part of the player. So anyone who uses our player will be able to monetize their content from through the player, which will again connect us to the viewers and all the big data analytics. So with that taster of our player strategy, I'll hand you back to Ian, and he'll talk about the markets that that could be useful for. Thank you, Steven. So Oops. Sorry. Prior to us yeah. Thanks. So prior prior to us coming out on on on on the road this time to the investors, we were working and doing some research using using our existing resources into looking at markets that are that are quite close to what we do, but not exactly the same. And and one of the most exciting areas of that is the creator economy.

19:13 The the creator economy is is not the consumer world. It is it is actually independent businesses and and and self employed creators who are out there to make money from from video. And they're doing that on on some very well known platforms at the moment that you will know, like TikTok and and YouTube and Instagram and and others. It's currently valued at about a $104,000,000,000 a year, this market, and it's growing very, very quickly. It's growing at the same trajectory as the gig economy, which has a value in in the in the trillions. So it is it is a huge, huge market. There are currently around 50,000,000 creators in the in the world today, and that again is is growing. And our opportunity is based around the fact that currently they have quite a lot of issues. They have an inefficiency in terms of video creation, which we know from from from work we do in in the professional space that, that BLACKBIRD can can certainly help and and and and many ways solve.

20:09 Video distribution is currently very cumbersome, labor intensive, and, again, we think we can solve and help there. And and maybe the most exciting or maybe the most significant area where I think we can we can help is in currently creator monetization is very low. And if you think that around 30% of US school children today want to want to to to to leave school and become creators, and yet only two and a half percent of creators are currently making more than The US poverty line of 12,000 a year, then there's a huge a huge disparity between desire and reward. And we believe that we can without getting into too much detail here, we believe we can we can we can help with that. So we all we all know those big names like TikTok and and and YouTube and and Instagram, But there are a whole new genre and generation of new platforms that are up and coming in this area.

21:05 We've just picked out a couple oh, picked out three here to give an example of of where we see how we see this market growing. Substack is is is a is a platform mainly for journalists at this stage, but also, potentially moving into video creations, actually used by Dominic Cummings at this stage, in The UK, probably the most well known person that's that's using that platform. But they allow they allow content creators, I. E, journalists to be in touch directly with with end customers, and be able to monetize their content that way. Patreon is similar, but mainly in the video world. Canva is is a platform that started off in in template design, but is is is fast moving into video content creation as well. So these are a selection of companies that could potentially be customers for us in the powered by BLACKBIRD model.

21:51 But there are others. We know that Adobe is moving into the space more and more. Clipchamp has just been acquired by by by Microsoft. And if you've read an article about us recently, where where we were described BLACKBIRD was described as the top of the pyramid in terms of in terms of, cloud video content creation. The journalist in the article, Jan Oza, talked about a a soup of of of platforms that are up and coming in the creator space that are that are helping to to try and to try and make content creation and and distribution more consumer centric, more more creator centric. So we believe there's a big opportunity for us here, and and, yeah, this this this race is very much about about powering us into that direction. Why do we think we we we will be good in this direction? Well, we have a great reputation. We have customers of the most exacting nature in the professional video market.

22:47 Our our our our expertise is also built upon patents. We currently have 16, but we will be increasing that. In fact, the goal the goal is going to be to to to try and double that over the next couple of years in terms of number of patents. We have very compelling carbon reduction technology, which we believe is gonna be ever more important as we as we roll into other areas that aren't just media entertainment, especially. And our technology out of the box allows us to to to monetize, our our customers', revenue models in many ways other than just in edit just in editing. So Steven's referred to the to to the player revenue share. It could be the data revenue share. It could be marketplace commission. It could be taking royalties from being an OEM ecosystem or indeed our core market of editing, and in fact, probably a number of others as well. But these these are these are potential because we're a hub, because we have all this data, potentially have this data, and we have this this this functionality in the cloud.

23:48 We can we can monetize for our customers in in various different ways. So recap. This is not about the current business. The current business will get to profitability within its within its current resources. This is about about building in new resources to, to address different markets, namely the video distribution market through the player, the creator economy, and the enterprise video market. We went we we signaled last week that we were looking to raise up to £10,000,000. In fact, we could easily have taken £10,000,000 at at various rates. These things are always a trade off. We we we raised the money at 28p, which we think is a very decent a decent number. It puts us just under the under the 100 mil mil market cap and is exactly double what we we raised at in in 2019.

24:44 So we think fantastic growth of market cap since since 2019.

24:49 I think all investors are very happy with that. And as I say, this this is always a balance. Do we take do we take a little bit more less money? Well, we thought that 8,000,000 is gonna actually power us into the into the areas that we need and it's gonna be it's gonna free up funds in the core business too. What will those funds be used upon? Certainly, developing the team more, adding adding, chief product officer, and adding product team, in these new areas of power by Blackbird. It'll be increasing the the development team, by by at least 50%, and it'll be also increasing, business development potentially well, particularly in The US where where much of this activity is going to take place. So that's all on team. However, we also want to build out our our our patent portfolio, so there'll be money going into into that.

25:37 We'll also be working the majority of the money actually will be going into prototyping and market testing. What we think we can deliver through powered by BLACKBIRD, we feel could be global phenomenon. And therefore, we want to make sure these these these products are are developed and market tested, to the to the nth degree to make sure that they are indeed, roadworthy.

25:59 Why now? Well, we come we come to you today as as as best tech company 2021 as as as talked about by Sports Pro as well as Sports Pro. We've won numerous other awards this year, which I'll I'd I'd almost too many to mention, so I'm not going to mention them. So we've got a great reputation in the market. We've got an a a list client base. We've got proven IP applicability through this recent announcement with this broadcast company, this global broadcast company.

26:25 And we have the potential to go into markets that are growing exponentially, that have a requirement, have a need, or have an evident need for for for the for the for the technology that we have. So we think this is an excellent opportunity to to to to to we thought it was, and we're delighted, very excited to raise money at a at a at a very attractive valuation in order to to move into markets that are close to our IP that are growing exponentially.

26:49 So thank you for your your attention, ladies and gentlemen. We are now able to to take any questions that you might have around us. That's great. Ian, Steven, thank you very much indeed for updating investors this morning. I'd

27:08 like to remind you that the recording of this presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q and A can be accessed via your Investor Meet company dashboard. I'd also like to remind you finally that your feedback is important to the company. And immediately after this presentation has ended, we'll redirect you for the opportunity to provide feedback in order the company can really better understand your views and expectations. Ian, we did receive a couple of questions before today's event. So perhaps I could start off before turning to the live questions with these. So the first one is as follows. Are we gonna have any further news before Christmas about the public cloud announcement that was due before the end of the year?

27:43 Thank you, Mark. Public cloud is is is high on our list of of priorities, and, you know, we are we're we're making advancements there. Sometimes things are just not always in our direct control and in in the control of of of third party. So, I I it would be a little bit irresponsible to say that yes and no, it's gonna happen, but it's certainly very high on our priority list. I couldn't give an exact date at this stage. Thank you very much, Ian. And then also, are you still expecting a sharp increase in revenues next year through the licensing arrangements agreements? Licensing agreements are are are very are very much a focus. We believe through licensing agreements, we can we can expand very fast, very quickly. The the the licensing agreements that we have announced took around twelve months to to negotiate and and close.

28:34 Much of that was around the fact that the company in question, went away for about six months to make sure that we really were the best and and and the only people that could do this. So I think that the next the next the next sales cycles for the for the next products that were already in conversation will be significantly shorter.

28:51 And so the the the the quick answer to your question is yes. I believe there will be sharp increase in revenue around it. But, yeah, I can't I haven't got a crystal ball, but I think in in terms of that, yeah, I think it will be. That's great. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you to all the investors that are taking time to both presubmit questions. And, of course, Ian, you'll see there's a number of questions in the live chat. Would you mind could I just hand back to you? Could you read out the question and give a response, of course, where it's appropriate to do so? Absolutely. So William asked us said, can you talk a little bit about your competitors? Why would the big tech companies not outgo any I think I'm sure Steven's got an answer to this one. I'll just I'll just answer I'll start off the off the off the. Big tech companies aren't generally innovators. Big tech companies are often often acquirers of technology.

29:44 And we've got a licensed product out there now, which means that these big tech tech companies can license us. So I think, you know, innovation often comes from from from, you know, from from light agile companies such as ourselves that can that can then license into into big tech companies. Steven, you sure if you want to pick that one up? Yeah. I'll just mention one thing. I mean, the thing about these these new markets is they're moving very quickly, and time is one of the most important things. And if you're a big company and you have to try and create something basically from scratch, it's just gonna be too slow and too late. And the thing about big companies is they have money, and it's much easier for them to buy or license existing solutions. So I think well, we'll see what they do. But in our historical experience, the companies that have tried to copy us have not managed to catch up.

30:40 We're just too far ahead. It's much easier just to license things as we have done recently with this broadcast technology supplier. We have a number of questions based around the details of the placing and the and the people that have participated, which I am unable to answer at this at this stage until the process is complete. But we will be publishing that information when when we're allowed to. So other than the fact that you will know that that the board have, then I think, unfortunately, you have to be a little bit patient on that until till the the process is is is has been played out. Does the license so a question from Mark Kaye. Does the licensee of September 2021 already have a video editing product?

31:26 So this this the company in question without wanting to give too much away is is is a very well known name in the in the broadcast services area, and so would always have been employed in some in some way around this. But it's yeah. I I I don't wanna give too much mark here because otherwise, it starts to to to lead to the door of somebody, and I I think that would be unwise at this stage. So, yes, yes, in some respects, they did, but it's a it it's they're a very well known name in the industry. Question maybe for Steve, who's sitting next me, and you can just see a glimpse of Steve. So it says, will the financial statements clearly separate our Blackbird Ventures into new markets to allow investors to gauge the relative success of the placing? Yes. Of course. We will we separate that out from the core business, so you'll have full transparency in that area.

32:24 Okay. And then we've got one from Mark R. The previous guidance that the company will not need to raise new funds priced reaching breakeven is no longer relevant. Can the Board, therefore, consider releasing more specific guidance regarding the time frame hitting breakeven? We can't within our current existing business. The reason for that, as we've said to you beforehand, is because our revenue stream is very lumpy. You saw from the chart that Ian presented earlier, a couple of months ago, we did our largest ever deal by a factor of two. So it's very difficult for us to forecast our revenues at this stage. But, you know, hopefully, with a few more of these clients on board and everything, it'd be it become much easier for us to do that over the over the coming years. Yeah. I mean, one one successful deal for power by BLACKBIRD in the next six months could could take us there. But but as I said before, it took twelve months to close the first one. So I we just don't want to forecast it. We forecast it on one day, and the next day we close the deal or vice versa, then it won't be great for investors. It won't be great for us. So we we just we're working as hard as we can to get those deals closed as as possible to smooth out that that lumpiness.

33:35 Okay. So for the licensing project, what percentage of the r and d team is assigned to that at its peak and q two? Is there a penalty clause for late delivery? There's quite a lot of confidential information in that question, I'm afraid, Chris. But, Steven, do you wanna maybe just talk a little bit about about resources there? Yes. I mean, it's obviously significant but not exclusive for our team. Lots of the people contribute to particular parts of the project. I wouldn't want to quantify it at this stage. And, obviously, the contractual clauses are confidential too. Yep. So question from Dan s. Why was the approximately £5,000,000,000 existing cash not sufficient to make a material expansion now and then follow with the placing in 2022 once the progress in deals and the share price had been made? Great question, Dan. Listen. Everything's a judgment call, and and we've we've we've felt that that, first of all, the trigger points of having the the the the the first licensing deal in the market was important and relevant.

34:43 We felt that the the exponential growth and dynamism of of the creative space was important. We felt the general health of the global economy was important. Num number of different things that I think that that that that played into a decision. I think we got the judgment call right. Time will, of course, always be the judge. We raised it at a at a at a at a fabulous valuation, and I think that's that that that super really really helps to to underpin the value that we've currently got. I think, yeah, I think, overall, time will tell whether we we've made the right judgment, but I I I strongly believe that we have.

35:19 Thank you. Okay. So William s, can thank you. Can you talk about how the companies such as yours are valued? We can talk about examples in the space. One one example that's that happened fairly recently, actually, around the time that we announced this deal, was around Adobe's acquisition of Frame. Io. Frame. Io was was was was acquired at $1,250,000,000. They have revenues at around $20,000,000, a US company. So fairly small US company, but quite a quite quite a substantial multiple. And and the reason for that is is that Frame are are helping Adobe, the behemoth that is Adobe, move their their their platform from being an on prem platform into a a cloud platform, bring from a hardware platform into a SaaS platform, etcetera.

36:10 That is exactly what we're doing for the company in question that we've we've we've we've we've not mentioned the name of and what we can do for others. So I can't tell you exactly why it's valued at that level, but I can tell you that that's that's what it's valued at. I hope that helps.

36:28 Question from Colin w. Is a licensing model at odds with an acquisition exit, question mark? I think I I can only imagine that most corporates will be reluctant to build powered by BLACKBIRD as a core offering if there is a risk that a major player buys into BLACKBIRD to gain exclusivity and so rescind the license. Well, yeah, maybe, Colin, it didn't it didn't do any harm any harm, I have to say. They they they certainly have that sort of that sort of model. It's it's it's a it's a different angle than building a platform of our own, but it's an and it's a model that plays very much to our strengths and really builds upon on on on the, you know, the fantastic work that's been done over a number of years here at BLACKBIRD and will continue to be done. So I don't believe it does, and certainly other companies, as I just mentioned, have have proven that too.

37:19 Philip p, are you planning to have a high profile business partner in The US to help you gain market penetration there? Well, we have quite a number of high profile business partners in The US. We will continue to bring on high profile partners too. You know, we are we are we are, you know, a 30 person company, you know, out of Wimbledon. Of course, you know, it helps it helps to to to align align with the very biggest and the best in the industry. Don't have any any definite plans or to I can announce you there, Philip, but we have a we have a a an excellent and growing reputation for our tech in in in The US, and people are attracted to us on a on a on a daily basis. And so I think that's that's that's actually in in the in the frame. Yes. Why is frame.io valued at 1,200,000,000 and BIRD at under a 100,000,000? Well, that's great. I'm I'm glad that someone's now saying we're valued too low because, obviously, we we have a number of people saying that we're valued too high. So, yeah, Paul, watch this space, hopefully. Well, you know, this this this is this is the route this is the route to the unicorn.

38:22 I prefer to have that one thrown back at me a number of times as I know you guys like to. Yeah. This this this is our our our route to growing to to that level. Jeremy asked, can you say who else took a plate? No. I can't. Sorry. At this point at this point, Jeremy. I'm sorry. Until until the process is complete, I'm I'm not able to say that. Right. So here. Will the will Mark Kaye, will the new funding help to add new products or extend existing ones or both? Very good question, Mark. Definitely both. By staying close to our IP, we can have the chief product officer who I I mentioned would be on our critical path, of of recruitment, will help us to build a portfolio of products that are built that are built on our IP but are in in different different flavors for different industries. Different different industries will have different requirements from the IP. IP.

39:14 We know very well what the requirements are in in in in professional media entertainment. Things like SOC two, for instance, are hugely important to to to the to the business here, but there will be different different aspects of that as we move into different areas. Question from Graham e. I submitted a question yesterday. At the at the last presentation, said contracts have been signed for one, two, or three years. Are any of these coming up for renewal? Oh, just lost him. Renewal, and are you confident of repeat business? Well, Graham, I think I think the quickest way to answer that is that our churn rate is very low. We we we we very rarely lose contracts unless some someone's business model has has has proven to rapidly change, like they've suddenly outsourced all their production or indeed that they've actually gone out of business or something like that. So we we very, very, very rarely lose any contracts, but we don't announce renewals. So so you can assume that if it's not announced, that that generally it's been it's been rolled over. Yeah. We're giving we're starting to give you a monthly recurring revenue figure so that you'll be able to see that. So that was just under 1,800,000 at the the end of June.

40:25 And, yeah, it'll be growing. On top of that, you will have, like, you know, one off revenues such as, you know, from the the games, the winter games that are gonna take place next year and such as from our, you know, first licensing deal that, you know, we gave guidance for. So for next year, there will be a debt one off debt fee of €540,000 as well. Question from from Luca P. Good morning. Given the the opportunity seems to be very US focused, are you excluding any m and a to speed up the process of creating a dedicated team there? We we don't have limited thinking here. So so, you know, nothing nothing is excluded, Luca. It's not on the critical path for us because we see that the the applicability of the of the of the IP is is our calling card rather than rather than merely buying a sales team.

41:17 We we talked a little bit about in our own space about about roll up, which is effectively a sort of m and a activity not being our desired route at this stage. I think leveraging through through partnerships, integrations, OEM, and powered by BLACKBIRD is is our route. So I I don't think we need a particularly large sales team because we're talking at a very senior levels to to some of the biggest companies in the world. It doesn't need to be a cost of thousands. It can be, you know, just a a few very highly skilled influential people. Right. I think that is more or less the questions that we're able to answer.

42:06 That's great, Ian. And, of course, what we'll do is we'll supply any further questions that may come in from investors and give those to you for your review. And, of course, we'll publish all responses to the q and a on the investor meet company website. Perhaps Is that Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, Mark. There's a couple more just coming. I don't know if it's it's got time we can answer them. I just noticed one here. Okay. How is Tata going? It wasn't on the list of of indicative deal sizes. Correct. It probably should have been, and and it is it is it is going well. It is it is it has has an air of confidentiality around it as well at Tata's behest, but it's it's it's it's growing, and it is a it is a key OEM for us.

42:56 Is the EVS slash winter games event meant that all broadcast will have access to the video stream, or is it simply an optional extra for them? The the the business model is not something I can go into in in detail, but it will be about allowing international broadcasters, international rights holders to access the the the the Blackbird, versions of the of of the video streams as they come in, and and and access, edit, clip, and publish from there. Yes. From Dennis, why are you meeting more US investors in January 22? Is this to seek further funding? This is to this is to publicize our OTCQX listing, Dan. Somebody asked earlier why we're not valued higher.

43:43 Well, you know, it is it is about getting the word out there often, and I am very I am very very happy to do that on behalf of the company and and and hopefully meet some investors face to face. We have an incredibly exciting story to to tell. And over the last two years, given the increase in our profile, it's been a little frustrating that we can't actually travel directly to meet investors. Likewise, it's been a little bit frustrating. We weren't able to go to IBC this year or indeed NAB as as as tech company of the year. But, hey, this is this is this is the way the world works. It's how it is, and we have to make the very best of it. So we are we are we're if we can take the opportunity to travel to The US, I certainly will do. Yeah. And going back to the original idea of, like, having that cross trade on OTCQX, It was to increase the liquidity in the stock by getting more interest in The US. So, yeah, we need to promote that story.

44:38 I think that completes the questions as I can see them. That's great. Thank you very much, Ian, Steve, and Steven for updating investors. I know investor feedback is important to you guys, and I will shortly redirect investors to provide you with their thoughts and expectations. But I guess before doing so, if I may, just hand back to you for a few closing comments. Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Well, listen. This this this is this is an incredibly exciting period for the company as as we move forward here. We're delighted to have to have gained the confidence of of of investors and and institutions from from the from a market who've really seen the potential of what we can offer in markets that don't necessarily mean that the media entertainment professional video content creation, but actually new markets that are close to our IP. So hugely exciting, and and we look forward to updating you shortly. Thank you very much.

45:28 That's great. Ian, Steve. Steven, thank you once again for updating investors this morning. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as we'll now automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide feedback in order the company can better understand your views and expectations? Will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure we're greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of BLACKBIRD PLC, we'd like to thank you very much for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session. Good morning to you all.