WISeKey Announces H1 2021 Preliminary Results; Reports Revenue of $9.9 Million, a 24% Increase from H1 2020
July 09 2021 - 12:00PM
WISeKey
Announces H1
2021 Preliminary
Results; Reports
Revenue of $9.9 Million,
a 24% Increase
from H1 2020
WISeKey’s strong cash
reserves of $35.9
million, as of
July 9, 2021, support investment in
Artificial Intelligence as
well as new products,
IP and faster-growing
IoT/Cybersecurity markets
ZUG, Switzerland
- July
9,
2021:
Ad-Hoc announcements pursuant to SIX reporting
requirements – WISeKey International Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:
WKEY / SIX: WIHN) (“WISeKey” or the “Company”), a leading Swiss
cybersecurity and IoT company announced today its preliminary
unaudited financial results for the six-month period ended June 30,
2021 (“H1 2021”). All H1 2021 figures in this release are unaudited
and estimated due to the preliminary nature of the
announcement.
Carlos Moreira, WISeKey’s Founder and CEO,
noted, “Since the beginning of the year, we made tremendous
progress in our efforts to overcome the challenges of COVID-19
pandemic. We invested in new technologies and talent, expanded our
client base and geographic reach and we are proud to say that due
to our leading technologies, dedicated and talented staff, and our
dedication to the cybersecurity business, we have emerged from this
pandemic stronger than ever. The acquisition of a controlling
interest in arago has provided us with a new, higher-margin revenue
source for AI-based Knowledge Automation and new synergies for our
IoT revenue generation. We believe that due to our solid revenue
pipeline for existing product offerings and new opportunities in
the emerging Cybersecure Automation for the AIoT market, WISeKey is
well positioned to take advantage of several growth opportunities,
create new revenue streams, improve margins and increase revenues,
and continue its growth organically and through acquisitions, thus
gradually providing higher returns to its shareholders.”
Preliminary H1 2021 Financial
and Operational
Highlights:
- Revenue of
$9.9 million increased by
24% as compared to H1 2020 revenue of $8.0
million.
- Strong cash
position: cash and cash equivalents increased to $27.9
million at June 30, 2021, as compared to cash and cash equivalents
together with restricted cash of $17.4 million at June 30, 2020,
and $21.8 million at December 31, 2020. As of July 9, 2021,
WISeKey’s cash reserves amount to $35.9 million. This improved
financial position enables WISeKey to make investments in growth
initiatives and support its development into Artificial
Intelligence of Things (“AIoT”).
- Made significant
investments in R&D and new microchips design in order
to maintain our leading-edge technology position and the
competitive advantage of our product offerings.
- Put strong requirements in
place to reduce general corporate
spending and effectively manage the needs for working
capital to maintain a positive free cash flow position.
- Completed the
acquisition of a
controlling interest in arago
GmbH (“arago”), investing a further $4.7 million
cash in the first half of 2021, bringing our total investment to
$8.2 million of cash into the arago operations. This investment led
to a combination of the businesses of WISeKey and arago and the
consolidation of revenues starting February 2021. arago provides
Artificial Intelligence to enterprise customers globally through
Knowledge Automation. Knowledge Automation and Data platform HIRO™,
developed by arago, takes a unique approach to process automation
by using AI to autonomously and independently determine how to
complete and then automate end-to-end tasks based on real time
contextual data. Fully auditable and only using steps defined and
approved by the customer, Knowledge Automation delivers
significantly higher automation rates at a much lower operational
cost. This acquisition was strategic for WISeKey to establish a
foothold into the AIoT market.
- Took urgent and decisive
actions to reduce the operational
costs of arago and streamline
their processes with significant reductions of G&A.
- Made significant
investments in new talent and have expanded our sales
force including the appointment of a new CRO to take
advantage of higher demand for strong security, authentication,
brand protection and anti-counterfeiting services for segments such
as connected devices, connected cars, luxury products,
pharmaceuticals, and banking/financial sector.
-
Developed
WISe.ART, an NFT platform
for the collectible and luxury market under the brand
name WISe.ART
(https://www.wise.art).
The global market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) surged to new
highs in the second quarter of 2021, with $2.5 billion in sales so
far this year, up from just $13.7 million in the first half of
2020, as marketplace data showed. Although the NFT market decreased
last month, it is expected to surge again especially on the
high-end NFT market which is the market segment where the WISe.ART
platform operates. WISeKey’s WISe.ART NFT platform follows a series
of market tests – selling high value NFTs and testing the appetite
of the art and collectible community – and incorporates the needs
of this exclusive and high-volume marketplace. Following
the needs of buyers and sellers of high-value goods
the WISe.ART platform evolves the original collection
of WISe.Art and is a fully fledged marketplace with its
own digital currency, the ability to include curators and
multipliers, white-labeling options and a special NFT design.
The NFT design of the WISe.ART platform ensures that
besides an authenticated and signed version of the actual digital
asset, an irreversible link to a physical object is set up, in
addition to proof of ownership, provenance and a set of contracts
describing future use and monetization streams. NFTs and platform
are secured by WISeKey’s various security technologies
enabling the authentication of physical objects as well as digital
assets in a safe end-to-end process.
The WISe.ART platform allows trading of NFTs
into WISeKey’s own TrustECoin cryptocurrency,
enabling market participants to stay anonymous – if they
so choose – while ensuring the necessary KYC processes to
avoid unwanted activity on the marketplace.
- Adapted to
the new teleworking environment
by developing a special edition of WISeID
Digital Identification
and Cloud that is now available as a free download. The
WISeID app secures interactions of locked-down teleworkers around
the globe and help companies reduce cybersecurity risks. PKI and
Digital Certificates secure email messages and reduce risks by
ensuring authenticity of messages and enabling encryption of
confidential data. The WISeID Platform is available for anyone to
obtain a digital certificate and immediately protect their
email.
- Developed
NanoSealRT, an NFC Forum Type 5
semiconductor chip that works with both Android and IOS 12 (and
above) devices: 1 essential patent has been granted in
March 2021 to this product by the E.U. and the Chinese Patent
Offices, which will further reinforce our position as a major Smart
Label system provider, in traceability, anti-counterfeiting and
consumer engagement applications.
- Reinforced our
strategic partnerships as we
joined the SAP®
PartnerEdge Program. The
program gives partners access to resources, services and benefits
that will help WISeKey build and maintain a successful partnership
with SAP and optimize business results for clients. WISeKey has
been working on IoT security by integrating OISTE/WISeKey’s Managed
Cryptographic Root of Trust secure IoT Devices with
devices leveraging SAP Leonardo® IoT.
We are quickly recovering from the negative
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in a global
slowdown of the semiconductors market and global manufacturing
shortage due to substantial swings in demand. We are now seeing
higher demand for semiconductors especially in areas such as
advanced vehicles such as connected vehicles and drones. We have
renewed and signed new agreements on semiconductors and/or AI
Automation with leading global companies such as CISCO, SAP,
Parrot, Legic, Accenture, Dentsu, Ineltek, Ismosys, Exaware,
Neoris, etc.
As anticipated, Cybersecurity companies like
WISeKey with strong technology-IP assets, are recovering much
faster from the current crisis due to the ability to diversify
sales from Semiconductors to Cybersecurity or AI/Automation.
Overall, continued adoption of IoT technologies connected to secure
clouds, AI and ultimately 5G, will be tremendous catalysts for
cybersecurity companies given the related risk of adoption.
According to ‘Markets and Markets’ …. the global
IoT security market is expected to grow from $12,5 billion in
2020 to $36,6 billion in 2025, at an annual rate of 24%; the market
growth is linked to the high adoption of IoT hardware enhancing the
need for efficient security.
Indeed, these massively deployed connected
objects face regular attacks, hence generating a large need for
trusted end-to end cybersecurity solutions. The increasing AI and
IoT convergence is one of the primary factors driving the growth.
Over the past five years, a rapid surge in the adoption of AIoT
cloud services has been witnessed. It is driven by its capabilities
to provide an enterprise-wide array of resources they can utilize
to scale, orchestrate, and support their operations.
About WISeKey:WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY / SIX Swiss
Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently
deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and
objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the
Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey Microprocessors Secures the
pervasive computing shaping today's Internet of Everything. WISeKey
IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually
all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural
sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers,
mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.). WISeKey is uniquely positioned
to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge
amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence
(AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of
their equipment before it happens.
Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based
cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication
and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for
the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The
WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity
of online transactions among objects and between objects and
people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.
Press and investor contacts:
WISeKey
International Holding LtdCompany
Contact: Carlos MoreiraChairman & CEOTel:
+41 22 594 3000info@wisekey.com |
WISeKey
Investor Relations (US)Contact: Lena
CatiThe Equity Group Inc.Tel: +1 212
836-9611lcati@equityny.com |
Disclaimer:This communication expressly or
implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning
WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements
involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition,
performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to
be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this
communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.This press release does not
constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy,
any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus
within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss
Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of
the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on
their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the
merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be
relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future
performance of WISeKey.
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