Minerva Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 18, 2020 /CNW/ - Minerva Intelligence Inc. (TSXV: MVAI) ("Minerva" or the "Company"), an artificial intelligence company focused on knowledge engineering, is pleased to announce its financial results for the three-month period ended September 30, 2020 ("Q3") and provide a corporate update on the Company's fourth quarter and 2021 prospects.

"We are pleased with the results of our third quarter as we achieved record revenue for the company while also building strong momentum to the fourth quarter," said Scott Tillman, Chief Executive Officer. "In Q3, we recognized revenue from contracts that were primarily project-based while slowly starting to recognize revenue from our SaaS solutions such as DRIVER and LEO. While this quarter was strong, we believe the groundwork laid at this time is going to yield results that far exceed what we achieved in Q3. Many of the projects signed this quarter will have revenue recognized in the fourth quarter of this year and into next year."

Q3 Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $149,000 for the three month period ended September 30^th, 2020 compared to $nil for the same period in 2019 and $nil for the second quarter of 2020.
• Operating Expenses of $777,000 for the three month period ended September 30^th, 2020 compared to $708,000 for the same period in 2019 and $747,000 for the second quarter of 2020.
• Net Loss for the three-month period ended September 30^th, 2020 of $626,000 compared to $640,000 for the same period in 2019 and $784,000 for the second quarter of 2020.
• Cash on hand $1.97 million as at September 30^th, 2020

Q3 Operational Highlights

Economic Geology

• Signed contracts with with online technical sales platforms Axora and OREN for software sales to mining market, also entered into reselling partnerships for sales in the Asian and Australasian regions
• Signed contracts with several mining companies for DRIVER, with revenue expected to be booked in Q4 2020
• Converted DRIVER into a SaaS solution (final product ready for customers in Q4 2020)
• Work progressing on Mexico TARGET Map for Prospector LLC; due for completion in Q1'21
• Full SaaS solution of LEO 2.0 ready to begin sales and marketing immediately
• Continuing to develop SOLACE as a full-fledged solution; full SaaS product coming in Q4

Natural Hazards

• Completed alpha version of the GAIA Flood application for North Vancouver
• Held several high-level talks with Insurtech companies to shape GAIA Flood application to model flood risk at parcel scale (individual homes)
• NRCan NFHDL project – successfully hit project milestone for schema design and received first payment; on track to hit milestones this fall, with completion in Q1 2021
• Engaged with and developing relationships with a multiple insurance companies and a leading cat modelling company to explore opportunities in wildfire and flood risk assessment

Corporate Update

Over the course of the fourth quarter, Minerva has continued to focus on engaging new contracts relating to economic geology that are both project-based and subscription models. As previously disclosed, the largest contract in the quarter relates to implementing the Company's proprietary TARGET technology for Prospector to develop interactive maps for the Mexico region.

Minerva has also delivered on several SaaS contracts with revenue beginning to be recognized throughout the fourth quarter, and the Company anticipates continued recurring revenue from these contracts into 2021. Many projects that began in Q3 2020 now have sufficient data collected to begin analysis using Minerva technology.

Mr. Tillman continued, "We continue to focus on being able to deliver a growing recurring revenue base from our software solutions. Our goal in 2020 was to finalize commercial development in the first half and begin to deliver meaningful revenue in the second half of the year while being able to steadily reduce our operating loss and cash burn. Our goal of moving away from being solely focused on R&D towards having a viable commercialization strategy for the powerful technology we have developed over the last several years has come to fruition, and we are really seeing the fruits of our labour in the fourth quarter. As one example, mining organizations are increasingly viewing Minerva's TARGET software as a powerful tool that allows them to create interactive maps to concisely and carefully evaluate exploration regions. Ultimately, Minerva's software products are being viewed as a capital efficiency tool as mining and exploration companies begin to realize that implementing our technology allows them to search much more efficiently and effectively."

Mr. Tillman concluded, "With our success this quarter, we believe that we will be able to at least double revenue in Q4 and dramatically reduce our cash burn relative to historical levels. The company's pipeline is the strongest it has ever been in our brief history, and we are extremely excited about what lies ahead for 2021."

Minerva's full financial statements and related MD&A for the third quarter are available at www.sedar.com.

About Minerva Intelligence, Inc. 

Minerva Intelligence Inc. is a knowledge engineering company based in Vancouver, Canada, with a subsidiary office in Darmstadt, Germany. Their proprietary evidence-based decision-making software is bringing the benefits of artificial intelligence technology to industries dependent on reasoning with complex technical and scientific data. 

Although Minerva's applications currently focus on earth science-related domains including natural hazards and mineral exploration, their technology has application in diverse industries and domains. 

Minerva's common shares are currently listed on the TSX Venture (symbol MVAI).  

For further details, please refer to their website (www.minervaintelligence.com). 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 

Forward Looking Information: This news release includes certain information that may be deemed "forward-looking information". Forward-looking information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. All information in this release, other than information of historical facts, including, without limitation, the availability of financing to the Company are forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such expectations are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information include changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, delays in receiving approvals, and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company and the risks and challenges of our business, investors should review our continuous disclosure filings which are available at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. 

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Minerva Intelligence Inc.

Dan Vroon, Business Development Manager, Minerva Intelligence, [phone], [email protected]; Virtus Advisory Group, Investor Relations, [phone], [email protected]

Related Links

https://minervaintelligence.com/