Resources Wmode

Founded in September 2000, Calgary-based Wmode Inc. has become a recognized leader in the global mobile content management space.  The Company was founded by a senior management team that had international experience managing startups through to liquidity, and extensive knowledge marketing services to carriers. Most of the executive team had worked together in previous companies and each had an average 20 years of business experience.  Wmode has offices in Calgary and Toronto in Canada, Bern, Switzerland and Kuala Lumpur and has 75 employees.

 

Wmode developed and operates ClearMode®, a content distribution service that powers the sourcing, management, discovery, delivery and billing of digital media. The Company has filed for patents relating to the fundamentals of its technology and its managed service offering has so far resulted in carrier relationships in 20 countries.

 

Wmode has primarily been financed by private individuals and has no institutional investors. The Company is generating positive cash flow and growing at an annualized rate of 40%.

 

We like Wmode because of its sophisticated technology addressing mobile carriers and the increasing mobile phone market.  The Company has a seasoned management team that has been able to build its business and market share on a fraction of the investment capital utilized by its competitors.  Lastly, the market is very fragmented and we are now seeing many of Wmode’s competitors beginning to fail which will result in acquisition opportunities on both the competitor and customer front.

 

 

Wmode’s Competitive Strengths

 

  • Emerging international footprint. Wmode currently has agreements with wireless carriers and other distributors, serving more than 40 million subscribers worldwide in the Americas, EMEA and Asia.

  • Strong relationship with owners and publishers of content. Wmode has built relationships with the key global content owners who value their experience with multiple carriers in diverse markets and the resources to distribute their media on a worldwide basis.

  • Experienced management team. Wmode has assembled a highly qualified core team of systems, engineering, marketing, and finance professionals. The team has considerable experience in the wireless telecommunication industry, transactions software development, and the management of high growth private and public companies

  • A revenue growth model which is based on both acquisitions and the organic growth of the operators’ subscriber base.

  • Wmode is one of few companies that have all of the elements to manage wireless data services in “one box”. Most competitors sell components rather than a whole solution.

  • The sustaining competitive advantage is incumbency. Once Wmode has established the relationship with an operator, high switching cost, both monetary and convenience, act as strong barriers to entry.

  • Wmode has developed proprietary technologies and processes to improve the consumer experience.

 

Industry Overview

 

Until recently Wmode’s primary focus has been to enable mobile phone operators; media and brands with the services to enable their consumers to browse, select and pay for wireless content and data services over their mobile handsets. The primary market and distribution channel is through the portal of the consumer’s carrier (‘on-portal’). Wmode is now also focused on the large and growing market for non-carrier distribution capabilities through alternative channels (‘off-portal’) such as Internet portals and “off-deck” aggregators.

 

The Wireless Consumer Market

 

The wireless Internet and related messaging services is one of the largest and fastest growing new consumer global markets. Feature-rich multimedia mobile phones with color screens and high-speed access now offer compelling services such as news, weather, sports, stock market alerts, and a wide variety of other information and premium entertainment services (ringtones, music, games, images, TV and video).

 

Carrier Market (“on portal’’)

 

This is a big market with over 500 mobile phone operators servicing over 2.0 billion consumers globally.  Virtually all mobile phone operators have introduced wireless data services in some form and all require advanced mobile data management services. A successful data services strategy strengthens the brand of the carrier with the consumer, reducing churn and increases voice traffic.

 

Off Portal

 

Wmode integrates content delivery and billing capabilities for Off-Portal direct to consumer services to a number of U.S. carriers in addition to all major Canadian operators. Wmode now has access to virtually all North American consumers for Off Portal services.

 

 

Content Providers

 

Wmode is working with almost 200 content providers; many are the best names in the mobile media industry, such as Disney, Electronic Arts, Glu Mobile, Hudson Entertainment, Infospace, American Greetings and THQ.

 

Wmode’s partners provide hundreds of services via SMS and WAP representing a diverse mixture of business and entertainment content, including premium reference, entertainment, information, images, ring tones, and business applications. Wmode provides content providers with a single point of contact to distribute their media to multiple carriers and eliminate the many complexities required to launch applications on a carrier’s portal, at the very least saving the content provider months of negotiation with a single carrier.

 

 

Technology

 

The core of the ClearMode service technology has been operations since 2002. ClearMode modules deliver a complete solution to present and capture content billing events, price them according to a subscriber profile, obtain customer authorization and perform revenue distribution and settlement. The architecture is comprised of a suite of real-time engines designed to provide the consumer with a responsive pricing and customer authorization experience.  Wmode consistently strives to improve operational efficiency and cost effectiveness and to provide consistent quality of service to the broader customer base. Ongoing improvements to the technology included improved automated testing (ARGO), content ingestion and functional improvements such as a consolidated catalogue, web analytics to support, manage and monitor mobile advertising.

 

Wmode has filed for patents relating to the fundamentals of its technology, which are at various stages in the patent approval process and will continue to develop its patent portfolio.

 

The ClearMode carrier grade operating system has been developed on Sun™ Microsystem computers, Sun Solaris™ operating system, Oracle® database systems, and the Java enterprise software platform. All components of this platform have a proven reputation based on their reliability, performance, scalability, high availability and security. ClearMode fully operational services are hosted at Q9 Networks in Calgary on an around the clock basis

 

 

Operations

 

Wmode assembled a highly qualified core team of systems, engineering, and marketing and finance professionals. The team brings to Wmode considerable experience in the wireless telecommunication industry, transactions software development, and the management of high growth private and public companies. The senior team has extensive experience marketing services to carriers and management roles within a wireless carrier. Most of the management team has worked together in previous companies and each has an average 20 years of business experience.

 

 

Sale and Marketing

 

Wmode’s primary target market is “Tier Two” mobile phone operators (one to ten million voice consumers). In the near term, sales activities have been focused on Europe, the USA and developing markets in South America and the Middle East. In the Company’s experience, developing markets have much higher rates of subscriber growth and adoption of wireless media than North America and Western Europe. Wmode’s sales strategy includes direct sales and developing distribution channels with organizations that have strong pre-existing relationships with the mobile operators.  The acquisition of ProvisionX in January 2007 added key customers to Wmode’s base as well as strongly complementing our current services and as a result of the acquisition of key accounts in Malaysia Wmode is accelerating its plans for the Asian market.

Customers and Prospects

 

Wmode currently has agreements with more than 30 carriers and media companies that in the aggregate reach more than 40 million on-portal subscribers. Listed below are some of the Company’s principal customers.

 

 

Management Team

 

Wmode has assembled a highly qualified core team of systems, engineering, and marketing and finance professionals. The team brings to Wmode considerable experience in the wireless telecommunication industry, transactions software development, and the management of high growth private and public companies. The senior team has extensive experience marketing services to carriers and management roles within a wireless carrier. Most of the management team has worked together in previous companies and each has an average 20 years of business experience.

 

Emanuel Bertolin

CEO of the Corporation (February 2006 – Present)

VP Marketing & Sales of the Corporation (November 2000 – February 2006)

 

For the 15 years prior to joining Wmode in 2000, Emanuel had been directing the Sales & Marketing efforts of Neles Automation, the market leading automation and real-time billing solution supplier to the utility, energy and environmental markets.  Neles is one of the most recognized suppliers of large-scale mission critical, real-time systems used to monitor and account for client assets.  Under his Sales and Marketing leadership, Neles grew from a small player to the market leader, with a 70% North American market share and annual sales of over $100 million.  During his tenure as Director of Sales & Marketing, Emanuel negotiated strategic alliances and outsourcing agreements with many Fortune 500 companies including Chevron, BP and Compaq. Prior to Neles, Emanuel worked in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) industry and worked in software development. Emanuel has a Bachelor of Science in Computing Science, Specializing in Computer Design, and a Diploma in Electronics Engineering from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

 

Robert Woodward

VP, CFO of the Corporation (September 2000 – Present)

 

Bob has been the CFO of three public companies. In 1984 he joined Intera Information Technologies, which provided digital terrain models and other GIS products to the United States Defense Mapping Agency and Geological Survey. Intera also developed and sold software for the simulation and assessment oil and gas reservoirs, geological formations, the environmental assessment of both nuclear and other hazardous waste and the interpretation and analysis of spatially related data. Intera grew rapidly during his tenure and in 1990 went public in the both the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. In 1994 Bob became CFO of Enserv Corporation a major consolidator of the oil and gas service industry in Canada. In 1996, Enserv was sold to Precision Drilling and Bob was appointed CFO of Enerflex Systems, which is one of the worlds leading manufacturers of gas compression equipment. Both Enserv and Enerflex were part of the TSE 300 Index.  Bob is a Chartered Accountant; he worked with KPMG in the United Kingdom, before moving to their Toronto office in 1974 and Calgary in 1981. Bob has managed projects and overseas operations in Europe, Asia and Australia and has considerable experience in mergers and acquisitions, receiverships, taxation and information systems.  Bob has been a speaker at conferences on mergers and acquisitions and the development of overseas operations and markets. Bob is a director of Central European Petroleum Limited.