Bee Vectoring Secures First Revenue Generating Sales Agreements
- Commitments secured from multiple strawberry growers in Florida
- Initial revenues expected December 2017 / January 2018
- Arrangements for scalable supply of bumble bee hives secured
Mississauga, ON – October 24, 2017 – Bee Vectoring Technologies (the “Company” or “BVT”) (TSXV: BEE) is pleased to announce that it has secured revenue commitments from several notable strawberry growers in Florida for the coming winter 2017 growing season.
“This is a very exciting milestone for BVT and validates our progression to the commercialization phase of our technology,” said Ashish Malik, BVT CEO. “We have had a round of very positive discussions and negotiations with growers, including with those who have previously trialed the BVT system as well as some new to the technology. All of these meetings further confirmed the market fit and promise of our technology. Multiple growers have committed to using the BVT system this winter and these sales are expected to start in December 2017 or January 2018 when the system will be set up in the grower fields. This is a pilot launch and while in the coming weeks we will confirm the exact quantity of acres where the system will be used, we expect it to be for a few hundred acres, which means strawberry crops worth close to US$10 million for the season could be treated with our system”.
As previously detailed in the launch strategy for its System (press release September 7, 2017), the Company held launch events and several face to face meetings with growers in Hillsborough County, Florida during October. The system, which is comprised of a bumble bee hive with dispenser technology including a replaceable tray through which BVT’s proprietary plant beneficial microbe is delivered to crops using bumble bees, will be priced as a complete “turnkey” system to simplify adoption by the growers. Growers will use the system under a special license obtained from the State of Florida as a plant amendment. The growers will be billed multiple times during the growing season for each acre where the BVT System is being used. The System will be setup, maintained, and disposed of at the end of the season by Guardian Soil Solutions, BVT’s distribution partner.
In support of its commercial operations, the Company has also entered into supply arrangements including preferred pricing with multiple commercial bumble bee suppliers.
About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.
BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology that is designed to harmlessly utilize bumblebees and honeybees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or control common crop diseases, while at the same time enhancing crop vigor and productivity. This unique and proprietary process enables a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yields, superior quality, and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour.
On Behalf of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.,
“Ashish Malik”
President & CEO
For further information, please contact:
Ashish Malik, President & CEO
marketing@beevt.com
Babak Pedram, Investor Relations
Virtus Advisory Group
Tel: 416-995-8651
bpedram@virtusadvisory.com
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Josh Stanbury | josh@sjspr.co.uk | T. 416-628-7441
Neither 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 release.
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute “forward-looking information” as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “potential”, “will”, “seek”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions as they relate to the Company, “annual revenue potential”, are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect the Company’s current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: planted acres of strawberries in Florida, selling price of competitive chemical pesticides and the US to Canadian dollar exchange rate. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, new technologies, the ability to protect intellectual property rights, the ability to obtain patent protection for products, third-party intellectual property infringement claims, regulatory changes affecting products, failing research and development activities, the ability to reach and sustain profitability, dependence on business and technical experts, the ability to effectively manage business operations and growth, issuance of debt, dilution of existing securities, volatility of publicly traded securities, potential conflicts of interest, unlikelihood of dividend payments, the potential costs stemming from defending third-party intellectual property infringement claims, the ability to secure relationships with manufacturers and purchasers, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company’s Filing Statement dated May 29, 2015, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect the Company in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. All figures are in Canadian dollars.