Product Release, Team Expansion, Recap, etc.
Dear Investor:
This is the first investor update, which includes original and new (i.e., Republic investors), so I apologize in advance for any redundant information which may have previously been communicated.
We've made immense progress over the last half-year and have started 2020 with significant momentum. I want to update you on key developments, as well as on what's ahead.
In May 2019, we decided to prioritize the integration of our CTO, key patents, and our rebrand, over our Series A. While we had achieved the validation - user, product, and revenue - we were aiming for by early 2019, our board strongly felt that we should get these elements of the business organized before publicly opening up an institutional round. To this end, we opened a $1 million bridge through Republic, which ended up oversubscribed when we closed it in December.
In addition to the successful round, which drew in a great new network of investors, during this same time, we brought on an amazing CTO and begun the patent process. The rebrand is still in the works but has moved slower than planned based on trademark risks associated with the new name. We also expanded the engineering team and began building a merchandising team, which includes two industry veterans. Lastly, we have continued to develop and refine our computer vision model, as well as user growth, and marketplace expansion, collectively the primary drivers of revenue.
We're in the best position we've ever been in, and we expect the momentum to continue, driving considerable revenue growth throughout the year. We've also substantially accelerated product development. The first version of our Visual Discovery tool (allowing searching of on-platform images) has been developed and tested. We planned on releasing it January but later decided that UI changes to the existing platform were warranted in order to provide a more seamless user experience. It is planned for release late this month with 250k photos.
More than ever, we believe we're on track to build something special - something that differentiates in quality from the leading relevant platforms, including Pinterest and Houzz, and in doing so, scale the company making it an attractive acquisition target. Our Series A will be used to catalyze product development and revenue growth. In addition to traditional venture capital, we're actively entertaining several options for raising our first priced round. We're very well positioned to manage current product, operating, and growth objectives, and are not in need of additional capital to do so, however, we've made a strategic decision to allow a new angel investor the option to invest based on the added value that he brings. We're doing so based on the same convertible note terms previously offered (24% discount, 12%PIK). Given he will have access to these same terms while the company is considerably further along in its development, in the interest of fairness, we are allowing you the same deal access. Given we are actively working on our Series A, this is something we will only allow through the end of February.
We are near finalizing the closing of the round with Republic and will immediately work on getting the perks out as quickly as possible thereafter. We are grateful for the high level of continued support among our investor group and are excited about what's ahead.
Warmest regards,