• Luis Merchan, Flora Growth’s President and CEO, appeared on a webinar on February 11, 2022, highlighting the opportunities and challenges affecting the CBD industry in key markets
• He has reiterated the company’s commitment to leveraging the industry’s opportunities for the growth of its operations, expansion of its market reach, and value creation for its shareholders
• The CBD industry is projected to be valued at $20 billion by 2025, and Flora Growth plans to capitalize on this growth

In 2020, CBD sales in the United States reached $4.6 billion. It is projected that by 2024, this industry will be valued at $15 billion and $20 billion by 2025. For a federally illegal product up until 2018, this industry has grown tremendously and shows even greater promise for growth in the coming years (https://ibn.fm/0WKYv). Flora Growth (NASDAQ: FLGC), an internationally-focused cannabis brand builder that leverages natural, cost-effective cultivation practices to supply cannabis derivatives, recognizes this industry’s growth and the opportunities therein. As such, it aims to capitalize on them to grow its brand, market reach, revenue, and, most importantly, its shareholder value. Speaking in a webinar on February 11, 2022, Luis Merchan, the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), acknowledged the opportunities that lie ahead for the CBD industry, specifically in critical markets such as North America, the European Union (“EU”) and Latin America. Most notably, he recognized the growing uptake of CBD and cannabis-derived products among consumers due to proliferating public education about cannabinoids. However, he was also keen to acknowledge that there are challenges in this industry, limiting the achievement of its full potential and inhibiting its growth. One challenge that has stood out has to do with regulation. CBD might be federally legal, particularly in the United States, but it has proven challenging for CBD companies to access standard services from financial institutions. Companies such as Flora Growth are also contending with the public perception of its products. Civic education has gone a long way in addressing this challenge, but there is still a long way to go before CBD’s misconceptions can be fully managed (https://ibn.fm/mJDa6). However, one of the biggest challenges that Flora Growth faces is just how new CBD is. Institutions like the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) have already run into issues with CBD products added to food and dietary supplements. There are still so many kinks that need to be ironed out before such products can be fully approved. Regardless, there is a growing demand, and Flora Growth is ready to satisfy that demand (https://ibn.fm/sqr65). Mr. Merchan has reiterated the company’s commitment to growing its operations, expanding its market reach, and creating value for its shareholders. He has reported the company’s plan to leverage the opportunities present in the industry to achieve this and stamp the company’s position as a leader in the industry. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.FloraGrowth.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to FLGC are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FLGC

• Government supports residential energy-storage efforts with tax incentives
• Tax-incentive programs good indicators of potential battery-storage systems have to make a difference
• StorEn is leading the way in developing evolutionary vanadium-flow batteries

Recent progress made in the battery-storage space makes residential energy storage more feasible than ever, and with available tax credits, the federal government is doing what it can to make the prospect even more appealing. With more people choosing this route, companies such as StorEn Technologies, a developer of vanadium flow batteries with a disruptive patent-pending, all-vanadium flow battery technology, could benefit. “In March 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) determined that residential energy-storage batteries are eligible for up to 26% Federal Investment Tax Credit when charged from an onsite solar system,” reports StorEn (https://ibn.fm/uvWLP). “The value of the credit depends on the percentage of electricity coming from the sun. If the battery is charged by solar panels 90% of the time, then the battery is eligible for 90% of the 26% ITC, or a 23.4% credit.” That means that if a solar panel system costs $10,000, the maximum ITC eligibility would 26% of that $10,000. That’s not the end of the incentives, however. Many states offer credits that could further reduce the cost of an energy-storage system. “Although energy storage is a relatively young industry, a growing number of states and municipalities will support the installations of solar-powered batteries to accelerate the transition to renewables and the reduction of GHG emissions,” StorEn reports. For example, Maryland established a solar battery tax credit worth 30% of the total installed system cost, or up to $5,000 for residential systems and up to $75,000 for commercial systems. In California, cash rebates are available through the Self-Generation Incentive Program (“SGIP”). These federal and state incentive programs are good indicators of the potential battery-storage systems have to make a difference in today’s world. StorEn is leading the way in developing evolutionary vanadium-flow batteries. Incubated at the Clean Energy Business Incubator Program (“CEBIP”) within Stony Brook University in New York, the company is building upon the strengths of vanadium flow batteries to revolutionize the world of residential and industrial energy storage. In part, StorEn’s technology has enhanced the electrical efficiency of the stack and energy density of the electrolyte and module, ultimately reducing costs and improving performance. The company produces products with a battery life of 25 years and more than 15K cycles. That company takes pride in offering batteries that meet consumers demand for efficient, durable and cost-effective energy storage, enabling self-consumption of self-produced electricity and the transition toward a carbon-free economy. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.StorEn.tech. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to StorEn Technologies are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/StorEn

• Uranium is one of the few commodities to register two solid years of gains amid a global pandemic
• Nuclear continues to account for 20% of total electricity in the U.S. and is the largest source of carbon-free power, with consistent global growth projected through 2050
• Energy Fuels holds three of America’s key uranium production centers and boasts more uranium production capacity than any other U.S. company

As the new year begins, things in the uranium sector look good, according to a recent Uranium Investing News report. A rosy 2022 forecast means good news for Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR), a leading U.S.-based uranium mining company that supplies U308 to major nuclear utilities. “2021 was another breakout year for uranium prices,” stated the report (https://ibn.fm/xOo2j). “Following 2020’s growth, prices for the energy fuel climbed 45%, rising from US$29.63 per pound in January to US$50.63 in September, a nine-year high and a critical threshold for explorers, developers and producers. Although prices were unable to maintain that level, values have been able to remain above US$40 in the months since then.” The article noted that uranium was one of the few commodities to register two solid years of gains amid a global pandemic, causing many analysts to predict that higher uranium prices are here to stay. “This idea has been bolstered by rising demand for clean energy, specifically the need for carbon-free electricity,” the article continued. The article went on to quote John Kotek, vice president of policy development and public affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, who said: “Globally, nuclear continues to account for 10% of total electricity and is the second-largest source of carbon-free power. . . . While that number won’t change much in the near term given the number of nuclear reactors under construction today, the interest we’re seeing in new nuclear construction coupled with the increasing drive to decarbonize gives us confidence that share will grow over time.” Uranium Investing News said that Kotek also pointed to recent analysis by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Energy Agency and other organizations that reinforce the projection that world nuclear generation capacity will increase significantly by 2050, with an estimated 50 new nuclear reactors under construction and in line to join the current global fleet of 445 reactors. The article cited a 2021 World Nuclear Association report that stated “there is a clear need for new generating capacity around the world, both to replace old fossil fuel units, especially coal-fired ones, which emit a lot of carbon dioxide, and to meet increased demand for electricity in many countries. . . . In 2018, 64% of electricity was generated from the burning of fossil fuels.” Energy Fuels holds three of America’s key uranium production centers: the White Mesa Mill in Utah, the Nichols Ranch ISR Project in Wyoming and the Alta Mesa ISR Project in Texas. The White Mesa Mill is the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S. today, has a licensed capacity of more than 8 million pounds of U₃O₈ per year, and has the ability to produce vanadium when market conditions warrant. The mill also just began producing rare earths in 2021. The Nichols Ranch ISR Project is currently on standby and has a licensed capacity of 2 million pounds of U308 per year. The Alta Mesa ISR Project is also currently on standby. In addition to these production facilities, Energy Fuels has one of the largest NI 43-101-compliant uranium resource portfolios in the country, along with several uranium and uranium/vanadium mining projects on standby and in various stages of permitting and development. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EnergyFuels.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to UUUU are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/UUUU

• Company reports revenue run rate has begun to exceed internal and publicly stated expectations
• Phase one of ISWH’s Southeastern U.S. project to pair 56,000 mining rigs with 200 megawatts of power is slated to go live
• ISWH is poised as an emerging disruptor in the crypto asset, hosting, mining and Blockchain IP markets

ISW Holdings (OTC: ISWH), a global brand-management holdings company with commercial operations in renewable energy cryptocurrency, reported year-end remarkable growth for the company. ISWH management also said 2022 will be “game changing” (https://ibn.fm/kDMmw). ISW Holdings, which is expecting to change its name to BlockQuarry, “is pleased to provide [an] update for current and prospective shareholders as the company heads into the end of a tremendous year of growth ahead of what promises to be a game-changing year in 2022.” The update included an overview of the company’s mining performance, the status of its Southeastern U.S. Project, and a summary of the company’s expansion plans. “As we approach year-end, the company’s revenue run rate from its own cryptocurrency mining operations has begun to exceed internal and publicly stated expectations,” the report noted. In addition, the report noted that phase one of ISWH’s Southeastern U.S. project to pair 56,000 mining rigs with 200 megawatts of power is slated to go live, which has begun to “activate [the initial] 20 MW of power deployed to self-contained cryptocurrency mining pods.” The project had faced some delays because of supply chain issues, but final deliveries are on the way. In addition, the company reported, “following the full deployment and activation of all 200 MW of power at the company’s Southeastern U.S. project, ISW will have the opportunity to increase its [operations] to 500 MW of power, allowing for a significant expansion in hosting and mining potential.” ISWH is poised as an emerging disruptor in the crypto asset, hosting, mining and Blockchain IP markets. “We are on the verge of activating our phase one hosting operations, and we expect phase two to move rapidly on the heels of that transition,” said ISW Holdings president and chair Alonzo Pierce. “Once we have the entire 200 MW fully deployed, we will have the opportunity to push the ceiling considerably higher.” ISWH focuses on hosting and mining Bitcoin with eyes on new IP in crypto and blockchain, and currently leases and operates renewable energy power generation facilities in South Carolina and North Carolina. This year the company anticipates future operations that leverage up to 56,840 crypto asset mining computers with a hosting and mining operations fleet made up of an estimated 300 Bitmain Antminer S17 Pro (S17 Pro) miners, 150 Bitmain Antminer S19 (95T) miners, 250 Canaan AvalonMiner 1296 Pro (90T) miners and 5,600 series S19 J Pro (100-110T) miners per 20 MW of implemented power. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ISWHoldings.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to ISWH are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/ISWH

• GreenBox POS has released preliminary unaudited 2021 results wherein its revenue and transaction volume grew by more than 200% and 800%, respectively
• The company’s processing volume outstripped its initial projections of $1.85 billion
• GreenBox recorded a transaction volume of $1.95 billion in 2021, while its revenues increased to at least $26 million
• GreenBox recently appointed organizational and strategic leadership veteran Mr. Min Wei as its Chief Operating Officer

GreenBox POS (NASDAQ: GBOX), an emerging FinTech company on a mission to create cutting-edge payment solutions that disrupt and improve the current world of payment systems, recently announced the preliminary unaudited 2021 results marked by a record transaction volume of $1.95 billion. The figure represented impressive year-over-year growth of over 800% from $202 million in 2020. Further, it contributed to revenues of at least $26.0 million, an increase of more than 200% from revenues of $8.5 million in 2020 (https://ibn.fm/o9Z0n). The company attributes this remarkable success that constitutes a breakout year to its advanced blockchain ledger-based payment solutions product offering, expanding ISO and respected partnership network, and a strategic acquisition strategy. “2020 unquestionably proved our ability to develop and deploy cutting-edge technology. In 2021, we focused on executing on our strategy to build sustainable scale for our products while adding new leadership team members that will drive our growth plan and establish GreenBox as a world-class brand,” commented GBOX CEO Fredi Nisan. “There’s a lot of pride around these 2021 results, no doubt.” With the preliminary 2021 figures, GreenBox has shuttered its projections for the 2021 processing volume, one of its key organizational pillars and a metric on which the company measures its success. “Our metric is really volume, and as I mentioned in our last earnings call, our volume quarter-over-quarter has been increasing. We had projected even earlier this year that our volume will be over $1.85 billion, and we expect to exceed that,” stated Ben Chung, GreenBox Chief Financial Officer, during the December 9, 2021 conference call (https://ibn.fm/YOQxN). While the company is proud of the 2021 results, it is still laser-focused on molding its future and is equally determined to become a global leader in the digital financial solutions marketplace. In furthering this goal, GreenBox recently appointed Mr. Min Wei as its Chief Operating Officer, replacing Vanessa Luna, who will transition into a newly created role to lead an expanding global sales organization for the company (https://ibn.fm/eiL0E). Wei brings a wealth of organizational and strategic leadership experience spanning more than 20 years, having previously held executive positions at Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB), ERG, and several tech companies where he oversaw financial management, business operations, and merger and acquisition (“M&A”) integrations. Prior to joining GreenBox, Wei was the Senior VP, Chief Customer Officer at Cubic, and Senior VP of Operations at Cubic’s transportation business. GreenBox will benefit from Wei’s vigor in promoting technology advancement and digital transformation, as well as his extensive cross-functional management experience in quality and compliance, data analytics, global services and operations, programs, and finance. He is adept at driving operational, managerial, and administrative excellence to promote growth while managing and overseeing the strategic vision. In his role at GreenBox, Wei will lead strategic business planning. “Min’s extensive experience aligns perfectly with the future of where GreenBox is heading,” stated Nisan. “Given our aggressive go-to-market strategy, efficient operations, and quality of customer service processes, leveraging state-of-the-art technology is of vital importance. It is critical that we maximize efficiencies to execute on our strategic plan, and we believe Min’s appointment will be an important part of bringing this to life.” For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GreenBoxPOS.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to GBOX are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/GBOX

• Over 420 million people around the globe currently have diabetes, with the figure set to rise by 55% over the next 25 years
• Millions of patients required to measure their blood glucose levels daily to accurately determine their insulin dosage amounts
• Nemaura Medical has launched two constant glucose monitoring solutions – the SugarBEAT(R) device as well as the MiBoKo application, which seek to provide users with a convenient, low-cost non-invasive CGM solution

Diabetes affects 34 million people in the United States and upwards of 400 million people globally, with the number of affected individuals expected to rise by approximately 55 percent within the next 25 years (https://ibn.fm/xuZVf). For many individuals, mealtimes have long proved to be an arduous process. Before eating, diabetic patients must often inject themselves with insulin in a time-consuming process that combines estimations of the meal’s carbohydrate content with blood drawing to calculate the proper amount of insulin for the recipient. As such, the advent of non-invasive constant glucose monitoring (“CGM”) has been a largely welcome one for the industry, with the blood glucose monitoring market forecast to expand to an annual value of $27.2 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of 9.6% between 2021-2026 (https://ibn.fm/5jv2C). “Every day, many patients need to do this complicated procedure at least three times,” stated Hen-Wei Huang, an MIT post-doctorate student carrying out research into the blood glucose monitoring sector. “The main goal of this [research] is to try to facilitate all of these complex procedures and also to eliminate the requirement for multiple devices.” Over the past few decades, endocrinologists have increasingly sought to develop an economical, compact, painless, and convenient non-invasive device that could alleviate the pain associated with frequent skin pricking while simultaneously promoting routine glucose testing in a bid to control blood glucose levels more effectively. Nemaura Medical (NASDAQ: NMRD), a medical technology company focused on developing and commercializing non-invasive wearable diagnostic devices and supporting personalized lifestyle coaching programs, has sought to fulfill this ideal through the provision of its two flagship constant glucose monitoring (“CGM”) products, the sugarBEAT(R) and MiBoKo application, respectively. The company’s revolutionary SugarBEAT(R) CGM device seeks to provide users with non-invasive glucose monitoring; as described by the company, it works by drawing a small amount of selected molecules, such as glucose, into a patch placed on the skin. These molecules are drawn out of the interstitial fluid which naturally sits just below the top layer of skin” (https://ibn.fm/KI00a). The device has already met with early success, with Nemaura Medical revealing projections for orders of 2 million sensors and 15,000 CGM devices from the United Kingdom alone over the next two years, with the aim of targeting the over 4.9 million diabetics in the UK currently as well as the 13.6 million people at increased risk of contracting Type 2 diabetes (https://ibn.fm/5glbl). The company’s MiBoKo application has sought to provide users with a unique and accurate solution to track their metabolic health. Users are asked to wear a small, imperceptible sensor on their upper arm for as little as two days each month. Then, individuals are provided with both real-time insights and weekly reports explaining their body’s unique metabolic health score while giving a breakdown of how each of their habits impacts their overall health and wellbeing, and how to improve it. A recent report delving into the diabetes care devices market has forecast the overall market to reach an annual value of $31.9 billion by 2028, with diabetes monitoring devices estimated to account for the largest share of the pie (https://ibn.fm/mRpRG). A meteoric increase in diabetes risk factors such as rising obesity levels, increasingly sedentary lifestyles coupled with a rapidly aging global population has led to a growing need for individuals to self-monitor their health to treat or prevent the onset of diabetes. By developing their unique, non-invasive CGM solutions, Nemaura Medical has sought to position themselves to capitalize from the expansion in one of medicine’s fastest-growing areas. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NemauraMedical.com. For more information on Miboko, visit www.Miboko.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NMRD are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/NMRD

• Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, plant-based meat sales have grown — initially 63 percent over 2019 levels during panic buying and now at a more stable 30 percent rate
• PlantX Life’s e-commerce and plant-based community sustaining presence online serves plant-based lifestyle customers with a growing one-stop shopping operation
• The company’s varied educational efforts online provide interested consumers with information on transitioning to the plant-based lifestyle, recipes that are tasty and nutritious, and how to find support among others with similar interests in sustaining a healthy lifestyle
• PlantX markets over 5,000 products currently and store acquisitions across North America are helping it to build fulfillment centers for its e-commerce operations while also serving local plant-based communities

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect corporate staffing levels and overall supply chain issues, leading to stockpile hoarding that left store shelves bare for weeks, consumption of plant-based products grew at a faster rate than conventional meat sales, indicating the hardiness of the plant-based industry. Meat sales jumped by about 40 percent year-over-year during the initial panic buying while plant-based meat sales surged 65 percent, according to the Good Food Institute (https://ibn.fm/lyqhy). While the trend has since slowed and plant-based meat sales have fallen off, refrigerated plant-based meat sales in November still remained nearly 30 percent higher than two years earlier (https://ibn.fm/VehMx). Plant-based product distributor and lifestyle educator PlantX Life (CSE: VEGA) (Frankfurt: WNT1) (OTCQB: PLTXF) is encouraged by analysts’ predictions that the industry will continue to grow, and is placing its own bets on a growing consumer base if consumers can overcome the hurdles associated with upending daily routines that have become simply familiar to them. “People are just used to the way that they have always eaten. … I think that people are not opposed to change. It’s just that they haven’t really thought about it much, and they haven’t really been presented with the thought of making change and what possible benefits can come along,” Dr. Edward Tam, a hematologist in Vancouver, British Columbia, told PlantX Life’s Medically Speaking YouTube channel (https://ibn.fm/GTx35). “For me, thinking about counseling patients and asking them to consider a different way of eating, it’s more just about introducing the idea of making the change and then talking about what’s going to happen at the end of that – and that’s a healthier life. I think a lot of patients are willing to do it but you’ve just kind of got to give them the steps to take to get there.” PlantX Life aims to be a one-stop platform for the plant-based industry, providing products, a North America-wide shopping experience and a variety of educational sources for tasty and healthy recipes, in-home plant sustainability, and how to transition toward a more plant-based diet. The PlantX Vodcast also features interviews with entrepreneurs and business operators who are playing their own roles in helping to build the plant-based community worldwide. “You don’t want to be stale. You can be old and classic but you don’t want to be old and boring. So it’s a real dance for us to try and evolve in a manner that stays true to who we’ve been for 114 years but allows us to expand and collaborate,” Joyva President Richard Radutzky said during one recent Vodcast, as he discussed the challenges of keeping the legacy business true to customers’ nostalgia while remaining timely. PlantX expects to have grown to several more store locations by the end of the year, giving the company augmented visibility in communities where plant-based lifestyles are popular while also establishing the footprint for a network of fulfillment centers to sustain e-commerce operations for its more than 5,000 products. Two of the most recent stores, in the Chicago, Ill., metropolitan area, were acquired from plant-based market and e-commerce platform Peter Rubi and converted to only carrying 100 percent plant-based items on Feb. 15 as part of the PlantX mission (https://ibn.fm/GdXXz). They will also ensure the Midwestern states have an e-commerce hub. For more information, visit the company’s websites at www.PlantX.com, www.PlantX.ca, and https://investor.plantx.com/ and view PlantX for Plant-Based Investors. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to PLTXF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/PLTXF

• Nutritious plant-based food producer for people and pets Eat Well Investment Group Inc. is rapidly growing, reporting nearly $60 million in revenue in Canadian dollars last year
• The company essentially formed last year, but has been decades in the making, permitting it a newcomer position but with an experienced leadership
• CEO Marc Aneed appeared recently on The Bell2Bell Podcast to promote the company’s potential, explain its purpose and discuss some of the things the company has accomplished in recent months
• Eat Well Group expects to maintain a hyper-growth rate, aiming to achieve between $90 million and $110 million in top-line revenues and a major U.S. exchange listing by year’s end

Vertically integrated plant-based foods company Eat Well Investment Group (CSE: EWG) (OTC: EWGFF), continues to build on acquisitions within the past few months to solidify its position as a producer of nutritious foods with end-to-end supply chain linkage. “We’re one of the forerunners, we would say, today in solving the critical gap in the chain of plant-based foods,” Eat Well Group CEO, President and Director Marc Aneed stated in a recent interview with The Bell2Bell Podcast (https://ibn.fm/aZhCr). “Eat Well Group is actually a company that’s very, very young. We just formed in ascension this past August though it’s been decades in the making, and what it is is a plant-based foods platform company,” Aneed added. “So with a collection of astute, strategic investments … we’ve created a vertically integrated model whereby we have plant-based proteins that we process close to the farm gate, we have a food tech division that creates next generation foods and we actually have a branded business called Amara which has plant-based infant nutrition-type products like baby cereals and toddler snacks. That’s what we have developed over the last six months … though we’ve had decades of experience across our leadership team and some of our business is more mature.” Aneed’s background in the consumer-packaged goods industry includes years of leadership in “iconic American brands” such as Quaker Oats and Gatorade, as well as work in product categories ranging from household storage to sports nutrition. “Across (my) career, I’ve been fortunate to have launched dozens of new items, bought two different businesses with a total value of about $350 million and been a part of $1 billion of cumulative growth,” Aneed said in describing his own well of experience to draw on as Eat Well Group continues to grow, as well as the achievements of other members of the company’s leadership team. The company achieved nearly $60 million in revenue in Canadian dollars in 2021 despite the challenges of COVID, supply chain clogs and the relative newness of the platform. Aneed anticipates Eat Well Group continuing at a hyper-growth rate in years to come in delivering healthy people and pet foods. “From a total standpoint of the company growth, we’re looking at anywhere from $90 (million) to $110 million of total top-line across our total businesses (during the coming year). This is a significant double-digit growth rate today,” Aneed told Bell2Bell. He noted a particular demand for pleasing snacks that are nutritious as well. “All these (vertical) linkages are the final and very compelling piece that makes Eat Well Group a broad-scale investment because you’re exposed to people and pet foods, snacks, processing, a baby market which is not over-exposed to those plant-based foods like plant-based milks, and an opportunity to continue to globalize,” Aneed said. Among the company’s channels for growth, Eat Well Group aims to broaden its market presence this year, evaluating opportunities for major U.S. exchange listings beyond the OTC and Canadian Stock Exchange presence it has currently. The company reports it has a broad range of customers in over 35 countries. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.EatWellGroup.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to EWGFF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/EWGFF

• Cepton completed a merger with SPAC Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. and began trading on the NASDAQ Capital Markets on February 10, 2022
• Cepton is a maker of next generation lidar technology that has significant advantages over competition
• The company’s MMT(R) technology has been validated by Tier 1 automotive OEMs and earned the company the lidar industry’s biggest contract to date where GM will use Cepton products in its cars equipped with its new Ultra Cruise ADAS

Apart from Tesla, companies are aligning with lidar companies to improve safety in advanced driving technology and position for the seemingly inevitable age of fully autonomous driving. German auto maker Mercedes-Benz has teamed up with Luminar to use its sensors recently, following what to date has been the largest contract in the lidar space when General Motors decided to use the lidar products of Cepton (NASDAQ: CPTN), a company now public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (aka “SPAC”) Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. The business combination was completed on Thursday, the company has been renamed to Cepton Inc. with the listing made active on the NASDAQ on Friday, February 10, 2022 (NASDAQ: CPTN). Lidar, which stands for “Light Detection and Ranging,” is fast becoming an integral part of the next generation of vehicles. It uses laser beams, sending them out to bounce off items in the environment and return, then processing the light’s travel times to effectively create a constantly updating map of the surroundings. Debates are ongoing in the industry about what technology is best for cars to traverse about safely with or without a driver, but it is becoming clear that most carmakers are seeing lidar as part of the future. According to Akis Tsirigakis, CEO of GCAC, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (“ADAS”) and autonomous vehicles are going to use a combination of lidar, cameras, and radar because each has highly complementary qualities to the others. “Think of them as the nose, eyes, and ears of a vehicle,” Tsirigakis recently said in an interview with Gamechangers LIVE with Sergio Tigera. All three technologies work in unison with software and computing power for the best accuracy in identifying and reacting to the environment. Tsirigakis is a seasoned vet or the SPAC world, with GCAC being his fourth successful blank check deal. As he explains in the interview with Tigera, there is a lot of heavy lifting to find the right company to bring public. He looked at 116 potential targets before deciding upon Cepton as the ideal candidate. Cepton’s management team includes five Stanford PhD’s that have led the company’s development of cutting-edge lidar technology branded MMT(R). MMT(R) lidar in inexpensive compared to competitors, doesn’t use mirrors (like everyone else does) and is motionless and friction-free, providing top of the line range, resolution and power efficiency. Cepton’s design is unparalleled insomuch that its products can be mounted in several locations on a vehicle, including behind the windshield where it is protected from the elements, and does nor affect the design of the car, a feature that makes it particularly attractive for mass markets. The tech has been validated by Tier 1 automotive OEMs, including Japanese automotive lighting juggernaut Koito, which became a large shareholder in Cepton with a $50 million investment ahead of the public offering. Koito was also responsible for the deal with GM. Pre-merger investors showed a healthy appetite for Cepton, as evidenced by GCAC raising $172.5 million (not including the Koito investment) to bring Cepton public. Going forward, GM will utilize Cepton lidar in its vehicles equipped with Ultra Cruise, the automaker’s newest version of ADAS launching in 2023. GM is pioneering the ADAS market with Ultra Cruise planned to work on 95% of all North American roadways and be available on most of its models in the coming years. The deal with GM is the largest ever forged in the auto industry to mass market lidar technology. By Cepton’s account, it is more than 10x any other deal so far. Tsirigakis foresees Cepton lidar used in more than one million vehicles in the near term. Originally developed by NASA for space applications, potential uses for lidar abound, as it can be used anywhere structure and shape needs to be identified. The auto industry is the low-hanging fruit with expectations for it to become commonplace in the years ahead. It stands to represent a major opportunity in the next progression of big data for collecting real-time information. For instance, a lidar system could be used in traffic signals to monitor traffic, adjusting on the fly depending on traffic flow rather than being tethered to pre-set timers. Security solution provider Bowler Pons Solutions Consultants, LLC has found a new use for lidar in its business, partnering with Cepton this month to deploy a cutting-edge, lidar-enabled three-dimensional monitoring system. Utilizing the insightful perception capabilities provided by Cepton’s MMT Vista(R)-P sensors as one of multiple sensing modalities, the Maryland-based company has launched a cost-effective, highly adaptable 3D monitoring system that accurately detects, tracks, and classifies objects to assess situations of interest against pre-defined threat characteristics, behaviors, and rule sets via a single fusion and analytics engine. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Cepton.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CPTN are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CPTN

• Arizona and Wyoming have introduced proposals for their states to introduce tax payments by digital currency
• India is working toward incorporating a digital rupee, including the implementation of a 30% tax on income earned from digital currency investments to begin during 2022
• LQwD’s growth is centered on the success of the Lightning Network and the expected growth during 2022

The future of Bitcoin, including applications that are being developed and others that are growing in the user base, was the focal point of discussion at Keyfest 2022, a virtual conference hosted by Casa, a Bitcoin custody provider and personalized key manager. During the summit, speakers consistently addressed the immense growth of the Lightning Network, a layer 2 Bitcoin protocol created to handle smaller, everyday transactions (https://ibn.fm/awj7b). This network was launched in 2018 with a capacity to reach 1,104 BTC in only 11 months. From January to September 2021, the capacity of the Lightning Network grew 181% (1,058 to 2,968 BTC). The number of channels also hit 70,000 by September 2021 – realizing the capacity of the network to go “up and to the right.” Building on the growth seen by the Lightning Network in 2021, experts in the industry expect 2022 to be even more successful. According to LQwD FinTech (TSX.V: LQWD) (OTCQB: LQWDF), a company focused on developing institution-grade payment infrastructure, liquidity and solutions for the Lightning Network, this remarkable growth has validated LQwD’s reason to be hyper-focused on the Network. “I look forward to continuing to expand our business on this rapidly growing global payment network,” CEO Shone Anstey said (https://ibn.fm/zsowP). LQwD released its Lightning Network platform as a service (“PaaS”) offering on November 17, 2021, https://lqwd.tech/, enabling users to send payments instantly, securely, and inexpensively anywhere in the world. Companies and service providers can now conduct lightning-fast transactions in bitcoin when they implement the PaaS created by LQwD. Users will not be required to have any technical knowledge to utilize the LQwD network on the Lightning Network, forcing global change and strategically placing itself as the PaaS on a fast-growing monetary network of the future. This year, LQwD remains hyper-focused on continuing its expansion and on the rapidly growing global payment network. The company expects cryptocurrency’s popularity to continue growing and the Lightning Network to become a force for change worldwide, amid growing interest in cryptocurrencies worldwide. After El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021, lawmakers in Wyoming and Arizona have introduced proposals that would allow their states to accept tax payments in digital currency form. Wyoming would only apply to sales and use taxes but would not be limited to a specific cryptocurrency. Arizona’s proposal would allow the state to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender (https://ibn.fm/2WR62). India also recently announced that it plans to bring back the digital rupee and place a 30% tax on income from digital assets as early as this year. This is the latest major economy to announce an official virtual currency. According to Chainalysis Report, India is one of the fastest-growing markets for cryptocurrency after the Supreme Court struck down a 2018 ban in March 2020 (https://ibn.fm/tB5qZ). In addition to India’s digital currency, China is currently in trials for a digital yuan, with other countries in the Asian region also exploring the idea. Cryptocurrency is still a fairly new concept, but innovation and regulation can impact investors. As a volatile investment, there is no guarantee that the market will be stable – however, the market has begun to stabilize after a significant fall in January. There is optimism that 2022 will be a year of increase for the entire cryptocurrency market. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LQwDFinTech.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to LQWDF are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/LQWDF