• Trends in environmental consciousness continue to shift global demand away from carbon-based cars toward electric vehicles
• Bolt Metals Corp. rebrands marketing strategy as part of plan to become the leading international player in the electric vehicle battery metal sector
• The company’s Cyclops drilling project is aligned perfectly to fit the supply chain criteria for the electric vehicle sector in Asia

A global shift away from carbon-based cars and trucks is pumping billions of dollars into battery-powered electric vehicle (EV) research and related development projects. Bolt Metals Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (OTCQB: PCRCF) (XFRA: NXFE), an exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade cobalt and nickel deposits, is benefitting from the shift as demand for the materials that power EV research surges.

Nickel and cobalt are critical components of lithium-ion batteries used to power EV research. Both materials are currently experiencing a global supply deficit. Over $20 billion has been committed to nickel projects focused on the EV space in Indonesia alone.

Bolt Metals Corp. is redirecting its marketing strategy as it evolves to become a specific player in the expanding EV supply chain in both China and Indonesia, according to CEO Ranjeet Sundher in an interview with NetworkNewsAudio (http://ibn.fm/0VDTS). Sundher is a 25-year veteran of the mining and investor sectors in southeast Asia. Part of that new marketing strategy changed the company’s name from Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. to Bolt Metals Corp. on February 26, 2020.

Bolt Metals Corp. employs a vertically integrated “minerals-to-market” strategy to leverage its production-grade battery metals projects to their fullest, Sundher said. The company’s flagship project, Cyclops (http://ibn.fm/jdjhA), is uniquely positioned within Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of nickel, and in proximity to China and features near surface, strong nickel-cobalt mineralization. The property is situated in an area with excellent infrastructure including a nearby workforce, supplies, sealed roads, ocean access, nearby port facility and gentle topography. Nestled on the north coast of Papua, Indonesia, Cyclops establishes the company well within the economically attractive ocean-going transportation range to Asia and its lucrative, growing industrial markets.

From drilling and permitting to processing ore and discussions with offtake partners, the results are promising. Sundher cited the project’s 99% recovery on nickel and 96% recovery on cobalt as two major factors that made 2019 such a pivotal year for the company. Those results provide solid evidence that the Cyclops project is aligned perfectly to fit the supply chain criteria for the EV sector in Asia, as the company’s end goal is to become a key contributor to Asia-Pacific’s rapidly expanding EV and battery supply chain.

Backed by a successful 2019 exploration and development season, the company is pursuing ambitious milestones for 2020, Sundher adds. Bolt Metals Corp. is working to show the market that it brings local know-how and exceptional project generation. “Quite early in our business plan, China’s largest battery manufacturer wanted to do a preliminary offtake with us, which demonstrated that we were in the right country with the right project. In 2020, we hope to take that relationship and several others to the next level,” Sundher explained.

The remainder of 2020 will see continued and consistent development in the company’s strategy as Bolt Metals Corp. continues to set ambitious milestones toward the goal of becoming the leading international player in the EV battery metal sector and creating significant long-term shareholder value. With rich mineral deposits and two substantial markets, Bolt Metals is anticipating a bright future.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BoltMetals.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to PCRCF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/PCRCF

• POAI’s planned acquisition of Quantitative Medicine (QM) will revolutionize the way precision therapies are developed
• QM’s CoRE platform predicts main effects of drugs on target molecules that mediate disease
• Synergies created by acquisition support POAI’s efforts to accelerate the commercialization of its AI-driven predictive model services

Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: POAI) has announced the latest development in its mission to become the leader in the cancer precision-medicine field. In line with its focus on applying artificial intelligence (AI) to personalized medicine and drug discovery, POAI has signed a signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Quantitative Medicine (QM), a leading biomedical analytics and computational biology company (http://ibn.fm/8X3zm).

Founded by Drs. Robert Murphy and Joshua Kangas, both of Carnegie Mellon University, QM has developed a novel, computational drug-discovery platform called CoRE. This innovative platform predicts the main effects of drugs on target molecules that mediate disease, thereby dramatically reducing the time, cost and financial risk of discovering new therapeutic drugs. POAI’s planned acquisition of QM, which is subject to the negotiation of a definitive agreement and other terms and conditions, is expected to be complete by March 2020.

“By coupling QM’s CoRE predictive modeling platform with our tumor profiling expertise and data we believe we can revolutionize the way precision therapies are developed,” Dr. Carl Schwartz, president and CEO of Predictive Oncology, stated in a news release. Schwartz explained that the synergies created by the planned acquisition should be a major support in POAI’s efforts to accelerate the commercialization of its AI-driven technology and services.

Through its subsidiary Helomics, Predictive Oncology is building AI-driven predictive models of tumor drug response and outcomes from its data base of drug-response and genomics profiles gathered from more than 150,000 cancer cases. POAI plans to integrate its proprietary data and AI-driven predictive models with CoRE to rapidly build robust predictive models of how specific types of tumors will react to cancer drug therapies.

“Our goal is to provide researchers in pharma, biopharma and diagnostic companies with actionable insights that will not only drive the development of new precision therapies, companion diagnostics, and biomarkers, but will also help them design better targeted trials,” added Schwartz. “Working together, we have the potential to dramatically improve patient outcomes.”

CoRE was developed at what was originally the Ray and Stephanie Lane Center for Computational Biology; the center eventually became the Computational Biology Department at Carnegie Mellon University. CoRE has been tested by several pharma companies with considerable success. In addition to predicting the main effects of drugs on target molecules that mediate disease, CoRE is designed to predict the effects of drugs on other molecules or pathways in the body that could mediate adverse effects, as well as the interaction of these with underlying genetic variations.

Moreover, CoRE identifies similarities in relationships of drug candidates screened against a diverse matrix of pathogenic, cellular, molecular and/or systems biology targets. Drawing on CoRE’s unmatched ability to add new data from existing research or additional wet-lab experiments, POAI is confident that its predictive models will be improved—and with improved predictions comes accelerated drug discovery and development.

POAI is bringing precision medicine, or tailored medical treatment using the individual characteristics of each patient, to the treatment of cancer. Through its Helomics division, the company leverages its unique, clinically validated patient derived (PDx) smart tumor profiling platform to provide oncologists with a roadmap to help individualize therapy. In addition, the company is leveraging artificial intelligence and its proprietary database of over 150,000 cancer cases tumors to build AI-driven models of tumor drug repose to improve outcomes for the patients of today and tomorrow.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Predictive-Oncology.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to POAI are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/POAI

• Precision medicine, AI among top healthcare investment trends for 2020
• Predictive Oncology is data, AI-driven precision medicine company with an exclusive database of patient samples
• Market estimates for precision medicine expected to reach $84.6 billion by 2024

Precision medicine and artificial intelligence rank high on the list of top investment-focused healthcare trends, according to a recent Emagine article (http://ibn.fm/jALh4). Both are key areas of focus for Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: POAI), a leading data and artificial-intelligence-driven precision medicine company. In an arena where data is king and artificial intelligence is increasingly gravitating to the spotlight, POAI is uniquely positioned with its historic database of patient samples and its cutting-edge AI-powered platform.

“We’ll see more progress in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the past 50,” stated industry analyst Bill Gadless, who compiled the list of industry trends after attending the 38th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Gadless noted that the hot trends focus on “continuing to save, extend and improve lives.”

The annual conference, the largest and most informative healthcare investment symposium in the industry, brings together industry leaders, innovative technology creators, emerging fast-growth companies and other members of the investment community. Precision medicine received significant interest with its focus on matching up patients with precisely targeted treatments tailored to their unique genetic makeup. At the same time, AI was highlighted as an emerging and increasingly significant tool for use in clinical trials, practice management and digital-health diagnostics.

Emerging as one to watch in the industry, Predictive Oncology is bringing its cutting-edge technology to help pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotech companies develop new therapies. Through its subsidiary Helomics, a leader in AI and functional precision medicine, POAI harnesses rich patient information gleaned from its PDx tumor profiling platform with the potential to revolutionize cancer research as it is seen today. Through the development of AI-driven predictive models that indicate how tumors respond to drugs, POAI will support clinicians in making decisions to individualize patient treatment. Additionally, these AI-driven models, together with the PDx tumor profiling platform can accelerate research into new targeted therapies.

Drug development for cancer treatment is a costly and time-intensive endeavor – the average drug takes upwards of 10 years and $3 billion to produce – and as technology plays an ever-increasing role in driving medicine, researchers and clinicians are discovering the significant potential of patient-derived PDx models in understanding the activity of potential new drugs on tumors. These models harness cancer cells from patient tumors to create a truly patient-centric future of precision medicine.

As a striking example of this intersection of research and technology, POAI’s Helomics clinical PDx platform compares the drug response and genomic profile of a patient’s own tumor grown in the lab with its database of over 150,000 existing tumor profiles to help recommend the best treatment for that patient. As additional patient samples are tested, they continue to enhance the database improving the recommendations. Leveraging the rich data in this database with AI to create AI-driven predictive models provides a valuable tool for pharmaceutical companies and researchers, offering a model that embodies actual drug response of cancer patients’ individual tumors and their outcomes (i.e. survival). This ability to build AI-driven predictive models of cancer puts the company in a powerful position to offer actionable insights to pharmaceutical companies much more quickly than its competitors.

According to Mordor Intelligence Inc., oncology is expected to have the largest share of the precision medicine market in excess of 30% over other segments, along with a CAGR of 10.3% from 2018 to 2024 (http://ibn.fm/1Uv7p). Eyeing the projected overall market estimate of $84.6 billion by 2024, POAI is positioning itself to capture a considerable portion of this growth potential with its unique proprietary technology.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Predictive-Oncology.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to POAI are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/POAI

• Champignon’s Vitality SuperTea offerings revolutionizing conventional organic tea concept
• Each of Champignon’s tea options carefully formulated to provide unique health, performance benefits
• Global market for products infused with nutritional, bioactive mushroom ingredients projected to reach $34 billion by 2024

The future of health may reside in mushrooms. As buzzwords like ‘organic’, ‘whole’ and ‘fresh’ abound, it’s clear that society has become increasingly passionate about seeking high-quality, nutrient-rich foods. Recently, the humble mushroom has found itself in the spotlight as a surprisingly rich source of vitamins and minerals and a filling substitute for meat. Industry leaders like Four Sigmatic – which has been featured by The New York Times, Forbes, and Business Insider, among others – are working to educate the public on mushrooms’ superfood qualities.

Similarly, fresh on the publicly traded scene is small-but-mighty Champignon Brands Inc. (CSE: SHRM), a research-driven company specializing in mushroom health supplements that promote holistic health and wellness. SHRM is building a reputation as a leader in the burgeoning craft mushroom vertical space. The company’s flagship brand – Vitality SuperTeas – offers a line of proprietary teas formulated with the goal of revolutionizing conventional organic tea through the infusion of a proprietary blend of artisanal mushrooms with medicinal properties.

Each of Champignon’s Vitality SuperTeas (http://ibn.fm/kzeU6) is carefully formulated with organic ingredients carefully chosen for their ability to provide unique health and performance benefits. The company’s line of SuperTeas include the following: Nourish Force, a blend of reishi ryobus tea mix; Mighty Recharge, created with lion’s mane tropical green ginseng tea mix; and Brain Enhance, a blend of cordycep hibiscus and berry tea mix.

Rich in antioxidants, functional mushrooms are gaining increasing attention for health benefits ranging from strengthening the immune system and providing key vitamins and essential minerals (http://ibn.fm/PnTXR) to boosting overall health, offering skin-enhancing benefits, aiding digestive function and balancing energy levels (http://ibn.fm/xUGqj). Because of their diverse functional properties, functional mushrooms can be used in the production of food products, medicines and even cosmetic products.

A recent market research report by Fortune Business Insights notes that “anticipated growth in consumption of dietary supplements to remain healthy and disease-free is projected to propel the demand for functional mushrooms during the forecast years [2019–2026]. Rapid urbanization, changing lifestyles and increasing per capita income of people is anticipated to aid the growth of the global functional mushrooms market in the upcoming years (http://ibn.fm/qzqUJ).

In addition, the report notes that “increasing product launches by key market players and increasing demand for functional mushroom across the personal care industry to manufacture high-quality products is expected to drive the market growth during the forecast years.”

Another study noted that demand for consumer products infused with the nutritional and bioactive benefits of mushrooms is fueling a global market projected to reach $34.3 billion by 2024, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 8.04% from 2019-2024.

Dedicated to revolutionizing conventional organic teas, coffees and other consumables with the infusion of a proprietary blend of artisanal mushrooms, Champignon is ideally positioned to benefit from this growing market.

The company’s expanding portfolio is crafted with the health-conscious consumer in mind. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Champignon’s team aims to promote the health and wellness benefits of functional mushrooms, which are used in a wide variety of health care and pharmaceutical products.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChampignonBrands.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SHRM are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/SHRM

• BIGtoken case study reports that Kraft Heinz’s 2019 Walmart holiday promotion achieved 4.5% additional volume, six times return on ad spend
• BIGtoken co-founder says platform has evolved into “full-service marketing stack” that discovers “profound insights” about target audience
• SRAX’s proprietary consumer data management technology put consumers’ data rights at the forefront

SRAX Inc.’s (NASDAQ: SRAX) BIGtoken platform successfully propelled a 2019 holiday season omnichannel campaign at Walmart for leading packaged goods company Kraft Heinz – achieving impressive results and exceeding the client’s goals. SRAX COO Kristoffer Nelson said BIGtoken utilized opt-in panels and offers plus scanned receipts to identify incremental groups of buyers to increase both sales and return on ad spend for Kraft Heinz.

The case study outlining the successful campaign demonstrates how BIGtoken was able to not only identify known customers but also target incremental groups of likely Kraft Heinz buyers (http://ibn.fm/slkFR). The resulting high-value customer insights fueled enhanced audience targeting and messaging – yielding an impressive 4.5% sales lift and a six-to-one return on ad spend (ROAS).

“It’s important for Kraft Heinz to address data accuracy, consumer privacy and emphasize first-party data in this new environment,” said TJ Palladino, Walmart shopper marketing manager for Kraft Heinz. “BIGtoken does all of that. We are thrilled with the results we saw with SRAX’s BIGtoken platform.”

Pre-launch activity by BIGtoken includes numerous data points about the identity habits of consumers. For its promotion, Kraft Heinz used the BIGtoken platform to identity common attributes around consumers who cook meals for key groups during the holiday season.

Kraft Heinz’s successful Walmart promotion featured prominent brands such as Kraft, Velveeta, Oscar-Mayer, Heinz and Stove Top. SRAX’s BIGtoken platform was able to create and identify audiences and design an effective messaging strategy around those brands.

“BIGtoken has evolved from a consumer, opt-in, data platform for advertising activation to a full-service marketing stack,” SRAX COO Kristoffer Nelson stated in a news release (http://ibn.fm/hHX1D). “Beginning with audience insights, marketers can discover profound insights about their target audience to activate against. From here, new insights and learnings are applied inflight to improve performance.”

BIGtoken Brands VP George Stella added, “It’s becoming critical for brands to partner with systems that put emphasis on consumer-first data particles and put consumers’ data rights at the forefront.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SRAX.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SRAX are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/SRAX

• American Pregnancy Association endorses Nightfood ice cream as the official recommended ice cream for pregnant women
• APA Endorsement could drive the rapid growth investors are looking for, says NGTF CEO
• Nightfood is significantly more nutritionally appropriate for pregnant women than other ice cream on market

Nightfood Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: NGTF) founder and CEO Sean Folkson recently joined Stuart Smith on SmallCapVoice.com (http://ibn.fm/8Nnnf) to discuss the announcement that NGTF’s better-for-you ice cream is now the recommended ice cream for pregnant women all across the United States, a market of over three million women. This official endorsement comes from the American Pregnancy Association (APA), and it carries significant weight for Nightfood’s market penetration.

In the interview, Folkson discussed the media buzz created by the new endorsement from the APA (http://ibn.fm/iv0gj). The February 20 announcement is a “total game-changer” for the young company, according to Folkson. “This is going to give us the level of demand that’s going to drive the kind of growth that I know our investors – and I guess all investors – are looking for,” he said.

Noting that more than 10,000 new women join the pregnancy demographic every day, Folkson observed that communication and product recommendations within the demographic are exceptionally high and each woman is powerfully committed to making expert-recommended changes to ensure both their health and the health of their babies. That makes the recognition as official ice cream particularly actionable, said Folkson.

“We believe that pregnant women are going to take the guidance from the American Pregnancy Association,” he said. “They’re going to hear about this from their service providers. They’re going to hear about it from each other and from the media that is coming… We expect women to gravitate to Nightfood in massive numbers.”

While Nightfood ice cream wasn’t formulated or designed with pregnant women in mind, it didn’t take the company long to recognize that its commitment to providing a healthier, and more nutritious ice-cream dovetailed perfectly with the nutritional needs of this high-consumption demographic. “With more protein, fiber, calcium, magnesium, and less sugar, fewer calories, as well as ingredients to tackle nighttime heartburn, Nightfood is a more nutritionally appropriate ice cream for pregnant women than anything we’ve ever seen on the market, based on recommendations from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Mayo Clinic, and general expert consensus on prenatal nutrition,” said APA President Lynn Handley.

While Nightfood has received several awards and been nationally recognized since it released its first pint of ice cream last year, the APA recommendation is particularly significant as the company looks to broaden distribution. “With pregnant women, we’ve got a consumer base that is out there, and they’re aggressively looking for new products and services to deal with in their new situations,” said Folkson. “We’re going to grow volume and velocity and revenues, which is news, but from a supermarket standpoint, how can you as a category manager decide that you’re not going to carry the official ice cream of the APA? That’s risky business for them, and I think that’s going to present big opportunities for us.”

In addition to supermarkets, Nightfood is looking to expand distribution through what Folkson called “a whole pregnancy media,” including magazines, subscription boxes and other efficient ways to reach the target pregnant audience and introduce them to Nightfood ice cream. “I think it can take on a life of its own where anybody who is going onto a message board or just reading a blog, they’re not going to be able to avoid us,” he said. “They’re going to hear about Nightfood from many different directions.”

Folkson was right. In the last few days, two of the largest pregnancy media outlets have done features of Nightfood ice cream as a result of the endorsement. Both BabyGaga (http://ibn.fm/gXsDc) and TheBump (http://ibn.fm/uxubX) covered the news this week, and Nightfood was also featured on The Rachael Ray Show on Monday, February 24 (http://ibn.fm/dZ794). More major media hits are likely to follow for this brand, which has previously been featured on The Today Show, Oprah Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, USA Today, and many more major outlets.

“The pregnancy piece with this huge customer base gives us the opportunity to get off to a fast start where there’s built-in demand,” Folkson continued. “Anytime we roll into a new supermarket, there will be people there looking for the ice cream. I think that gives us a very strong foundation, and I think from an investor’s standpoint, it probably gives a tremendous amount of stability to the company because we no longer have to wonder about where our foundation revenue and sales volume is going to come from.”

By helping consumers solve their night snacking in a better, healthier and more sleep-friendly way, Nightfood is establishing the leading position in the nighttime-snacking category where American consumers are generally dissatisfied with their options yet are still spending more than $50 billion annually. Nightfood is the creator of delicious, award-winning and better-for-you ice cream formulated by sleep and nutrition experts.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Nightfood.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NGTF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/NGTF

• Corporate vision represents a multibillion opportunity for Exro’s energy management system solutions, aimed at accelerating the worldwide adoption of electric and renewable power systems
• Target global market size includes 63 billion bikes and scooters, 55 billion electric vehicles, and 14 billion e-recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles, boats and ATVs
• Global market growth in the electric motor sectors will continue as the demand for low-impact, zero-emission vehicles accelerates. The projected growth in EV sales is 40% CAGR to 2030. At that time estimated sales of EVs will be 60M units per year with a 50% share of total units sold.
• Exro’s technology can be applied and scaled to a wide variety of commercial sectors

Exro Technologies Inc. (CSE: XRO) (OTCQB: EXROF), a Canadian technology company, is an innovative pioneer in the energy sector. Exro has developed and commercialized an electric power module (EPM) that integrates into existing motor systems to make them smarter. Exro’s patented technology optimizes existing motor performance by automatically sensing and adapting operating parameters to an optimized state, creating measurable efficiency gains, reduced mechanical components and increased system availability.

Applications

Exro’s technology and efficiency optimization algorithms improve the performance and efficiency of electric motors by manipulating power delivery to individual coils, thereby enabling the ability to expand operating parameters. This novel approach is scalable and can be utilized in most variable torque applications.

The widespread applications of Exro’s technology apply to optimizing the performance of electric vehicles, locomotive traction applications, industrial motors, and other variable torque applications that benefit from smart energy conversion.

Intellectual Property

Exro’s proprietary, patented software controls electric motor coils through individual coil switching. This introduction of intelligence into energy conversion at the level of individual coils results in expanded speed/torque capability, improved machine efficiency, reliability, safety and maintenance across a wider operating range. Exro’s advanced control algorithms create smart, real-time optimized power management.

Exro currently holds 15 patents, with 8 patents pending and additional patents under development. The company continues to expand its IP portfolio to support its goal of becoming a globally recognized leader in leveraging advanced control algorithms to improve the performance, efficiency and longevity of electric motors and generators.

Market Opportunity

Electric motors are the single biggest consumer of electricity. They account for about two-thirds of industrial power consumption and about 45% of global power consumption, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency. Exro’s technology seeks to give industries a new way to look at energy—from electric vehicles, to industrial equipment, to renewable applications like wind farms; we are improving the way energy is consumed.

Laboratory Expansion

The 6,500-square-foot Exro Innovation Center (EIC), scheduled to open spring of 2020 in Calgary, will transition the current Victoria lab into one Calgary based center. The company’s new laboratory space will expand its service capabilities to customers, provide larger test capabilities, and showcase how Exro’s technology can be applied to dramatically improve the performance of electrical motors.

The EIC will also host collaborative events to explore advances in energy consumption and electric motor innovations, with participants from across Canada and around the world.

Strategic Partnerships

• A strategic agreement with Finland’s Aurora Powertrains Oy, which in 2019 released an all-electric production snowmobile called the “eSled,” will see Exro’s technology added to the Aurora electric powertrain. The snowmobile sector’s economic footprint is estimated at $26 billion in the U.S., $8 billion in Canada, and $5 billion in Europe and Asia.
• An agreement with Potencia in Mexico serving the last mile vehicle segment will integrate Exro’s custom drive and EPM module into small passenger commercial vehicles (taxis) and fleet delivery trucks
• A licensing agreement with Motorino Electric, a leader in the Canadian electric transportation industry, will integrate Exro’s Electric Power Module technology into Motorino’s CTi electric bicycle.

Management

Chief Executive Officer Sue Ozdemir is a proven leader in the innovation and manufacturing of electric motors. She has nine years of accomplishments at General Electric, acting as CCO and the CEO of GE’s Small Industrial Motors Division, overseeing the division’s North American and international markets – ultimately building the division into a $160 million enterprise.

Chief Commercial Officer Josh Sobil is leading the seamless adoption of Exro’s growing product portfolio focused on the mobility segment and opening doors in all segments including agriculture, heavy industry, energy, construction, among others.

Executive Chairman Mark Godsy is a serial technology entrepreneur who has been involved in many top tier ventures, including two of Canada’s most successful biotech companies.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Exro.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to EXROF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/EXROF

• Jerrick’s Vocal platform creates value for all stakeholders – creators, brands, and readers
• Harvard Business Review article articulates why successful digital companies build virtuous cycles that solve problems
• Vocal’s strategic virtuous cycle ecosystem increases value for all platform stakeholders

Using its exclusive platform for digital creators – Vocal – Jerrick Media Holdings Inc. (OTC: JMDA) has created a powerful virtuous cycle designed to support and reward creators, brands and readers alike. At the core of Jerrick’s virtuous cycle is the company’s commitment to and understanding of virtuous ecosystems, a concept that Harvard Business Review (http://ibn.fm/pWyI9) describes as “perhaps the single most important algorithmic distinction between ‘born digital’ enterprises and legacy companies… a clear real-time commitment to delivering accurate, actionable customer recommendations.”

“Recommendation engines (or recommenders) force organizations to fundamentally rethink how to get greater value from their data while creating greater value for their customers,” explained the HBR article, titled ‘Great Digital Companies Build Great Recommendation Engines’. Certainly, Jerrick’s Vocal platform fits the article’s analysis that “recommenders’ true genius comes from their opportunity to build virtuous business cycles: The more people use them, the more valuable they become; the more valuable they become, the more people use them.” Importantly, these so-called “recommendation engines” aren’t just about recommending products for consumers to buy – rather, this term refers to platforms that enable all types of digital interaction. “Appropriately designed,” the article explains, “these interactions create value for your customer and for you. Virtuous cycles can become more virtuous and valuable.”

In direct contrast to a vicious cycle, a virtuous cycle is a chain of events in which one desirable occurrence leads to another, further promoting the first occurrence and so on, resulting in a continuous process of improvement. Though the premise seems fundamental, many companies struggle with implementation. Jerrick’s Vocal platform, on the other hand, perfectly embodies the concept.

All three types of stakeholders involved in the Vocal platform – creators, brands and audiences – work synergistically throughout Vocal’s proprietary ecosystem, ensuring a balanced portfolio of revenue streams, sustainable infrastructures and compounding scalability.

To do this, Vocal provides creators with best-in-class tools, moderated communities and monetization opportunities. Vocal’s creators then leverage the platform to provide engaging content for readers across a huge range of subjects and communities; readers participate by giving creators feedback and support through tips and pledges. Creators also have the option to upgrade their free Vocal accounts to a paid Vocal+ premium subscription (first introduced in May 2019) for access a suite of exclusive value-added features, rewards and participation in exclusive Challenges (http://ibn.fm/uOInr).

In working with brands via their in-house creative studio Vocal for Brands, the Vocal team provides brand clients – which include DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands like Daily Harvest (http://ibn.fm/PKCMr) and Hims (http://ibn.fm/lMq4V) – with safety, insightful data and impressive conversions through bespoke paid branded content campaigns. Vocal pairs brands with already-established creators on their platform to tell the brand’s story in an authentic, engaging and non-interruptive way. Readers, then, provide brands with an engaged audience and valuable conversions.

Jerrick understands that the company succeeds when its partners – creators and brands – prosper. Consequently, the company is dedicated to creating scalable and equitable opportunities for all actors and platform stakeholders. “Virtuous cycles shouldn’t belong to customers alone,” the HBR article states, a principle Jerrick has embraced. “Wherever digitalization and data exist in abundance, the power and potential for recommenders shouldn’t be far behind. The best recommendation for enabling digital transformation is to enable the digital transformation of recommendation.”

This is exactly what Vocal’s Virtuous Cycle has done.

Jerrick Media Holdings is focused on the development of digital communities, targeted marketing of branded digital content and e-commerce opportunities. To accomplish these objectives, Jerrick envisions, designs and builds modern technology companies that redefine how people interact with technology. As the parent company of Vocal, Jerrick has built and shipped products that have influenced millions of people worldwide.

Those interested in weekly news from Jerrick can sign up at http://ibn.fm/CYErP

For more information, visit the company’s website at https://Jerrick.media

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to JMDA are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/JMDA

• On-demand 3D printing revolutionizing supply chain dynamics for manufacturing industry
• SGLB is sole provider of urgently needed software solution that uniquely addresses in-process quality-control issues for 3D metal printing
• Provision of quality-assurance software is valued at more than $1.4 billion, expected to grow to $3.9 billion by 2023

Referenced as one of tomorrow’s “greatest conduits for converting scarcity to abundance,” the 3D printing industry is transforming the $12 trillion manufacturing landscape while simultaneously disrupting the supply chain model (http://ibn.fm/HLeLE). At the frontline of the movement is Sigma Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: SGLB), the industry’s sole provider of quality-control software that puts more control of the 3D-printing metal process into the operator’s hands for the purpose of eliminating inefficiencies, reducing rejected output, and saving time and money.

Traditional metal machining manufacturers mostly carve, slice and grind away at raw materials to produce their products (called ‘subtractive manufacturing’) while the 3D metal printing process (also called additive manufacturing) creates objects by laser sintering powdered metals layer by 10-30 micron layer on top of each other using a computer-aided design (CAD) model and formed into the desired three dimensional object. Since the objects are built in layers, customizations are made by altering instructions in the digital file. Unfortunately, errors made during production are not found until after the process is complete, which results in excessive cost and material waste.

SGLB addresses this crucial issue through proprietary software solutions that enable operators to monitor the production process in real time and receive notifications about errors or anomalies while the process is taking place. This gives operators the knowledge required to make changes in real time, enabling them to avoid the creation of flawed output while producing yields of consistent high quality.

The demand for quality-control software increases as the production process becomes more complex. Two decades ago, 3D printers cost several hundred thousand dollars and used only plastic; today’s machines are 150 times faster and can print items using more than 500 different materials across the entire periodic table of elements.

While the first items printed were simple household items, before long, 3D printers were creating prosthetic limbs, rocket engines and car parts. However, as the uses for 3D printers increased, so also did quality-control challenges. The increased complexity of the production process demands better quality control, and SGLB has focused on software solutions for the industry. To date, SGLB has 19 beta programs in place with some of the largest names in industry – obtaining many tier-1 OEM enterprises such as GE Aviation, Honeywell and Airbus in the process.

Originally founded in 2010 by a team of Los Alamos National Labs scientists and engineers, SGLB first operated as a developer of commercially licensed, advanced metallurgical products. Forecasting high demand for quality-control solutions in the 3D-metal-printing space, the company shifted its operations to creating in-process quality-control software solutions for highly demanding, precision-dependent companies in the aerospace, defense, transportation, oil and gas, and biomedical industries.

The provision of quality-assurance software to the commercial, 3D-metal-printing industry is valued at over $1.4 billion and expected to explode to $3.9 billion by 2023. As the sole provider of innovative software solutions that address this demand, SGLB is likely to benefit from this unmet need while securing itself as a leader in what many are calling “the fourth industrial revolution.”

For more information about Sigma Labs, please visit www.SigmaLabsInc.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SGLB are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/SGLB

• Bolt Metals Corp., formerly Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp., is a Canada-based company intent on acquiring and developing battery metal projects because of their critical importance to constrained energy storage supply chains
• Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining popularity as alternatives to carbon-fueled means of transportation at the heart of the climate change mitigation movement, relying heavily on metals such as nickel and cobalt
• Bolt’s flagship Indonesian project branded Cyclops has been key to the company’s efforts to ferret out a significant source of nickel and cobalt
• A successful 2019 development campaign at Cyclops is helping the company to attract capital for its “ambitious milestones” anticipated during the coming year

Canadian‐based mineral explorers Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. announced February 24 that the company has changed its name to Bolt Metals Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (OTCQB: PCRCF) (XFRA: NXFE) as part of an ambitious effort to court electric vehicle industry success in China, and throughout Asia where Indonesia is leading the way with its abundant nickel resources.

“Rebranding the Company is an important step in our emergence as a resource developer in Asia’s expanding Electric Vehicle supply chain,” CEO Ranjeet Sundher stated in a news release announcing the name change (http://ibn.fm/lyZjp). “The Company remains focused on acquiring and developing production grade battery metal projects within the Asia-Pacific region, while employing a vertically integrated ‘mineral-to-market’ strategy to leverage these assets to their fullest.”

The company informed its shareholders that the name change requires no action on their parts – there are no changes in the public exchange tickers and the company is not subdividing, consolidating or otherwise altering its share capital. Rather, the company is simply laying the groundwork for further growth “in every vertical of the EV supply chain, with China leading the way,” according to the news release.

Bolt Metals’ flagship asset, the 100 percent-controlled Cyclops Nickel-Cobalt project based in Indonesia, is operating under a mandate to become a key player in the Asia-Pacific region’s electric vehicle and EV battery supply chain. Lithium-ion batteries have been the dominant force in the varied electronic product markets including EVs for years because of the batteries’ capacity to deliver stable power at low heat levels in a lightweight housing.

EVs and their batteries are at the forefront of global efforts to combat carbon-based pollution that scientists and activists fear could not merely foul the climate for people, but lead to chronically altered climates in which increased heat threatens human habitations and health through a number of factors, including reduced polar ice, higher sea levels, stronger weather systems, plant life changes, the spread of viral diseases, increased allergic responses and greater demands for energy, among other things (http://ibn.fm/EkcfK).

Bolt Metals focus is on developing battery metals projects in an industry-vertical environment because of their critical positioning as components of lithium-ion batteries. Increased global demand for EVs is contributing towardan eventual worldwide resource supply deficit, also due to their popular uses in jet engines, gas turbines, industrial scale renewable energy storage systems and other applications where common stainless steels may not provide adequate performance.

The Cyclops laterite nickel-cobalt property employs an experienced, local workforce at a location close to air and sea transport links. Last year, the company’s extensive exploration and development program at the site resulted in successful advances in determining the location of significant nickel mineralization. That success has made it possible for the company to attract capital it needs “to pursue ambitious milestones in 2020, which include preparations to commission and operate a pilot process test plant in Canada, which will… then be used to establish the design criteria for the subsequent demonstration plant in Indonesia… and to establish the design criteria for a commercial scale plant,” according to the news release.

Bolt’s leadership plans to provide shareholders an update on its efforts to court downstream users and commodity suppliers in China, Indonesia and Korea in the near future.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BoltMetals.com

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to PCRCF are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/PCRCF