Moxian, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOXC) is projected to have a breakout year in FY 2018, when SeeThruEquity projects it will reach $24.1 million in revenues and a net income of $4.5 million (http://nnw.fm/73aAZ). This performance is expected based on the massive size of the online-to-offline (O2O) market in China, estimated to reach $48 billion in 1H17, according to investor materials provided by Moxian.

The China-based high technology company has offered free beta-platform apps for its 30,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) users on its Moxian+ app. To its 300,000 consumer customers, it offers the Moxian User app with social sites. Now, it is converting to paid Moxian+ and Moxian User apps, changing these free user service sites to paid subscriber status.

But there is more to Moxian’s marketing plan than subscriber conversions from free to paid. The company is also anticipating licensing, OEM, and distribution revenues that will be significant. As SeeThruEquity’s analysis mentions, Moxian may find a challenge converting some of the current no-charge users of its Moxian+ business app and Moxian User consumer apps to paid subscribers, but Moxian hopes to gain transaction fees and subscription revenue from the conversions and is adding sales staff, hoping to also add additional new SME and consumer paid subscribers to its platforms who have not been on the apps in the past.

SeeThruEquity is optimistic about Moxian’s aggressive growth strategy, but added a note of caution, saying, “they must win new customers from scratch, which may be more difficult than anticipated.” Nevertheless, Moxian sees a special revenue stream opportunity in its OEM, distribution, and license fees.

Moxian projects a greater than 163% jump in year-over-year revenue growth from 2017 to 2018. Moxian management sees merchant transactions generating the lead amount of sales in 2017 in the revenue mix at 36.8%. OEM, distribution and license fees were seen as only generating 31.6% by comparison. By 2018, however, the estimated mix changes dramatically. OEM, distribution and license fees are projected to account for 48% of revenues within the mix, doubling the sales of mobile advertisements and towering over the contribution of 28% by merchant transactions. Further, OEM, distribution and license fees projections exhibit a 300% year-over-year growth from 2017 to 2018, from $3 million in 2017 to $12 million in 2018 — tripling the YOY growth of either merchant transactions or mobile advertisements.

Moxian management believes it can achieve cash flow break even by the end of 2017. This is, in part, because the company is anticipating high 70% gross margins on its own direct sales and high margins, too, from mobile advertisements on its sites.

For more information, visit www.Moxian.com

With the passage of the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment in the $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government until September 30, 2017, Congress continues its hands-off approach to the medical marijuana industry. Attached as a rider to the appropriations bill, Rohrabacher-Farr now allows marijuana dispensaries powerful ‘safe harbor’ protections. As a consequence, SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING) is rebooting its initiatives, started two years ago, to be a ‘first mover’ in providing payment solutions to the cannabis vertical through its SingleSeed payments subsidiary.

SinglePoint has been working with medical marijuana (MMJ) businesses for a long time, as GeekWire reported in August 2014 (http://dtn.fm/gm9pX). Back then, the company engaged with more than 100 state-licensed dispensaries in Colorado and Washington to set up point-of-sale terminals that would enable patients to pay for their marijuana purchases with debit and credit cards. SinglePoint’s leadership in providing payment solutions to the newly legalized MMJ industry went up in smoke, however, since banks, afraid of falling afoul of the law, refused to process the payments. Federal money transmitting regulations prohibit ‘the transportation or transmission of funds that… have been derived from a criminal offense or are intended to be used to promote or support unlawful activity’.

In this decidedly more benign environment, SinglePoint, through its SingleSeed Payments subsidiary, is offering a novel payment solution to MMJ dispensaries with its cashless ATM that closely resembles the typical debit/credit card terminal. However, unlike traditional terminals that are associated with an identifiable merchant account, the SingleSeed terminal is linked to the ATM network. As a result, a transaction through a SingleSeed cashless ATM, like a cash withdrawal from any ATM, involves only the account holder, his bank and a cash amount… devoid of other transaction details.

SinglePoint is also breaking ground with its Pay-by-Text™ technology, a tool that facilitates both promotional outreach and payments. Pay-by-Text™ offers a swipe-less payment option to customers who install the app on their mobile phones. To make a payment, the purchaser sends a text message to the payment provider, who clears the transaction with the vendor. The cost of the purchase, subsequently, appears on the monthly phone bill. In addition, the Pay-by-Text™ app becomes a marketing tool. Once the customer has set up a Pay-by-Text™ account, the vendor can issue an invitation to receive text messages. With these promotional and payment solutions, SinglePoint is set to capitalize on the opportunities in payments now that federal legislative and judicial action has created a safe harbor for the MMJ industry.

But a lot has changed since then. Now, even though marijuana remains a Schedule 1 substance like ecstasy, heroin and mescaline under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed resolutions or laws legalizing medical marijuana or regulating its adult use like alcohol or tobacco.

This has prompted a supportive response from the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, in stark contrast to the mixed messages coming from the executive. Most importantly, the continuation of Rohrabacher-Farr, which prohibits the Justice Department from using funds allocated by Congress to interfere with the implementation of state medical marijuana laws, triggers the ‘safe harbor’ protections of an important court ruling last year.

On August 16, 2016, in United States v. McIntosh, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court for the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, created a ‘safe harbor’ for medical marijuana establishments. Its ruling requires federal district court judges to provide medical marijuana suppliers and users with a pre-trial evidentiary hearing so that they can establish that their activities are compliant with applicable state law. If such compliance is established, then prosecution under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) should be dismissed or discontinued, as long as Rohrabacher-Farr, which first became law in May 2014, stands. This means that if MMJ dispensaries can demonstrate compliance with state laws by, for example, having a compliance program in place, they cannot be prosecuted under the CSA.

In addition, SinglePoint has announced in a press release (http://dtn.fm/8ErRx) that it has signed an agreement allowing the company to begin offering “high risk” merchant accounts. This is a major step toward providing previously unavailable financial services to companies in high-risk categories, and the company plans to integrate this into their Pay-by-Text solution.

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

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FORM Holdings (NASDAQ: FH) employs a relatively simple yet extremely robust targeting matrix when it comes to acquiring new development candidates. It’s really all about what this diverse holding company can bring to table, as well as how much an otherwise promising, vetted target can benefit – whether it is additional capital and restructuring we are talking about, or full-scale rebranding and implementation of new best practice procedures. Similarly, candidates are selected that can clearly benefit from the kind of new talent recruitment, as well as tailored marketing, public relations, and visibility enhancement, that only an outfit of FORM Holdings’ caliber can provide.

The operational profile of FORM Holdings spans several wholly-owned operating units in technology, including built-to-order, rugged, field-ready mobile and computing products company, Group Mobile; the designer, developer and manufacturer of mobile device-agnostic, wire-free rapid charging and power systems, FLI Charge; and an IP monetization company, Vringo, which works a growing portfolio with more than 75 technology patents, covering everything from telecom infrastructure, remote monitoring and internet search, to ad-insertion, wireless charging, and mobile technologies. The Company also maintains an 8.5 percent stake in Infomedia, a privately-owned, leading UK-based CRM (customer relationship management) and monetization tech provider to mobile carriers and device manufacturers.

However, FORM Holdings has shifted a good deal of its overall corporate focus in recent quarters to its newly-acquired health and wellness subsidiary, XpresSpa. For, as CEO and Director Andrew Perlman recently pointed out in an interview with Bloomberg Market’s Pimm Fox, airport traffic in the U.S. was up 3.2 percent to 929 million passengers last year alone, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. XpresSpa represented approximately 70 percent of FORM Holdings’ 2016 revenues, whereas the aforementioned other four business units represented only the remaining 30 percent. XpresSpa raked in some $43.6 million last year, with hearty store level profitability margins of around 20 percent.

Unlike traditional brick and mortar retail that has seen increasingly dramatic erosion by e-commerce (as antiquated and vulnerable operations become displaced by digital commerce of some form or another), airport terminals provide a comparatively captive consumer audience that is willing to spend more for immediate satisfaction. This only becomes more and more the norm in a world where enhanced security procedures often mean longer wait times and increased stress. Indeed, checkpoint traffic rose 15 percent from 2011 to 2016, while the number of screeners declined roughly 5.5 percent. Even with TSA PreCheck, more travelers and fewer screeners has led to long wait lines and grumpy passengers.

According to the Department of Transportation, consumer complaints from all categories against airlines were up 47 percent from 2014 to 2015, and they rose another 10 percent last year. With a variety of well-publicized stories in the news recently about airline carriers failing to live up to customers’ service expectations, the welcoming promise of a pre- or post-flight XpresSpa decompression session may be just the ticket when it comes to encouraging travelers to keep flying the not-always-so-friendly skies. One look at the full-service spa offerings available – from massage, manicure/pedicure, facials, and waxing, to hair and grooming, as well as shower facilities at some locations – and even the lay investor can see why the XpresSpa business model has caught fire with travelers. This is especially true when one considers the demographic of U.S. air travelers, who have as much as double the median household income, or that of the frequent fliers, who generally have more than double the median household income and make most of their airport retail purchases on impulse due to the same factors which plague all airline travelers, such as boredom, stress, and the hectic nature of most airports.

XpresSpa is more than just a well-recognized and trusted brand that consumers have come to rely on to de-stress before or after a wearying journey. It is also the dominant player in the industry domestically with 3.3 times as many locations in the U.S. market as its next closest competitor, Be Relax, and more locations than all of its competitors combined if we look at total global market saturation (U.S. included). This is an interesting metric indeed, given that the company’s international footprint currently consists of just three stores in Amsterdam and one in Dubai. If we look at the choice CAPEX to profitability data on the Company’s new kiosks, which pulled on average about half the $1 million in sales last year that the in-line stores did, the expansion potential for this sector front-runner becomes even more tantalizing.

While XpresSpa is likely the most recognized and popular airport spa brand among travelers today, with 53 locations in 40 terminals at 22 airports, one of the real keys to building the company’s presence has been to deploy multiple locations at a single airport. For instance, the Company has seven stores and a kiosk at New York’s JFK alone, which was actually the number one large U.S. hub last year for international enplanements, and was the fifth busiest U.S. air travel hub (by total boarding).

Just to underscore the viability of this multiple location per venue model, and to dissuade investors from the notion that eight is enough when it comes to venue saturation, the company has another location slated to open at JFK in Q2 FY17. It says a lot about the business model’s expansion potential to see XpresSpa going for a ninth location at JFK (3.4 percent increase last year to nearly 28.9 million passengers), and the Company has three more locations slated for this year as well, which will make seven total new locations opened in all since the acquisition of XpresSpa was announced by FORM Holdings back in August of 2016.

Another key to the success and overall profitability of the XpresSpa model has been a superb and growing selection of retail items ranging from high-quality but affordable grab-and-go travel accoutrements, like best seller $18.00 travel pillows and $10.00 satin eye masks, to the $180.00 luxurious cashmere travel set, which includes a 100 percent silk eye mask, in addition to the 100 percent cashmere blanket, pillow, and mask cover case. Beyond travel blankets, masks and pillows, XpresSpa sells a wide variety of other spa products, including bath & body, hair and personal care items, hydrogel eye and face masks to revitalize tissues, and therapeutic massagers. The global airport retail market is on pace to hit $90 billion by 2023 according to a new report from Credence Research, and the U.S. space alone was estimated at around $4.5 billion back in 2015 by Micro Market Monitor.

Add to XpresSpa’s established store/product driven brand presence with the May 8 announcement of an exclusive partnership with hot, on-trend private label and branded product designer/manufacturer Capelli New York, and you have the formula for retail dynamite. Capelli has serious traction in the coveted junior and contemporary markets, with coordinated product lines in the fashion accessory and jewelry segments, as well as in hosiery, footwear, sleepwear, and home fashion (among others). The move to have Capelli co-produce and sell XpresSpa’s branded travel, spa products and accessories is something which should translate handily into expanded reach, brand presence, and overall gross margins. On this subject, it is worth pointing out to investors that XpresSpa is helmed by the former VP of premium, luxury and sports eyewear brand Luxottica, Ed Jankowski, who was also formerly Senior VP for gourmet Belgian chocolatier Godiva. This is a company that understands how to connect with high earners through premium offerings.

Furthermore, FORM Holdings has some big overhauls coming this year for XpresSpa, including XpresSpa 2.0 locations with improved aesthetics, layout, efficiency optimizations, and service offerings. Additionally, a new POS system (slated for Q4) will be fully integrated with the reservation system, open up expanded digital marketing capabilities, and leverage an already-signed user base of over 140,000 affinity members.

The other 30 percent of 2016 revenues is nothing to sneeze at either. Group Mobile has a solid pipeline of request for proposals with law enforcement, and an emphasis on long term corporate/municipality contracts for its rugged computing options, which are well-served by an experienced sales team who knows the prevailing hardware landscape like the back of its hand. Group Mobile saw 25 percent year over year sales growth last year to $6.6 million, even as bookings and customer commitments increased 128 percent to $12.1 million. Group Mobile serves a wide range of clients, from military and first responders to large select customers such as Macy’s. Rugged laptops, tablets and handhelds, as well as its wide range of other solutions, from body cameras to drones, are just a taste of the thousands of products from top brands that allow Group Mobile to tap an increasingly large slice of the $5 billion and growing domestic rugged mobile computing market.

FLI Charge also deserves a closer look, as it has some of the most advanced/efficient wire-free conductive technology available today. The sheer adaptability of this technology when it comes to working with essentially any battery-powered/DC device on the market today is enough to make FLI Charge worth further investigation on its own – but the usage characteristics of this technology are the real head-turners. Able to deliver wattage via a protocol that is as safe as plugging into a wall outlet, FLI Charge enablements can be embedded easily into any battery operated or DC-powered device, allowing them to be charged or powered via a pad such as the FLIway 40. This same ease of use becomes available for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones with FLI Charge’s FLIcases (70 percent thinner than extra battery packs), which remove the need for an enablement and allow the phone to be FLI Charged by simply setting it on the pad in any direction.

Investors can get a good look at FORM Holdings at the upcoming Oppenheimer Emerging Growth Conference, which will be held at the luxurious InterContinental Barclay Hotel in New York City next week. CEO Perlman will be available for one-on-one meetings throughout the day for those who arrange a meeting with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

To take a closer look, visit http://www.formholdings.com/corp_overview

Addiction is a widespread crisis in the United States that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. Both youth and adults suffer the devastating consequences of drug and alcohol addiction, and lives are lost and families are torn apart every day due to its destructive effects. In 2015 alone, more than 50,000 deaths resulted from drug overdoses in the U.S. (http://dtn.fm/2IdEz), but one company is offering new hope to millions of addicted individuals and their loved ones and making major strides to help turn the tide in America’s addiction epidemic.

BioCorRx Inc. (OTCQB: BICX) is an addiction treatment company engaged in developing and providing cutting-edge solutions to treat alcohol and opioid addictions. The company has pioneered a fresh approach to addiction treatment, offering a non-addictive, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program that consists of two main parts: an outpatient implant procedure performed by a licensed physician and a specially tailored one-on-one counseling program.

The first component of the BioCorRx Recovery Program involves the insertion of an implant that delivers naltrexone to addiction patients. Naltrexone is a non-addictive opioid antagonist that is able to significantly reduce an individual’s physical cravings for opioids and alcohol. The presence of the implant and its ongoing delivery of naltrexone make part two of the BioCorRx Recovery Program possible: one-on-one counseling that is specifically designed to treat the substance abuse addictions of patients receiving long-term naltrexone treatment. Because their addiction cravings have been quelled by the naltrexone, patients are able to make greater progress in psychosocial treatment and can more effectively address the underlying issues driving their addictive behaviors. The result is a much greater chance for patients to achieve long-term sobriety.

BioCorRx CEO Brady Granier recently discussed this revolutionary new treatment program on FOX News (http://dtn.fm/aWB4K) and FOX Business (http://dtn.fm/jZg1Z), detailing the BioCorRx program and the success it is having among patients. Granier also discussed an injectable naltrexone option the company currently has in preclinical development. Through BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals, an R&D subsidiary of BioCorRx, the company is developing, in partnership with TheraKine LTD, a new injection delivery technology for naltrexone called BICX101. This injectable naltrexone offers an additional naltrexone delivery option for addicted individuals in treatment.

BioCorRx also recently announced it has entered into an agreement with DynamiCare Health, Inc. to develop a co-branded mobile application, called DynamiCare Rewards™, with BioCorRx CBT that supports patients who are in treatment for addiction. This app will provide patients with a self-guided, interactive version of the BioCorRx Recovery Program and will enable counselors to remotely monitor their patients’ progress as patients complete the 35 modules of the program.

The tremendous success of BioCorRx’s twofold addiction treatment program—addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of opioid and alcohol addiction—is offering fresh hope for addicted individuals and their loved ones throughout the country.

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

For nearly two decades, ChineseInvestors.com (OTCQB: CIIX) has delivered a wide range of products, information, and services, including several subscription-based services, for the global Chinese speaking population. The specialized investment services company provides real-time market commentary, analysis, and education-related information in the Chinese language, as well as offering consultation, advertising, and public relations services.

The company’s product diversity is a result of its growth-focused, long term quest for value-add opportunities. Not satisfied with a 100,000+ user base, a recognizable 18-year-old brand, and a target market in excess of two billion Chinese speaking people, ChineseInvestors.com recently executed a first-to-market milestone by creating the world’s only Chinese language, cannabinoid-based, therapeutic health products online store, http://www.ChineseCBDoil.com.

After profiting from a successful investment in the marijuana market, the company recognized an immense opportunity and recently expanded into retail and online sales of cannabidiol (CBD) products. With an annual growth rate of nearly 60 percent, CBD oil has become one of the fastest growing market categories in the country, and U.S.-based ChineseInvestors.com aims to capitalize on this meteoric growth by marketing holistic CBD-based products to the more than two billion Chinese speaking people in the world.

CBD oil is considered to have a broad range of medical benefits, and it is non-psychoactive with low-THC and high-CBD content. CBD has shown varying degrees of efficacy in treating epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, cirrhosis, pain, anxiety and stress. Given the wide ranging practice of holistic-based Eastern medicine, acceptance and use of CBD oils is not only a natural adjunct, but also an enormous potential revenue generator for ChineseInvestors.com, which suggests that online sales and future retail outlets could easily exceed expectations. All told, ChineseInvestors.com presents an interesting opportunity to profit from the meteoric rise of the medical marijuana market as it relates to a global population of more than two billion Chinese consumers.

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

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Precision medicine and precision diagnostics in particular play a major role in today’s medical world, by helping patients and physicians detect various diseases in time, which in turn allows for the proper treatments and care to be prescribed. Companies such as Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NAVB) are at the forefront of precision medicine, developing innovative immunodiagnostics and immunotherapeutic platforms that can make a real difference for patients suffering from serious ailments such as cancer or infectious, autoimmune or inflammatory diseases.

A leader in precision medicine via the development and commercialization of precision diagnostics and therapeutics based on immune system functions, Ohio-based biopharma company Navidea is working on multiple products built around its proprietary Manocept™ platform. The platform is based on the ability to target macrophages – a type of white cells essential to immune systems, whose main role is to detect microscopic foreign bodies or substances and eat them, for the detection, monitoring and treatment of specific diseases. Manocept™ is able to specifically target the CD206 mannose receptor present in targeted macrophages, allowing for enhanced flexibility and versatility and, ultimately, leading to increased diagnostic accuracy and improved targeted treatment and patient care.

The platform is at the core of Navidea’s flagship product, Lymphoseek®, a state-of-the-art, receptor-targeted radiopharmaceutical agent used for the mapping of lymphatic basis or the biopsy of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with different types of cancers. Administered as an injection of technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept, Lymphoseek® has been successfully used for diagnostics in patients with clinically node negative breast cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity or melanoma.

Lymphoseek® has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has been in use nationwide since its launch in 2013. Recently, Navidea sold American rights to the diagnostic tool to Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) for a guaranteed $100 million in payments over the next three years (http://dtn.fm/32PpG). The sale’s value could rise to $310 million throughout the life of the agreement. In addition, Navidea already has European distribution in place for the cancer diagnostic aid and is seeking further commercialization opportunities in the rest of the world.

Aside from Lymphoseek®, the company is looking for other ways to expand the use of its Manocept™ platform, for diagnostics across a wide range of disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, tuberculosis, Kaposi’s sarcoma and others. Navidea is already looking into expanding the targeted macrophages-based platform diagnostic for many of these disorders, with clinical studies underway for rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and more.

Another potential use for the Manocept™ platform is the development of macrophage therapeutics using the Lymphoseek® delivery system. The company is currently working on the development of immunotherapeutics for cancer, inflammatory, autoimmune and infectious diseases and has so far reported encouraging results in preclinical trials, data suggesting several positive drug properties in terms of safety, duration of action, deliverability and costs. Results of animal testing have also indicated clear progress of macrophage therapeutics for various disorders including arthritis, asthma, Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-related inflammation, neuro-inflammation and multiple cancers.

For more information about Navidea Biopharmaceuticals and its innovative precision immunodiagnostic tools, visit the company’s website at www.Navidea.com

A study recently highlighted by the American Epilepsy Society (AES) at its 70th annual meeting focused on the potential of cannabidiol (CBD), a derivative of the cannabis plant, as a promising treatment for reducing both the frequency and severity of seizures in children with drug resistant epilepsies (http://dtn.fm/4uYeH). According to the study, patients who received CBD treatment exhibited over 45 percent mean reduction in seizures, and researchers were outspoken in support of further research.

Cannabidiol is the most abundant non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant. Both anecdotal evidence and pre-clinical research have suggested that CBD may have a broad range of beneficial therapeutic uses in humans and animals including pain mitigation, epileptic seizures and wasting disease eating disorders (cachexia). Animal studies have also shown promise for CBD’s anticonvulsant efficacy in multiple species (http://dtn.fm/Cusv2).

As referenced in a recent article (http://dtn.fm/QB8Kv), multiple companies compete in the $65 billion diverse pet product market, with about $15 billion spent on veterinary care annually in the United States. Seizures afflict about five percent of the 90 million dogs in the U.S. and a little over two percent of the 94 million felines. The most commonly used drugs to treat pet seizures include a lifetime regimen of phenobarbital, potassium bromide, and diazepam. India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IGC) is changing the paradigm of seizure treatments for dogs and cats based on its novel patent pending therapy using cannabinoid extracts.

India Globalization Capital is actually building a broad portfolio of multiple intellectual properties around the utilization of phytocannabinoid-based therapies in both animals and humans. The company is at the forefront of the combined use of cannabis-based extracts with other medications to reduce side effects and to increase bioavailability and absorption (phytocannabinoid-based combination therapy).

IGC has developed a pipeline of patent pending cannabinoid-based drugs targeting large market disorders such as therapeutics for neuropathic pain, human and animal seizures, refractory epilepsy and eating disorders. Several of these therapeutic compounds are scheduled for pre-clinical trials this year. With a team of experts encompassing patent law, clinical trials and regulatory procedures, IGC is positioned to become a leader in specialty pharmaceuticals and offers an interesting opportunity to profit from this exciting new market.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.IGCinc.us

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The hiatus after its initial public offering (IPO) in 2014 has come to an end, and Medical Transcription Billing, Corp. (NASDAQ: MTBC; MTBCP) has rebooted its acquisition strategy by bringing two new businesses under its wing. In late 2016, the company completed its acquisition of MediGain, LLC, a Texas-based medical billing specialist, and its subsidiary, Millennium Practice Management Associates, LLC, a New Jersey-based medical billing company. Now, with its bottom line enhanced as costs are spread over the larger organizational structure, MTBC is also set to see its top line improve substantially.

The MediGain acquisition will expand MTBC’s revenue base significantly, adding approximately 200 customers and $10 million in annualized revenues. As a result, for the first quarter of 2017, with an earnings report due on Wednesday, May 10, revenues are expected to rise by approximately 60% year-over-year to $8.2 million with “significantly improved” net loss and adjusted EBITDA. Overall revenue growth of over 20 percent is forecast for 2017, up from 2016 revenues of $24.5 million, and the top line is expected to hit $30 million.

The MediGain acquisition is a real feather in MTBC’s cap, bringing a number of advantages to the company. For starters, the purchase price of $7 million for $10 million worth of revenue represents a 30% discount on the industry norm multiple of 1x. As Warren Buffet famously said, “Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

Net present value of the acquisition is positive, as the discounted cash flows from the acquisitions exceed MTBC’s cost of capital, already noted by the market and reflected by a rise in the share price, and MTBC has gained talented team members in North America and expanded its Asia-based team to additional countries with talented, cost-effective workforces.

With these acquisitions, MTBC continues its focus on smaller one- to 10-doctor practices. The company provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to assist health care providers generate invoices, prepare and mail statements to their patients and submit insurance claims. It also provides electronic health record (EHR) software that allows providers to record notes of a visit and practice management software for the front office staff to schedule appointments, check insurance eligibility, send out automated reminder calls and text messages about flu shots, etc.

In addition to these services, practitioners and patients have access to a suite of mobile applications, including apps that the doctors can use to refill prescriptions and apps that the patients can use to look up their records, set up appointments, request prescription refills and check in when they arrive at the practice. Doctors who do not want to type their notes into the EHR can dictate into an app on their iPhone or Android device, which will be sent automatically to MTBC personnel, who will listen to it and type the notes into the electronic health record software.

MTBC’s main competitive advantage is its ability to deliver these services at a cost far less than any competitor. This is partly because MTBC has bought or established a number of overseas subsidiaries, sourcing expertise and talent for much less than is obtainable in the U.S. MTBC’s two largest offices are in Pakistan, where it employs 1,500 people at salaries of approximately one-tenth what you would pay in the United States for similarly skilled and educated labor.

For more information, visit www.MTBC.com

Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is growing its sales in the quick-expanding world of cashless transaction processing, which is exhibiting its greatest gains in retail and in the emerging Asian and Latin American markets, according to the World Payments Report 2016 (http://nnw.fm/MY0tu) by Capgemini. Net Element itself showed a 35% revenue increase in FY2016 to $54.3 million versus the same period in 2015. SeeThruEquity (http://nnw.fm/W3Dpi) projects the company’s sales at $62.9 million in FY2017. Zacks Small Cap Research (http://nnw.fm/R3FcB) estimates Net Element’s 2017 sales at $62 million and for 2018 at $73.5 million.

Net Element is a financial technology group that processes global electronic transactions within an omni-channel environment. It processes transactions from mobile devices, points-of-sale and within e-commerce. The company’s performance is segmented into several groups, with the North American segment being its largest by far. In 2016, Net Element recorded a 54% jump in North American revenues to $42.1 million, representing about 78% of total company sales.

The encouraging news for Net Element is that, while North America today dominates the company’s revenues, other parts of the world are showing significant percentage growth in number of electronic transactions. The company’s future worldwide is in a quick-expanding marketplace in what is becoming a global cashless society.

In 2015, Net Element saw 21.6% growth in Bankcard regional volume in emerging markets within Asia and 8.6% growth in Latin America, according to the research report World Payments Report 2016 by Capgemini. It said 387 billion transactions occurred worldwide in 2014 and projected a 10% increase in 2015. In China, an increase of 47% was seen in 2014, it said. North America, while still growing, had the least level of gains at 4.6% in 2015, the research study found.

Compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, from 2010-2014 for the emerging Asia-Pacific market topped the global report at 23.6%, while mature markets in Asia-Pacific jumped 11.1% and Latin America grew 10.6%. North America CAGR for the period grew only 4.7%, it said. China’s growth in non-cash payments grew from 2013-2014 by 31.5%, easily topping all others. By comparison, North America grew in the same period by 4.4%.

The mix of non-cash payments from 2010-2014 also bodes well for Net Element, with 65% of all non-cash payments worldwide made on credit cards, the research found, and the rest breaking down to 12% on direct debit credit cards, 17% on credit transfers and 6% made on checks. In North America, the use of credit cards in this mix was even higher at 70.7% in 2014. North America was ranked first in total transactions by value — at $139.8 billion in 2014 — making it the highest globally in non-cash transactions.

So while Net Element enjoys its 87% of revenue from North America, its future as it processes non-cash transactions overseas is bright. Globally, non-cash transaction processing is growing quickest in the Asia-Pacific emerging markets sector.

For more information, refer to www.NetElement.com

Cannabis is now legal medically or recreationally in 28 states in the U.S., and companies such as India Globalization Capital, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IGC) are developing revolutionary cannabinoid-based combination pharmaceutical therapies. Cannabis’ history doesn’t begin in the 1960s. Scientists have dated burned cannabis seeds found in Siberia to 3,000 B.C., and mummified psychoactive marijuana has been found in tombs of individuals buried around 2,500 B.C. Fast forward a few thousand years and add laws, regulations, and cultural stigma, and behold one of the most disputed substances. In the 1850s, recreational cannabis was considered fashionable in the U.S., and it was widespread in the 1920s as well. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, making it illegal to possess and transfer cannabis. The Controlled Substances Act (CSA), passed in 1970, lists cannabis as a high-abuse-potential Schedule 1 drug.

Although the CSA hasn’t been changed, marijuana has been decriminalized in many places. Medical cannabis was legalized in California in 1996, and Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona followed suit in 1998. The trend has accelerated, and, by 2011, additional states were favoring medical cannabis or passed legislation to decriminalize it. These included Nevada, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. Even more impressive than the territory covered by jurisdictions allowing cannabis and cannabis-related products is the multi-billion-dollar industry that’s emerged and promises to keep on growing.

Ram Mukunda, executive chairman, CEO, and president of India Globalization Capital, has taken the company on a course that is as impressive as the cannabis industry itself. IGC was founded in 2005 to mine iron ore. Once the prices for iron ore plummeted, Mukunda took the company in a different direction to focus on the untapped potential of cannabinoids and cannabis-based extracts.

Today, the company’s pipeline of patent-pending cannabinoid-based compounds represents treatment for a number of large market conditions. Cannabis-based pain medications are in development, providing opportunities for investors, as are drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and depression. Therapeutic drugs for treating seizures in humans and animals are in development as well.

The company’s drug development pipeline consists of a cream/patch for treating neuropathic pain, eating disorder treatments for adult and veterinary use, and a refractory epilepsy drug for adults. Pre-clinical trials are anticipated in 2017 for three of IGC’s combination therapy compounds. The company has come a long way from running mining operations to developing high potential phytocannabinoid-based treatments, but it is now helping to shape a critical point in cannabis history as medical use becomes more mainstream.

To learn more about India Globalization Capital, Inc., its drug development pipeline, and other cannabinoid- and cannabis-related initiatives, visit the company online at www.IGCinc.us

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