• Hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) sales projected to surpass $1 billion in five years
• Grey Cloak Tech has acquired Eqova Life Sciences, an established producer of a range of clinical-grade CBD products
• This acquisition strengthens Grey Cloak’s position in this market sector and is likely to accelerate its growth

On the back of several forecasts of explosive growth in the cannabidiol (CBD) market, Grey Cloak Tech, Inc. (OTCQB: GRCK) has made a strategic decision to focus its efforts in this sector. The Hemp Business Journal reports projected growth of 700 percent by 2020, to reach annual sales of $2.1 billion, according to Forbes (http://ibn.fm/7ZeLy). Cannabis-derived CBD products comprise the bulk of the market at present, but the Brightfield Group (http://ibn.fm/66BMC) predicts a phenomenal compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55 percent in hemp-derived CBD sales to pass the billion-dollar mark within five years.

On October 24, 2017, Grey Cloak announced that it had acquired 100 percent of Eqova Life Sciences, an established producer of a wide range of clinical-grade hemp CBD oil products supplying medical practitioners. Grey Cloak believes that these practitioners are underserved in sourcing high-quality CBD products. Eqova has developed its own high quality, branded hemp oil health products but has the capabilities to produce private labels for qualified partners.

Eqova’s products are not developed for recreational use, and the company only uses natural, standardized phytocannabinoid-rich hemp oil in its medical-grade, CBD-based products. It employs a rigorous product development cycle, where each ingredient is studied in isolation and in the context of other ingredients, use case and delivery method. Eqova has developed cutting-edge delivery methods for oral, topical, liposomal and sublingual applications. The company’s innovative products and commitment to stringent quality control ensures that medical practitioners receive high quality, consistent pharmaceutical-grade ingredients with standardized dosing to help their patients.

The products are thoroughly researched by a team of medical experts and manufactured in cGMP-compliant laboratories in the U.S. All of the company’s products contain no unnecessary or harmful fillers and no, or only trace amounts of, psychoactive ingredients like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Each product delivers a consistent dose of active ingredients and is exclusively distributed through qualified health practitioners to ensure maximum safety.

On October 7, 2017, Eqova exhibited its CBD products at the Integrative Medicine Summit in Denver, Colorado. The summit was attended by more than 200 medical professionals and presented the company with an opportunity to debut its new product, CannaBio Salve, a topical ointment made with several aromatic natural oils. Eqova President Patrick Stiles said, “I was overwhelmed with the interest in our product line. Clearly the practitioner space is severely underserved, and our clinical brand addresses their concerns about the CBD and Full Spectrum Hemp Oil industry very well. The topics of the show were a perfect match for the Eqova line of products. Because of our unique positioning, and serving the practitioners we opened several new accounts.”

As further evidence of Grey Cloak’s commitment to the CBD market sector, the company announced earlier this month the launch of CBD.co, a marketplace for CBD-based products. Five days later, on January 8, 2018, Grey Cloak announced the launch of its new YouTube channel, CBD TV. This is intended to serve as a platform for CBD education, product reviews and interviews with top players in the CBD and hemp space.

In short, Eqova Life Sciences provides products that combine the powerful benefits of CBD with the scientific research to validate use cases, administered only under the care of a qualified medical practitioner. This acquisition is set to strengthen Grey Cloak’s position in the CBD market and accelerate its growth.

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

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• AI market expected to grow at CAGR of over 60 percent until 2022
• Financial portal that reports on over 50,000 global equities and North American ETFs
• Financial content from Euronext, The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters, Yahoo Finance, et al

The pithy saw attributed to Mark Twain, “truth is stranger than fiction,” is in part a reminder that today’s technological landscape is born out of yesterday’s dreams. Examples abound, a list of even recent innovations would fill page after page. No field has escaped the relentless march of the future, not even fortune telling. For artificial intelligence (“AI”) now offers this old profession a new tool to understand what may lie ahead. As usual, a hint of what is possible comes from fiction. Writing in the Guardian, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman confessed that no other book has shaped his professional life as much as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy (http://ibn.fm/liue7). Set against a backdrop of galactic immensity, the overarching premise of Asimov’s magnum opus is that possible future outcomes can be probabilistically assessed by a study of currently available data. Now AnalytixInsight (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF) is offering the capacity to make that vision a reality by transforming data into actionable insights. The company has developed a proprietary, machine-learning technology that algorithmically analyzes big data and distills it to understand current trends, which is nothing less than predicting the future.

The company’s flagship product – CapitalCube.com – is a financial portal that provides comprehensive analysis that includes on-demand fundamental research, portfolio evaluation and screening tools on over 50,000 global equities and North American ETFs. CapitalCube’s online portal is meant to generate investment ideas by providing in-depth analysis, peer-to-peer performance evaluations, accounting and earnings reports, dividend strength and AI-supported information about likely corporate actions such as dividend changes, share buybacks and acquisitions. For the investment community, CapitalCube is offering the closest thing to a crystal ball.

Dr. Krugman is not the only one who thinks Asimov’s conception is becoming reality. Well-respected newspaper The Economist (http://ibn.fm/hLerN) writes, “The rise of mobile phones and social networks means budding psychohistorians do now have an enormous amount of data that they can search for information which might yield more modest patterns of predictability.” Psychohistorians were the mathematicians in Asimov’s fantastical world who used advanced analysis to uncover social trends.

Indeed, a sort of psychohistory is already being practiced, according to that Economist piece. Song Chaoming, a physicist at Northeastern University in Boston, has constructed an algorithm which can look at someone’s mobile-phone records and predict with an average of 93 percent accuracy where that person is at any moment of any day. Superficially, these results appear unexciting, since most people have regular routines. However, for the 50,000 people surveyed, the algorithm maintained an accuracy that never fell below 80 percent. Again, Dr. Vespignani, another researcher at Northeastern, has created a program called GLEAM (Global Epidemic and Mobility Model) that was able to predict outbreaks of the flu, with an accuracy that was never more than two weeks off. The program analyzed travel patterns to produce its remarkable results. Such successes are becoming the norm. The AI market is big and getting bigger. Growing at a CAGR of 62.9 percent from 2016 to 2022, the market is expected to balloon to $16 billion by 2022.

CapitalCube is relying on a freemium pricing model that allows free access to basic financial information, with additional in-depth analysis and predictive analytics provided for $25 per month, and customized peer analysis for $300 per month. The portal publishes 3,000 articles daily and has multi-language capabilities. Content partners include Africa Investor, Euronext NV, The Wall Street Journal, Thomson Reuters and Yahoo Finance.

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

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Israeli stereo/quad-camera vision system developer Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: FRSX), via wholly-owned subsidiary Foresight Automotive Ltd., is rapidly advancing the state of the art in ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) with a growing emphasis on the semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicle markets. The company’s unique QuadSight™ system (http://ibn.fm/wbNY9) leverages a host of proprietary 3D video analysis, advanced image processing algorithms, and sensor fusion technologies, in order to provide the automotive industry with one of the most sophisticated accident prevention and real-time situational awareness packages available today.

QuadSight, which was well received during its public debut at the recent CES 2018 show in Las Vegas, boasts nearly 100 percent object detection under all weather conditions (http://ibn.fm/uIOLr), thanks to the system’s dual pairs of stereoscopic infrared and daylight cameras. Moreover, QuadSight is capable of providing this groundbreaking capability with nearly zero false alerts, thanks to proprietary image-processing algorithms and sensor fusion techniques that greatly enhance the system’s core architecture, which was derived directly from already field-proven security technology.

Driverless Car Market Expanding Fast

The QuadSight specs are quite tantalizing given recent projections for the global autonomous vehicle market, such as last year’s $126.8 billion by 2027 target (39.6 percent CAGR) from Infoholic Research (http://ibn.fm/Dflt7) or a study last year by chip giant Intel and the research firm Strategy Analytics, which sees driverless vehicles behind a whopping $7 trillion in aggregate economic activity and new efficiencies by 2050, with $4 trillion from driverless ride-hailing and around $3 trillion from driverless delivery and business logistics (http://ibn.fm/pOrQ3). The ADAS market alone is on track to hit upwards of $79 billion by 2020 on a 28 percent-plus CAGR, with object detection and differentiation being a leading component, due in large part to steadily increasing demand for driver assistance systems that can create enhanced automotive safety (http://ibn.fm/7n6sR).

Driverless car tech was a main feature at this year’s CES – a striking reality that comes hot on the heels of Alphabet subsidiary Waymo’s announcement in November (http://ibn.fm/b9AK1) that it would begin testing fully driverless cars on public roads, as well as an announcement in early January that GM has petitioned the government to mass-produce a car called the Cruise AV (http://ibn.fm/NejTG), with no steering wheel or pedals (slated for as early as 2019) via San Francisco startup company Cruise, which GM acquired in 2016 for over $1 billion (http://ibn.fm/tgwzU). For a company like Foresight, with its cutting-edge quad-camera vision technology and a market cap just shy of $100 million, the prospect of an eventual buyout by an automotive sector major is mediated by the secure knowledge that the company is sitting on a veritable goldmine, which it can easily exploit on its own.

The Industry Needs the Right Set of Electronic Eyes

QuadSight is believed by management to be the industry’s most accurate quad-camera vision system. Such robust detection capability with exceptionally low false positive rates under virtually any weather condition, including complete darkness, rain, haze, fog and glare, would make any company similarly confident. The president, CEO and founder of market research and strategy consulting giant Yole Développement, Jean-Christophe Eloy, remarked at CES that “the potential impact of Foresight’s breakthrough cannot be overstated,” because QuadSight surpasses, in a single stroke, “so many other approaches that simply can’t address the real world need for all-weather, all-conditions driving.” A perfectly timed and seemingly street-ready solution like this is exactly what the burgeoning semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicle markets have been looking for (http://ibn.fm/ipnpl).

Because stereoscopic cameras are able to actually surpass a human’s ability to see and recognize 3D objects in real-time and to do so at short or long-range, irrespective of size and degree of motion, QuadSight is now being hailed as the salient ADAS answer for the industry’s long-term needs. To quote CEO and founder of Foresight Haim Siboni, who is also the CEO and founder of leading homeland security 3D video surveillance solutions innovator Magna B.S.P – the level of vision perfection attainable by QuadSight is “clearly the breakthrough that vehicle makers need to build consumer confidence in order to accelerate autonomous vehicle adoption.” If a QuadSight equipped car can actually see better than the customer and do so in all weather conditions, both the semi-autonomous market focused on driver assistance tech and the driverless market will likely be beating a path to Foresight’s doorstep.

Rails and Roads Could Benefit From ADAS

A hallmark of the company’s confidence in its ability to exploit its market position is the announcement in early January (http://ibn.fm/yqwBB) that Foresight increased its stake to 32.62 percent in train safety and railway accident prevention innovator Rail Vision Ltd. (http://ibn.fm/j44xu), via an aggregate $2.24 million exercise of warrants at Rail Vision’s behest. Foresight’s veteran management team can smell a good deal and was excited to move quickly with an expedited exercise of warrants, subsequent to Rail Vision’s successful trial in December of its unique vision-based system with a leading European railway company. Conducted under harsh winter weather conditions at both day and night, the system was able to rapidly distinguish and classify railway obstacles at distances of several hundred meters.

This successful pilot test has set the stage for a long-term follow up pilot test with the aforementioned European railway major, which intends to purchase the system upon completion of said test for use on its locomotive fleet. The Rail Vision stake increase by Foresight is particularly interesting given the recent fatal Amtrak crash near Tacoma in December (http://ibn.fm/6MNi8), the inquiry into which will focus on driver distraction and excessive speed. Driver assist systems for trains could become a big market considering there were 586 train accidents globally in the last five years alone (http://ibn.fm/dDjwV), 53 of which were due to derailments, many of which might have been prevented by a system capable of identifying obstructions in real-time and acting on its own to slow or even stop the train.

Global Market Potential is the Brass Ring for Foresight

The successful completion in September of a third pilot project (http://ibn.fm/ao1Bk) with one of the top three Chinese car manufacturers utilizing Foresight’s Eyes-On™ accident prevention system (http://ibn.fm/rtPhV) has opened the door for commercialization in that country. The pending commercialization of this advanced driver assistance system will benefit mightily from a wealth of localized field data acquired during the three testing phases, such as local weather and infrastructure data, as well as data on the driving habits and tendencies of Chinese drivers. Eyes-On met all pre-determined specific terms, conditions and specifications in the third pilot test, so investors should keep an ear to the ground for more news about the direction of pending commercialization. Foresight’s plan is to extend and broaden the company’s contacts with various manufacturers as commercialization of the system heats up, getting out ahead of the curve and securing as much global footprint as possible for this potentially life-saving technology.

Foresight also successfully executed a system demonstration project in August (http://ibn.fm/1hc8g) with Swedish electric vehicle (EV) startup Uniti (http://ibn.fm/PTrY4), which is developing an EV that is optimized for agility and overall performance in an urban setting. This open road test of the company’s ADAS has set the stage for a definitive agreement that will see Foresight’s multispectral all-weather condition system incorporated into Uniti’s EVs as the primary ADAS, a move which will lead to the system becoming the backbone of Uniti’s forthcoming fully autonomous EVs.

It is well worth investor’s time to make particular note here that the field-proven security technology of major shareholder Magna B.S.P, from which Foresight’s proprietary stereoscopic technology is derived, has been deployed globally for almost two decades now, and that the IP is backed up by several patents.

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

• Patented technology promotes healthier administration of active pharmaceutical ingredients, including cannabidiol (CBD), psychoactive cannabinoids (THC), nicotine, fat soluble vitamins and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
• Active pharmaceutical ingredient market expected to exceed $239 billion by 2025
• 19 patent applications filed in U.S. and internationally encompassing 44 countries
• Lab tests in 2018 include topical CBD skin cream, nicotine in edible formats

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP) is a research-driven company that has developed and out-licenses a patented drug delivery platform called DehydraTECH™ that changes the way active pharmaceutical ingredients (“APIs”) enter the body orally. According to a new report by Million Insights (http://ibn.fm/iaAZ9), the global API market is anticipated to reach $239.8 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of six percent. The rising prevalence of chronic health issues such as neurological and cardiovascular diseases are identified as growth factors.

Lexaria recently received a broad-ranging U.S. patent award for DehydraTECH™ as a delivery platform for a wide variety of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The U.S. patent covers all cannabinoids including THC, fat soluble vitamins, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (“NSAIDs”) and nicotine (http://ibn.fm/yOK2Q). LXRP has a portfolio of patents issued in both the U.S. and Australia, plus 19 patent applications filed in the U.S. (and internationally using the Patent Cooperation Treaty) and national filings in 44 countries.

“Lexaria has now locked-up the IP for its next-generation drug delivery system,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Bunka said in a news release announcing the U.S. patent award (http://ibn.fm/jl69G). “This ground-breaking, patented IP builds a foundation for new business opportunities in 2018 including what could be the world’s first nicotine edibles for the smokeless tobacco industry, or improved new products for NSAID-derived pain management, as well as in the rapidly growing cannabis market.”

Through the application of Lexaria’s revolutionary DehydraTECH™ platform to specific compounds in the cannabis plant, for instance, issues such as bad taste, delay of onset, unwanted side effects and poor absorption are eliminated. Lexaria’s technology transforms the way cannabinoids enter the bloodstream through the gastrointestinal tract, providing a fast-acting, tasteless product with increased bioavailability. The company’s innovative technology solves multiple problems and offers third-party partners and distributors the ability to focus on creating safe, standardized products with mass appeal (http://ibn.fm/JZxyy).

Regulations affecting the legal cannabis industry in the U.S. and Canada underscore the need for DehydraTECH™ and its commercial application potential for edible cannabinoid products. Smoking cannabis is prohibited or limited to specific locations, and there are regulations governing the appearance and amount of psychoactive compounds allowed in edible cannabis products (http://ibn.fm/15z6D). Regulations governing the rapidly changing cannabis industry, along with market trends, increase the need for fast-acting, high-absorption, alternative delivery methods – which is Lexaria’s specific focus.

While 2017 was a transformative year for Lexaria, the company expects 2018 to be even more significant for its shareholders as testing commences with DehydraTech™ in nicotine edibles and a topical skin cream infused with cannabinoids. The company’s strategic focus is on out-licensing DehydraTECH™ to third-party partners using a high margin royalty model. Lexaria’s first licensee in the edible cannabis space is a chocolate/cannabis company located in Colorado. Advanced discussions are also underway with additional U.S. edibles manufacturers that range from $5 million to $50 million in annual sales.

President John Docherty is slated to discuss the company’s strategic partnerships and the necessity of focused business models such as the ones guiding Lexaria during the International Cannabis Business Conference scheduled February 1-2 in San Francisco.

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

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• Targeting $80 billion global skincare and dermatology market
• Revenues to be derived from royalties and other licensing fees
• DermSafe sales have taken off in Greater China
• Pending merger will expand product offerings

Among the winners at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio was DermSafe® from Skinvisible’s (OTCQB: SKVI) subsidiary, Kintari. Donated to Team Canada, the non-alcohol hand sanitizing lotion offered protection from pathogens to athletes during the Olympic Games. Now, with the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea from February 8-25, the need is more pressing. Reported outbreaks of the flu have increased dramatically this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://ibn.fm/2rjXw). For the first time since it began monitoring flu patterns, the CDC has reported widespread flu activity in every part of the continental U.S. There is no doubt that antiseptics like DermSafe, which inhibit the spread of contact infections, will take center stage again. There’s a lot at stake. Influenza kills at least 12,000 Americans every year.

The main curse this season is the particularly malevolent influenza virus H3N2. It is the most dominant strain not only in the U.S. but in Canada and the UK. The virus, experts believe, is mainly transmitted through the air by droplets formed when infected persons cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets land on hard surfaces like door knobs and as soon as one touches it they have just transferred the virus to their hands. With over 90 percent of all germs coming into one’s body from their hands, it is very important to wash them regularly. Regular use of an alcohol hand sanitizer will work as a replacement to hand washing, but it, too, is only immediate and offers no long term protection. Independent studies verify that DermSafe, when applied to the hands, offers a continuous long term kill on bacteria and viruses tested including the H3N2 virus. Consequently, a hand sanitizer like DermSafe is a vital safeguard against the spread of such germs.

DermSafe incorporates Skinvisible’s proprietary Invisicare® drug delivery technology, which is effective at bonding active ingredients to the skin for up to four hours and longer. Invisicare is non-occlusive; it allows normal skin respiration and perspiration while moisturizing and protecting against exposure from a wide variety of environmental irritants. When topically applied, products formulated with Invisicare adhere to the skin’s outer layers, forming a protective bond, resisting wash-off and delivering targeted levels of therapeutic or cosmetic skincare agents to the skin. This allows enhanced delivery performance for a variety of topicals resulting in improved efficacy, longer duration of action, reduced irritation and lower dosage of active agent required. The “invisible” polymer compositions that make up Invisicare wear off as part of the natural exfoliation process that removes the skin’s outer layer of cells.

Having made its debut in Rio, DermSafe is set for a repeat performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Skinvisible has donated over 1,000 bottles of DermSafe to the Canadian Olympic team. DermSafe provides a long-lasting protective barrier that binds to the skin and actively combats the spread of germs between people and between people and hard surfaces. Composed of four percent chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), the same active ingredient found in soaps used in hospital operating rooms, DermSafe offers long-term protection and destroys both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and viruses. It has proven effective against a host of infectious germs, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Sales of DermSafe have already taken off in China, and the product will be marketed throughout Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

China, with a population of over 1.6 billion people, exhibits a strong demand for American-made products, driven both by the growth of the middle class in large cities and an increased desire for high quality products. Last year, China imported $2.7 billion in personal care products, and around 69 percent of Chinese women, in one recent survey, said they are in the market for such products and would buy them from online stores, spending an average of $1,800 a year. As well as DermSafe, Kintari offers a line of anti-aging products that includes day cream, night cream, hand and body lotion, and sunscreen. Skinvisible’s foray into Greater China is in line with its strategy of driving Kintari-branded product sales through subsidiaries in the U.S. and Canada and international distribution and licensing agreements.

Along with Skinvisible’s cosmeceutical and over-the-counter products, Skinvisible has signed a letter of intent with Quoin Pharmaceuticals Inc. to merge the two companies and to pursue additional medical conditions, such as post-surgical pain and PTSD with suicidal thoughts in the military.

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

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• Petroteq Energy Inc. has a patented, environmentally-friendly oil sands extraction technology which is suitable for all hydrocarbon deposits
• Company is developing the first blockchain-based platform, PetroBLOQ, to meet the supply chain needs of the oil and gas sector
• Company is dedicated to increased transparency while providing users increased productivity and lower costs

Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTCQX: PQEFF), a Canadian company known for its patented, environmentally-friendly oil sands extraction technology, is developing PetroBLOQ, the first blockchain-based platform focused on meeting the specific needs of players in the oil and gas industry. PetroBLOQ promises to improve efficiency, transparency and security in the oil and gas sector.

Transparency is at the heart of all that Petroteq does. The company is dedicated to implementing the same standards it has in producing clean energy to the development of this new blockchain platform. In addition to being committed to the preservation of the environment, protection of heritage and cultural landmarks, safe work environments, employee safety and respect for local residents, Petroteq has committed itself to improving the transparency and accountability of the oil and gas sector. The company is actively engaged in creating an open peer-to-peer network, removing fraud and corruption along the supply chain. Petroteq management takes seriously their commitment to clean, sustainable energy and social responsibility in everything they do.

PetroBLOQ promises to provide users with increased transparency while improving productivity and lowering costs. With this tool in place, the constantly evolving geopolitical atmosphere and market fluctuations of the oil and gas industry are expected to become simpler to navigate. Every level of the oil and gas supply chain has its own challenges. This new technology seeks to eliminate a number of those challenges and aims to help producers by way of prevention.

In his end of the year letter to shareholders (http://ibn.fm/A4y5k), chairman and CEO Aleksandr Blyumkin said that, with the patented clean heavy oil extraction technology being successful, the company is on the cusp of 87 million barrels of contingent resources. In 2017, it increased efficiency that could bring production capacity to 1,000 bpd (barrels per day). He goes on to speak of the new blockchain technology, saying, “Through our recently created PetroBLOQ subsidiary, and a working relationship with First Bitcoin Capital we intend to help reduce the massive administrative costs in the Energy Industry, as a developer and service provider of Blockchain enabled technology products.”

With zero greenhouse gas, zero waste and an emphasis on transparency, Petroteq Energy Inc. is dedicated to developing new technologies to help companies in the industry secure competitive advantage and cost efficiency.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy

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• Offering consumer loans in 20 states
• Robust underwriting standards
• Successful track record in the industry

Despite living in the country with the world’s most sophisticated financial system, 16 million American adults are ‘unbanked’, according to the latest ‘Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households’ issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (http://ibn.fm/XmUwO). Unbanked consumers are those without “a checking, savings, or money market account.” In addition, another 43 million or so are ‘under-banked’, defined as having a deposit account but also using at least one alternative financial service in the prior year. Yet prick the people who fall into these two market segments and, like their better-banked brethren, they will bleed, being no different. That similarity extends to their need for certain banking services, such as the personal loans offered by IEG Holdings Corp. (OTCQB: IEGH). The Nevada-based company offers loan products, under the label ‘Mr. Amazing Loans’, to residents of 20 states.

Who hasn’t needed, at some point, a personal loan for an emergency or to finance some venture? Yet banks are notoriously finicky. As Bob Hope once observed, “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it.” Moreover, non-bank lenders charge usurious rates. The typical payday loan has rates ranging from 391 percent to 521 percent annual percentage rate (APR) on loans ranging from $100 to $1,000, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

Conversely, the rates offered by Mr. Amazing Loans are affordable and designed with low, fixed repayments to fit into consumer budgets, with the added goal of helping clients reach a stronger financial position. The company offers $5,000 and $10,000 personal loans over a five-year term at rates ranging from 12.0 percent to 29.9 percent APR in 20 states, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Thoughtful underwriting standards separate gold from the straw. To be eligible, a consumer must, among other criteria, have a minimum gross annual income of $40,000, a minimum credit score of 600 and a steady employment history. Loans are originated, processed and serviced out of the company’s Las Vegas corporate offices, which eliminates the need for IEGH to have a brick-and-mortar office in each state where it is licensed to conduct business. Consumers are able to receive same-day processing and are assured of no hidden or additional fees, no prepayment penalties and reasonable interest rates.

IEGH has a 6 1/2-year track record of originating, underwriting and servicing personal loans to under-banked consumers. It has become adept, through that experience and knowledge in the consumer finance industry, at achieving a meaningful return on its loan portfolio. In addition, the company has the clout to attract capital markets financing, as it has signaled with recent private placements of common and preferred stock. IEGH has two wholly-owned subsidiaries, IEC, its U.S. operating entity that holds all its state licenses, leases, employee contracts and other operating and administrative assets, and IEC SPV, a bankruptcy remote special purpose entity that holds the U.S. loans. The company recently introduced a third subsidiary, Investment Evolution Crypto, LLC.

Paul Mathieson, IEG Holdings chairman and chief executive officer, has over 22 years’ experience in lending, funds management, stock market research and investment banking. Mathieson founded IEG Holdings Limited in Sydney, Australia, launching the Mr. Amazing Loans business in that country in 2005 and then in the United States via IEGC in 2010. He was awarded Ernst & Young’s 2007 Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Eastern Region). Mathieson is joined by Carla Cholewinski, who serves as chief operating officer with over 37 years of experience in the finance industry, including banking, credit union management, regulatory oversight, debt securitization and underwriting.

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

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• Warren Wang, CEO of CIIX, says trading is active for cryptocurrencies in China on over-the-counter exchanges
• CIIX doubles down on its commitment to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, spinning off two other corporate divisions to spend more time on building its new cryptocurrency division
• The company’s goal is to gain revenue, profitability and value for its shareholders

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) sees a bright future for cryptocurrencies in China due to interest among Chinese investors in making cryptocurrencies part of their portfolios of assets (http://ibn.fm/KZGmN). Warren Wang, CEO of CIIX, said in a news release that the emerging middle class in China is expressing its desire to be educated about trading and investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

CIIX, as a result, is doubling down on its commitment to bitcoin growth by offering a real-time daily video broadcast from the NYSE, targeted at the Chinese-speaking community in China and North America. The broadcast’s goal is to educate viewers on the latest cryptocurrency news. The company also hosts a bitcoin ATM in the lobby of its San Gabriel, California, headquarters.

Wang, in a recent interview on The Bad Crypto Podcast (http://ibn.fm/xt19y), said that Chinese investors are selling and buying cryptocurrencies through unregulated, over-the-counter exchanges, because conventional exchanges are banned by the government from trading in cryptocurrencies. These investors, he said, are persistent in their desire to trade the volatile cryptocurrency. Wang stressed that the Chinese community is motivated by the growth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

CIIX is a diverse company serving the Chinese-speaking community. It has recently spun off two of its corporate divisions that were involved in hemp marketing and the legal cannabis industry to focus, instead, on the education and marketing of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

“There’s so many cryptocurrencies from China emerging, or at least on the exchange right now,” he said in the interview. He added that there is tremendous opportunity for CIIX to bring added revenue and profitability to its shareholders as the Chinese investment community seeks education about the volatile market of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He urged entrepreneurs to be patient as this large community takes time to learn more about this market.

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

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• SPYR eyes greater shareholder value, as the move is expected to increase revenues and profitability through fees charged to players for maintenance and trading of planets they “own”
• The blockchain technology integration will also allow SPYR to market planets held in the blockchain to others with space-themed games
• Pocket Starships players will have greater ownership of the planets they buy, and they will be able to execute P2P (player-to-player) transactions with cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin

SPYR, Inc. (OTC: SPYR) has announced that it is executing the integration of blockchain technology into its Pocket Starships flagship game within its wholly-owned subsidiary, SPYR APPS, LLC (http://ibn.fm/OHREn). The result will be additional revenue from the integration of blockchain into Pocket Starships, the company said. In addition, the technology, marketed through SPYR, will also be available to others who have developed and published their own space-themed games.

Blockchain will hold planets in the Pocket Starships game. SPYR then anticipates generating more revenue by charging players for maintenance of the planets and by getting a percentage of the revenues on the buying, selling and trading of planets. Each planet held by blockchain will be unique and tradable on the public planet real estate market, SPYR said. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, can be used to buy and sell planets.

SPYR, Inc., is a Denver-based holding company which is eyeing additional acquisitions within the mobile application, game development and similar verticals markets. Its goal is to expand its holdings, generate more revenue and boost shareholder value by increasing profits.

In a news release, James R. Thompson, CEO and president of SPYR, said, “I believe we have come up with a very exciting way to implement Blockchain technology both within and beyond Pocket Starships. The ability to own a planet that creates in-game resources is something that will appeal to our players and keeping the planet on the blockchain will allow SPYR to work with other developers and publishers to have the planets exist in any number of space-themed games.”

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

• Company notes record revenues in latest quarterly report
• Global big data revenues expected to approach $80 billion within three to five years
• Blockchain’s security may enhance AI’s data learning to provide greater efficiency options

The world marked 2017 as the year blockchain technology and its derivative applications created real revenue-generating excitement for business, even while differing experts debated whether the transaction-securing tech is truly foundational or simply the market darling of the moment. Among the companies evaluating the changing data landscape was AnalytixInsight, Inc. (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF), a dealer in the much older and still nascent technology sector of artificial intelligence. AnalytixInsight has created a proprietary “machine learning” technology to analyze big data and turn it into actionable strategies for the fintech and internal corporate analytics markets, and it is evaluating opportunities to enhance its efficiency via the convergence of data evaluation and data security technologies.

AnalytixInsight, through its flagship product CapitalCube, serves investors and the companies who inform them by providing in-depth analysis on over 50,000 global equities and North American ETFs, company accounting and earnings reports and information about likely future stock and acquisition activity by select corporations — all thanks to its AI capacity. The technology frequently reevaluates itself to maintain a desired investment risk profile while providing regular compliance reporting.

CapitalCube has the ability to provide information in multiple languages, is customizable and can generate reports, earnings analyses, graphs, trend charts and numeric table displays in PDF file format utilizing 100 billion computations each day. Through partnership agreements with Thomson Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance and other financial entities, the platform publishes thousands of daily news articles as well.

Another fintech subsidiary, called MarketWall, develops mobile and wearable software for a wide variety of smart devices. Its latest app, attuned to real-time stock trading information and online banking, is expected to launch in 2018 for the 12.6 million customers of Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest retail bank, with branches located across six European countries. The mobile stock trading application will interface with the bank’s MarketHub trading platform. The app ties as-it-happens market data to company profile information provided by CapitalCube.

A third subsidiary, Euclides Technologies, delivers workforce management data solutions for global-reach corporations through its Field Service Management software. The artificial intelligence platform will empower companies to increase the efficiency of their large-scale operations by tracking employee performance data and establishing customized recommendations for controlling quality. The advent of cloud services also provides companies with options for data processing and implementation that don’t require investments in large-scale infrastructure and security measures.

AnalytixInsight’s AI technology algorithms have the potential to be adapted to almost any data-driven corporate or governmental need, or even entertainment interests such as sports tracking and forecasting.

Analysis portal Statista.com estimated that the global big data industries’ revenues amounted to just under $34 billion in 2017 (http://ibn.fm/DRs5K) with the capacity to grow to nearly $80 billion in the next five years. SNS Research estimated global big data revenues at over $57 billion in 2017 (http://ibn.fm/SVsr9), with a CAGR of about 10 percent growth during the next three years, amounting to about $76 billion by the end of 2020. AnalytixInsight’s most recent quarterly report showed a record revenue level of $1.7 million, a 77 percent increase over the previous quarter and a 600 percent increase over the same period of the previous year.

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

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