ASX Tech Stocks: BRN secures another US patent and Pointerra scores up to $6.6M in US utilities contracts

BrainChip locks in its 8^th patent for the Akida chip
Pointerra nabs between $4.33-$6.60 million in US utilities contracts in Q2
XRG on track to kick off defence-based projects this quarter

BrainChip (ASX:BRN)

The AI chip developer was up 15.1% today, announcing a new US patent for “Event-based Classification of Features in a Reconfigurable and Temporally Coded Convolutional Spiking Neural Network.”

“This latest patent is one of 8 patents we’ve secured since 2008 to protect our intellectual property rights to ensure we maintain our global competitive advantage in the field of neuromorphic artificial intelligence,” CTO and founder Peter van der Made said.

“As the world’s first and only commercial producer of neuromorphic artificial intelligence chips (Akida1000), we must maintain our lead over our competitors by ensuring our unique and revolutionary technology is protected and secure.”

If you’re wondering what exactly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are, apparently they are the dominant AI method used to process images.

CNN’s consisting of several layers are typically followed by a final classification layer and the company’s Akida neural processors are configurable as both CNN and fully connected (classification) neurons – enabling a wide range of existing AI applications used in industry to be ported to the chip.

Pointerra (ASX:3DP)

Cloud-based AI platform Pointerra was up 11.11% in early morning trade today, off the back of a solid December quarterly detailing record quarterly cash receipts of $2.85 million.

The company nabbed awarded material contracts in the US energy utilities sector by Entergy Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric totalling between $4.33 million and $6.60 million.

The power utilities sector is currently the company’s largest by annual contract value (ACV) spend and Pointerra says this reflects the “significant and widespread use of 3D data by these private and public sector utilities to operate critical infrastructure assets valued in the $ billions.”

Pointerra also added new customers and grew existing customers’ ACV spend in the survey and mapping sector, the transport sector and mining, oil and gas sector.

Plus, the company is also targeting and executing defence and intelligence sector opportunities in the US, exploring consulting arrangements with recently retired ranking officers with knowledge of the role geospatial technology provides in providing real-time situational awareness, supporting mission planning and intelligence activities.

xReality Group (ASX:XRG)

Up 10.41% was VR player XRG, after experiencing a strong rebound in retail sales in November and December with the re-opening of the consumer-based operations in NSW on October 11.

Cash receipts for the quarter totalled $2,488,150 which includes $430,602 of government grants associated with R&D and COVID relief payments from Q1 and net cash from operating activities totalled $966,975.

The company also invested $408,540 in non-current assets which included the establishment of FREAK Macquarie, a new testing facility and corporate headquarters and further investment in Operator and associated defence-based projects.

The company says its defence projects are on schedule, with OP-1 Virtual Reality Tactical Trainer (VRTT) end user testing and evaluation set to kick off early this year, and OP-1 Mission Rehearsal System (MRS) demonstration scheduled for mid-2022.

OP-1 Weapons Integration System (WIS) is set to begin a small production run inline with end user testing and evaluation early this year, with a larger production run on commencement of commercial contracts.

Megaport (ASX:MP1)

Smart cloud connectivity player Megaport was down 12.5% today, despite reporting strong monthly recurring revenue for Q2 FY22, up $0.6 million and 7% QoQ, to $9.2 million in December 2021.

Total revenue for the quarter was $26.6 million (up 8% compared to 1Q FY22) and annualised recurring revenue at 31 December 2021 was $110 million.

The company sold 12 Megaport Virtual Edges (MVE), a 42.9% rise on QoQ.

MVEs are essentially a software layer that provides an easy way to create and manage network connections.

“We’ve strengthened our partnerships with our MVE technology alliance partners, aligned our entire sales motion for solution selling – including how branches get connected – and with managed virtual router (MCR) adoption remaining strong, it’s clear that our customers are using Megaport to connect and control their broader portfolio of IT services,” CEO Vincent English said.

The company also on-boarded 22 indirect channel partners up to 31 December 2021, and English said this means Megaport is well positioned to “capture indirect channel opportunities coming into the second half of the financial year and beyond.”