Tech Top 5: Douugh doubles US customer base and Zeotech progresses patent applications

Douugh up after doubling US customer base in Q1 FY22
Zeotech targets international patents to support commercialisation
Janison Education to acquire Quality Assessment Tasks for $2 million

Here are the biggest tech players in early trade, Monday October 11.

Douugh (ASX:DOU)

Fintech player Douugh was up 15.38% today after announcing it has doubled its US customer base in Q1 FY22.

Total customers on its platform across the US and Australia was 55,321 (up 54% from Q4), collective debt card spend rose to over $4.8 million (up 94% from Q4) and funds under management grew to over $4.5 million (up 11% from Q4).

The company says this growth following its subscription rollout demonstrates the product market fit for its US$4.99 monthly membership model in the US.

“We are striving to continue to invest and build out the key features needed to further increase or rate of acquisition/activation as well as grow ARPU, whilst also preparing for international expansion,” Douugh founder and CEO Andy Taylor said.

“We see a window of opportunity to become the responsible financial super app for a large sector of underserved customers in the emerging gen-z segments, which we are well positioned to capture.”

The company is also planning to list on the OTCQB venture market in the US in the near-term.

XTEK Limited (ASX:XTE)

XTEK was up 1.81% today after opening its pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer after raising $2.7 million via a placement last week.

All Eligible shareholders will have the opportunity to purchase new fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of A$0.26 per share at an offer ratio of 1 new share for every 3.7 existing shares held.

The offer is aiming to raise $5 million and is partially underwritten up to a maximum of $3 million by MST Financial Services Pty Ltd as underwriter and non-executive chairman Uwe Boettcher and major shareholder Altor Capital Pty Ltd as sub-underwriters.

XTEK will use the funds from the placement and the offer for:

UAV’s: development of an Australian-made small VTOL Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for upcoming sales opportunities with the Australian Defence Force;
Software: development of the next XTatlasTM actionable intelligence software applications; and
Ballistics: expand the range of hard armour plates and helmets made using XTEK’s patented XTclave process.

Zeotech (ASX:ZEO)

Zeotech was up 1.13% today after receiving an International Preliminary Report on Patentability.

ZEO said the report contained positive findings around the novelty and inventiveness of the its patent application, which is associated with mineral processing technology for the manufacturing (synthesising) of zeolites.

The company is progressing to the National Phase of the patent granting procedure, which is a key requirement to have patents granted internationally and will enhance its commercialisation pathway, Zeotech said.

Zeotech plans to file patents in the following jurisdictions:

Australia;
Canada;
Chile;
China;
India;
Japan;
Republic of Korea;
Eurasia (including Russia and Kazakhstan);
Thailand;
United States of America; and
Europe (including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom).

Janison Education (ASX:JAN)

Janison Education Group was up 1.05% today after entering an agreement to acquire school assessments business Quality Assessment Tasks (QATs) for $2 million.

QATs is a market leader in the development of school assessments for Year 11 and 12 subjects, and says it has around a 50% national market share of around 2,800 secondary schools across the country.

Customer retention in FY20 was 73% ,and the company has amassed a catalogue of 687 assessment products and approximately 5,000 individual test items which are linked to the relevant state-based curricula – plus it generated revenues of $1 million in FY21.

The company says that when high-school certificate exams (HSC, VCE, etc.) transition online from pen-and-paper, it will be well-placed to provide the software platform to deliver those exams nationally .

Janison said students have become accustomed to its test player environment – the same experience as NAPLAN Online, NSW Check-In, VALID, Best Start and the Australian Science Innovation exams – which all run on the same Janison assessment platform.

Sportshero (ASX:SHO)

SportsHero was down 5.88% today despite announcing its plans to develop a dedicated esports prediction hub which will create an interactive platform driven by the company’s esports predictor technology.

The aim is for professional and amateur esports communities to plugin, integrate, engage and monetise their developed userbases in partnership with SportsHero on its platform – encouraging engagement and competition and providing players with data driven predictions on their tournament outcomes within their communities.

League of Legends, FIFA, CS:GO and Dota2 will be included in SportsHero’s covered game portfolio, and the company expects its esports data library will continue to rapidly grow with these additions, opening up multiple potential revenue streams for Data as a Service offerings.

“We are building a world first dedicated esports prediction hub that is expected to deliver for our users access and coverage to some of the world’s most popular esports games, including League of Legends and FIFA,” SportsHero CEO Tom Lapping said.

“Our global scale Platform has the potential to be a company maker by allowing SportsHero to enter new markets, generate revenue at scale and leverage our existing products, data and market position to our advantage.”

The Australian and global launch date is scheduled for Q1 2022.