MissionIR Small-Cap Investor Blog

Monday, March 21, 2016

Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OGES) Offers Revenue Guidance for Q1 2016

Earlier today, Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) offered revenue guidance for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016. This guidance marks a major milestone in Oakridge’s history, as it includes the company’s first ever commercial revenues. For the fiscal quarter ended March 31, Oakridge forecasts total revenues of $250,000. While this forecast will amount to a net loss for the quarter, the company is extremely optimistic about its prospects for financial growth following its full commercial production ramp up, which it completed at the end of 2015. Following its current trajectory, Oakridge estimates that it could attain a break even financial position as soon as the second quarter of 2016, capitalizing on its growing presence in the rapidly expanding lithium ion battery space.

“We started 2016 as a new year with a full commercial production and customer focus,” Steve Barber, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Oakridge, stated in this morning’s news release. “We are excited to announce that we have now begun routinely shipping our ground breaking lithium ion batteries to the golf car market, the motorcycle market, and a number of very significant custom or semi-custom markets. These results are nothing short of game-changing for the Company, which has never previously, in all its past history, shipped commercial product of any kind.”

From July 2014 to December 2015, Oakridge embarked upon and completed a full transition of its existing operations, moving from a research and development company to a fully-fledged ‘Made in the USA’ lithium ion battery manufacturing company. In total, Oakridge has spent in excess of $40 million in research, product development and corporate restructuring since mid-2013.

In recent weeks, the company has made tremendous strides in the domestic lithium ion battery market. In addition to providing a customized battery system that successfully powered Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc.’s Man-Portable Tactical Autonomous Systems in a field trial for a major defense contractor, Oakridge has announced agreements to supply its battery systems to Freedom Trucking to power its fully electric interstate truck propulsion system, demonstrated its Pro-Series Lithium Ion Golf Car battery systems at the Orlando PGA Merchandise Show and introduced its Liberty Series lithium ion motorcycle batteries at the 75th anniversary of the iconic Daytona Beach Bikefest.

Currently, Oakridge employs 57 full-time employees, as well as six part-time employees, from its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Palm Bay, Florida. On April 4, the company plans to increase its employment figures and production capacity through the introduction of a second shift. Oakridge is also finalizing orders for significant new manufacturing equipment designed to increase the company’s ability to keep pace with recent spikes in customer demand.

“We now are in the gratifying position, based on all the hard planning work we have done, of having a growing range of excellent customers and a solid backlog of orders,” continued Barber. “We will have further exciting news as we move into Q2 as the Company is now on a very significant growth curve in the lithium battery space from this point onwards and we will not be looking back.”

For more information, visit www.oakridgeglobalenergy.com

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Friday, March 18, 2016

Moxian, Inc. (MOXC): Social Media Advertising Expected to Grow 30% This Year

Social media advertising is expected to grow 30 percent or more this year as measurability improves and the number of important platforms and types of units widen, challenging marketers when it comes to deciding where to allocate their advertising dollars. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) still commands social media ad budgets for most marketers, but as Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat prove their worth, they are grabbing a bigger share. The key for marketers is to look at social media holistically and determine which platforms and types of units best meet individual goals. Virtually untapped markets like China and India present an alluring growth opportunity for companies such as Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), which provides social marketing and promotion platforms designed to help merchants accelerate and advertise their business growth through social media.

China is projected to have upward of 525 million social media users by 2017, according to Statista.com, up from just 176 million in 2009. Facebook – which is banned in China – for comparison purposes, has 1.23 billion monthly active users and is worth more than $300 billion. China is home to the world’s largest population, with 1.4 billion citizens, followed by India, with 1.3 billion. As a result, the market for users and merchants looking to utilize an effective social media marketing campaign is effectively limitless.

For local organizations seeking exposure, paid social media advertising can actually be helpful. Facebook’s paid program, for example, allows users to run promoted posts with pay schedules based on ads per impression (how many users see the ad) or per click (how many users click on the ad), letting the user set the goal for the campaign. It also allows targeting by age, gender, location and interests.

Moxian offers targeted advertising campaigns that enhance interaction between users and merchants by using consumer behavior data compiled from the company’s database of user activities. The company has two core products: Moxian+ User App and Moxian+ Business App. The Moxian+ User App is designed for consumers to collect loyalty points from issuing merchants and to play games and win universal MO-Coins, which can be used globally with any merchant in the Moxian ecosystem. Moxian+ User App also provides consumers with a set of social networking features to set up personalized multimedia profiles; look for friends, interest groups, clans and topics; and share and chat with their social circles.

The Moxian+ Business App provides merchants the tools needed to covert customers into members and fans; issue loyalty points and redeem rewards; respond to customer inquiries through instant messaging; conduct targeted marketing campaign to members of the Moxian community in the form of ads and games; list products in a lightweight online shop; and process orders. The app also provides business reports and analytical insights for merchants.

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

Content Checked Holdings, Inc. (CNCK) CEO Kris Finstad Featured in ‘Built in Los Angeles’ Article

Built in Los Angeles recently posted the article ‘Scan For Your Dietary Restrictions With This Fast-Growing LA App’. The piece came to fruition following Content Checked Holdings, Inc.’s (OTCQB: CNCK) outreach to business and tech media with the company’s recent partnership and financial updates.

As a result, Kris Finstad, CEO of Content Checked, scored an interview with Built in LA to discuss the genesis of the company’s app and its continued growth in Los Angeles. The article captured the full story and focused on Finstad’s inspiration to develop this technology.

Built in LA is a growing online community that creates and curates exclusive content on local companies and startups, hosts monthly events and publishes data on the tech sector of Los Angeles – the perfect audience for ContentChecked. Built in LA enjoys a readership of nearly 50K unique visitors a month.

Sometimes, the inspiration for a great startup can come during a dark time. After suffering from two major strokes in 2010, Norway native Kris Finstad was forced to spend his days at home. The unfortunate situation did, however, allow him to spend more time with his nine-year-old daughter while she and her friends were home from school. One of the friends frequently visiting the family’s home had a long list of allergies that her parents had delivered to Finstad. As hard as he tried to avoid the extensive list of ingredients, he eventually made an error, and the girl was rushed to the emergency room.

Frustrated and confused, he searched for his mistake and was unable to find the ingredient that triggered the intense reaction. The doctors eventually revealed that is was an additive that was labeled something entirely different. Finstad contacted the girl’s father and proposed the idea of an app that would thoroughly scan food labels to prevent situations like this in the future.

The girl’s father, a CTO at a large Norwegian cellular phone provider, and her mother, one of Finstad’s neurologists, encouraged him to work on a schematic of what he envisioned as a form of therapy for his recovery. A short while later, Finstad returned with a detailed proposal of the app that would become ContentChecked.

“He came back and said, ‘I’ve quit my job now, how would you like to proceed?’” Finstad said. “It took me by surprise and I tried to reason with him but thought, what the hell, let’s do it.”

The two built the company over the next year and launched the Norwegian version of ContentChecked in 2012. The company now offers applications (ContentChecked, SugarChecked, MigraineChecked) that allow users to scan food items and check if a product fits into their dietary restrictions. ContentChecked shows users if products they are scanning contain any of their allergens, SugarChecked helps users stick to a sugar-free diet, and MigraineChecked warns users of potential triggers in food that may cause discomfort.

The following year, after the app had caught on in their home country, the duo decided to take on the U.S. market, relocating the company to Los Angeles. The company continued its growth and went public in April 2015, but their quick success did not come without a few speed bumps. Early on, the company only aggregated public ingredient data and quickly found that the error margin was around 85 percent. They decided to make their own database by contacting the FDA and food producers, creating one of the most extensive food databases in the world.

The company’s apps currently have 2.6 million combined users between the U.S. and Norway, 66 percent of which use the app at least five times a week. The second version of the app, which Finstad calls a ‘game changer’, will feature a shopping list and a recipe list filled with allergy/sugar/migraine friendly meals.

To view the entire article, visit http://dtn.fm/z6o9H

Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OGES) – A Top-of-the-Line Battery Manufacturer

Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) is on a mission to provide safer, zero-maintenance, long-life battery systems. To deliver its high-quality, “Made-in-the-USA” battery systems internationally, the company has made retaining its technological leadership a key priority.

With the recent appointment of IST Co. Ltd. — a leading transnational battery consulting company — Oakridge has made a major move to ensure it remains technologically state-of-the-art. The Tokyo-based IST team will join Oakridge’s advising team in Japan and support the company with two crucial initiatives:

IST will assist in providing Oakridge with continuing access to joint technology development opportunities for next-generation, rechargeable lithium batteries.

IST will also help with the commercialization of the Thin Film Solid State lithium battery technology which Oakridge has already successfully developed.

Through a previously established subsidiary in Hong Kong and working closely with IST, Oakridge means to establish a substantial presence in Japan by collaborating with the country’s foremost technical universities and research facilities, materials suppliers and advanced lithium ion manufacturing equipment suppliers. A good relationship with Japan is especially important in today’s increasingly turbulent geopolitical environment, and, in addition to being a technically-proficient nation, Japan is also a strong ally to the U.S. and Australia.

The Oakridge team prides itself on developing and delivering the latest technology and products. In early March, the company revealed that it would introduce its groundbreaking Liberty Series lithium-ion motorcycle batteries to commercial markets at the Daytona Beach Bikefest later in the month.

The Oakridge Liberty Series lithium-ion batteries are extremely powerful. They offer a highly reliable, long-lasting battery solution for all models of the iconic “Made in the USA” Harley Davidson, Indian and Victory motorcycles. These are large bikes with large engines that require a strong battery to start. Utilizing Oakridge’s specialized battery management system and proprietary electro-chemistry, the Liberty Series batteries effectively start these large bikes. These batteries can also go without charging for up to 12 months. Plus, they can remove up to 17 pounds from the weight of the largest bikes, as they are considerably lighter due to the inherent lightness of lithium, the lightest metal in existence.

Oakridge’s goal is to continue to provide cutting-edge technology, the highest quality and reliability and affordable pricing to its customers. With its Liberty Series lithium-ion batteries, it does exactly that.

For more information, visit www.oakridgeglobalenergy.com

Overstock.com, Inc. (OSTK): Agnostic t0.com Trading Platform is a Game Changer

The choice between agnostic and exclusive trading platforms has many similarities to the battle between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) over the years. Apple’s Steve Jobs always touted his idea of a closed or exclusive system as being much better than Microsoft’s open or agnostic system. Each has its advantages, but as far as thinking about the customer and taking a utilitarian approach, the agnostic argument wins out every time. Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) is following the agnostic approach with its new trading platform, t0.com, and believes it will revolutionize trading platforms moving forward.

Overstock.com announced at the 41st Annual International Futures Industry Conference its plan to complete the world’s first public offering using proprietary blockchain technology. The offering will allow Overstock.com shareholders to purchase Overstock.com blockchain or traditional preferred stock. The blockchain preferred stock will trade and settle exclusively through the t0.com platform and its alternative trading system.

“This is yet another historic event — the creation of a security that will trade and settle entirely on a distributed ledger,” said Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of t0.com, in a press release. “I’ve said from the beginning that blockchain technology is going to change the world of finance forever, and we’re leading that charge.”

t0.com is Overstock.com’s financial technology subsidiary and the leader in developing and deploying blockchain-based financial products to increase efficiency and transparency in capital markets.

Blockchain is a distributed database based on the bitcoin protocol that maintains a continuously growing list of data records hardened against tampering and revision, even by its operators. The initial and most widely known application of block chain technology is the public ledger of transactions for bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a digital asset and a payment system invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the invention in 2008 and released it as open-source software in 2009. The system is peer-to-peer; users can transact directly, without an intermediary. Transactions are verified by network nodes and recorded in a publicly-distributed ledger called the blockchain. The ledger uses bitcoin as its unit of account. The system works without a central repository or single administrator, which has led the U.S. Treasury to categorize bitcoin as a decentralized virtual currency. Bitcoin is often called the first cryptocurrency, although prior systems existed. Bitcoin is more correctly described as the first decentralized digital currency. It is the largest of its kind in terms of total market value.

t0.com technologies are built upon decentralized, cryptographically protected ledgers, which anybody can access and inspect. This ensures fairness to the entire market, without regard for size or geographic location. t0.com’s radical transparency and true settlement combine to grant real, unambiguous ownership nearly instantly. If you buy it, you own it. It’s that simple.

For more information, please visit www.t0.com

Thursday, March 17, 2016

International Stem Cell Corp.’s (ISCO) Virgin Birth Technology holds the Promise of Stemming Progress of Parkinson’s Disease

We are apt to scoff at stories of virgin birth, and the term itself is something of an oxymoron, since the virgin usually has had some ‘knowledge’ of a male progenitor. Many of the classical Greco-Roman heroes, like Hercules, who were the product of a virgin birth, were fathered by gods, as was the Christ, according to Christian dogma. But virgin birth or, at least, reproduction that takes place in the absence of fertilization, called parthenogenesis, occurs in nature all the time, both in plants (e.g. roses and orange trees) and animals (some kinds of ants, bees and wasps). Now, researchers have discovered ways of engendering parthenogenesis in mammals.

Early work on stem cells involved human embryos and, consequently, gave rise to ethical debate and controversy that threatened further research efforts. But in a ground-breaking paper titled ‘Nonhuman Primate Parthenogenetic Stem Cells’ (http://dtn.fm/3aP4i), published in 2003, Kent Vrana et al, wrote about their stem cell work using monkeys and reported that ‘stem cells were created via parthenogenetic activation of eggs’. This use of non-human cells provided a route out of the moral dilemma. Then, building on the insights of Vrana and his colleagues, a team at the privately-held Stemron Corporation of Rockville, Maryland, led by David Wininger reported in ‘Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Discarded Embryos’ (http://dtn.fm/o8ZcS) that it had ‘grown parthenogenetic human embryos to the blastocyst stage at which stem cells can be obtained’ and that ‘cells taken from one of the embryos survived for a few days’.

An April 2003 story in New Scientist titled ‘Virgin birth method promises ethical stem cells’ (http://dtn.fm/e2eWb), commenting on the Wininger breakthroughs, discusses how this is possible. Unfertilized eggs have two complete sets of chromosomes and during fertilization one set is discarded. ‘But an electric or chemical shock can make the egg develop as if fertilized and retain the extra set’. In parthenogenesis, an unfertilized egg keeps two sets of chromosomes and begins developing as if it had been fertilized and thus ‘produces embryos that could never become human beings’. The destruction of ‘these embryos to obtain stem cells would avoid the ethical concerns that have led to restrictions or bans on embryonic stem cell research in many countries.’

One area involving stem cells that shows remarkable promise is in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. According to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute HSCI), Parkinson’s is ‘associated with the death of cells in a part of the brain… which produces the neurotransmitter dopamine’. Researchers at the HSCI have ‘orchestrated the transformation by biologically reprogramming the mature skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, and then encouraging the stem cells to become dopaminergic neurons. Neurons were also made from skin cells collected from individuals with genetic mutations associated with high risk for Parkinson’s disease’.

International Stem Cell Corporation’s (OTCQB: ISCO) UniStemCell for Parkinson’s has completed the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) phase, and the company announced recently that it had received authorization to initiate a phase I/IIa clinical trial of human parthenogenetic stem cells-derived neural stem cells (ISC-hpNSC) for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease.

The phase I/IIa clinical study, which will be performed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, is a dose escalation safety and preliminary efficacy study of ISC-hpNSC intracranially transplanted into patients with moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease. The open-label, single center, uncontrolled clinical trial will evaluate three different dose regimens of 30,000,000 to 70,000,000 neural cells. A total of 12 participants with moderate to severe Parkinson’s disease will be treated. Following transplantation, the patients will be monitored for 12 months at specified intervals to evaluate the safety and biologic activity of ISC-hpNSC. PET scans will be performed at baseline, as part of the screening assessment, and at 6 and 12 months after surgical intervention. Clinical responses compared to baseline after the administration of ISC-hpNSC will be evaluated using various neurological assessments.

In announcing the study, Russell Kern, PhD, ISCO’s executive vice president and chief scientific officer commented, “We are the first company in the world to conduct clinical trials of human pluripotent stem cells based product for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. We believe the outcome of the study will produce findings in-line with our preclinical studies, where we demonstrated not only safety of our proprietary neural stem cells, but also their functional efficacy. The cells were able to successfully integrate into the brain and provide a significant increase of dopamine levels in the nigrostriatal system”

This is welcome news. As the Harvard Stem Cell Institute reminds us: ‘Approximately one to two percent of the population over the age of sixty receives a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, although scientists believe that may be a very conservative estimate (and) at least one million Americans are currently known to be living with the condition.’

For more information, visit www.internationalstemcell.com

Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OGES) Announces Investors Conference Call for March 22, 2016

Earlier today, Oakridge Global Energy Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: OGES) announced an upcoming investors conference call, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 2:00PM EST.

During the call, Steve Barber, the company’s executive chairman and chief executive officer, will expand upon Oakridge’s recent press announcements. In particular, Barber is expected to offer more details on the company’s recently unveiled strategic business alliance agreement with Tokyo-based trading house Sojitz Group, outlining what the new agreement means to both Oakridge and its shareholders. Other topics set to be discussed during the call include an update on revenue forecasts for the first quarter of 2016, the electric interstate truck project and the recent release of the Liberty Series motorcycle battery at the Daytona Beach Bikefest. Barber will also provide an update on the progress of shipments of Oakridge’s Pro Series golf car batteries.

The Call-In Number to access Tuesday’s conference call is +1 712-775-7035. The Access Code is 684304#.

“We started 2016 in full manufacturing mode and have continued to ramp up as the first quarter has progressed,” Barber stated in this morning’s news release. “We are currently shipping production product in the golf car and low speed electric vehicle markets; the radio controlled unmanned vehicles and drones markets; the motorcycle starter motor markets; and a number of very special custom applications. It is a very exciting time at Oakridge!”

Since the start of 2016, Oakridge has made tremendous progress toward expanding its foothold in the global stored energy market. Last month, the company powered a successful demonstration of Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc.’s Man-Portable Tactical Autonomous Systems (MANTAS) with a custom battery specially designed to function in a number of strenuous applications – including naval fleet protection, mine warfare, port and harbor security patrol, anti-piracy and search and rescue. Later in the same week, Oakridge announced plans to supply batteries to Freedom Trucking’s fully electric interstate truck propulsion system.

In early March, the company continued to build on its recent progress when it presented its state-of-the-art, ‘Made in the USA’ Pro-Series lithium ion golf car battery systems at the Orlando PGA Merchandise Show, one of the biggest annual golf industry conventions in the world. Oakridge followed up on this presentation with the commercial introduction of its lithium ion motorcycle batteries at the 75th annual Daytona Beach Bikefest, which concluded on March 14.

For more information, visit www.oakridgeglobalenergy.com