TORONTO, March 16, 2022 /CNW/ – NowVertical Group Inc. (TSXV: NOW) (“NOW” or the “Company“), a big data, analytics and vertical intelligence (“VI“) software and services company, is pleased to announce that it is expanding NOW Origin through the proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding securities of UK-based, Exonar Ltd. (“Exonar“), pursuant to the terms of a definitive purchase agreement (the “Transaction“). NOW anticipates that the Transaction will close on or before March 31, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.

“Recent events have thrown a shifting geopolitical balance in Europe and across the world into relief. As both systems and sovereignty are put under fire, it is critical that public and private sector organizations put in the effort today to strengthen their data security and governance structures for an unknown tomorrow,” said Daren Trousdell, Chairman & CEO of NOW. “We believe that NOW Origin has the potential to provide the necessary support for groups across the world. As part of our efforts to bolster that offering, we are moving to bring Exonar’s cutting-edge data software into the NOW product suite. Recognized in 2021 by Tech Nation as one of the UK’s fastest-growing scaleups, Exonar provides a natural fit with our NOW Origin software stack. With data breaches and cyber security threats on the rise, NOW is committed to investing in and deploying technology that empowers our customers to make data-informed decisions around risk mitigation to protect their organizations and stakeholders.“

Launched in January 2022, NOW Origin forms the Company’s foundational data software set, helping enterprises secure, mobilize, and fuse the entirety of their structured and unstructured data regardless of location or format. It originally consisted of three core products: NOW Fusion, NOW Privacy, and NOW DataBench, each of which is platform-agnostic and built to uplift any investment that an enterprise has made into either their technology stack or staff. As a critical first step for the development of future automation and AI, Origin will expand its offerings with the proposed addition of Exonar’s Reveal software solution (“Reveal”) to further empower enterprise organizations in both the public and private sector as they look to shore up their data’s security, mobility, and accessibility.

Reveal supports customers by enhancing readiness and controlled access to structured and unstructured data sources, minimizing risk and ensuring regulatory compliance. With its data discovery software tools, Reveal helps identify the sensitive information organizations hold, automates its data protection, and operationalizes the implementation of privacy policies, protecting clients from financial and reputational damage in the event of a data breach. The early adoption of Reveal spans key high-growth industries like pharmaceuticals, logistics, and banking with notable clients including Glaxo Smith Klein, Arrow Global and Lloyds Banking Group.

“Today, every enterprise on the planet requires the ability to access, utilize, and protect all of their data, regardless of source and type. As a part of NOW, we can enhance our ability to provide that,“ said Danny Reeves, CEO of Exonar. “We are excited by the prospect of joining the NOW team to enable our customers to take advantage of a truly remarkable stack of software and solutions at their disposal.“

Leadership Update

The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Farid Kassam as President of NOW Origin. Mr. Kassam is a Toronto-based 30-year industry veteran and a serial entrepreneur with a background in Big Data and experience in building, commercializing, and scaling software products across various industry verticals, including Financial Services, Hospitality, Healthcare, Telecommunications, and Aerospace. In his new role, Mr. Kassam will build upon and guide NOW Origin’s product strategy with a primary focus on driving and scaling product development, integration, and commercialization.

“NOW’s mission to empower bolder decisions through enterprise-wide data solutions is accelerating at a global scale,” said Farid Kassam, President of NOW Origin. “I’m very excited by the opportunity to work closely with NOW’s experienced teams globally as we build on this mission and deliver products that enable our customers to transform their data operations seamlessly into vertically intelligent organizations.“

In conjunction with the appointment of Mr. Kassam, Aimee Lessard is stepping down from her role as Chief Analytics Officer of the Company to pursue other opportunities. With NOW’s ongoing growth and evolution, analytic oversight is, by necessity, moving to a more distributed model with analytic solution providers moving under the NOW Solutions umbrella, headed up internally by David Whitmire. The NOW board of directors and management team would like to thank Ms. Lessard for her contributions to the Company and wish her every success in her future endeavours.

About Exonar Ltd.

Founded in the UK in 2007, Exonar is one of only a handful of software solutions available today with the ability to find and reveal billions of structured and unstructured data records in detail, enabling businesses to use data to reduce risk, uncover business value and deliver digital transformation. Exonar’s core software offers enterprise-scale, big data architecture and machine learning technology that handles diverse data sources and types to locate sensitive and vital information, enabling users to manage compliance issues quickly and securely.

About NowVertical Group Inc.

NOW is a big data, analytics and VI software and services company that is growing organically and through acquisition. NOW’s VI solutions are organized by industry vertical and are built upon a foundational set of data technologies that fuse, secure, and mobilize data in a transformative and compliant way. The NOW product suite enables the creation of high-value VI solutions that are predictive in nature and drive automation specific to each high-value industry vertical. For more information about the Company, visit www.nowvertical.com.

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Forward‐Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward‐looking statements (within the meaning of applicable securities laws) which reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “believe”, “anticipate”, “project”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “will”, “may”, “estimate” and other similar expressions. These statements are based on the Company’s expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections and include, without limitation, statements regarding the future success of the Company’s business.

The forward-looking statements in this news release are based on certain assumptions. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Several factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.