mPhase Technologies, Inc.
Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript
Published:
- Operator:
- Greetings and welcome to the mPhase Technologies Earnings Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brian Prenoveau. Thank you, Brian. You may begin.
- Brian Prenoveau:
- Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to mPhase Technologies fiscal 2022 first quarter earnings conference call. As a reminder, the fiscal 2022 first quarter ended on September 30, 2021, so all figures presented for this period will reflect that end date. The day we issued our fiscal 2022 Q1 financial results press release, which highlighted a number of financial results for the quarter. A copy of the press release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website, and the completed financials posted on EDGAR. Before beginning our formal remarks, I'd like to remind listeners that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views with respect to future events. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. mPhase does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required. At this point, I'm pleased to turn the call over to mPhase CEO, Anshu Bhatnagar. Please go ahead.
- Anshu Bhatnagar:
- Thanks, Brian and thank you for joining the call today. On today's call, I'm going to cover some of the steps that we have taken to build the first of it's kind ecosystem in this space. I'm so excited to introduce our new CFO, Angelia Hrytsyshyn, who will briefly cover the quarters financials. Our COO, Venkat Kodumudi, will also join us to talk about a new platform that we'll be launching. Even though it's been a short time since our last call, we have a lot of updates to cover today. We are positioning the company to become a significant and unique player in the EV space in 2022. Our strategy is firmly focused on serving tomorrow's Green EV-centric economy. We're building a company that leapfrogs the current thinking in EV to create an ecosystem that serves all of the layers of the emerging EV economy. As a part of our corporate evolution, we will be changing our corporate name from mPhase to mPower. The reasons for the change are simple; mPhase reflected decades of R&D at the company that centered on telecommunications, battery, and other physics-oriented hardware projects. After I took over in 2019, we switch the focus to software-based solutions that utilize primarily off the shelf hardware with a goal to create high margin, reoccurring revenue streams. mPower reflects our commitment to build solutions that serve the EV economy which will transform the way people travel and interact with retailers. For those of you who are new to this story, mPower is an ecosystem built on EV charging stations, high-speed millimeter-wave 5G, and consumer engagement software supplemented by proprietary travel software. Layered on top of this mobile experience, we're also offering a marketplace with rewards and ESG compliance programs. We will utilize the same OEM suppliers as industry leaders for our EV charging and 5G hardware but a majority of our ecosystem software is built in-house. We can best be described as a SaaS EV-plus model, building services and functions that supplement the charging experience. As a result, our goal is to be more profitable, and to have more revenue streams than any other EV player in the market today. The changes in the automotive industry go beyond a change from gas to electric, it is also a change from solo vehicles to one that functions as a part of an interconnected world of mobile consumers. When you think of it that way, your car has simply become your newest and most expensive mobile device. This transformation represents a multitude of challenges for any company connected to travel in any form, and that is where we come in; we're building our mPower platform to address the needs of every point of contact connected to EV Adoption with services that help automotive companies, retailers, CPG companies and consumers in pursuit of a greener lifestyle. The net result is a cohesive customizable ecosystem that can produce multiple revenue streams from a single physical location. At this stage, mPower is not a concept, but is based on tested verifiable technology. The rollout process just began in the second half of 2021, with rapid major expansion planned for 2022. Last week, we announced the signing of 1,440 additional locations in addition to the 1,825 locations announced in the past few weeks. In just one month, we have tied down 3,265 locations in Virginia, Illinois and Florida. We are moving rapidly towards our goal of having 10,000 locations in multiple states in the very near future, with an additional 20,000 or more sites by the end of 2022. In addition to corporate sites, we're working with independent owner operator sites across all types of businesses and major brands; this is a very overlooked group that has the most to lose during the EV transition. So our solution sets are being welcomed with open doors within this subset of store owners, a majority of whom are looking to participate in EV charging in some fashion. To say this is a highly motivated prospect list would be an understatement; our initial strategy is geared towards maximizing this exposure. First, we're implementing pilot programs with selected high profile retailers, particularly in the quick serve restaurant, QSR, gas station, convenience store and similar travel-related businesses. We will start with recognizable leaders though in reality, nearly all major chains, even individual stores are potential future partners. In terms of contracts with corporate partners, the sky is the limit for us, and we have high confidence that we will be able to showcase mPower across the Top Tier of retailers, particularly in 2022, after we have multiple sites up and running. We believe mPower will play a key role in helping to shape the way that consumers shop, dine and fuel. To give you an idea of the potential scale of this platform, a 242-store test of just one consumer engagement portion of the ecosystem resulted in more than 70,000 app downloads. We believe our adoption rate could be significantly higher, as we roll out our full stack of incentives and features. Our newly designed mPower app for Android and iOS should be live by Thanksgiving; so we are set for the next stage. The second part of our strategy is to select early partners that can provide proof-of-concepts across different business categories. So we are working to start programs with gas stations, convenience stores, hotels, sports bars, restaurants, and some surprising chain venues that will be announced in the near future. Each of these business types will give us valuable used cases that will help us sell into these specific categories. The used case path is very important in order to prove not just the viability of our platform, but also to highlight the customization potential for specific industry groups. For example, we're currently working on supplemental gamification for a chain client that will layer on customer specific features unique to their locations. We have the team of software engineers in-house to complete these kinds of tasks, so our value-add in software development differentiates us from many pure EV charging players . Due to contractual considerations, where we are at in our rollout cycle requires a bit more self than shareholders may like at this early stage. But the names attached to these projects will be revealed as we get closer to installing equipment in the ground in the coming months. It is humbling to see the size and quantity of partners that are engaged with us to make our ecosystem a reality. One area that we're very excited about is a utility sector where we're working on partnerships with multiple major regional energy providers. In fact, in recent weeks, we have seen some major EV charging companies add telecommunications and other features to their offering. Data and connectivity will go hand-in-hand as this industry matures; so we intend to be perfectly positioned for that future. To see industry leaders move forward with the functionality that we already have built into our platform is a strong validation of our strategy. As the world transitions from gasoline power to electric power, fuel itself will undergo a major consumer change. Simply put, electricity has no branding power, with the exception of source with green power such as solar being superior to fossil fuel or electricity. But regardless, the day will come when fuel will lose it's branding potential; meaning, the brand will have to come from experience of fueling rather than the fuel itself. We are building our ecosystem to fully embrace the benefits of this change. At this time, I'd like to introduce our new CFO, Angelia Hrytsyshyn, who was recently appointed Chief Financial Officer. We are thrilled to have Angelia on board because of her background is so well suited to the direction our business is headed. Not only does she have a great background in real estate management, but she also held important roles in Constellation, one of the largest utilities in the U.S. Her experience also includes SEC auditing for major corporations at PwC, as well as SEC reporting. We're excited to have Angelia join the team as we begin our new growth phase. Now, I'll turn the call over to Angelia to provide some detail on our financials for fiscal Q1 2022.
- Angelia Hrytsyshyn:
- Thanks, Anshu. Before I start, I want to thank everyone for the opportunity to be a part of this terrific growth story. I'm now on my 18th year in corporate finance, I've been lucky enough to hold positions that prepared me for a full cross-section of corporate functions; from complex long range planning to the day-to-day tasks familiar to all CPAs and CFOs. Having just started as CFO, I have that feeling you sometimes get just before takeoff, excitement and anticipation for the journey ahead. So let's get started on the highlights of the quarter.
- Operator:
- Anshu Bhatnagar:
- Well, thank you everyone for joining. Going forward, we intend to hold a quarterly call for every earnings release. So today marks an important starting point in our investor outreach. Thank you again for joining us today.
- Operator:
- This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a great day.