Winner, page-5

Gidday Coit,

You should definitely read the announcements mate... the old Company and management that you're referring to are no longer focusing on potash exploration, and in fact won't even be around in another 3-4 months time...

It's being taken over by a world class board made up of former and current executives at Microsoft, Amazon, and AOL, with major VC backing by a number of big players like Microsoft and AF Square who are infamous for picking the next big thing in this space such as Spotify, Uber, and Dropbox...

"We seek out companies that will reshape the way entire industries function and change the way we live our lives"
AF Square



"It's really quite simple. Mature team, great amounts of relevant experience, providing unique functionality that is needed by developers worldwide and selling B2B. Formula for success. This is a winner"
Rick Borenstein, former President of Wells Fargo Investment Company ​

With respect to anyone comparing POK (Buddy) to some of the previous SPECtacular runners such as PSY or AZK, thorough due diligence would appear to suggest that this Company is in a league of its very own by a good country mile. Save for inevitable breathers and pullbacks that can be anticipated along the way, I find it extraordinarily difficult to imagine that Buddy Limited will not see sustainable share price appreciation greater than the +1,100% performance seen with 1-Page Limited (ASX:1PG) over the last 12 months. Importantly, it could also be argued that Buddy have already established a vey solid business model with far greater potential than the $330m dollar 1-Page, there can be no argument about the caliber of this Company's world class board, in addition to the phenomenal support from some of those with the largest global influence in this space... this is the real thing!



“In fact, we turned down VC offers in order to go this route, and while extremely early, we’ve been very pleased with the process,” McLauchlan said. McLauchlan pointed to 1-Page, a San Francisco recruiting technology company that became the first Silicon Valley startup to list on the ASX back in November. 1-Page has grown their share price from $0.20 on the listing to around $2.50 today. “Their market cap exceeds $330 million, and they’ve used their share price growth to be acquisitive as well as raise additional capital very affordably,” McLauchlan noted.




Buddy ready to 'pour gas on the fire' with IPO




US-based technology company Buddy, led by Adelaide-born Dave McLauchlan, will list on the Australian Securities Exchange through a backdoor takeover of struggling resources player Potash Minerals. The deal, announced on Monday, will see the data company look to raise $7.5 million through an initial public offering through the sale of 150 million shares, or just under 20 per cent of the business.

Buddy is a data management platform for connected devices – everything from cars, refrigerators, washing machines and ovens – that have not traditionally been connected to the internet. The Buddy platform manages the data generated from these devices, secures it and makes its accessible – essentially turning raw data into something more legible.

Big name backers

So far, $US3.7 million ($5 million) has been invested in Buddy, with investments from Microsoft and AF Square, a fund set up by US singer Lady Gaga and her former manager Troy Carter.

Mr McLauchlan initially left Australia to join Microsoft in Seattle, where he worked for 11 years before leaving to found Buddy in 2011. He remained an adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "After 11 years, I felt like I had learned a tonne at Microsoft and I was keen to deploy that learning elsewhere. I also had a really incredible network," Mr McLauchlan told The Australian Financial Review. "But, also I had a really good dialogue with Microsoft, I told them what I was planning to do and they were really supportive of this, obviously so much so that they put money in." Buddy was the first investment made by Microsoft Ventures and the two businesses retain a close relationship.

"We're thrilled to see Buddy take this next step towards a leadership position on the global IoT (internet of things) stage" Microsoft Ventures general manager Scott Coleman said. Buddy was still in its investment phase and was aiming for profit in the medium to long term. But Mr McLauchlan said the business had several prominent Australian clients, large US organisations including a state government, and a large European consumer electronics firm.

"The beauty of our situation is that the product is live, up and running, operational, and driving revenue. We are not here to go and invest in a new widget, we're here to pour gas on the fire," ~ Dave McLauchlan
​

"We will enhance and increase our development resources, including putting a development team here in Australia. We will grow our sales force and we will scale the product itself to accommodate much greater volumes of data than it does today."

Aussie presence

Mr McLauchlan also said Buddy was setting up an Australian office. "I would very much like to take advantage of the technology talent that is here. There's incredible talent here on the engineering side," he said. "People always talk about the brain drain. But, to the extent that I can bring some of those opportunities back to Australia and bridge US west coast innovation to the talent that's here in Australia." "With the physical location of data processing becoming a key market differentiator, we look forward to seeing Buddy leverage their global footprint to substantial international growth" said Buddy investor, Acequia Capital general partner, and former Microsoft senior vice-president of partnerships and strategy, Hank Vigil.

Buddy's board and advisers would include former AOL chief technology officer and former technical adviser to Bill Gates Alexander Gounares, and Amazon director of product, Alexa and Echo and former Microsoft general manager of Windows phone, Charles Kindel.

AFR Article