- Tech developer BrainChip (BRN) has tapped LDA Capital for a fresh funding boost under a put option agreement first signed by the two companies back in 2020
- BrainChip’s capital call notice compels LDA to subscribe for 15 million BRN shares, though the exact price of these shares is yet to be determined
- BrainChip CEO Sean Hehir says the funding boost will to help support the commercialisation of the company’s flagship Akida processor technology
- BrainChip has $50.3 million in funding available through the put option deal with LDA and has commited to drawing down a minimum of $35.3 million before the end of 2023
- BrainChip shares are up 17.5 per cent this morning, continuing a stellar share price run that has seen the company’s shares more than double in value over the first two weeks of 2022
Tech developer BrainChip (BRN) has tapped LDA Capital for a fresh funding boost under a put option agreement first signed by the two companies back in 2020.
Brainchip’s capital call notice compels LDA to subscribe for up to 15 million BRN shares. The funding boost, according to BrainChip CEO Sean Hehir, will be used to help support the commercialisation of the company’s flagship Akida processor technology.
“The proceeds raised from the capital call will be used to expand our go-to-market capabilities as we move the company aggressively into the commercialisation phase,” Mr Hehir said.
“The company will also accelerate our continuous innovation of the groundbreaking Akida technology to ensure we remain the industry leaders in Edge AI.”
While BrainChip has $50.3 million in funding available through the put option deal with LDA, the exact amount to hit BRN’s balance sheet following today’s capital call notice is not yet determined: the latest iteration of the deal comes with several pricing periods to determine how much LDA will pay for each BRN share.
In any case, BrainChip has committed to drawing to a minimum of $35.3 million under the deal before the end of 2023.
Further, both pricing periods take into account the volume-weighted average price of BRN shares — meaning a recent stellar share price run from the company may bode well for its capital raising efforts.
BrainChip shares have more than doubled over the first two weeks of 2022, lifting from just shy of 70 cents each on December 31 to over $1.60 in morning trade on Friday, January 14.
The ASX issued BrainChip a speeding ticket earlier this week to provide some more context to the run, the company pointed towards an “increase in editorial tech media coverage regarding the AI market”.
The group also noted its recent appointment of Pia Turcinov to the BRN board as a Non-Executive Director on January 4.
The surge has continued in early trade today: as of the time of writing, BrainChip shares are up another 18.67 per cent to an all-time high of $1.67 at 11:16 am AEDT.