Announces Accretive Acquisition of ADA Site Compliance and Increases Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA Guidance

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AudioEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEYE) (“AudioEye” or the “Company”), the industry-leading digital accessibility company, today announced it has acquired ADA Site Compliance, an ADA website accessibility compliance solution that provides audits and best practices to help organizations create websites that are accessible and compliant to WCAG standards.

“ADA Site Compliance has an impressive client list and a talented team with which we see synergy,” said David Moradi, CEO of AudioEye. “Scott has built a strong business where we believe we can leverage our products to expand customer relationships further. Our goal is to replicate the success we had integrating our 2022 acquisition of the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, where we materially deepened customer relationships and increased ARR.”

“I’ve been in the digital accessibility industry for eight years and have watched AudioEye emerge as a leading platform after significant investment into their product suite and people. After evaluating all options, I realized that combining with AudioEye is the best solution for our customers. AudioEye’s unique approach of using AI automation and human-assisted technology is an extremely effective way to solve digital accessibility at scale, which is why they have such a robust customer base,” said Scott Trachtenberg, Founder and CEO of ADA Site Compliance. “I look forward to working closely with David and the executive team at AudioEye and am excited to embark on this new adventure.”

Financial Outlook

Based on strong organic results in the quarter, AudioEye is increasing its guidance to the upper end of the range previously provided. For the third quarter of 2024, management expects to generate revenue between $8.9 million and $8.95 million, adjusted EBITDA between $1.925 million and $1.95 million, and adjusted EPS between $0.15 and $0.16.

AudioEye is increasing its full-year 2024 revenue guidance to between $35.15 million and $35.25 million, adjusted EBITDA between $6.3 million and $6.45 million, and adjusted EPS between $0.51 and $0.53.

The acquisition of ADA Site Compliance is expected to be accretive in the fourth quarter.

Management expects to achieve the ‘Rule of 40’ in the third quarter of 2024 (using sequential annualized revenue growth in the third quarter). Looking ahead to 2025, management is excited about core business momentum and the platform, which unlocks the potential for additional, similarly accretive “tuck-in” acquisitions.

About AudioEye
AudioEye exists to ensure the digital future we build is inclusive. By combining the latest AI automation technology with guidance from certified experts and direct input from the disability community, AudioEye helps ensure businesses of all sizes — including over 122,000 customers like Samsung, Calvin Klein, and Samsonite — are accessible and usable. Holding 23 US patents, AudioEye helps companies solve every aspect of digital accessibility with flexible approaches that best meet their needs. The comprehensive solution includes 24/7 accessibility monitoring, automated accessibility fixes, expert testing, developer tools, and industry-leading legal protection.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about AudioEye’s expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, prospects, financial condition, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and are “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined under the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “believe”, “anticipate”, “should”, “confident”, “intend”, “plan”, “will”, “expects”, “estimates”, “projects”, “positioned”, “strategy”, “outlook” and similar words. You should read the statements that contain these types of words carefully. Such forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future cash flows of the Company and ADA Site Compliance, anticipated contributions from sales generated by the Company or ADA, our expectation that the ADA acquisition will be accretive and synergistic, our ability to integrate ADA into our business and replicate the success we had integrating our 2022 acquisition of the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, our ability to deepen our relationships with ADA customers and increase ARR, our long-term growth prospects, opportunities in the digital accessibility industry, our revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS guidance, our expectation to achieve the ‘Rule of 40’ in the third quarter of 2024, and our expectation of investments in marketing and sales and acquisitions of accretive businesses. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, including the variability of AudioEye’s revenue and financial performance; product development and technological changes; the acceptance of AudioEye’s products in the marketplace; the effectiveness of our integration efforts, including our ability to integrate ADA and expand our relationships with ADA customers; competition; inherent uncertainties and costs associated with litigation; and general economic conditions. These and other risks are described more fully in AudioEye’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be events in the future that AudioEye is not able to predict accurately or over which AudioEye has no control. Forward-looking statements reflect management’s view as of the date of this press release, and AudioEye urges you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. AudioEye does not undertake any obligation to update such forward-looking statements to reflect events or uncertainties after the date hereof. Information regarding AudioEye’s non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share, is available in its earnings release furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 25, 2024. A reconciliation of the forecasted range for adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS for the third quarter of 2024 and full-year 2024 are not included in this press release because AudioEye is currently unable to quantify accurately certain amounts that would be required to be included in the U.S. GAAP measure or the individual adjustments for such reconciliation.

Media Contact
Sierra Thomas
AudioEye PR
sierra.thomas@audioeye.com 

Investor Contact
Tom Colton
Gateway Group, Inc.
AEYE@gateway-grp.com
949-574-3860

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SOURCE AudioEye, Inc.

NEW YORK and LONDON, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Mergermarket, an ION Analytics service, reports that the recovery in global deal-making continued into 3Q24 as central banks in Europe and the US began cutting interest rates. Mega deals drove activity, with the tech sector capturing a significant portion of deal volume, highlighting a nascent recovery fueled by expectations of lower rates. These findings are based on data from Mergermarket’s 9M24 M&A Highlights report, published today.

The report notes that despite the uptick in M&A deal volume, the market has faced challenges over the period. Small and mid-cap M&A remained subdued, with ongoing valuation challenges as firms adjusted to the shifting interest rates. Private equity (PE) investors have held on to assets for longer and explored alternative exit strategies. As a result, there is a substantial backlog of transactions in the M&A pipeline, most notably PE exits.

Key findings from the report reveal:

Global M&A volume for 9M24 increased 18.8% Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) to USD 2.5 trillion. Mega deals valued at USD 2 billion or more accounted for USD 1.278 trillion, over half the total volume.North America dominated M&A activity with 50% of the volume, while EMEA held 26% and Asia Pacific took 22%.The biggest deal came from Japan, with retail conglomerate Seven & I receiving a USD 58 billion bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard. The remaining deals in the top 10 involved US-based targets. Tech deals accounted for 20% of the total volume, up from 18% last year but down from 26% in both 2022 and 2021.After a dip in the first quarter, financial sponsor-led buyouts surged, with 3Q buyout volume rising 42% Y-o-Y to USD 166 billion and the total for the first nine months up 38% to USD 456.5 billion.Sponsor exits rebounded from 2023’s lows, with exits in the first nine months totaling USD 292 billion, up 19% from the same period last year. 

Lucinda Guthrie, Head of Mergermarket, says, “Mega deals have been at the forefront of M&A activity in 2024, causing deal volumes to increase substantially each quarter this year. Despite the typical skittishness around the US election outcomes that traditionally leads to a 3Q dip in activity, North America saw substantial blockbuster deals hitting the headlines this year, including Mars’ bid for Kellanova and Verizon’s swoop on Frontier Communications.

Given that M&A is coming back from a period of slim deal flow, there is a strong backlog of transactions, most notably private equity exits, in the M&A pipeline. Although geopolitical and macro uncertainty persists, the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cut together with the typical post-US election 4Q boost in M&A activity offers further optimism for activity in the months to come.”

To download the full report, click here.

About ION

ION provides mission-critical trading and workflow automation software, high-value analytics and insights, and strategic consulting to financial institutions, central banks, governments, and corporate organizations. Our solutions and services simplify complex processes, boost efficiency, and enable better decision-making. We build long-term partnerships with our clients, helping transform their businesses for sustained success through continuous innovation. For more information, visit https://iongroup.com/

About ION Analytics

ION Analytics delivers personalized, targeted data and market intelligence to banks, investors, and corporates, helping clients find opportunities and drive better decisions in markets ranging from equities and fixed income to infrastructure and private equity. The ION Analytics platform brings together six unique, powerful services that span global markets making ION Analytics the only choice for capital markets professionals. For more information, visit https://iongroup.com/analytics/

About Mergermarket

Mergermarket is the premier provider of global proprietary M&A intelligence, data, and predictive analytics. With access to coverage of 1.4 million companies, almost 3,000 sponsors, and powered by 300 journalists and analysts globally, we bring transformative M&A insight and a competitive edge to capital markets professionals, shaping the future of M&A. For more information, visit https://info.mergermarket.com/

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

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SOURCE ION

Funding Part of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Program to Create More Energy Efficient Data Centers that Reduce Carbon Emissions, Mitigate Climate Change

LANCASTER, Pa., Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) announced today that it has been selected through two subcontracts to receive funding totaling $1.1M from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding is part of the ARPA-E Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliability, and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems (COOLERCHIPS) program, which aims to develop high-performance, energy efficient cooling solutions for data centers.

“We are excited to be part of two teams that are selected to receive funding from ARPA-e under the COOLERCHIPS program. It is a testament of ACT’s capabilities and engineering experience in developing next generation cooling technologies,” said Dr. William Anderson, Chief Engineer of ACT. “The resulting technologies will enable high rack power density and increase system reliability while at the same time reducing power consumption. This will in turn reduce carbon footprint and position the U.S. at the forefront of data center cooling.”.

ACT is participating as a subcontractor to Intel, and in collaboration with Purdue University on “Enabling Two-Phase Immersion Cooling to Support High Thermal Design Power (TDP)”. The objective of the program is to develop two-phase immersion cooling for extremely high-power server devices (up to 2 kW), through the development of novel heat sinks by Topology Optimization (TO). ACT will provide practical feedback on the designs, and then fabricate prototypes and test their performance. Over the course of the three-year program, the goal is to demonstrate a total thermal resistance, from chip to coolant, of less than 0.01 kW, for total data center server powers of 10-100 kW.

On the second subcontract, ACT is teaming up with University of Missouri to develop “Dual-Mode Hybrid Two-Phase Loop for Data Center Cooling”. The technology provides an innovative scalable cooling solution for data centers offering numerous advantages over existing phase-change processes. ACT will support the hardware development and testing tasks for system loads up to 10 kW.

For additional information about Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. and this project, please visit www.1-ACT.com .

About Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.

Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) is a premier thermal management solutions company, providing design and manufacturing services to meet our customers’ needs across all points of the product lifecycle. We serve our global customers’ thermal management and energy recovery needs in diverse Markets including Defense, Aerospace, Electronics, HVAC, Medical, Enclosure Cooling and Calibration Equipment. We specialize in providing innovative and performance-optimized thermal management technologies and solutions that meet the unique needs of each customer.

Media Contact: Megan Ulrich, megan.ulrich@1-act.com

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SOURCE Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc.