Crowd Media heralds cash flow positive March quarter, healthy cash balance
Crowd Media signed its first SaaS licence for its conversational AI in the March quarter.
Conversational artificial intelligence technology developer Crowd Media (ASX: CM8) has achieved its first cash flow positive operating quarter and closed out the period with $4.2 million in the bank.
The company achieved $319,000 in positive cash flow from operating activities for the period, which was a 148% improvement on the December 2020 quarter.
Driving this was $3.125 million in customer receipts and a $438,000 tax refund.
Also during the March quarter, Crowd Media’s cash flow from financing activities was $2 million – reflecting a $1.4 million share placement in January and $800,000 received from the exercise of options.
Meanwhile, the period also brought with it Crowd Media’s first software as a service licence for its conversational AI platform. The licence was worth $300,000.
Cash in the bank at the end of the period increased $1.3 million from the December quarter to close out the March period with $4.2 million.
Investee technologies
Helping to push the company’s commercialisation plans was three key milestones during the March quarter propelled by joint venture and investee technologies.
According to Crowd Media, its investees all share a common objective, which is to create virtual, interactive one-to-one conversation.
“While each has approached the problem from a different angle, each solution can leverage Crowd Media’s best-in-class Q&A engine to drive the conversational outcome,” the company noted.
The company released a beta version of the Digital Dom – Talking Head. This is a digital twin of Crowd Media director Domenic Carosa.
It showcases Crowd Media’s technology, which, in this instance, integrates partner capabilities including Aflorithmic for Dom’s synthetic voice cloning, and the visual talking head via its joint venture with Israeli-based VFR Assets and Holdings.
Combined, the technologies are expected to serve as a platform for Crowd Media’s conversational commerce.
Also during the quarter, Crowd Media’s investee Uneeq released a digital human twin of All Blacks rugby legend Sir John Kirwan.
Another investee Forever Holdings is targeting music lovers with the recently released “In the room with Nile Rodgers”.
In association with Universal Music, the National Portrait Gallery and Abbey Roads Studios the experience is beginning to generate revenue.
Advancing Crowd Media’s conversational AI technology
It has been 10 years of research and development to get Crowd Media’s conversational AI technology to where it is today.
The company describes its technology as unique in that it can “seamlessly” combine answers from AI and humans.
During the last 12 months, more than 65% of all questions put to Crowd Media’s platform were answered by AI. Humans responded to the remaining 35% and these were added to the database to “rapidly build efficiency”.
Commenting on the company’s achievements chairman Steven Schapera said it has the foundations to integrate its investee partners’ technology with its own Q&A capabilities to achieve its goal of developing a conversational commerce platform.
“Although it might seem fake to you today, by the end of next year it will appear very real indeed,” he said.
“Imagine talking with a virtual Lewis Hamilton, or having a virtual Jamie Oliver chat with you about a recipe,” he added.