Published on March 26, 2018
NEW YORK, March 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc., (OTCQB: JMDA) (the "Company" or "Jerrick"), a digital technology company and the creators of Vocal, today announced that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (the "MOU") outlining the terms of a proposed joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Thinkmill, Inc., a digital development company based in Sydney, Australia ("Thinkmill").
Under the terms of the MOU, Jerrick and Thinkmill will establish Abacus, a new Delaware entity that will retain a non-exclusive license of the Vocal technology, users, and content from Jerrick for a five year period. The mission of Abacus will be to develop powerful solutions for content creators by further developing both the Vocal platform and the established communities and content that exist today. This will result in a significantly enhanced value proposition for Vocal users and open up several new revenue opportunities for Jerrick–including subscription-based recurring revenue streams. Jerrick's and Thinkmill's contributions to the creation and development of products and software pursuant to the Joint Venture are subject to entry into a definitive Joint Venture Agreement.
Jerrick and Thinkmill first began collaborating in early 2015 with the design and engineering of Vocal, Jerrick's long-form publishing platform, successfully launched at the end of Q4, 2016. Vocal now supports over 200,000 content creators and influencers.
Capitalizing on the momentum of Vocal, Abacus will build on the current capabilities and expand the offerings for content creators and audiences. Vocal will continue to provide a suite of tools for content creators to produce compelling multimedia stories, engage with targeted audiences, advance their craft through collaboration, and access opportunities to monetize their creative output sustainably. These solutions do not exist today within a single comprehensive offering.
Vocal's revenue model is not reliant on targeted advertising and will focus on sustainable monetization of its platform in the interest of both Abacus and the Vocal community, based on the principles of Time Well Spent, which address the ethics of technology design.
"When the vision for Vocal was first conceived, we understood that moving from vision to reality required the most talented and advanced technology development team, and that these teams must align culturally. Thinkmill has exceeded our expectations across all metrics. Partnering to co-create additional products that can be leveraged to provide broader solutions in the marketplace is a natural next step," said Jerrick CEO Jeremy Frommer.
"The growth momentum that Vocal has demonstrated provides the proof of concept that has led to our decision to enter into a new partnership with the Jerrick Media team to leverage our collective know-how and create a new platform for content creators and online communities," commented Thinkmill co-CEO and co-founder Jed Watson. "We are looking forward to embarking on this new phase of creative partnership with the Jerrick team."
With the formation of Abacus, the Thinkmill and Jerrick entities are uniquely aligned around the goal of providing a wide spectrum of content creators and brand sponsors the solutions, services, and socially enabled communities to efficiently facilitate self-sustaining and evolving thought leadership ecosystems. Abacus is therefore positioned for immediate market share acquisition and competitive advantages.
In addition, Abacus may also leverage the architecture and content management framework of Vocal to develop non-competing platforms ("lateral products") for specific industries such as educational and medical institutions. Jerrick will retain the right to use the existing Vocal platform directly or through its affiliate or related entities. Due to licensing fees and expected subscription-based revenue opportunities, this Joint Venture is designed to be accretive to Jerrick.
Forward Looking Statements
Any statements that are not historical facts and that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, indicated through the use of words or phrases such as “will likely result,” “are expected to,” “will continue,” “is anticipated,” “estimated,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes” and “projects”) may be forward-looking and may involve estimates and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We caution that the factors described herein could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements we make and that investors should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of such factors. Further, we cannot assess the impact of each such factor on our results of operations or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. This press release is qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.