Wisekey International : H1 2017 WISeKey Revenue Increased by over 1,500% to $21.2 Million; Reduced Losses by 80% and is on the Path to Profitability

WISeKey International Holding SA / H1 2017 WISeKey Revenue Increased by over 1,500% to $21.2 Million; Reduced Losses by 80% and is on the Path to Profitability . Processed and transmitted by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

H1 2017 WISeKey Revenue Increased by over 1,500% to $ 21.2 Million; Reduced Losses by 80% and is on the Path to Profitability

WISeKey shows strong sequential growth on core Cybersecurity and IoT business; expects to report revenue of approximately $50 million for full year 2017

ZUG, Switzerland--September 19, 2017--WISeKey International Holding Ltd ("WISeKey" or the "Company") (SIX: WIHN) a leading Swiss cybersecurity and IoT company announced today its H1 financial results for the period ending June 30, 2017. The H1 2017 Annual Report, will be downloadable from https://www.wisekey.com/investors/reports/annual-reports/ before the start of trading of WISeKey's Class B Shares on SIX Swiss Exchange on 19^th September 2017.

H1 2017 FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Revenues increased by over 1,500 % to $21.2 million in H1 2017, as compared to. $1.3 million in H1 2016, driven by higher revenues by the IoT and Semiconductor group for the  smart car, pharmaceutical and fintech industries and also IoT chips.
• Reduced H1 2017 losses to $6.2 million, as compared to losses of $33.2 million for the same period last year. Of note, the majority of losses reported in the H1 2017 was due the cost of acquisition of QuoVadis and Vault-IC.
• Strong liquidity and financial position with $6.2 million in cash at June 30, 2017, due to the improved operating performance. Cash balance at June 30, 2017 increased by over $ 1 million, as compared to June 30, 2016.

• Shareholders equity almost doubled to $63.6 million, as compared to December 31, 2016.
• Obtained a $16.4 million secured line of credit facility for acquisition financing.
• H1 2017 business segment achievements:
  • Further expansion of our vertical Platform solution portfolio in Blockchain and AI following the acquisition of QuoVadis for managed cybersecurity and Identity Management services.
  • Further enhancements of the vertical Platform for the IoT through the establishment of partnerships with leading players in the IoT domain.
  • Expansion of Patent portfolio with new IP and patents with the aggregation of 39 IoT / Semiconductors patent families (more than 200 patents in total) to its portfolio (https://www.wisekey.com/patents/).
• 2017 Revenue guidance: For the full year, WISeKey expect revenue to be approximately $50 Million.

KEY FIGURES H1 2017

"WISeKey delivered exceptional seasonal results for the first half of 2017, with revenue of $ 21.2 million, an increase of over 1,500% year-over-year reflecting the successful integration of the IoT and Cyberscurity assets into the Company," said Carlos Moreira, WISeKey's Chief Executive Officer.

"We have noticed a strong demand across the combined product portfolio as the market for IoT - MicroChips associated with PKI and Cybersecurity, is increasing globally. We experienced substantial revenue growth with the combination of our IoT and Cybersecurity technology on new markets such as the smart automobile with our Secure Connected car technology. The WISeKey connected car solutions allow manufacturers to authenticate legitimate car components and enable owners to securely interact with the car's smart features.

"Revenue generated by our IoT and Semiconductor group, for the H1 2017 was approximately $15.0 million. Lastly, in our managed Cybersecurity and Secure Identification Solutions group, H1 2017 revenue was approximately $6.2 million, due to the successful integration of QuoVadis Managed cybersecurity services into the WISeKey Vertical platform and to over 3,000 new clients," added Mr. Moreira.

"In summary, our H1 2017 results are a validation of our vision and business strategy, and the successful integration of Vault-IC and QuoVadis along with the extension of the WISeKey Vertical Platform for Blockchain and AI. We continue to see strong adoption of products across our portfolio, with cybersecurity clients now acquiring chips and chip clients acquiring cybersecurity. This is a very encouraging indicative trend for WISeKey's long term growth outlook as we expand the Company's revenue models to fully capitalize on Blockchain and AI due to the enormous amount of data generated by these devices," said Moreira.

"Our H1 2017 results reflect a period of strong execution, as we continue to demonstrate revenue expansion due to our synergy capture efforts. Gross profit for the current period was $10.4 million, with a gross margin of 49%, compared to $0.7 million in the H1 2016. We substantially improved our bottom line   in H1 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016, with approximately 53% of our net loss for the current period being non-cash items, compared with 72% in 2016. The Company's shareholder's equity increased from $33.4 million to $63.6 million or 89%. Over $1 million additional cash was generated in the period, with an ending cash balance of $6.2 million," said Peter Ward, WISeKey's Chief Financial Officer.

H1 Milestones

• WISeKey completed a debt raising transaction on 3^rd  April, 2017 whereby it obtained a $16.4 million secured line of credit facility for acquisition financing with maturity up to 18 months from ExWorks Capital, a U.S. private debt fund specializing in international trade and working capital financing. The ExWorks credit facility allowed WISeKey to complete the acquisition of 85% of the issued and outstanding equity interest of QuoVadis Holdings Limited, the holding company of the QuoVadis Group. The acquisition of QuoVadis represents a further key milestone in WISeKey's growth strategy to consolidate the European Cybersecurity & IoT industry sector. WISeKey is on its way to becoming the leading Cybersecurity Vertical Platform, by leveraging opportunities arising from efforts to consolidate the highly fragmented Cybersecurity industry, which is in the midst of a deal boom, by focusing on cash-generating companies and smaller start-ups with innovative technologies on Cybersecurity, IoT, Blockchain and AI.

WISeKey's strategy to evolve into a market leader in the IoT, Cybersecurity, AI and Blockchain market, implies a constant evaluation of potential add-on acquisitions, development of new IP and patents. In just one year, WISeKey has aggregated over 39 patent families (more than 200 patents in total) to its portfolio (https://www.wisekey.com/patents/) required to integrate the OISTE/WISeKey Root of Trust into IoT embedded devices with problem-solving Artificial Intelligence ("AI") solutions. For WISeKey, adding to its patent portfolio and intellectual property is key to ensuring that the company will remain a major player in the "DeepTech" sectors for years to come. Its patent portfolio allows WISeKey to distinguish itself from other companies that use commonly available technology; WISeKey focuses on integrating unique technology that is differentiated, protected and hard to reproduce due to tangible scientific discoveries and/or engineering innovations. The new patents cover a range of technologies for IoT and semiconductors, particularly those that help make enterprise-level computing services more trusted, reliable and secure. The most notable patent acquisition by WISeKey on IoT and semiconductors happened in 2016 when the company purchased 17 new IoT patents from Inside Secure, which at the time allowed WISeKey to create the first ever comprehensive trusted end-to-end cybersecurity platform for people and objects (IoT). Following this acquisition, WISeKey's cybersecurity offerings includes certified hardware & software, system certification, provisioning and up to management of cybersecurity services.

A focus area of investment and the fastest growing segment for WISeKey this year is the IoT and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Revenues generated by this segment continues to increase due to the new generation of IoT Chips, sensor-based identification, authentication and data and creating AI for analytically rich data sets. What has emerged during the first half of 2017, is only a glimpse into how the IoT and IIoT technology used in solving complex logistics, manufacturing, services and supply chain problems, can deliver the most value for WISeKey.

• Following the successful establishment of several joint ventures in emerging markets such as India and Argentina, WISeKey continuously explores opportunities to expand geographically, especially in high growth Cybersecurity markets such as China and the USA and is working on establishing WISeKey joint ventures to operate under WISeKey's National Root of Trust including a localization of the technology in these markets. Of note, WISeKey India is already working in expanding the reach of WISeKey AI project, WISeAI, by integrating the WISeKey Indian Root of Trust and IoT embedded devices with problem-solving AI solution into WISeKey's Vertical Platform.
• During 2017 WISeKey is also expanding its Blockchain and AI market activity with the establishment of Centers of Excellence in India, USA and Switzerland. Via these Centers of Excellence, WISeKey is cooperating with local participating companies on developing strategy, proof of concepts, policies, educational materials (including addressing all the distributed ledger capabilities across different Blockchain schemes: public, consortium and private), with industry verticalization and domain specialization (IoT, AI, encrypted transactions, messaging, etc.), underpinned by the best underlying technologies from startups, our key partners and from the community.
• Another important area of development for 2017 is the use of AI at the chip level together with the WISeKey RoT which allows IoT to provide authenticated sensor data. Current IoT data do not provide value for their manufacturers unless it can be converted into actionable, contextualized information generated by IoT sensors fully identifiable.  The majority of IoT devices are not built with embedded secured systems thus are very vulnerable to hackers.  By integrating AI into the WISeKey RoT and Vertical Platform, objects can develop their own cybersecurity behavior, thus making smarter and safer decisions. IoT objects with this technology will learn from attacks, defend themselves and transfer this intelligence via the WISeKey Vertical Platform to other IoT objects peer to peer using a Blockchain.

About WISeKey:
WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems with a patented process. WISeKey's Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

To receive WISeKey's latest news, subscribe to our Newsletter or visit the WISeKey Investors Corner.

Press and investor contacts:

Disclaimer:

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.