BRN Discussion Ongoing

[Damo4]

Everything points towards success here, except for the SP and subsequent paper losses.

This is the root of the issue, for many here.
It confirms the opinion of many, that if we were above $2, we'd be feeling pretty chuffed with the progress.


"Commercial release at y/E 2023 so let's expect revenue to start showing 3rd or 4th quarter 2024 - another year to wait perhaps. Then there's potential small revenue, maybe more, from Gen1 to keep the company ticking over until then."

RE v1/2, Renesas and Megachips have both licensed v1 IP - so agreed on the revenue expectations, but probably still more for gen1 for a while.
We can only speculate as to which customers, be it those two or partners such Mercedes, SiFive, NVISO etc that were involved in the development of v2.
We do know for a fact that Megachips helped with v2.

2020 we had IP for sale, and companies such as Renesas took about 2 years to tape out.
Once we start to see revenue coming in from Renesas, if we can work that out, we can get pretty clear typical timelines.
Although is may be quicker unless we get another Covid.


The way I see it is similar to a flagship phone each year from Samsung, Google Apple etc.
Everyone knows a new one is coming (our roadmap), but each year you buy what is currently for sale.
Some people on a budget may even choose to buy older phones that suit their needs/budget better.

Also I think of STM32 MCU's from Arm, and they have various models depending on requirements.
They also have many models within each range to target both budgets and needs.

 

[Foxdog]

More operating convenience is also available with MBUX. With the "Just Talk" function, the intelligent voice control can now be activated without the keyword "Hey Mercedes". When the function is activated, a red microphone symbol appears in the display. This indicates that the vehicle is ready and waiting for commands.

Added day-to-day convenience: the routines
Mercedes-Benz is working on using artificial intelligence (AI) so that the car learns which comfort systems vehicle occupants use repeatedly. Given the same circumstances, the aim is for AI to automate such functions9. The result is personalised automation. Mercedes-Benz uses the term “routine” for this innovation, the development of which is already well advanced.

On the launch of the new E-Class, customers will be able to use templates for standard routines. They also have the option of creating routines themselves. In doing so, the occupants can link several functions and conditions. For example, "Switch on the seat heating and set the ambient lighting to warm orange if the interior temperature is below twelve degrees Celsius".

Hmmmm.....

Mercedes-Benz Media

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Man, they really don't won't to mention AKIDA again do they? Super secretive on the tech behind the scenes and relying on the functionality to lure customers, which makes sense from a competitive and also marketing point of view.

Like I've said before we might actually see some revenue from this engagement if AKIDA is in this series of cars. Unless we only receive payment for each unit sold.

 

[Shadow59]

4C came out on the 26th April last year. So could be today.

 

[Foxdog]

This is the root of the issue, for many here.
It confirms the opinion of many, that if we were above $2, we'd be feeling pretty chuffed with the progress.


"Commercial release at y/E 2023 so let's expect revenue to start showing 3rd or 4th quarter 2024 - another year to wait perhaps. Then there's potential small revenue, maybe more, from Gen1 to keep the company ticking over until then."

RE v1/2, Renesas and Megachips have both licensed v1 IP - so agreed on the revenue expectations, but probably still more for gen1 for a while.
We can only speculate as to which customers, be it those two or partners such Mercedes, SiFive, NVISO etc that were involved in the development of v2.
We do know for a fact that Megachips helped with v2.

2020 we had IP for sale, and companies such as Renesas took about 2 years to tape out.
Once we start to see revenue coming in from Renesas, if we can work that out, we can get pretty clear typical timelines.
Although is may be quicker unless we get another Covid.


The way I see it is similar to a flagship phone each year from Samsung, Google Apple etc.
Everyone knows a new one is coming (our roadmap), but each year you buy what is currently for sale.
Some people on a budget may even choose to buy older phones that suit their needs/budget better.

Also I think of STM32 MCU's from Arm, and they have various models depending on requirements.
They also have many models within each range to target both budgets and needs.

View attachment 35036

Great post Damo, totally agree re: SP and direct correlation with investor moods.

The revenue runway is all speculation but I'm hoping that MB has introduced AKIDA 1000 in the current release with perhaps an upgrade to Gen 2 moving forward. Why would they opt for a completely different operating system now and then change to Gen 2 later?

MB is apparently very secure with respect to the release of information so we will know only when they want us to.

 

[Damo4]

Great post Damo, totally agree re: SP and direct correlation with investor moods.

The revenue runway is all speculation but I'm hoping that MB has introduced AKIDA 1000 in the current release with perhaps an upgrade to Gen 2 moving forward. Why would they opt for a completely different operating system now and then change to Gen 2 later?

MB is apparently very secure with respect to the release of information so we will know only when they want us to.

Agreed, plus I believe keyword spotting is still extremely powerful/efficient on Gen 1.

 

[Foxdog]

Agreed, plus I believe keyword spotting is still extremely powerful/efficient on Gen 1.

Yeah the innovations appear to tick a lot of Gen 1 boxes. We just need MB to say to BRN 'OK you can now tell everyone that your product is in our cars'

Que ASX price sensitive announcement

 

[Baron Von Ricta]

I can't believe the responses here to the podcast. I must have been listening to a different one. I think Sean presents really well, his answers to our questions were exactly what I expected to hear. About time the company is starting to acknowledge our concerns. He believes in the technology and the success of the business going forward.

Revenue is always my concern but Sean is not in a position to disclose any current or pending negotiations. I'd be surprised if those attending the AGM don't find him very competent and engaging in person.

Man I'm one of the biggest whingers here and you guys are leaving me in your dust

Agreed,
And you wonder why FF, F'd off
This forum seems to have lost its way.

 

[Kachoo]

Yeah the innovations appear to tick a lot of Gen 1 boxes. We just need MB to say to BRN 'OK you can now tell everyone that your product is in our cars'

Que ASX price sensitive announcement

I don't think this will be announce unless Mercedes would let them. In the end they would just pay the fees and you would see that as income in the C4. I think that Mercedes would keep it quite from this point on.

Happy to be proven wrong.

 

[JDelekto]

Winner winner chicken dinner.

BrainChip Awarded an Embeddy for the Most Cutting-Edge Product/Service

BrainChip receives Embeddy Award for cutting-edge product/service. Learn more about our innovative solutions now!

brainchip.com

I wonder how many people caught the editing faux pas at the bottom of the page.

Hopefully, the execs wanted to include the backlinks, it works for the partnership, and poor Marc just forgot to edit out that conditional reminder.

 

[Draed]

I wonder how many people caught the editing faux pas at the bottom of the page.

Hopefully, the execs wanted to include the backlinks, it works for the partnership, and poor Marc just forgot to edit out that conditional reminder.

 

[Diogenese]

In light of the Company’s stance on this matter, my personal recommendation is (for what that's worth ).

Vote No to Resolution 8!

I don't see why Emmanuel Hernandez should get 8 million free shares (remembering that he would have had to have paid 1 million dollars of much needed funds, to the Company, to convert the original options).

Sure, he can have the 8 million shares, for 1 million dollars, which is still a steal and what he was originally entitled to.

I don't see why he should be gifted them.

It seems for all intents and purposes, that this was some kind of "buddy" deal.

A million dollars is still much needed funding for the Company, I'm invested in.

Hi DB,

Can't agree with you.

I don't see anything to support your suggestion that this is a buddy deal.

The options were part of MH's employment package. For reasons to which we are not privy, MH requested that the exercise period be allowed to remain as the original expiry period. The company entered into good faith negotiations with MH with a view to resolving this issue, but, again for reasons we do not know, the options lapsed before the negotiations were finalized.

As per your post, the explanatory memorandum explains the company's thinking on the matter:

The Company agreed to work with Mr Hernandez to
find an alternative to exercising the Options as this was considered to be in the best interest of
the Company and Shareholders. In so doing, the parties entered into discussions relating to
deferring the exercise of the Options. However, at the time of his resignation, it was
determined that the Company could not modify the terms of the Options without shareholder
approval or a waiver from ASX in relation to Listing Rule approval requirements for any such
modification. During the time required to investigate the proper method of modifying the
Options and negotiating the terms with Mr Hernandez, the Options ultimately lapsed. As this
occurred whilst Mr Hernandez was engaging with the Company on the process for exercise,
the Company considers it appropriate to award Mr Hernandez with the new RSUs.

Sections 200B and 200E of the Corporations Act prohibit the Company from giving a benefit
to a person who holds (or has held in the previous 3 years) a managerial or executive office
with the Company or its subsidiaries, if that benefit is given in connection with that person's
retirement from office and is in excess of that person's average annual base salary over the
relevant period, unless the benefit is approved by shareholders.

The issuance and subsequent vesting of the Restricted Stock Units will amount to the giving
of a termination benefit requiring shareholder approval in accordance with the Corporations
Act. Approval is therefore sought under sections 200B and 200E of the Corporations Act.
The Board does not consider that the issue of the Restricted Stock Units will materially
prejudice the Company or other Shareholders.

Brainchip also considers the issue of the New Rights to Mr Hernandez to be a necessary step
in the prevention of any potential claim by Mr Hernandez.

This does not read to me like a buddy deal. There was a process involving investigating the proper method of modifying the options and negotiating the terms with MH, and it was during this process that the options lapsed. This suggests that MH may have had a reasonable expectation that the matter was in the process of being resolved. Again, we do not know the specific factors which lead to the lapsing other than it appears the negotiations were ongoing at the time of lapse.

I'm not an equity lawyer, but the concept of basic fairness suggests to me that the loss of rights under these circumstances would be unfair.

Given the potential for litigation (assuming MH has an arguable case), which would be both expensive and distracting, I think the company has taken a prudent and fair course.

However, each SH is free to make their own decision on this matter and I won't presume to tell others how to vote.

 

[Quatrojos]

Yeah the innovations appear to tick a lot of Gen 1 boxes. We just need MB to say to BRN 'OK you can now tell everyone that your product is in our cars'

Que ASX price sensitive announcement

I think the hastily recorded quarterly SH's report was preparing us for an underwhelming quarterly. I'm not expecting any lumps...

 

[Xray1]

Quite likely that is what had been vetted by legal and the board and he is being careful.
I don't blame him.
Who needs a shitestorm a month out from the AGM?
Undoubtedly the board has taken advise on this matter and decided on what they consider to be the best course of action.
Regardless of the opinions of all the amateur Perry Mason's here, they are just trying to get on with their job of making us all filthy rich, rather than getting sidelined by some irrelevant waste of their time and Company resources.

Like I have previously stated ...... this issue of the 8 Million RSU to Manny is imo basically a non event .... given the situation, that the top say ~50 share holders hold the majority s/holding votes of the Co to pass this resolution. I'm fairly confident that Peter and Anil will support Manny's position fairly and in the best interests of the Co.

I'm also fairly confident in believing that if Peter and Anil weren't satisfied with Sean H current position and stewardship of the Co overall, that he would have been asked politely to leave.

 

[Dr E Brown]

The latest newsletter has some great confirmation.
Firstly, that TWO companies will be incorporating Akida into their products. That is two companies that will give us confirmed revenue. This follows on from Renesas taping out a chip ready for the year end. THREE confirmed revenue sources.

Arm are jointly presenting with us to demonstrate the power of Akida and Arm technologies when combined. Including in the area of vital signs prediction. Not bad for a tinpot company to share and demonstrate the power of Akido.

Then there are some nice little fluffy bits on blogs and industry podcasts and rocking up to events.
Yep, Sean and the team have done FA in the last 12 months, eh!

 

[DK6161]

I think the hastily recorded quarterly SH's report was preparing us for an underwhelming quarterly. I'm not expecting any lumps...

Bloody hope not. I am getting very frustrated now with the SP. And if you say it is s great time to accumulate, well I have been averaging down in the last 18 months and have no further intention to buy more

 

[JDelekto]

I received an e-mail reply from Tony Dawe regarding acquiring the voting materials before the AGM. I should point out two things: a) I am in the United States, and b) I purchased my shares of BrainChip stock from the OTC markets through Fidelity Investments.

He referred the e-mail to their share registry, who advised that because my shares were held in a custodial account by Fidelity Investments, they did not have visibility to the level of every beneficial holder and could not confirm my status as an individual shareholder to determine voting rights.

He also noted according to the registry, holders of OTC shares should receive a copy of the AGM documentation via the holding entity and recommended that I contact them (Fidelity Investments) for the documents I need.

I have sent an inquiry through the Fidelity site messaging system with the PDF of the most recent announcement about the AGM from the ASX. I typically find they take very long to reply through those channels, and I might have better luck posting something on their official Reddit.

Tony also noted that he was going to be on a call with Ken Scarince and will inquire about the DTC eligibility, he will share the information with me as soon as he has a response, and I will convey that to the forum.

 

[Dr E Brown]

I think the hastily recorded quarterly SH's report was preparing us for an underwhelming quarterly. I'm not expecting any lumps...

Why do you say it was hastily recorded. I see no evidence. Tony had already intimated that we were going to hear more from Sean a couple of weeks ago.
It is the start of a new chapter in SH communication. I suggest we take advantage. Based upon the structure of this one we could send in questions and suggestions to Tony, for Sean to answer in the next one.
Who knows we all might learn something rather than second guessing and getting all worked up about our Akido product range.

 

[Deleted member 118]

Must be the BrainChip bus



And if you can’t laugh at the current position the sp is in then what can you do.

 

[jtardif999]

Wow, that was difficult to get through for my little brain, didn't pick up any reference to Brainchip or AKIDA but plenty of AI stuff. Is AKIDA simply too good and other options are being used by potential customers because they are more fit for purpose? There was a time where posters here were saying that AKIDA is science fiction and customers would be crawling over each other to get hold of the revolutionary tech but this hasn't happened yet (Gen 2 might change this as it was supposedly developed to address customer requests?). It seems that a 3 year lead doesn't account for much if customers continue to opt for lesser but still sufficient alternatives. If Merc's new 'Hey Mercedes' that has just been released doesn't have AKIDA (why the hell wouldn't it?) then we are in trouble I think. Alternatively, if it is in the latest model cars I'd expect to see an uptick in revenue in the next 4C, unless BRN has decided to let these developers use the tech for free.

I'd like to hear more about the company who's board decided not to proceed with AKIDO (sic). Have they gone in a different direction now or will they rejuvenate negotiations with Brainchip? I still see this as a failure of our sales team to get a contract across the line, like many I suspect.

It appears as though we have the best racecar on the track, but the pit crew Is letting us down.

My musings only.

FACT: Renesas taped out a chip with Akida inside last December and are going into full production of this chip reportedly in the 4th quarter this year.

FACT: Mercedes used Akida in their EQXX voice assistant. Mercedes have stated that the EQXX is more than a concept, that they would be using much of the tech in their production EVs from 2024. Why wouldn’t that use include the voice assistant which they stated was 5 to 10 times better than anything in the market.

FACT: Ford and Valeo signed joint development agreements back in 2020 that were announced as price sensitive on the ASX. There has been no communication to say that anything regarding Ford and Valeo has changed since then.

FACT: Megachips licences of BRN IP for their customers amounted to 4 million dollars in 2022. We probably won’t ever know who/how many of these customers there were, but they were signed in the first half of 2022 - so they will be well into development by now.

 

[Dr E Brown]

FACT: Renesas taped out a chip with Akida inside last December and are going into full production of this chip reportedly in the 4th quarter this year.

FACT: Mercedes used Akida in their EQXX voice assistant. Mercedes have stated that the EQXX is more than a concept, that they would be using much of the tech in their production EVs from 2024. Why wouldn’t that use include the voice assistant which they stated was 5 to 10 times better than anything in the market.

FACT: Ford and Valeo signed joint development agreements back in 2020 that were announced as price sensitive on the ASX. There has been no communication to say that anything regarding Ford and Valeo has changed since then.

FACT: Megachips licences of BRN IP for their customers amounted to 4 million dollars in 2022. We probably won’t ever know who/how many of these customers there were, but they were signed in the first half of 2022 - so they will be well into development by now.

Megachips were involved in the backend design of Akida 2.0 - wonder why they would bother if nothing was happening in this area? Maybe our pit crew were so useless that the Megachips boys need to sort it! Or maybe, just maybe the two heads are better than one collaboration of partners for a successful project completion for customers was the aim of both pit crews.
Just spitballing here!