A Canadian drone delivery company is going public in hopes of speeding the development of its core product, and it’s doing so by way of a gold mining operation.
Drone Delivery Canada Inc. plans to merge with Canadian gold exploration company Asher Resources Corp. in a process known as a reverse takeover, which allows a company to go public without an initial public offering of stock. Under the terms of the agreement, the merged company will be known as Drone Delivery Canada Corp., with current Drone Delivery Canada CEO Tony Di Benedetto serving as CEO. The president and CEO of Asher, Richard Buzbuzian, will join the new Drone Delivery Canada Corp. as president and director. Paul Di Benedetto, brother of Tony, will serve as chief technology officer.
Drone Delivery Canada, which says it focuses on the design, development and implementation of a commercial drone logistics platform for retailers, service organizations and government agencies, will then be traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange, according to the company.
The deal is expected to close by the end of March, according to Asher. “Once the amalgamation is complete we will take over Asher and rebrand it as Drone Delivery Canada. We will operate as a drone company. Gold mining operations will cease immediately,” Tony Di Benedetto says.
In September, Drone Delivery Canada announced a partnership with Canadian online marketplace Shop.ca that was aimed at introducing delivery of online orders via drone throughout Canada by 2018.
Di Benedetto says Drone Delivery Canada has begun testing the service, though he declined to provide details on those tests. Becoming a publicly traded company, Di Benedetto says, will help speed the development process.
“The company is going public to have easier access to capital to help fund the development of our drone development platform,” he says. “We continue to develop the technology and are executing various levels of testing.”
Di Benedetto says the company is working with other retail clients, though he declined to specify which ones.
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