Non Regulatory: Update re. Interbit Ltd

26 April 2019

Vela Technologies plc

("Vela")

Update re. Interbit Ltd

The Board of Vela (AIM: VELA) notes that Interbit Ltd ("Interbit") (formerly called BTL Group Ltd) yesterday announced an update on the company's project and patent strategy update.

Vela holds, as at the date of this announcement, 620,000 common shares in Interbit equivalent to approximately 2.6 per cent. of Interbit's issued share capital. Interbit is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, on which the closing mid-market price on 25 April 2019 of Interbit's common shares was C$1.23 per share which values Vela's shareholding in Interbit at approximately C$762,600 (equivalent to c. £437,845*).

Extracts from the Interbit announcement are copied below:

Interbit™ Provides Project and Patent Strategy Update

CALGARY, Alberta and LONDON, April 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- INTERBIT LTD. (TSX Venture: IBIT) (the "Company") provides the following update on its corporate workforce re-focus, the product development of Interbit^TM, its technology platform, and the Company's patenting strategy. The Company began development of its third generation multi-chain Interbit^TM platform to overcome the limitations of the single blockchain platforms it experienced in earlier pilot projects and has in development a Version 2 and a Version 3 of the Interbit^TM platform.

Since closing its principal Canadian office in December 2018, the Company has directed all programming activity to a team of third party developers and engineers based in Eastern Europe. In addition to the pure programming being carried out by those developers, this redirection of resources has permitted testing of the Company's founding strategy technologies to commence (especially facilitating data transfer between blockchains ("Chain Joining")), and the plan is for all features outlined in the Company's six provisional patent applications to be tested. 

Due to the product advances and challenges that Interbit has undergone since January of this year, the Company has now decided to focus exclusively on the development of Version 2 with an emphasis on its Hypervisor architecture and associated construction due to the increased interest in blockchain-enabled virtualization. Initially the Company believed the first quarter and half of the year would be directed towards advancing Version 2 and the megachain capability targeted for Version 3 of the Interbit^TM platform. However, it now believes immediate commercial focus should be on further development and completion of Version 2 such that it can be offered to the market, as well as advancing all patents. Additional work on Version 3 will therefore be postponed.

"In order to achieve the level of performance required of a virtualization technology for the Interbit^TM blockchain platform it is necessary to maintain an absolute focus on advancing key performance metrics," stated Scott Maxwell, COO of the Company. "In order to do this, functionality of Version 2 of the Interbit^TM platform is to be subjected to testing in the lab environment we now have, with Version 3 of the Interbit^TM platform and megachain following in due course.  This marks a long overdue shift to a pure software performance focus, which linked with the programming and testing workforce in place, should also lead to monthly expenditures being more efficient and more frequent updates to shareholders on the status of the Interbit^TM platform."

Patent Filings 

The Company has prepared and filed 6 provisional patent applications for its Interbit^TM platform over the last 18 months. The first two patent applications, which were filed in October 2017, were directed at Chain Joining and blockchain virtualization ("Hypervisor"). Subsequently, in April 2018, the Company filed three additional patent applications directed at: (i) storing a large, binary object in conjunction with a blockchain, (ii) hosting a new blockchain using an existing blockchain node, and (iii) performing an action requested by a blockchain. 

In September 2018 the Company filed an additional patent application directed at performing hyperconvergence using blockchains ("Hyperconvergence"), which leverages the technology described in the Company's Chain Joining and Hypervisor applications. The Hyperconvergence application reflects the strategic importance of leveraging blockchain virtualization to the Company. The shift towards virtualization generally started roughly 20 years ago with server and network virtualization, and the Company believes this trend will continue with large scale virtualization of blockchains in a multi-chain software architecture.

In October 2018, the Company filed two international Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT") applications for Chain Joining and the Hypervisor, respectively. The Company filed three additional PCT applications in April 2019 based on the provisional patent applications filed in April 2018 and intends to shortly file a PCT application for Hyperconvergence. The Company has received initial patentability opinions for the Chain Joining and Hypervisor PCT applications, and expects to receive initial patentability opinions for the remaining three PCT applications within 4 months. The Company will review those opinions as it formulates and executes on its patent strategy with national filings in targeted markets in North America, Europe, and Asia.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

The Company is a technology platform provider listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and operating from both Canada and the UK with offices in Calgary and London. 

For further information please contact:

Dominic McCann, CEO
Phone: +1 855 256 5246
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.interbit.io

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which include further development of the Company's business relationships and business and the timing, development, launch and success of the Company's technologies and products (including, without limitation, successful development and commercialization of the Interbit^TM platform (whether that be Version 2 and/or Version 3)), and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur. These assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the state of the economy in general and capital markets in particular, the development of competitive technologies, the marketplace acceptance of the Company's technologies and products, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in the Company's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2017 available at www.sedar.com, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release.  Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 

*Based on the exchange rate as on 26 April 2019 of C$1: GB£0.574145

For further information, please contact:

About Vela Technologies

Vela Technologies (AIM: VELA) is an investing company focused on early stage and pre-IPO long term disruptive technology investments. There are currently 12 investments in the portfolio which either have developed ways of utilising technology or developing technology with a view to disrupting the businesses or sector in which they operate. More recently, Vela Technologies has also started to focus on existing listed companies where valuations may offer additional opportunities. 

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