BUBBLR Limited was originally a U.K. business (Company No. 09012621) and was founded by Steve Morris in April 2014. Our mission has always been to be an ethical technology business focussing on fixing inequality of the current online economic model and combating the ease with which misinformation and disinformation can quickly spread online.
BUBBLR prides itself on being an ethical technology business, and we ensure all our employees have stock in the company and all our invoices are paid on the receipt.
BUBBLR was founder-funded as the tech requirements were mapped out. In 2018, external fundraising began raising over $500k. In 2019, BUBBLR raised a further $2m. We currently have over 693 shareholders.
Bubblr, Inc. was listed on OTC Markets as BBLR in January 2021. Bubblr, Inc became the holding company, and Bubblr Limited became the UK subsidiary of Bubblr, Inc. Largely north American directors and advisory board members were appointed in 2021 as the company became a US entity both legally and operationally. The patent assets were also transferred to Bubblr, Inc.
The founder Steve Morris, although ostensibly the CTO, was still effectively running the company. The business’s objective was to uplist Nasdaq before the end of 2021. We had an investment bank on the hook, ready to underwrite an uplist to Nasdaq, but they changed their mind on October 2021 as they were cognizant of an impending anti-technology sentiment in the markets. In April 2021 the US Patent No. 10977387, titled Internet Search Mechanism was granted by the USPTO
In March 2022, Steve Morris was asked to leave the board of directors to focus on product development. There had also been a difference of opinion on the company’s direction. The CEO had secured an engagement letter with an investment bank to raise a total of $10m. The first part would be a bridge loan of $2.5m to be delivered in July 2022, followed by an uplist to Nasdaq to deliver $7.5m. The business proposition that was agreed upon by the bank was not the original story but one based only on delivering an open-source platform to deliver services for Web 3.0. for the open-source community. To all intents and purposes, this was a Blockchain 2.0 concept. Brilliant technology but without any obvious applications.
From November 2021 through the whole of 2022, the company was under the restrictions of S1 filings. Consequently, there were only six press releases issued in 2022 compared to an average of one every two weeks in 2021. Even the filing of the second patent to search for deemed inappropriate for a press release. Subsequently, the share price collapsed by 90% in 2022. Furthermore, the investment bank had failed to deliver the $2.5m promised, and the Nasdaq uplist was pulled by the bank due to market sentiment. Steve Morris had to lend Bubblr a further $500k in a soft loan in August 2022.
The new strategy for 2023 involves
Build a new board of top-quality new board members. This has already happened with the appointment of David Chetwood as CFO. Other critical executive appointments are currently being progressed and will be announced in the near future.
Filing an application for crowdfunding with Wefunder to raise significant investment capital through retail investors. Two contracts with Wefunder have been signed, as has a contract with Crowdcheck (a specialist legal firm focused purely on Crowdfunding) to draw up the necessary paperwork to be filed at the SEC. Retail investment has far fewer restrictions on press releases, and we are already issuing regular press releases, which are already aving a significant uplift in the share price.
We have applied to uplist to OTCQB, which is expected to be completed in the next few weeks. This will allow us to speak directly to more substantial investment banks. The uplist to OTCQB will be the precursor to an organic uplist to Nasdaq
A completely different product strategy based around delivering open-source Flutter app templates for licensees to build their own community apps or to integrate the platform services into any existing apps. The website has been completely revamped to reflect this as has the business plan and the investment deck.