Realfiction initiates a strategic review of its Sales Activities and non-ECHO IP and hardware development
Realfiction Holding AB (“Realfiction”) announces that the company has initiated a strategic review of its Sales Activities (Magic-as-a-Service for Retail/Exhibitions and Experience hardware sales) as well as all non-ECHO IP and hardware development, including the highly acclaimed Dreamoc and DeepFrame Mixed Reality product ranges. The strategic review follows the strong progress achieved in 2020 in the development of ECHO.
With the emergence of its ECHO technology, Realfiction is today managing two valuable and complex verticals:
- The company’s internationally acclaimed Dreamoc and DeepFrame Mixed Reality displays with over 10,000 units sold worldwide, and its MaaS Media Channel which is getting ready to scale up in major markets.
- Realfiction’s ground-breaking ECHO 3D display technology that could hold the key to unlock a new paradigm of immersive 3D experiences as a next-generation standard for flatscreens.
Potential recommendations from the strategic review may include, but are not limited to, a sale, joint venture or spin-out of any, all or none of Realfiction’s individual assets in its Sales Activities and non-ECHO IP and hardware development (item 1 above), and Realfiction has contracted a corporate finance firm with expertise in facilitating such strategic review and transactions.
“We have the potential to fundamentally change the flatscreen industry and the way people see and interact with moving 3D images. With this once-in-a-century opportunity within reach, we will accelerate value creation in Realfiction by ensuring that our organization is focused on this task. Realizing the holy grail of 3D is without a doubt an important part of the future of Realfiction, and the strategic review is the first step in the process of ensuring that the company is properly configured. Through the strategic review, all options to maximize shareholder value in the other parts of our business will be considered. The review and any actions based on it will of course be carried out with respect to our global network of partners, who are committed to selling the magical moments that our Dreamoc and DeepFrame Mixed Reality displays generate,” says Realfictions CEO and founder Clas Dyrholm.
While there is no fixed timeline for the strategic review, the company will disclose developments with respect to the review process if a potential transaction is identified and/or further disclosure is required. The Board cautions that there is no assurance or guarantee that any potential transaction identified by the strategic review will be pursued.
Michael Kjær, Chairman of the Board, comments: “The Board is keen to investigate strategies that will maximize value for Realfiction and its shareholders by conducting this strategic review. It is also important to point out that keeping all assets, while making sure that we have the resources needed to facilitate strong value creation in both verticals, might prove to be the best option. Meanwhile, we will continue all our current business activities and execute on our vision to create magical moments through technology."
For more information about Realfiction Holding AB, please contact:
Clas Dyrholm, founder and CEO
Telephone: +45 25 22 32 81
Email: clas@realfiction.com
www.realfiction.com
Certified Adviser
Mangold Fondkommission AB is the company's Certified Adviser and can be contacted via ca@mangold.se or +46 8 503 015 50.
This information is information that Realfiction Holding AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 13.00 CEST on 1 September 2020.
About Realfiction Holding AB
Founded in Denmark in 2008, Realfiction is a leading innovator and provider of Mixed Reality solutions and services, a market estimated to reach USD 80 billion by 2025. Realfiction continues to invent technologies within Mixed Reality, with an intention to disrupt the industry by pursuing the vision of converting science fiction into real fiction. Realfiction Holding AB’s share is publicly traded on Nasdaq Stockholm First North under the symbol “REALFI”. The share’s ISIN code is SE0009920994.
About the ECHO technology and Realfiction’s sales/licensing strategy
Realfiction has previously announced the completion of its Proof of Concept and a beta version of an LCD display equipped with its patent pending ECHO technology (supported via a grant from Innovation Fund Denmark). The vision of the ECHO technology is to bring Realfiction’s dream of truly changing the world of 3D into reality.
The ECHO pixel technology is capable of directing light from flat screen displays in different directions, allowing each individual viewer to not only see an image which is different from what others see, but also to experience full 3D depth in that image. The main differentiators between this technology and others in the market or currently under development are that it does not require the use of glasses, that it is planned to become a multi-user system, that the resolution can be ultra-high and that it is not limited to any known standard, that the required image processing is well within the capacity of current standard equipment, and that it can be mass-produced at a low cost.
To further explain the directional pixel technology, a video illustration can be viewed on the Realfiction website here.
The development of ECHO covers several different display technologies, with OLED being the preferable technology of the future for many reasons. Hence, OLED is therefore the top priority for ECHO. However, since LCD is still the best-selling technology in the TV market, and because it is easier and less costly to develop LCD prototypes, the company developed a beta version of an LCD display with built-in ECHO technology. The main purpose of the beta LCD display is to be able to develop more complete prototypes with faster response time, thereby allowing Realfiction to better showcase the effect and the capacity of the ECHO technology. However, a secondary purpose is to address the currently larger LCD market, which could represent a fast-track towards revenue. One of the problems with LCD is that this technology uses a lot more power than OLED, and the ECHO technology may significantly reduce the power consumption in normal TV use cases. Realfiction estimates that the ECHO technology can reduce the power consumption of displays of the average type televisions by close to 80 %. The estimated reduction adds up to 80 Watt per hour resulting in huge savings of approximately USD 7.4 bN, or 1.34 % of the electricity production equivalent of 56 TWh of electricity and 25 million tons of CO2 in the United States alone. As a result, ECHO has the potential to significantly reduce the annual household consumption of energy, thus adding to lower carbon emissions on a global scale and substantial financial savings.
To obtain an understanding of ECHO’s position, novelty searches from both Budde Schou and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office were carried out. Neither Budde Schou nor the Danish Patent and Trademark Office found any known techniques which challenged the novelty of the ECHO technology. Furthermore, the patent attorney expressed that the technology holds the potential of cost-efficient mass production while maintaining the high angular precision and the fast response time needed for a high quality, moving image 3D-experience. Subsequently an International Search Report was issued by the European Patent Office (EPO), concluding that no prior technique was found to put the novelty of the invention into question. The international ECHO patent application will be published in the early fall. With 4 updated patent applications added to the ECHO IP portfolio in 2020, the portfolio now contains a total of 6 pending patents with more to come.
Assuming Realfiction succeeds in developing this patent pending technology, the company believes it could potentially set a new standard for home entertainment, how we experience TV shows, series and movies on our phones, tablets and TV’s, in comparison to the switch from black and white to colour TV.
The objective is to create a complete integration license package and to manufacture the new directional pixels, thus presenting a clear path towards commercial mass production of displays comprising millions of such directional pixels. In its final and fully commercial form, the ECHO technology and related content effects will be available at scale and at price points that enable consumer adoption (B2C). However, it is expected that the first working products will target certain industrial (B2B) applications with very specific requirements. ECHO represents a substantial licensing opportunity to Realfiction, due to materialize gradually for different potential use-cases.
