We’ve prepared a Q&A to answer some of the more common shareholder questions we’ve received during the AGM period.
We are hiring several team members from ROOTS through our Israel subsidiary OptiCrop (Israel) Ltd. They will not be taking executive or board positions within ClearVue but will focus on building the OptiCrop business and continuing with existing contracts and business development activities. Before encountering funding issues, ROOTS had already secured contracts and begun installing their product, and we want them to continue this momentum and become self-sufficient.
While there will be reasonable overheads associated with running the business, we had planned earlier this year to hire a Head of Agricultural Solutions to develop the greenhouse division of the company. We recognized the need for this expertise, and now, conveniently, we have gained it, along with ROOTS’ IP. The new hires bring a wealth of experience in ag-tech, a strong network of contacts, and a deep understanding of modern agriculture. They are well-positioned to advance the RTZO and IBC solutions and ClearVue’s solar greenhouse glass products in the market.
The Maxblue appointment is important to ClearVue. As one of the leading manufacturers of advanced architectural glass, their decision to become a ClearVue manufacturer is a strong endorsement of our technology. Their long-term commitment to ClearVue is a testament to the quality and market potential of our solar IGUs.
While Maxblue is not a distributor of ClearVue products, their role is critical as we establish our global network of licensees. Having a reliable backup manufacturing capability with an experienced fabricator allows us to meet the demands of large projects and ensure consistent quality for our solar IGUs.
Maxblue has played a pivotal role in refining the ClearVue solar IGU production process. They are also the first partner to receive and integrate the ClearVue flash tester equipment into their production line, with other licensed manufacturers set to follow.
When it comes to solar technology components, over 80% of solar cells used globally are manufactured in China, and like other solar industry players, we use China-made cells and for now at least, our solar modules are also produced there. However, the final product—ClearVue’s solar vision glass—is manufactured locally. Specifically with respect to the US market, one of our partners along the US West Coast is setting up for local solar cell manufacturing, and we are looking into using their cells in some of our products. That said, it’s currently not possible to completely avoid using China-made cells.
We are actively working to establish a local supply chain for other components, such as our proprietary corner blocks, extrusions, and more. While the solar cells are a small component of the final product, our solar vision glass product still qualifies for the ITC Investment Tax Credits (part of the IRA framework) and is eligible for various rebates, including an additional incentive for locally manufactured components.
ClearVue continues to monitor for the opportunity for grant funding which may assist in our commercialisation journey and we have active engagement with government agencies both in Australia and the overseas markets where we operate.
Currently in Australia the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provides has grants available to end-customers for completing projects with renewable energy features, which depending upon the nature of the project may be available to such end-customers who may benefit them when incorporating our BIPV technologies. We engaged with ARENA early-on and are currently working with the right contacts to help licensees and their potential end-customer clients access available funding.
ARENA is focused on larger projects, typically funding between 1 to 5 million AUD per mid-size project, and they are open to supporting a wide range of initiatives and funding approaches. We anticipate that one or more of our licensees’ end-customers will secure ARENA funding for their BIPV projects.
We are also involved in various research projects that are supported by grant funding, such as quantum dots research with RMIT and UNSW, and a major consulting project aimed at developing the most sustainable greenhouse, which has attracted significant interest.
Additionally, we have a collaboration with Qatar University and Murdoch University funded by the Qatar government on an exciting project to produce fresh food in a smart greenhouse. This initiative is particularly crucial in the Middle East, where Saudi Arabia, for example, spends billions of dollars annually on importing fresh food. The country is heavily investing in local food production to reduce this dependency.
The Green Tech Challenge in Hong Kong is more than just an award or a typical conference. It brought together over 6,000 applications from key areas of green technology, including decarbonization, sustainable building solutions, circular economy, renewable energy, advanced materials, and green manufacturing. The Hong Kong government is taking their green agenda seriously and they are creating a strong push to implement relevant technologies. ClearVue was the only BIPV solutions provider selected from among the Challenge participants.
While the recognition itself is valuable, the true benefit of this event lies in the opportunities it has created. Since receiving the award, we have seen a significant increase in interest in Hong Kong. The event organizers facilitated a series of meetings with key players in the Hong Kong real estate development market who are investigating implementation of these types of technologies in their upcoming projects.
Through this engagement we are currently in discussions with numerous developers, architects, and consultants who are bringing real projects to the table and we are eager to explore how we can contribute. We are very proud to be a part of this exciting program and based on the solid engagement to date are confident that it will lead to meaningful results in the near future in Hong Kong and the surrounding region.
Recently, we’ve received several inquiries regarding the project in Atlanta, Georgia. This project relates to the LOI we announced in 2022, involving the deployment of our solar glazing for a medical lab facility. After the announcement the end-customer experienced planning issues which increased the total project cost requiring further funding which was not ultimately secured and the project has not moved forward.
As for our current opportunity pipeline, it continues to grow and currently includes over 60 qualified leads for projects. However, as you can see from the AGM presentation, the timeline for these projects can range from 12 to 36 months but in some cases much longer depending on various factors including planning issues and project scale.
It’s important to note that although the 60+ projects are qualified we of course do not expect to secure all of those projects, these are opportunities we are actively pursuing
The Company certainly has competitors but at this stage, we are not aware of any direct competitors that are commercialized, as no other company in the market can produce a clear solar window of the same size and scale that we do. For example, we can produce standard size floor-to-ceiling windows of 3.5 metres in height.
While we have commercially available competitors for the non-vision surfaces of buildings (non-transparent and semi-transparent BIPV products) no other companies offer complete building envelope solutions to wrap an entire building—including the clear glass surfaces in solar technology.
We welcome competition, as it indicates that others see a market opportunity worth pursuing. However, as of now, we are not aware of any direct commercially available competition. Several companies that pursued the glass coatings approach have not been successful whilst others are still in various stages of development but are not yet commercialised. Those types of solutions tend to be more complex and costly to produce, and we believe are not a viable technology for glass supply chain integration at present.
We provide updates to the market when we have news to announce, but this particular update did not meet the criteria for an ASX announcement. Murdoch University published an article about this project about a year ago, even though we only reached the final agreement with Qatar University a few weeks before our AGM. The company felt that sharing this information through our own social channels was the most appropriate way to communicate the details of the arrangement, which many people were already aware of.
We appreciate the feedback from shareholders requesting more frequent updates, and we are committed to improving the flow of information, both on the ASX platform and through our own channels.
As a B2B company, our communication plan targets three key audiences: (1) customers (architects, façade engineers, sustainability engineers and specialists, builders and developers); (2) IGU manufacturers; and (3) potential investors and existing shareholders. We have a strategy for communicating with each of these important groups.
Reaching a broader audience is of course on our to-do list, though communication with our primary audiences take precedence. That said, you can expect to see more content aimed at the general audience from the company over the next 12 months.
We’ve had another outstanding year in the PR space, with the company receiving over 3,000 organic mentions across both business and sector media. This is a strong result, reflecting our growing global presence. National and international industry media have covered ClearVue, which is great to see. We’ve attracted significant interest not only from senior business journalists as well as publications in renewables and other industry sectors, including US Glass, PV Magazine, Australian Manufacturing, and more.
As a company, our primary focus is on our core business: signing up licensees, securing projects through those licensees (but also directly through the Company in the shorter term), scaling up component manufacturing, and building a profitable enterprise. As we move forward, news naturally flows when we secure partnerships, sign and launch projects, and create PR opportunities for the company.
Now that we are at the commercial stage, we are focusing on regular investor communications, including quarterly and annual reports. We are approaching the point where new licensees and projects will be considered “business as usual” for ASX purposes, meaning we would then no longer communicate every one of these separately as announcements – except where they are very large or unusual in some way. This doesn’t suggest that the company lacks news to report; rather, it reflects a shift in investor interest toward financial outcomes, with news flow structured around key financial updates like our quarterly reports.
We will continue to use the company’s own communication channels, including newsletters, the website, and social media, to engage with both potential investors and customers for pure marketing purposes related to the ClearVue products and for brand positioning purposes.
Shares are typically issued at a discount during a capital raise, but the timing of a raise is often key – in this instance the Company completed the raise prior to the US election at a 20% discount (approx.) with no free or other attaching options thereby minimising future dilutive effects.
The renewables sector has been impacted in recent months leading up to and following the US election, but the recent capital raise was well-structured, enabling us to secure the necessary capital for current plans with minimal dilution.
The decision to pursue a capital raise is always made with careful consideration of the interests all shareholders – including first and foremost to ensure the Company is funded to scale the business during this critical phase of its lifecycle. The company understands that a successful capital raise at a fair price will always depend on demonstrating revenue generation and strong licensee engagement, which, as mentioned, is our core focus at the current stage.
In our recent capital raise, we engaged with nearly 20 institutional investors and received very positive feedback. Most of them expressed interest in participating in a future round, provided the company can show progress in securing orders.
Although the company cannot control market conditions or the investment climate at the time of a capital raise, we always aim to structure the raise in a way that maximizes benefits for the entire shareholder base. For the purposes of the recent capital raise the Company considered short to mid-term capital needs and balanced this against shareholder dilution before setting raise size.
As a pre-revenue company in the renewable energy space we faced a challenging environment leading into the US election which created significant market uncertainty, with perceptions that the sector would be negatively impacted—and, indeed, it has been in the short period post the US election result. Many companies in the renewables sector, both in the US and globally, took a significant share price hit as a result. The short-term market sentiment is of course not reflective of the Company’s long term prospects.
The Company is confident that the longer term picture will reflect the company’s material progress over the last 12+ months and the very strong fundamentals for the Company including the very strong pipeline of projects that the Company has been building over that period – the Company’s opportunities are real with strong counter-party engagement but as we have expressed including recently in the AGM investor presentation the sales cycle for large scale construction is typically up to 36 months and sometimes longer.
The AGM presentation deck addresses this question. We achieved the key milestones we set for 2023, and we are now moving forward to the next phase. Our focus will be on converting market opportunities into orders and scaling the business – a key element to this will be signing new licensees. We are also focused on securing confirmed sales from our pipeline. As we move into production, we are ensuring the business is properly organised and resourced, with the right systems, team structure, and processes in place. We will also maintain our focus on R&D and continue building the brand.
ClearVue is in a much stronger position now than we were a year ago. All key metrics are improving, and we fully expect the company’s valuation will reflect this strong performance over the next 12 months.
