News: White Star Resources wraps up $5M fund raising for Spookfish acquisition

White Star Resources (ASX:EPM) had a very strong response with investors to a prospectus issue, raising $5 million and has completed due diligence on aerial imagery company Spookfish Pty Ltd.

White Star initially acquired a 12.5% interest in Spookfish and has exercised its option to acquire the remaining share capital of Spookfish that it doesn’t already own for 160 million WSR shares.

Technical due diligence was completed following the aerial surveys successfully conducted over the Perth metropolitan area and south-west region of Western Australia using the revolutionary Spookfish camera system technology.

The acquisition of Spookfish Pty Ltd and Geospatial Investments Pty Ltd is expected in the coming weeks.

Importantly, compliance with Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules will be completed in the coming weeks to enable re-listing of WSR shares.

The funds were raised through a prospectus offer for 145 million shares priced at $0.035. This includes one free attaching option for every two shares subscribed.

Adding to the interest, this includes a cornerstone investment by Internode founder and NBNCo director Simon Hackett.

Aerial surveys were successfully conducted over the Perth metropolitan area and south-west region of Western Australia using the revolutionary Spookfish camera system technology.

The flight tests and survey results were independently verified by Dr Peter Kovesi, Research Professor and member of the Geophysics and Image Analysis Group at the Centre of Exploration Targeting at the University of Western Australia.

White Star will carry out further testing of the Spookfish technology and developing the Spookfish commercial offering.


Spookfish

Spookfish seeks to redefine the global geospatial industry by aiming to provide the highest quality aerial imagery at significantly improved levels of resolution, accuracy, cost effectiveness and consistency compared to current industry offerings.

Its technology demonstrator has been designed and built to test key aspects of the revolutionary Spookfish Technology including camera system, data storage, processing and flight operations which will then be scaled up in 2015 for the Spookfish commercial offering.

Spookfish’s technology seeks to offer better resolution, better accuracy, 3D visualisation and faster acquisition over its competitors.

Its revenue model is to capture the data and sell it many times. This could be achieved through subscription based annuity revenue with pricing according to market segment and product specification.


Analysis

White Star has received a strong vote of confidence with the completion of its $5 million raising.

Demonstrating the potential of Spookfish’s technology, the company has received a cornerstone investment from leading technology entrepreneur Simon Hackett.

Other backers include the family office of Navitas founder Rod Jones (Hoperidge Capital) and Market Equity founder Brent Stewart.

The relative advantages that its technology offers are significant compared to its peers and the $100 billon geospatial services market is a significant prize.

There is immediate growth potential given that White Star is currently capitalised at about $20 million while geospatial map technology provider Nearmap (ASX:NEA) has a market cap. of circa $222 million.