IZEA Announces Letter of Intent to Acquire LATAM Influencer Marketing Company FLUVIP at CES 2019

LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%24IZEA&src=ctag” target=”_blank”gt;$IZEAlt;/agt; lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ces2019?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#ces2019lt;/agt;–IZEA
Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA),
operator of IZEAx, the premier online marketplace connecting
brands and publishers with influential content creators, announced that
it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (the “LOI”) at CES
2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The LOI outlines certain general terms for
the proposed purchase by IZEA of all the outstanding shares of FLUVIP
Ventures, SL (“FLUVIP”), the leading influencer marketing company of
Latin America.

FLUVIP provides influencer marketing and custom content solutions to
brands and agencies throughout Latin America and in the U.S. Hispanic
Market. The company is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, with
subsidiary operations in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina. FLUVIP
operates multiple technology platforms including Influtech,
AdvocatesPro, and Mediadata. The company has established a network of
more than 100,000 opt-in influencers throughout Latin America and the
U.S. Hispanic market, ranging from micro-influencers to some of the
largest influencers in each country. Investors in FLUVIP include
Cisneros Group, Telefonica (Wayra), Velum Ventures, and The Venture
City, who would become shareholders in IZEA post transaction.

“We believe that there is a significant opportunity for international
consolidation in the Influencer Marketing space,” commented Alfonso
Gómez Palacio, Telefonica’s Director Hispam North, “This transaction
brings together the leading influencer marketing platform in the United
States with the leading platform in Latin America. The combined company
will be well positioned to serve large brands and agencies in both
regions, while establishing a software and services infrastructure for
further global expansion.”

The transaction contemplates that FLUVIP will become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of IZEA. Consideration paid to shareholders of FLUVIP will be
in the form of cash and IZEA stock paid or issuable at closing and over
a trailing 36-month period subsequent to the closing, with potential
additional consideration tied to future FLUVIP operational performance
metrics.

“We are excited by the potential to unite FLUVIP with IZEA to form a
truly unique technology and services platform catering to marketers and
influencers across North, Central, and South America,” said Sebastian
Jasminoy, Founder and CEO of FLUVIP. “The combination of our companies
can enable us to innovate faster by concentrating our engineering
resources on a single solution for our joint customers and to realize
economies of scale otherwise nonexistent in our industry.”

“There is global market demand for both influencer marketing and custom
content for brands. IZEA intends to continue strategic consolidation
among the best-in-class providers in our industry with an eye on
accretive revenue and technology assets,” said Ted Murphy, Chairman and
CEO of IZEA. “The acquisition of FLUVIP would expand our footprint to
cover all the major advertising markets in the Americas — from Canada
to Argentina. In addition to strong relationships with brands in Latin
America, IZEA would be uniquely equipped to service the world’s leading
multi-national brands with a single influencer marketing platform that
reaches a significant portion of the western hemisphere.”

IZEA’s Strategic Interest in FLUVIP

Revenue Growth

• Ability to service large multi-national clients through both software
  and managed services with deep cultural understanding and domain
  expertise in key markets throughout the Americas.
• Aggressive sales expansion into a developing market with significantly
  less competition and market fragmentation in both influencer and
  content marketing.
• Unique value proposition for customers targeting the U.S. Hispanic
  Market with Latino influencers.

Software Platform Innovation

• Integration of key FLUVIP technologies and processes into IZEAx.
• Consolidation of platforms to allow new feature development to move
  forward at a more aggressive tempo.
• Support for multiple currencies and languages to serve the Latam
  market.

Long-Term Cost Savings Opportunities

• Ability to significantly lower IZEA’s average cost per engineering man
  hour by establishing an off-shore engineering presence.
• Create operational efficiencies throughout the FLUVIP organization by
  way of technology enabled workflows and payment processing
• Reduction of ongoing platform infrastructure and maintenance costs by
  moving to a single platform.

Based upon unaudited information provided by FLUVIP to IZEA, the
company’s revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017 were
approximately $9.0 million. Net loss for the year ended December 31,
2017 was $987,000. FLUVIP’s financial information has not yet been
audited, may not comply with U.S. GAAP standards, and actual numbers may
be materially different from what was provided and reported herein.
FLUVIP’s revenues are comprised primarily of managed services fees, with
a growing base of customers licensing their software.

Consummation of the transaction contemplated by the LOI is subject to
due diligence and the execution and delivery of a definitive acquisition
agreement along with the satisfaction of the closing conditions which
will be contained therein. It is contemplated that the acquisition will
be consummated in May 2019, but there can be no assurance that a
definitive agreement will be entered into, or that the acquisition will
be consummated upon the terms set forth in the LOI, or otherwise. In the
event that the acquisition is consummated, there can be no assurance
that it will ultimately prove to be beneficial to IZEA.

About IZEA

IZEA operates IZEAx, the premier online marketplace that connects
marketers with content creators. IZEAx automates influencer
marketing and custom content development, allowing brands and agencies
to scale their marketing programs. IZEA creators include celebrities and
accredited journalists. Creators are compensated for producing unique
content such as long and short form text, videos, photos, status
updates, and illustrations for marketers or distributing such content on
behalf of marketers through their personal websites, blogs, and social
media channels. Marketers receive influential content and engaging,
shareable stories that drive awareness. For more information about IZEA,
visit https://izea.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements, which are
based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies
and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of
forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,”
“should,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “goal,” “estimate,”
“anticipate” or other comparable terms. Examples of forward-looking
statements include, among others, statements we make regarding future
financial results, expectations regarding whether and when the
transactions would lose, expectations concerning IZEA’s ability to
increase its revenue and improve Adjusted EBITDA, expectations with
respect to operational efficiency, expectations regarding financing, and
expectations concerning IZEA’s business strategy. Forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements, as a result of various factors including, among others, the
following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship
segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the
marketplace platforms of IZEA; inability to finance growth initiatives
in a timely manner; our ability to establish effective disclosure
controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting;
our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our
common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions
that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties
described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release
speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect
actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required
by law.

Contacts

Press Contact
Martin Smith
IZEA Worldwide, Inc.
Phone:
407-674-6911
Email: ir@izea.com