KORE Group Holdings, Inc., the global pure-play Internet of Things ("IoT") hyperscaler and provider of IoT Connectivity, Solutions and Analytics, announced today the closing of the acquisition of Twilio's IoT business unit. KORE and Twilio previously announced on March 27, 2023, that the two organizations had entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition. This acquisition positions KORE to drive the accelerated adoption of IoT.
As consideration for the acquisition, KORE issued Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalized experiences for today's leading brands, 10 million shares of KORE common stock, representing approximately 11.5% of KORE's issued and outstanding shares.
"The Internet of Things has massive potential, and how efficiently and quickly it proliferates in the world depends upon the effectiveness and scalability of the distribution network," KORE President and CEO Romil Bahl said. "With the acquisition of Twilio's IoT business, we are making it even easier to achieve the benefits of IoT across thousands of use cases."
As the world's first IoT hyperscaler, the mission of KORE is to make deploying and managing IoT solutions easier, just as cloud service Hyperscalers have done with computing and storage.
KORE enriches its portfolio of services that simplify the complexities of IoT adoption:
- A powerful connectivity suite, including best-in-class eSIM technologies with KORE OmniSIM™ and Twilio Super SIM®
- A one-stop-shop for building, deploying, managing, and scaling IoT operations across the entire lifecycle via award-winning technologies and world-class facilities
- An accelerated time to market through global, 24/7 customer support and 20 years of IoT experience through KORE and the newly acquired Twilio IoT team's depth and breadth of digital experience
With the added ability of "Build" to the "Deploy, Manage, and Scale" proposition, KORE can now address every touchpoint across the IoT journey, simplifying what can be a highly fragmented IoT ecosystem between hardware, connectivity, data communication, computing, and analytics.
Notice of Inducement Equity Awards
In connection with the acquisition of Twilio's IoT business unit, and effective as of the closing date, KORE is granting equity inducement awards to 18 employees of Twilio covering an aggregate of up to 1,760,268 shares of KORE common stock as a material inducement to such employees to commence employment with KORE.
The equity awards, consisting of grants of time-based and performance-based restricted share units ("RSUs"), were approved by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of KORE and are being made in reliance on the employment inducement exemption under the NYSE's Listed Company Manual Rule 303A.08. KORE is announcing the grant of the equity awards in this news release to comply with Rule 303A.08.
The time-based RSUs generally vest in installments on each anniversary of the grant date over three to four years, and the performance-based RSUs are scheduled to vest based on performance against certain financial performance criteria over a three-year performance period, subject in all cases to the recipient's continued service as an employee through each applicable vesting date.
The equity awards were granted outside of KORE's 2021 Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan, but generally have terms and conditions consistent with those set forth in that plan. KORE intends to file a Registration Statement on Form S-8 covering these equity awards.
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