ASX Quarterly Tech Wrap: Former Zip Co exec appointed Ovanti CEO, Spenda smashes records

Ovanti reported a milestone quarter with former Zip Co US CFO Simon Keast appointed as its new CEO and mandate to launch BNPL offering in US.

Pic: Getty Images

• Former Zip Co US CFO Simon Kreast appointed Ovanti CEO during quarter to lead US expansion

• Spenda achieves another record quarter of cash receipts in Q2 Fy25 to $3.57 million

• iCandy interactive ends 2024 with a positive net cash position, up 105% on 2023

It can be tough to see the forest from the trees in quarterly reporting season, when information overload for investors goes into overdrive.

With that in mine, we've picked out some highlights from tech small caps worth a moment of your time.

Ovanti (ASX:OVT)

• Former Zip Co US CFO Simon Keast appointed Ovanti CEO after extensive search
• Kreast given nandate to launch Ovanti’s BNPL offering into the US
• Ovanti completes $6m placement for US expansion

Fintech Ovanti reported a milestone quarter with former Zip Co US CFO Simon Keast appointed as its new CEO after an extensive search, with a mandate to launch its BNPL offering in the US.

Ovanti said a critical KPI in Mr Keast’s employment contract was to prepare a strategic report to the board for the company’s 2025 Stateside entry. Key executive hires have also been made to support the expansion plan.

In the upcoming quarter, Ovanti expects to announce the formation of an advisory board of highly respected leading BNPL industry figures in preparation for the launch.

Post quarter-end, on January 28, Ovanti said Keast presented his final report to the board, which it is currently reviewing.

The board will then provide their input before company lawyers conduct a legal review to progress it to final sign-off and ASX market release.

The report delivered on all KPIs set for Keast, announced to the market along with his appointment in October.

On the operational side, Ovanti's wholly-owned mobile banking division iSentric performed strongly and experienced a growth trend. Record transaction event volumes for July and December exceeded the previous record highs achieved during Q1 FY24.

In December Ovanti completed a $6m placement, with funds to be used towards the expansion of the its US team, legal, licensing and compliance costs, marketing and merchant acquisition, along with technology and platform development.

During the quarter, Ovanti appointed New York-based EAS Advisors to assist with the US BNPL expansion. The company now uses the EAS offices in New York as its corporate registered office there and intends to open further offices in numerous states during 2025 in line with its US market entry strategy.

In December Ovanti appointed Richard Gordon as a non-executive director. Ovanti ended the quarter with a cash position of $5.418m.

Spenda (ASX:SPX)

• Spenda achieves another record quarter of cash receipts in Q2 FY25 at $3.57 million
• Cash receipts of $5.49m for H1 FY25 surpassed total $5.4m in cash receipts collected in FY24
• Cash and cash equivalent of $7.2m as quarter end, up from $6.5m at end of Q1

The payments fintech company reported another record quarter of cash receipts from customers with $3.57m during Q2 FY25, up
160% on the previous corresponding period (pcp) and 86% on Q1 FY25.

To demonstrate the significance of its growth, cash receipts of $5.49m for H1 FY25 surpassed total cash receipts collected in FY24 or $5.4m.

Spenda expects to continue to build on its strong start to FY25 as costs and margins become increasingly predictable.

Primary drivers of earnings growth were the continued roll out in contracted programs with Capricorn DSD and Swift Statement, Carpet Court SOE and several other channels delivering multiple recurring income streams. Delivery on current projects is expected to close the current cashflow operating gap.

Spenda said continued growth in maintainable earnings was a function of generating multiple income streams that are derived by increasing average revenue per user from each customer as the company looks to consolidate growth from its existing total addressable customer market.

Costs were higher this quarter due to expenses from acquiring Limepay. However, Spenda said monthly cash burn fell as both revenue and margin increased, despite the acquisition of Limepay, which increased expenses as its team moved over to Spenda.

The company received a total of $1.6m from its R&D claim in October 2024.  Spenda ended Q2 FY25 with cash and cash equivalents of $7.2m, up from $6.5m at the end of Q1 FY25, plus $12.3m in gross client loan book, representing loan capital deployed to multiple customers.

iCandy Interactive (ASX:ICI)

• iCandy ends 2024 with positive net cash position, reflecting 105% rise on 2023
• Lemon Sky Studio appoints strategic advisor for North American expansion
• Mobile games development studio Appxplore sees strong market response to Snaky Cat

The mobile games developer and publisher said it concluded 2024 with a positive net cash position, reflecting a 105% increase compared to 2023.

iCandy ended Q4 cash receipts of $5.87m decreasing by ~22%. The company said operating expenditure was $6.23m, an 8.2% reduction from the previous quarter.

During Q4 CY24 iCandy's subsidiary Lemon Sky Studios appointed senior gaming executive Mark Meyers to be its strategic advisor for North American expansion and facilitate strategic acquisition of IP rights for co-development of video games, a new business area.

Meyers was formerly head of Disney Gaming Studio and was also a senior executive at Sony Computer Entertainment. iCandy said he will be working with Lemon Sky Studios.

During Q4 Lemon Sky Studios also initiated legal proceedings against its former CEO Cheng Fei Wong and former COO Ka King Foong, following an internal investigation and audit, which iCandy said revealed "breaches of fiduciary duties, breaches of trust, and other unlawful actions during their tenure", which ended in Q3 CY24.

iCandy said a new leadership structure had been put in place at Lemon Sky Studios, which continued to secure a robust pipeline of AAA animation and game development contracts.

iCandy said the company’s mobile games development studio, Appxplore, saw continued success during the quarter, with a particularly strong market response to Snaky Cat, a battle royale game.

During the quarter, zkCandy, the Layer 2 Ethereum scaling blockchain network for gaming, successfully achieved more than 2.4 million wallets created within two weeks during its open-testnet phase.

Post-quarter iCandy said ZKCandy had successfully secured US$4m in seed funding, demonstrating strong market interest to further develop its technology and expand partner networks. With more than 25 game titles in the pipeline, ZKCandy is preparing for its mainnet launch in the first half of 2025.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Ovanti and iCandy Interactive are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.