Dear Friends and Shareholders,
Our primary focus at Grafoid has been to develop and market our MesografTM-based graphene technology and products to our partners and customers, based on the innovation that is produced in our design labs and through our proprietary engineering processes. 2018 and early 2019 have represented extraordinary progress in this respect and we continue to believe Grafoid is at the forefront of the graphene technology breakthrough.
Our mission is to become the world’s leading company in graphene research, development and as a company that invests in products to expand the commercialization and economic viability, functionality and technology improvements to foster growth and expand this important industry. Grafoid’s financial and scientific advancement approach has produced a patent-pending process for large-scale extraction and the associated have volume production of near pristine, low-later graphene, which is sourced directly from undeveloped graphite ore, leaving a very low carbon footprint and ecological impact.
Grafoid has a highly focused business model and direct strategy to foster corporate growth and return value to shareholders. Through royalty revenue recognition from our customers based on our proprietary technologies that are in development in the R&D Labs of Grafoid and our partners, we expect to generate significant revenue in th coming years. Second, we plan to license the rights of our products and technologies, based on MesografTM, through individual or packaged applications through one-time, upfront payments and through longer-term licensing agreements. We may also seek royalty bearing agreements in which a customer would compensate Grafoid for the use of MesografTM, technology to ensure a constant revenue stream for many years to come. Finally, we may also sell MesografTM-based products and solutions directly to our joint venture partners.
Continued Advancement of Revotionary, Proprietary Products
We have made considerable advancement in the in-house development of graphene-based products. In February of 2019, we officially announced the worldwide launch of an innovative suite of oxidized graphene products, titled GNOXTM. The GNOXTM product line represents highly customizable graphene products for an industry currently valued at $50-100M with a compound yearly growth of 40%. Demand for rapid and massive-scale production remains high for graphene-based materials. Graphene oxide is a single-atomic layered material, made by the powerful oxidation of graphite. Relatively low cost and abundant, it is an oxidized form of graphene, laced with oxygen-containing groups that is easy to process because it is dispersible in water and other solvents. Customer response to this product line has been outstanding and we are constantly developing new processes to make our graphene oxide materials at commercial scale. We are always striving to reduce environmental impact of our methods without compromising product quality.
In May of 2019, we announced the official launch of Grafprint3D Inc., a new company with a portfolio of products and solutions to focus on the worldwide additive manufacturing and 3D printing market based on Grafoid’s proprietary MesografTM technology. Our engineering and R&D Teams have worked exceptionally diligent on the rollout of this product for the global 3D print market. Grafprint3D Inc. provides its customers with a revolutionary platform for creation of 3D printable materials that will be utilized to enhance a variety of products and applications for markets including direct ink writing, inkjet printing, screen printing, and more. The initial key application target markets include wearable device fabrication with biocompatible polymers, biomaterial substrates for cell therapy engineering research, and rapid product prototyping with printable advanced nanomaterials.
Finally, in September 2018, Grafoid announced a strategic partnership with Liquinex, a company specializing in wastewater engineering needs, to provide commercial scale water treatment solutions using Grafoid’s revolutionary and innovative MESOGRAF™ graphene-based filtration technology. GPURE’s graphene based filtration products are readily scalable to meet these commercial demands making them ideal for industrial level, niche applications such as the concentration of beverages, treatment of crude oil/water mixtures, biofuel and industrial wastewater treatments where reverse osmosis (RO) is not suitable due to the fouling tendencies when concentrated liquids are purged through RO cartridges.
Grafoid has been delivering innovations that represent potential advancements for the industry on a whole. We believe that the applications that Grafoid and the graphene industry includes: Plastics and polymers, medical applications, coatings, the renewable and traditional energy markets, computers and electronics, water supply, communications, the construction industry, coatings and lubricants, the automotive and aerospace industries, marine applications, chemicals, manufacturing, safety and environmental, military and defense, food production, the 3D printing market among others. We are well positioned to capitalize on the growth in these markets from the leadership and engineering teams we have formed.
Additions to Management Team and Board of Directors
The composition of the Executive and Operational Management Teams was significantly strengthened in 2018. In September, Grafoid announced the addition of Dr. Michael E. Shannon M.A., M.Sc., M.D. to its Advisory Board where he will draw on his extensive experience developing bio-medical applications – from inception to national deployments – to lend insight and guidance on Grafoid’s portfolio of bio-medical applications and systems. Having received a medical degree from Queen’s University in Canada, which included advanced training in surgery and sports medicine, Dr. Shannon also holds post-graduate degrees in neurochemistry and physiology. He has been actively engaged in applied medical research within these areas for over 27 years.
In Summary
The Company’s focus on enhancing shareholder value is the driving force behind this Management Team and Board of Directors and the potential shareholder value of our development projects and the graphite applications market has only just begun to be explored. The global graphene industry continues to evolve and become more prominent in the world and we firmly believe that we are at the forefront of this revolution.
The near-term objectives of the Company are to:
- Continue to partner with the most desirable companies in the space, in order to further advance and commercialize graphene, market and sell graphene solutions to generate revenue and enhance value to shareholders.
- Enhance our portfolio of high-quality, value-added graphite products and solutions.
- Continue to diversify the customer base for our graphite products by geography and market segment, as project development continues and successful customer qualification is completed.
- Leverage our relationships with industry partners to promote and increase adoption of our unique, proprietary, single-step process to produce economically and commercially scalable graphene and MesografTM -based products and applications.
The Team is incredibly focused on delivery of our objectives in project development, superior innovation, future production from our development assets and the maintenance of a manageable cost structure.
The Board of Directors and Management Team of Grafoid are extremely focused on the execution of our goals of future production, costs, and further project development. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our shareholders, employees and all stakeholders for their support during 2018 and 2019, and I look forward with great optimism to the Company’s future development and to providing updates on our progress throughout 2019.
Thank you.
Gary Economo,
President and Chief Executive Officer
