“I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” – Claude Shannon
A world built by Artificial Intelligence is coming…
In fact, it is already here.
On November 30, 2022, a Silicon Valley venture called OpenAI released its prototype artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT.
But unlike your conventional chatbot, OpenAI declared that it had optimized language models, meaning that its program was capable of understanding natural communication and could respond effectively in the same way.
In other words, all a user has to do is provide a little context to ChatGPT like, “summarize the Intelligent Investor in 10 points,” and the program will provide a solution in seconds.
 |
Fascinated by this discovery, people across the globe flocked to ChatGPT to test its capabilities.
Astoundingly, in just five days after its release, ChatGPT surpassed 1 million users, quicker than any company before.
To put this in perspective, it took Facebook 10 months and Instagram 2.5 months to achieve the same feat.
Now, the company is breaking even more milestones as OpenAI just received a $10 billion offer from Microsoft, and has reached a total market valuation of $29 billion.
Not bad for a company that was founded only seven years ago.
 |
But not everyone has access to venture capital companies, like OpenAI, or wants to invest in mega-cap tech companies, like Microsoft.
In that case, how does one gain exposure to the AI market when 2023 is widely expected to be a monumental year for the industry?
Well, what if there was small-cap AI stock that had the potential to one-up OpenAI?
What if instead of contextualizing language, you could contextualize reality?
Fortunately, it just so happens that VERSES Technologies is doing just that.
With a next-generation operating system, combining all the wonders of artificial intelligence and the Spatial Web, VERSES is positioning itself to be the go-to platform for Web 3.0 programming and development.
Not only that, but the company is developing AI-enabled applications on its KOSM operating system, and has already built a service generating millions in revenue.
But more on that later.
For now, let’s explore the company further and learn what they have to offer.
Who are VERSES Technologies?
 |
VERSES Technologies (NEO: VERS) (OTCQX: VRSSF) is a cognitive computing company, specializing in the next generation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems.
Through its KOSM operating system, the company is producing a Web 3.0 platform (not to be confused with Web3) that is capable of collecting data on the Internet of Things (sensors, actuators, cameras, robots, and drones), and contextualizes it so that it is comprehensible across any system.
In doing so, VERSES offers businesses and households a fully integrated network that improves efficiency and productivity tenfold, at a fraction of the cost.
Not only that but because the operating system is built with artificial intelligence and deep learning capabilities, KOSM is designed to improve exponentially over time, meaning that its users will benefit significantly as the platform becomes more advanced.
Even more impressive, VERSES created a new open protocol for Web 3.0 called the Spatial Web Protocols (HSML & HSTP), which have given the company an invaluable competitive advantage.
These base protocols were put into a public foundation, and now, the IEEE is in the process of standardizing them and plans to release them to the public within 18-24 months; for reference, the IEEE is the largest standards body in the world and standardized Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Ethernet, to name a few.
Just like HSTP and HSML did for the 2D web, HSML and HSTP are expected to be the base protocols for the 3D, contextual web.
KOSM was built on top of these soon-to-be-standardized protocols, so VERSES already has a multi-year head start over any other companies looking to develop on them.
When the protocols are eventually released, they will have the only OS running on them, meaning that Spatial Web customers and developers are likely to choose KOSM as their preferred Web 3.0 platform.
To add, VERSES will be releasing their SDKs in the coming year that will allow 3rd parties to develop on their platform as well – think “Shopify for AI.”
And it doesn’t stop there.
 |
Rather than leaving investors and consumers to speculate on its potential, VERSES is already proving KOSM’s abilities through its in-house application WAYFINDER™
As an AI-assisted order-picking app, WayFinder™ uses spatial intelligence to deliver optimal efficiency and accuracy and is improving warehouse productivity by 30% to 50%.
For example, WAYFINDER is currently adopted by multiple big-name logistics companies, including NRI, who acknowledged that their bottom line nearly doubled (~USD 8 million, annually) after using WAYFINDER in its warehouses.
Though this is only one example, the VERSES Logistics team is quickly expanding WAYFINDER’s use cases, with new clients joining the platform as we speak.
Let’s discuss these now.
How do VERSES Make Money?
 |
As investors, it is important that we invest in businesses that create meaningful value for their stakeholders, including ourselves.
To gauge this, we must evaluate a business’s financial performance to determine whether or not the company and its team are using our money effectively through intelligent investments.
Though it may be tempting to speculate on unprofitable companies that are promising a lucrative future, ultimately our goal is to end up with more money than we put in, and to do so requires a business to produce recurring cash flows organically.
Fortunately, VERSES is doing just that and it is nowhere near reaching its full potential.
To demonstrate this, here are the details on two of its existing WAYFINDER clients/partners, which should help provide a better understanding of what the company has to offer.
NRI Distribution
NRI is a premier third-party logistics (3PL) company that offers an all-encompassing logistics service package including e-commerce fulfillment, wholesale fulfillment, inventory management, and more.
As a client of VERSES, NRI signed a 10-Year, USD 26.5 million (assuming NRI renews at the 5-year mark) SaaS agreement whereby WAYFINDER is being implemented in all of its 18 North American distribution centers.
When asked to discuss the WAYFINDER deal, NRI CEO Peter McKenna said, “the WAYFINDER application added significant and immediate value to our day-to-day operations, directing warehouse workers in the most efficient pathways to improve individual picking performance by nearly 40%.”
What he didn’t mention is the fact that deploying WAYFINDER essentially doubled their bottom line, requiring very low capital expenditure to operate.
Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder is the world leader in digital supply chain transformations and omnichannel commerce fulfillment.
In late November 2022, VERSES and Blue Yonder announced a major reseller agreement partnership, whereby VERSES gained access to over 3000 its customers, across 78 countries, including 17 of the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 companies.
Based on the reseller agreement, VERSES will earn roughly half of the revenues from Blue Yonder clients who use the WAYFINDER app, meaning that the company is likely to increase its cash flows exponentially as the number of clients grows.
For reference, you can think of the NRI Distribution contract as one of these clients, which would imply that VERSES would obtain roughly USD 1 million per client annually, assuming that each client is as large or larger than NRI; clients that are larger than NRI may create additional value as well.
The Blue Yonder partnership marks its first major reseller agreement, which is a massive milestone for the company.
The VERSES Technologies Super Team
 |
Beyond its products, VERSES is building a Spatial Web super team compiled of some of the most brilliant minds in the business.
Recently, the company announced the addition of a key member of its team, Chief Scientist Dr. Karl Friston, who is also a Professor of Neuroscience at University College London and Scientific Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging.
Furthermore, Dr. Friston boasts an impressive set of achievements which include being a Fellow of the Royal Society (2006) and The Royal Society of Biology (2012), a Weldon Memorial Prize and Medal (2013) recipient, a Charles Branch Award (2016) recipient, and ranked the #1 most influential neuroscientist in the world by Semantic Scholar in 2016, among many others.
One industry pundit even noted that “what Einstein was to physics, Friston is to Intelligence.”
Unsurprisingly, Dr. Friston had the pick of the litter in terms of which AI company he could join, and he decided to choose VERSES, which speaks volumes about the company’s potential.
As per his role with the company, Dr. Friston is a world-leading expert in Active Inference, a central component of the class of next-generation AI systems being developed at the company.
He and other members of the VERSES AI team are tasked with researching and developing new and innovative solutions for effectively bringing AI applications to the real world.
For their first assignment, Dr. Friston and team published a White Paper proposing a novel approach to addressing the current limitations of AI and offered a multi-stage roadmap toward enabling the “holy grail” of AI known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
For those interested, you can read the full White Paper, entitled, “Designing Ecosystems of Intelligence from First Principles”, here.
 |
Alongside Dr. Friston, is a leadership team that is truly first-class in its industry.
VERSES Co-Founders Gabriel Rene and Dan Mapes are both artificial intelligence and Web 3.0 experts with over 40 years of combined experience between them.
In fact, the two co-authored an #1 international best-selling book titled, “The Spatial Web – How Web 3.0 Connects Humans, Machines and AI To Transform the World,” whereby they explain the opportunities and threats that exist in the Spatial Web and define a set of universal standards to ensure a unified and ethical approach to Web 3.0.
Based on this book, their Spatial Web Foundation, and the many accomplishments they’ve achieved with VERSES, it is clear that these two and the rest of the VERSES team are poised for success in this industry.
All-in-all it would be difficult to find another business and leadership team as focused and determined as them.
Why Should You Invest in VERSES Technologies?
Despite its size and current market cap valuation of USD 65 million, VERSES Technologies is a proven player in the artificial intelligence space and is well-positioned to be a leader in the industry.
With the Global AI Market valued at US 120 billion in 2022, and it being forecasted to reach USD 1.597 trillion by 2030 (Precedence Research), the industry is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 38.1%.
To put this into perspective, the AI market is expected to grow at 4x the speed and 2x the size of Web 2.0, also known as the mobility market.
Promisingly, the company is taking full advantage of its first-mover opportunity by building its operating system and applications, which demonstrate the unlimited potential of Web 3.0, before anyone else.
Furthermore, as the company continues to improve the KOSM operating system, VERSES will likely generate even more profitable opportunities as developers adopt the platform and businesses discover the bountiful benefits that exist when using its services.
Overall, this a company that every investor should keep on their watchlist, and it will be exciting to see what they accomplish.
And remember – the last thing to ever be invented is the thing that can invent other things…
Welcome to VERSES.