Key Figures
We have worked hard to navigate the uncertain and rapidly changing environment, and we are pleased to report that WISeKey has remained financially strong during 2022. The divestiture of arago GmbH had a positive impact on our liquidity, as it reduced cash burn by approximately 40% and allowed us to focus on revenue generating investments.
During the year, we continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives and invest in our future growth. It is likely that technology foundations of WISeKey will continue to advance and play a significant role in many aspects of daily life in 2023. Some areas that may see significant developments in the next few years include AI, virtual and augmented reality, IoT, NFTs, quantum and cybersecurity. There may also be continued progress in fields such as robotics and space low orbit satellites. WISeKey is well positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for these technologies.
$20.7M | Cash at 12/31/2022 |
$10.1M | Gross profit |
42.4% | Gross profit margin |
2022 Key Financial and Operational Highlights:
- Revenue growth: 35% increase in revenue to $23.8 million in the year 2022, compared to $17.6 million in 2021.
- Cash position remains strong with $20.7 million cash available at December 31, 2022.
- Increase in semiconductors production capacity: in 2022, WISeKey initiated a 5-year capital expenditure (“CapEx”) plan to increase its semiconductors volume by up to 80% over the next 5 years. The plan is supported by a $2 million loan from a third party client for the purpose of increasing production capacity.
- Cost structure efficiency improvements: our operating expenses decreased by $8.1 million and by $5 million when excluding non-cash stock-based compensation in comparison to 2021, showing our successful efforts to streamline our cost base while still being able to grow our revenue.
- Strong investments in Research & Development (“R&D”): we continue to support our R&D work with $3.9 million invested during the year. In 2022:
- we initiated our QUASARS project (for QUAntum resistant Secure ARchitectureS), a radical innovative solution paving the way of Post Quantum Cryptography era, and
- we launched 13 security-IoT hardened low-orbit picosatellites, WISeSat, for our new satellite-based secure IoT connectivity-as-a-service, through which WISeKey provides the satellite platform, launch, integration, ground station services and all the security architecture and components, as part of a turnkey SaaS solution for low-power and secure space-based IoT connectivity, in collaboration with FOSSA Systems S.L. (“FOSSA”).
- M&A activity: divestiture of our 51% controlling interest in arago GmbH (“arago”) which freed up liquidity for the continuing operations of WISeKey and had a positive impact on its cash flow forecasts.
- Strengthening our Sales and Marketing (“S&M”) organization: the Group has continued reinforcing its sales and marketing team with a new sales director in the U.S.A. and the onboarding of 7 additional sales representatives in the E.U. region, Israel and South Africa and 2 representatives which will cover the Eastern states of the United States.
- Development of the WISe.ART NFT auction platform: an innovative platform where WISeKey adds identification to the emerging NFT trade market, therefore ensuring that NFTs sold on its platform are genuine. The WISe.ART platform now includes over 1000 artworks by over 100 artists worldwide ranging from traditional art, video art to 3 dimensional AI productions.
2023 Key Growth Areas
WISeKey International Holding is transitioning into a new strategic direction that will see it operate as a holding company of several distinctive operational companies covering the full spectrum of WISeKey-related technologies:
- the Root of Trust and PKI at WISeKey SA,
- semiconductors and Quantum technology with SEALSQ and WISeKey Semiconductors
- Space technology using Picosatellites under WISeSat.Space, and
- Trusted Blockchain NFT with WISe.ART Corp.
As a holding company giving strategic directions, WISeKey has taken several initiatives to continue growing revenue and strengthen net results. These initiatives include:
- New strategic partnerships and investments in sales and marketing to strengthen its position as IoT cybersecurity provider and to develop new use cases based on our established technologies. Our objective in 2023 is to grow our sales team in Asia with key recruitments in Taiwan, expend our sales force in the U.S., and sign up 5 additional sales representatives and 3 resellers.
- Space – building a joint constellation with FOSSA of 88 low-orbit satellites by end of 2024 to drive mass adoption of satellite-enabled IoT through secure interoperable and standardized connectivity using LPWAN technologies such as LoRa or NB-IoT. The WISeSat constellation will enable us to support Global Decentralized IoT Communications, a project that is building towards commercial deployment in the second half of 2023 when we believe our partnership agreement with the Swiss Army will become effective.
- Continued development of the ART NFT auction platform in conjunction with Polygon and CasperLabs, a product for which we have a patent pending, which would potentially add to our extensive patent portfolio. We are starting to bring revenues by charging commissions on the sales that are carried out on the WISe.ART platform which is a percentage of the total sale and depends upon multiple factors. In 2023, WISeKey expects to sign partnerships with Hedera and Italpreziosi for an even wider coverage, allowing for significant community growth, collectors’ transactions and new NFTs business.
- Investment in post-quantum cryptography that are resistant against quantum cryptanalysis so as to anticipate on future cybersecurity threats, working in collaboration with the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA).
- Planned investment in new equipment to increase the production volume of semiconductors with a 5-year CapEx plan to increase its semiconductors volume by up to 80% over the next 5 years.
- Investment in R&D to expand its patent portfolio.