POET Technologies Completes C$15 Million Private Placement

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- POET Technologies Inc. (“POET” or the “Company”) (TSX Venture: PTK; OTCQX: POETF), the designer and developer of the POET Optical Interposer™ and Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for the data center and tele-communication markets, announces that it has completed its previously announced brokered private placement (the “Placement”) of 14,706,000 units of the Company (the “Units”) at a price of $0.85 per Unit (the “Issue Price”) for gross proceeds of approximately $12.5 million. Founder and former chairman of Origin House, Marc Lustig was the lead participant in the Placement.

Cormark Securities Inc. acted as lead agent together with a syndicate of agents that included IBK Capital Corp. and PI Financial Corp. (collectively, the “Agents”). The Agents exercised in full an option (the “Agents’ Option”) for the purchase of an additional 2,941,200 Units on the same terms. Gross proceeds from the exercise of the Agents’ Option were approximately $2.5 million bringing the aggregate proceeds raised from the Placement to approximately $15.0 million from the issuance of the cumulative 17,647,200 Units.

Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a “Common Share”) and one Common Share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $1.15 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the issuance date thereof. The Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry, exercisable at the option of the Company, if, on or following the date that is four months and one day after the date of issuance of the Units and prior to the expiry date of the Warrants, the daily volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares exceeds $2.30 for ten consecutive trading days. The Issue Price represents a discount of 5.5% of the volume weighted average trading price of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) for the 5 trading days ended immediately prior to the announcement of the Placement on January 26, 2021.

In connection with the Placement, the Company paid a cash commission to the Agents of $900,007, equating to 6.0% of the aggregate gross proceeds of the Placement. The Company also issued 1,058,832 broker warrants to the Agents equating to 6.0% of the number of Units sold under the Placement, each exercisable to acquire one Common Share at the Issue Price for a period of 24 months from the issuance date thereof.

The securities issued in connection with the Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation. The Warrants will not be listed on any exchange.

This press release is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to qualification or registration under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and such securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from U.S. registration requirements and applicable U.S. state securities laws.

About POET Technologies Inc.
POET Technologies is a design and development company offering integration solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer™ a novel platform that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single multi‐chip module using advanced wafer‐level semiconductor manufacturing techniques and packaging methods. POET’s Optical Interposer eliminates costly components and labor‐intensive assembly, alignment, burn‐in and testing methods employed in conventional photonics. The cost‐efficient integration scheme and scalability of the POET Optical Interposer brings value to any device or system that integrates electronics and photonics, including some of the highest growth areas of computing, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles and high‐speed networking for cloud service providers and data centers. POET is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in Allentown, PA and Singapore. More information may be obtained at www.poet‐technologies.com. 

Shareholder Contact:		Company Contact:
Shelton Group		Thomas R. Mika, EVP & CFO
Brett L. Perry		tm@poet‐technologies.com
[e-mail]

This news release may contain “forward‐looking information” (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws) and “forward‐looking statements” (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such statements or information are identified with words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”, “potential”, “estimate”, “propose”, “project”, “outlook”, “foresee” or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding any potential outcome.

Such forward‐looking information or statements are based on a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause actual results or other expectations to differ materially from those anticipated and which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in any forward‐looking information or statements are reasonable, prospective investors in the Company’s securities should not place undue reliance on forward‐looking statements because the Company can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward‐looking information and statements contained in this news release are as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise this forward-looking information and statements except as required by law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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