Wishpond Sells Viral Loops for $2.3M to Sharpen AI Focus, Cut Debt

VANCOUVER, BC – March 10, 2026 – Wishpond Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: WISH) (OTCQX: WPNDF) has finalized the sale of its Viral Loops referral marketing platform to Emerge Commerce Ltd. for a total of $2.3 million, marking a decisive strategic pivot for the AI-focused marketing company. The move allows Wishpond to significantly reduce its debt, strengthen its balance sheet, and intensify its focus on its core suite of artificial intelligence-powered marketing and sales solutions.

Under the terms of the deal, which closed on March 9, Wishpond received an initial payment of $2.1 million, with an additional $200,000 due on the first anniversary of the transaction. The divestiture represents a calculated step to streamline operations and reallocate capital towards what the company views as its primary growth engine: its integrated AI platform for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Ali Tajskandar, Chairman and CEO of Wishpond, commented on the strategic importance of the sale. "Closing the sale of Viral Loops represents an important step in strengthening Wishpond's balance sheet and enhancing our financial flexibility," he stated in the official press release. "By reducing debt and reallocating capital toward our core AI-driven marketing platform, we are positioning the Company to focus on innovation and long-term growth across our integrated product suite."

A Strategic Pivot from a Profitable Asset

Unlike many divestitures driven by underperformance, Wishpond's sale of Viral Loops involves offloading a healthy and growing asset. Wishpond acquired the referral marketing software in April 2022, citing its strong revenue growth and profitability. The platform was successfully integrated and, as recently as November 2024, was lauded for its strong performance, having surpassed 1 million referrals and achieved a 40% year-over-year increase in customer lifetime value.

However, Viral Loops operated as a standalone product within Wishpond's broader ecosystem. Its sale signals a strategic clarification: Wishpond is betting its future not on a collection of disparate marketing tools, but on a deeply integrated, AI-first platform. By shedding a non-core, albeit profitable, asset, the company gains the financial and organizational bandwidth to accelerate development and market penetration of its primary AI offerings. The divestiture is not expected to materially impact Wishpond's core platform, reinforcing the idea that this was a move to trim the portfolio and concentrate resources where they can have the greatest strategic impact.

Bolstering the Balance Sheet

The financial implications of the transaction are immediate and significant. Wishpond has directed approximately $1.6 million of the proceeds toward paying down its senior credit facility with the National Bank of Canada. This substantial payment provides a major boost to the company's financial health, reducing its debt load and improving its capital structure.

In a related and crucial development, Wishpond has secured a forbearance agreement with its lender that extends through December 31, 2026. This agreement, contingent on the debt repayment from the sale, provides the company with valuable breathing room and operational flexibility. By having the lender agree to forbear from exercising certain rights, Wishpond can operate with greater stability and confidently invest the remaining proceeds from the sale and its operational cash flow into its long-term growth initiatives without the immediate pressure of restrictive debt covenants. This improved financial footing is intended to enhance investor confidence and provide a more resilient foundation for future growth.

A New Home and a New Vertical for Viral Loops

For the buyer, Emerge Commerce Ltd. (TSXV: ECOM), the acquisition of Viral Loops is a strategic coup. The Toronto-based firm, which acquires and operates profitable e-commerce brands, is launching a new "EMERGE B2B" vertical with Viral Loops as its cornerstone asset. The platform's profile—asset-light, high-margin, and generating recurring subscription revenue—is a perfect match for Emerge's business model.

In 2025, Viral Loops generated approximately CA$1.3 million in revenue with an impressive adjusted EBITDA of CA$800,000 and gross margins around 86%. Emerge expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings, projecting a 52% boost to its pro forma adjusted EBITDA. The company plans to deploy Viral Loops' referral technology across its existing portfolio of direct-to-consumer brands in the grocery and golf sectors, aiming to drive cost-effective customer acquisition and leverage powerful word-of-mouth marketing. The acquisition, funded entirely from a recent private placement, also helps Emerge reduce the seasonality of its consumer-facing businesses and improve overall earnings stability.

Doubling Down on an AI-Powered Future

The sale of Viral Loops is fundamentally about enabling Wishpond to double down on its vision of creating a fully autonomous, AI-enabled platform for the entire customer acquisition journey. The company's core focus is on its all-in-one suite that includes an AI Website Builder, AI Email Automation, and its flagship conversational AI product, SalesCloser AI.

SalesCloser AI is a virtual sales agent that uses generative AI to conduct personalized sales calls and product demos, a field where Wishpond is aggressively carving out a defensible niche. The company's commitment to innovation is underscored by its intellectual property strategy; it has filed seven patent applications in conversational AI since early 2025. These patents cover technologies designed to make AI agents more adaptive, reliable, and human-like in their interactions, tackling challenges like real-time appointment scheduling and distinguishing between voicemails and live speakers.

This strategic focus is critical in the hyper-competitive AI marketing landscape, where Wishpond competes with giants like HubSpot and Salesforce as well as a host of specialized startups. By concentrating its financial and engineering resources on advancing these core AI capabilities, Wishpond aims to solidify its position as a leading provider of powerful, integrated, and cost-effective marketing solutions for the underserved SMB market.