TORONTO, ONTARIO — (Marketwire) — 04/27/12 — Intertainment Media Inc. (TSX VENTURE: INT)(OTCQX: ITMTF)(FRANKFURT: I4T) (“Intertainment”) is pleased to announce that it has completed its purchase of a 25% ownership stake in Israel-based Lexifone Communications Systems (2010) Ltd. (“Lexifone”), developer of proprietary voice translation technology systems (the “Acquisition”). Immediately following the closing of the Acquisition, Intertainment transferred the acquired interest in Lexifone to its subsidiary, Ortsbo Inc. (“Ortsbo”), which is itself preparing to be spun out from Intertainment as an independent company. The addition of Lexifone voice-to-voice translation to Ortsbo-s portfolio of translation services further extends Ortsbo-s commitment to removing written and spoken language barriers.
Lexifone, based in Haifa, Israel, offers a simple and effective automatic phone interpreter service via its proprietary generic software platform. Its learning-based linguistic and semantic translation delivers best-of-breed voice translations using any phone, whether standard landline telephone, VoIP phone, or mobile phone. Callers simply speak normally into the phone and their speech is translated in seconds. The company is currently in beta testing of its anticipated, soon to be released real-time translation services.
Ortsbo, a leader in real-time email, online chat and social media language translation, anticipates leveraging Lexifone technology as part of a comprehensive suite of services that eliminates language barriers in all their forms. The combined Ortsbo/Lexifone platform is expected to have broad applications in many industries including healthcare, emergency services, social services, travel, and other instances where real-time, vocal translation is preferable over text or chat.
“The addition of Lexifone-s voice-to-voice translation services will enable Ortsbo to take a significant additional step forward in serving the enterprise market,” said David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment and CEO of Ortsbo. “By combining Lexifone-s voice-to-voice technology with our portfolio of language transformation products and other intellectual property, we can create a host of new customer services that let people communicate across different languages in a clear, conversational experience.”
Lexifone-s CEO and director of research is Dr. Ike Sagie, a computational linguistics expert with over 30 years of experience in software research, management and entrepreneurship.
“Both Lexifone and Ortsbo are committed to putting people first in language translation, setting very sophisticated technology into the background to create a beautifully simple user experience,” said Dr. Sagie. “We-re excited to be working so closely with the Ortsbo team to usher in a new era in communication between individuals, businesses and cultures.”
Lexifone-s technology has applications in the business, customer service and consumer markets. Applications for the technology are anticipated in the travel and tourism industry and in global customer support centers, with many other uses expected in the future. In addition, Lexifone is pursuing direct licensing of its technologies via commercial partners; its first high profile contract, a licensing agreement with a major global translation service provider, is expected to be announced in the coming months.
As part of the Acquisition, Intertainment: (i) acquired 117 ordinary shares (the “Transferred Shares”) in the capital of Lexifone from Lexifone-s shareholders in consideration for the issuance to them of 1,010,101 common shares of Intertainment (the “INT Shares”) at a price of $0.495 per INT Share (being the closing price per INT Share quoted on TSX Venture Exchange on April 24, 2012); and (ii) subscribed for 349 ordinary shares (together with the Transferred Shares, the “Acquired Shares”) in the capital of Lexifone issued out of treasury in consideration for $1.375 million in cash and cancellation of a promissory note in the total principal amount of $125,000 issued by Lexifone to Intertainment as of April 2, 2012. The total value of the INT Shares issued in connection with the Acquisition was $500,000. The INT Shares will be contractually subject to a four month hold period.
The Acquired Shares, representing 25% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Lexifone as of the closing date of the Acquisition, were transferred to Ortsbo immediately following the closing of the Acquisition. Intertainment was also granted several options to acquire the remaining stakes in Lexifone prior to January 1, 2014, which options were also assigned to Ortsbo immediately following closing. In addition, a representative of Intertainment/Ortsbo was elected to the board of directors of Lexifone and appointed a technical advisor to Lexifone at closing.
About Ortsbo.com
Now with over 100 million unique users in over 170 countries and territories, Ortsbo () enables real-time conversational translation for more than 50 languages. Ortsbo-s flagship product for social media supports global communications with instant translation capability and real-time, multi-lingual social media chat. Ortsbo-s technologies support major social platforms including MSN, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo!, as well as all major desktop and mobile operating systems, browsers and devices. Ortsbo, based in Toronto and with offices in Los Angeles and New York, is a subsidiary of Intertainment Media ().
On February 28, 2012, Intertainment announced that Intertainment and its Board of Directors have reviewed various options for the spin out of its subsidiary Ortsbo, and have elected to proceed with a transaction structure that it believes will be the most favorable to the current security holders of Intertainment. For further information, please refer to Intertainment-s announcement filed at .
About Intertainment Media Inc.
Intertainment is one of Canada-s leading technology incubators and is focused on developing, nurturing and investing in technologies and companies that provide technology solutions for brands and consumers alike. Intertainment also owns and operates a number of key properties including Ad Taffy, itiBiti, Ortsbo, Deal Frenzy and Magnum, with investments in leading edge technologies and social media platforms including theaudience.com. For more information on Intertainment and its properties, please visit .
Intertainment is headquartered in the Toronto, Canada region, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Mateo, CA and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “INT” (TSX VENTURE: INT) and in the US on the OTCQX Market under the symbol “ITMTF”. Intertainment is also traded in Europe on the unofficial market of the Frankfurt Exchange through the XETRA trading platform under the symbol “I4T”.
About Lexifone
Based in Haifa, Israel, Lexifone () provides an automated phone interpreter, accessible from any phone (mobile, landline or VoIP) in real time, offline and online. Lexifone-s voice translation technology thrives to create the simplest user experience, backed by a highly sophisticated linguistic telecom backbone. Lexifone currently supports over 15 languages and dialects and carries translated calls to over 100 countries, enabling easy communication between people who do not speak the same language.
Neither the 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.
Contacts:
Ortsbo Inc. / Intertainment Media Inc.
David Lucatch, CEO
800-395-9943 / 905-763-3510
Press Contact:
SS/PR
Mary Campe
847-415-9325
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