BUZZ-Veritone shares plunge due to direct stock transaction at steep discount

October 1 - ** Shares of enterprise AI solutions provider Veritone (VERI.O) fell 19.3% to $0.96 before Thursday’s opening, after the company announced an equity financing

** California Irvine-based VERI (link) has agreed to sell 20 million shares via a registered direct offering, expecting to raise a total of $15 million

** The issue price of $0.75 per share represents a 37% discount to the previous trading day’s closing price

** VERI currently has approximately 100.5 million shares outstanding and will use the net proceeds to repay and/or restructure some of its convertible debt, as well as for working capital and general purposes

** Needham and Alliance Global Partners are acting as joint bookrunners for this offering

** As of this Wednesday, the stock is down 74% year-to-date

** According to LSEG data, three analysts covering the stock have a “Buy” rating, and one has a “Hold” rating; the median target price is $8

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