Success Story:

SilverCrest Metals

SilverCrest Metals
2015
$1.2B
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Overview

SilverCrest Metals Inc. is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts.

In recent years, the amount of capital available for mining companies in Canada has steadily decreased.With 15 years of experience on the sell-side as an institutional equity sales person, Chris Ritchie, President of SilverCrest Metals Inc., identified the changing landscape in capital markets and the need to look at new ideas, and new ways of doing things to manage his IR needs.

With this in mind, he identified the importance of actively managing his investor targeting practice in-house, but felt restricted with the capabilities of otherIR solutions. Chris turned to Irwin, and was impressedwith it's ability to target, monitor and organize investors.

Challenge

Accessing capital is a time consuming and often inefficient process. Chris wanted to have more control over the process, the story, and the relationships. Using Irwin was a solid step towards being more autonomous.

Limited Available Capital

As business models change and fees decrease, tracking down the relevant audience is harder and harder to do. Chris knew that SilverCrest needed an investor relations software solution that would help manage this reality.

Investor Targeting

His previous solution's investor targeting was limited, which meant that SilverCrest leaned on the sell-side to forge relations with new investors. Chris wanted to have the ability to target potential investors in-house.

Inefficient Marketing Costs

"Someone once told me that 50% of your marketing budget is well spent, but you don't know which 50%." Chris wanted more autonomy over the marketing process to increase his chances of spending his resources more effectively.

Chris on How Irwin Helps SilverCrest Measure the Impact of the Sell-Side

"I think it's really important to have as much control as possible in your marketing strategy. The sell-side and other IR firms are helpful, but Irwin helps me coordinate and track their efforts more effectively so that I can shift our resources accordingly."

How Irwin Helps SilverCrest Save Money on Financing When Using the Sell-Side

Irwin was able to help SilverCrest save money on their most recent financing by allowing them to understand where the demand for their stock lies. As Chris puts it, "Raising capital with the sell side is largely about risk. The greater the visibility you have on demand, the lower the discount you needed to meet the supply. Even the addition of a few modest orders can translate into a much better cost of capital." Chris continues,

"So, there’s substantial savings in a smaller discount which companies can achieve if they have leverage by knowing where the investor demand is. This is what Irwin can do for all public companies.”

How Irwin Empowers SilverCrest to Keep Up With Changing Industry Dynamics

"The business of managing money has taken over from stock picking. The incentives currently in place don't often align with the needs of the corporate. With Irwin, I have a system in place that lets me see what's outside that model, which is very useful."

The Importance of Irwin, Even When Well-Covered by the Sell-Side

"There's a big difference between having a full schedule, and a good schedule. A half day of good meetings is great, but it's nice to have a system that can help you fill in your schedule around the edges with some newer audiences."

"For example, if you’re on a roadshow or at a conference and 80% of your meetings get filled, or maybe 100% but a few are not high quality, Irwin is a great tool to fill the void or to improve the quality of your meetings. There are often interested parties to target that aren't clients of the brokers helping you market."

Better Investor Relations Management Can Help Lower Your Cost of Capital

"Being able to more efficiently target and manage your potential shareholder base creates more time for meaningful engagement. We've been fortunate that this has translated into an improved cost of capital while allowing us to scale our efforts."

Irwin acts as a solution to help SilverCrest efficiently allocate their time and money, and when used properly, is able to both save the company money in the long run (on marketing expenses) while also lowering the company’s cost of capital.

Benefits of Irwin

Since implementing Irwin, Chris has found that it's easier than before to access the functionality he needs for his team to be successful. Not only has he been able to save a significant amount of money on IR software, he's also able to target more qualified investors and keep the sell-side honest in the process.

Some notable benefits of Irwin include:

Investor Targeting

Irwin's Fit Score Technology gives Chris the ability to pull a list of qualified institutional and retail investors in minutes, giving him more autonomy over the process.

Reporting Functionality

"With Irwin, I can see which meetings were set-up in the past, and whether they've been impactful. I can track all my shareholders, monitor their activity and identify which ones I should follow-up with."

More Efficient Investor Roadshows

Chris is able to top out his schedule with qualified investor meetings. He is able to identify new investors in the market, and effectively plan roadshows to new cities.

Results

Irwin has empowered Chris and the rest of the IR team at SilverCrest to more efficiently execute their investor relations activities. This gives Chris and SilverCrest autonomy over their investor relations program, and the results have been extraordinary.

500% Increase in Liquidity

Since implementing Irwin, SilverCrest's investor base has steadily increased, resulting in a drastic increase in the liquidity of shares.

Broadened Network

Now that SilverCrest is owning the investor targeting efforts in-house, it has dramatically increased the number of people SilverCrest has been able to connect with.

8x Increase in Share Price

Since turning to Irwin as their IR software solution, SilverCrest Metals has seen their share price increase 8 times.

Irwin has played a pivotal role towards scaling our investor relations. It makes managing existing shareholders easier, while also enabling us to more strategically focus our investor relations efforts.

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