Akoustis Receives $5.9 Million in Gross Proceeds from Fixed Price Common Stock Offering at $9 Per Share

Charlotte, N.C., May 30, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented, single-crystal BulkONE® bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile, Wi-Fi and other wireless applications, announced today it has closed a private placement offering in which it sold 633,000 shares of Common Stock to institutional and accredited investors at a fixed purchase price of $9.00 per share (the “Offering”), for aggregate gross proceeds of $5,967,000 before deducting expenses.

$5.4 million of the Offering was placed with one institutional investor who is an existing shareholder of Akoustis. Drexel Hamilton was the sole placement agent in connection with the institutional component of the Offering.

Akoustis CEO, Jeff Shealy, commented, “Proceeds from the raise will be used to support our operations, including the continued development of our premium high-band BAW RF filters utilizing our patented single-crystal piezoelectric materials as well as the consolidation of our supply chain into the STC-MEMS New York facility.”

Akoustis is pioneering next-generation material science to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material properties drive electro-mechanical coupling, which translates to wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by leveraging the Company’s high-sound velocity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter.

The offer and sale of the foregoing securities was made in a transaction not involving a public offering and have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), or applicable state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities may not be reoffered or resold in the United States except pursuant to an effective registration statement or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and such applicable state securities laws. As part of the transaction, the Company has agreed to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for purposes of registering the resale by the investors of the shares of Common Stock purchased by such investors.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state.

About Akoustis

Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that designs and manufactures its unique, patented BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end.  Its BulkONE® technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and consumers to diminish Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations.  Akoustis’ capital-efficient business model leverages new and existing investments in manufacturing infrastructure within the semiconductor industry.  Akoustis® is located in the Piedmont technology corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements, which are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology, including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation,

• risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor process manufacturing;
• the early stage of our BulkONE^® technology presently under development;
• our need for substantial additional funds in order to continue our operations and the uncertainty of whether we will be able to obtain the funding we need;
• our ability to retain or hire key scientific, engineering or management personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights;
• our dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, research organizations, testing laboratories and other potential collaborators;
• our planned acquisition of STC-MEMS, and such acquisition may not close, could disrupt our business, may not be successfully integrated, and we may not be able to operate it profitably or realize the benefits of the acquired business within expected timeframes or at all;
• our ability to successfully market and sell our technologies;
• the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our technologies;
• competition in our industry; and
• regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries.

In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.  You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.  The forward-looking statements included in this presentation speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. The materials do not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of any offer to buy, any securities of Akoustis, or any other entity whatsoever.  Any representation to the contrary by any party should be ignored.

Akoustis Contact Information:

COMPANY:
Dave Aichele
Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
VP of Business Development
704-997-5735, ext. 106
daichele@akoustis.com

INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com

Released May 30, 2017