Filing pursuant to Rule 425 under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended
Deemed filed under Rule 14a-12 under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Filer: Angel Pond Holdings Corporation
Subject Company: Angel Pond Holdings Corporation
Filer’s Commission File Number: 1-40382
Date: July 19, 2022
MariaDB Drafts Top Financial Talent Ahead of Becoming a Public Company
Veterans in finance and operations recruited to CFO and new board position to support MariaDB’s next phase of growth
July 19, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. & HELSINKI—(BUSINESS WIRE)—MariaDB® Corporation today announced the appointment of Christine Napoli as chief financial officer, and Christine Russell as a new board member.
The appointments come at a pivotal time for the company, which reported 42% growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the six-month period that ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period last year. In this period of time, MariaDB has grown over four times the market forecasted growth of the relational database market, which IDC forecasts as growing by a 9.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the period between 2020 and 2025 (IDC, “Worldwide Database Management Systems Software Forecast,” 2021-2025, US48224421, September 2021).
As companies modernize and move to the cloud, MariaDB database products free customers from the costs, cloud lock-in, constraints and complexity of proprietary databases. The company has a fast-growing customer base with well over 600 customers in over 60 countries across industries such as financial services, telecommunications, retail, technology, public sector and education.
“As we scale MariaDB, it’s critical that we have a team with the experience and expertise to implement the financial controls and operations expected from publicly traded companies,” said Michael Howard, CEO at MariaDB Corporation. “Ms. Napoli and Ms. Russell have both led brilliant careers in finance and have the experience to lead us in the times ahead. With these two new leaders, we are well-positioned as we continue our transition to the public spotlight.”
“There is a renaissance happening in the database industry,” said Napoli, CFO at MariaDB Corporation. “With the need to be data-driven, as was evident during my time in the media industry, databases, which are the backbone of applications, must be ultra-resilient and must support massive scale. MariaDB is clearly in a leading position with its new generation database technology, and I’m excited to be part of the team that will support its growth and operations.”
Napoli joins MariaDB from Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, where she was CFO. While at Peacock, she was a key leader since its inception, helping to grow the business to 28 million monthly active accounts in a two-year period and well over $700 million in fiscal year revenue. She is a seasoned executive with vast operational and financial experience across a multitude of NBCUniversal business units. Previously, she worked at Price Waterhouse LLP (now PwC) as a public auditor in the financial services sector.
Russell is currently on the board of directors and chair of the audit committee at three publicly traded technology companies including AXT, Inc., eGain Corporation and QuickLogic Corporation, as well as several private companies including iCoin Technology and the Silicon Valley Directors’ Exchange. She was previously CFO at six publicly traded companies including PDF Solutions, UniPixel, Inc., Virage Logic Corporation, Ceva, Inc., Persistence Software Inc. and Valence Technologies, Inc. as well as two private equity-backed firms and four venture capital-backed companies. She has completed successful IPOs and follow-on equity offerings raising over $200 million.
“MariaDB is on the fast-track to be a wildly successful company,” said Russell, board member at MariaDB Corporation. “Very few companies are positioned as well as MariaDB to take on the $40 billion relational database industry and help customers transition from proprietary databases to open source and the cloud. I look forward to working closely with the rest of the board and executives to capitalize on this incredible market opportunity.”
Additional Resources
| • | Explore MariaDB database products |
| • | Get started in the cloud on MariaDB SkySQL |
| • | Visit mariadb.com |
| • | Follow @mariadb on Twitter |
| • | Read MariaDB’s blog |
| • | Earlier this year MariaDB announced the intent to become a publicly traded company via combination with Angel Pond Holdings Corporation (NYSE:POND). To learn more, go to https://mariadb.com/IPO. |
About MariaDB
MariaDB frees companies from the costs, cloud lock-in, constraints and complexity of proprietary databases, enabling them to reinvest in what matters most – rapidly developing innovative, customer-facing applications. MariaDB uses pluggable, purpose-built storage engines to support workloads that previously required a variety of specialized databases. With complexity and constraints eliminated, enterprises can now depend on a single complete database for their needs, whether on commodity hardware or their cloud of choice. Deployed in minutes for transactional, analytical or hybrid use cases, MariaDB delivers operational agility without sacrificing key enterprise features, including real ACID compliance and full SQL. Trusted by organizations such as Bandwidth, DigiCert, InfoArmor, Oppenheimer, Samsung, SelectQuote, SpendHQ – MariaDB meets the same core requirements as proprietary databases at a fraction of the cost. No wonder it’s one of the fastest-growing database management systems companies. Real business relies on MariaDB™.
Contacts
James Meredith
pr@mariadb.com
About Angel Pond
Angel Pond Holdings Corporation (NYSE:POND) is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Angel Pond was co-founded by Dr. Theodore T. Wang, a former Partner of Goldman Sachs, and Mr. Shihuang “Simon” Xie, a co-founder of China e-commerce company Alibaba Group. For more information, visit https://www.angelpond.com/.
About MariaDB
MariaDB Corporation Ab frees companies from the costs, cloud lock-in, constraints and complexity of proprietary databases, enabling them to reinvest in what matters most – rapidly developing innovative, customer-facing applications. MariaDB uses pluggable, purpose-built storage engines to support workloads that previously required a variety of specialized databases. With complexity and constraints eliminated, enterprises can now depend on a single complete database for their needs, whether on commodity hardware or their cloud of choice. Deployed in minutes for transactional, analytical or hybrid use cases, MariaDB delivers operational agility without sacrificing key enterprise features, including real ACID compliance and full SQL. Trusted by organizations such as, Bandwidth, DigiCert, InfoArmor, Oppenheimer, Samsung, SelectQuote, SpendHQ – MariaDB meets the same core requirements as proprietary databases at a fraction of the cost. No wonder it’s one of the fastest growing database management systems companies. Real business relies on MariaDB™.
Important Information for Investors and Shareholders
In connection with the proposed combination of MariaDB and Angel Pond, Mangomill plc (a subsidiary of Angel Pond) filed a registration statement on Form S-4 (the “Registration Statement”) with the SEC on June 22, 2022, which includes a proxy statement, which when declared effective by the SEC, will be distributed to holders of Angel Pond’s ordinary shares in connection with Angel Pond’s solicitation of proxies for the vote by Angel Pond’s shareholders with respect to the proposed combination and other matters as described in the Registration Statement, as well as the prospectus relating to the offer of securities to be issued to Angel Pond’s and MariaDB’s shareholders in connection with the proposed combination. Investors and security holders and other interested parties are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus, any amendments thereto and any other documents filed with the SEC carefully and in their entirety when they become available because they will contain important information about Angel Pond, MariaDB and the proposed combination. The documents relating to the proposed combination (when they are available) can be obtained free of charge from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Free copies of these documents, once available, may also be obtained from the respective companies by contacting the investor relations department of Angel Pond or MariaDB at the following:
Angel Pond Contact Information
Hanchen Jin
info@angelpond.com
+1-212 -878-3702
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MariaDB Contact Information
| Investors: | Media: | |||
| ir@mariadb.com | pr@mariadb.com |
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance and financial condition, and often contain words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “see,” “will,” “would,” “target,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, such as statements about the proposed combination, the expected timetable for completing the proposed combination, the benefits and synergies of the proposed combination, future opportunities for the combined company and products and any other statements regarding Angel Pond’s and MariaDB’s future operations, anticipated growth, financial or operating results, capital allocation, market opportunities, strategies, anticipated business levels, future earnings, planned activities, dividend policy, debt ratio, competitions, and other expectations and targets for future periods. There are several factors which could cause actual plans and results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, (i) the risk that the transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price of Angel Pond’s securities, (ii) the risk that the transaction may not be completed by Angel Pond’s business combination deadline, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the transaction, including the approval of the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, by and between Angel Pond, Mangomill plc, Meridian MergerSub Inc. and MariaDB, dated as of January 31, 2022 (the “Merger Agreement”) by the shareholders of Angel Pond and MariaDB, respectively, and the satisfaction of the minimum cash conditions, (iv) the lack of a third party valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the proposed combination, (v) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement, (vi) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on MariaDB’s business relationships, operating results, and business generally, (vii) risks that the proposed combination disrupts current plans and operations of MariaDB and potential difficulties in MariaDB employee retention as a result of the transaction, (viii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against MariaDB or against Angel Pond related to the Merger Agreement or the proposed combination, (ix) the ability to maintain the listing of Angel Pond’s securities or the combined company’s securities on a national securities exchange, (x) the price of Angel Pond’s securities may be volatile due to a variety of factors, including the uncertainty of demand in the market that Angel Pond plans to operate or MariaDB operates, variations in operating performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting the business and changes in the combined capital structure, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the proposed combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, (xii) the ability to discover, develop and protect new technologies and to protect and enforce MariaDB’s or Angel Pond’s intellectual property rights, (xiii) the fact that significant capital investment is required for the research & development of intellectual property and other proprietary information to improve
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and scale technological processes, (xiv) the fact that MariaDB is an early stage company with a history of losses and its future profitability is uncertain, (xv) the uncertainty of financial projections which rely in part on assumptions about customer demand based on ongoing negotiations and indications of interest from potential customers, (xvi) the risk of downturns and a changing regulatory landscape in a highly competitive industry, (xvii) risks relating to the value of the combined company’s securities to be issued in the transaction and uncertainty as to the long-term value of the combined company’s securities, (xviii) disruptions and other impacts to MariaDB’s business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health, international conflicts (including in the Ukraine and the related impacts) or economic crises, (xix) the amount of redemption requests made by Angel Pond’s shareholders, which could be significant, (xx) those factors discussed in the Registration Statement under the “Risk Factors” heading, and other documents Angel Pond or Mangomill plc has filed, or will file, with the SEC, and (xxi) other risks to Angel Pond’s and MariaDB’s business, operations and results of operations including from: failure to develop and market new products and optimally manage product life cycles; the loss of one or more significant customers or a significant reduction of business with customers; ability, cost and impact on business operations, of responding to changes in market acceptance, rules, regulations and policies and failure to respond to such changes; global economic and capital market conditions, including the continued availability of capital and financing, as well as inflation, interest and currency exchange rates; changes in political conditions; business or supply disruption; security threats, such as acts of sabotage, terrorism or war, and natural disasters which could result in a significant operational event for MariaDB or Angel Pond; unpredictability and severity of catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, acts of terrorism or outbreak of war or hostilities, as well as management’s response to any of the aforementioned factors. These risks, as well as other risks associated with the proposed combination, are more fully discussed in the Registration Statement. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors to be presented in any registration statement filed in connection with the transaction are, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. Further lists and descriptions of risks and uncertainties may be found in each of Angel Pond and the combined company’s subsequent reports on Form 10-Q, Form 10-K, Form 8-K, and other SEC filings, the contents of which are not incorporated by reference into, nor do they form part of, this announcement. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Angel Pond’s or MariaDB’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations, credit rating or liquidity. Neither Angel Pond nor MariaDB assumes any obligation to publicly provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.
Participants in the Solicitation
Angel Pond, MariaDB, Mangomill plc and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Angel Pond’s shareholders in connection with the proposed business combination. Information about Angel Pond’s directors and executive officers and their ownership of Angel Pond’s securities is set forth in the
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Registration Statement described above. Additional information regarding the interests of those persons and other persons who may be deemed participants in the proposed combination may be obtained by reading the Registration Statement and other documents Angel Pond or Mangomill plc have filed, or will file, with the SEC regarding the proposed business combination, including the definitive proxy statement/prospectus when it becomes available.
Non-Solicitation
This communication is not a proxy statement or solicitation of a proxy, consent or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the potential transaction and shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities of Angel Pond, Mangomill plc or MariaDB, nor shall there be any sale of any such securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
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