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Hopium strengthens its operational governance and sets new strategic priorities for the development of Hopium Machina

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Hopium's Board of Directors, meeting on December 19, 2022, decided to strengthen the company's operational governance within the framework of a redefined roadmap taking into account financing capacities and new operational objectives.

As such, the Board of Directors has appointed Sylvain Laurent as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Philippe Baudillon as Chief Operating Officer to lead these new phases.

Olivier Lombard has been appointed Deputy Managing Director in charge of Hopium Machina product, including the technology platform and the fuel cell system, the pillars of the strategy.

Sylvain Laurent, Managing Director, and Philippe Baudillon, Deputy Managing Director, will bring their expertise acquired in the management of large international groups.

Director of Hopium since December 2021, Sylvain Laurent is a graduate of the National Engineering School of Metz (ENIM). He founded and co-managed a company specializing in product lifecycle management (PLM) consulting and integration systems. He also held several management positions in major French and international companies, such as IBM, Siemens and Dassault Systèmes, where he was also Executive Vice-President in charge of supporting the development of the Asia region and in charge of Dassault Systèmes' worldwide sales network.

After graduating from ENA and spending the first part of his career as a senior civil servant, Philippe Baudillon also held several senior management positions in the sports and media industries. He was notably Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel France, and a member of the Executive Committee of Clear Channel Worldwide until 2020.

2023 priorities: adjustment of the load structure and finalization of the Hopium Machina technological platform with a view to its industrialization.

Hopium is continuing its research program to develop a high-powered fuel cell system, designed for a new generation of hydrogen vehicles and adapted to the performance objectives of the Hopium Machina. The presentation of the Hopium Machina Vision concept car at the Paris Motor Show in October 2022 was accompanied by the filing of the first ten patent applications relating to the design, on-board technologies and the fuel cell system that constitutes the core of the Hopium technology.

The Board of Directors has tasked the new management team with continuing the development of the Hopium Machina technology platform while implementing measures to adjust expenses.

These measures will include sequencing the development of future prototypes and adjusting staffing levels according to strategic priorities. They will allow the company's financing needs to be better distributed in the coming months.

To finance its continued development, Hopium has a bond financing facility concluded in October 2022 with Atlas Special Opportunities for a maximum gross amount of 21.5 M€ and a financing facility concluded on June 13, 2022 with LDA for a maximum gross amount of 50 M€. The company also benefits from the support of its historical shareholders who have decided to make a contribution of €1.9 million to the company's current account, bringing the total amount of contributions to the company's current account to €5.4 million.

Hopium continues to explore in parallel other sources of financing and different industrial schemes to ensure the implementation of the next steps prior to the commercialization of its vehicle. The company will detail its roadmap at the time of the presentation of its annual accounts.

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