Intellistake Acquisition Target NanoAi Assembles Navy SEAL-Led Team Having Experience Working with Microsoft Engineering, Science and Special Operations Logistics Ahead of Laboratory Testing at Dallas Op Center

NanoAi has assembled a leadership team spanning special operations, global-scale engineering, science and defense logistics. Following the establishment of its Dallas-Richardson Op Center, that team is now supporting the platform ahead of laboratory testing. Founder Video released alongside this news release.

Highlights

Leadership team spanning special operations, global-scale engineering, science and defense logistics now in place at NanoAi's Dallas-Richardson Op Center ahead of laboratory testing
NanoAi leadership team led by Founder, Chairman and CEO Craig Micklich, a 12-year U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, who would join the Intellistake Board upon closing
Chief Technology Officer brings more than 35 years of experience and has led global engineering teams of more than 600 people, with senior roles at Microsoft and Novell, where he led development of the NetWare operating system
Chief Technology Officer has partnered with NASA Ames Research Center and with enterprises such as BMW, General Motors, Honeywell, Delta and Disney on machine learning, blockchain and connected-systems projects
Incoming Chief Scientific Officer directing the scientific refinement and validation of NanoAi's sensing technology, including its extension into the Gentex Ops-Core RAILINK program
Alan "Buzz" Fink, Vice President, Logistics and Quality, founded a contractor that supported U.S. Special Operations Command across a 13-year contract lifecycle
Founder Video featuring Mr. Micklich released with this news release

VANCOUVER, BC , Oct. 6, 2026 /CNW/ -- Intellistake Technologies Corp. (CSE: ISTK) (OTCQB: ISTKF) (FSE: E41) ("Intellistake" or the "Company"), today announced its acquisition target NanoAi Technologies Inc. ("NanoAi") has assembled the leadership team behind its standoff detection platform within its newly established Op Center in the Dallas-Richardson area of Texas, bringing together special operations, global-scale engineering, scientific and defense logistics experience. The Company also released a Founder Video featuring NanoAi Founder, Chairman and CEO Craig Micklich.

Continue Reading
NanoAi - Craig Micklich; Meet The Founder Speed Speed

On August 19, 2026, the Company announced that NanoAi had signed a lease for the Op Center, a dedicated facility to scale its engineering, quality and operations teams. That release established the infrastructure. This release introduces the people inside it. With the facility and the team in place, NanoAi is preparing for laboratory testing at the Op Center.

NanoAi is the subject of the Company's previously announced proposed acquisition that remains subject to closing conditions. Founded by Craig Micklich, a 12-year U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, NanoAi develops proprietary sensing technology designed to detect trace airborne threats at standoff distance, in real time, without physical contact, across wearable, drone, robotic, vehicle and fixed platforms for defense, law enforcement and critical infrastructure applications.

Leadership Forged in Special Operations

Craig Micklich is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of NanoAi Technologies. A 12-year U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, Mr. Micklich identified the gap in real-time airborne threat detection from direct operational experience and built the platform to address it. He has led the technology and business since 2018, taking it from a bench-level experiment to a full-stack sensing platform with active defense and commercial partnerships.

Mr. Micklich is a service-connected disabled veteran and lifetime member of the UDT/SEAL community. He is a co-author on the peer-reviewed research underlying the core technology.

His full background, including his senior capital markets roles at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley and his rescue work following Hurricane Katrina, is detailed in the Company's August 11, 2026 news release.

Under the definitive agreement between the Company and NanoAi dated August 3, 2026 (the "Definitive Agreement"), Mr. Micklich and a second NanoAi nominee will join the Intellistake Board upon closing.

The Founder Video: The Mission Behind NanoAi

Released alongside this news release, the Founder Video features Mr. Micklich telling the NanoAi story in his own words. As a Navy SEAL, he relied on his eyes, his ears and his teammates, and there were threats they could not see or hear. NanoAi was built to sense those threats sooner. Defense is NanoAi's primary vertical. The same purpose extends across other verticals, including border security, law enforcement and first responders.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/U-rsSMXai4A

Engineering Leadership Proven at Microsoft and Novell

NanoAi's Chief Technology Officer is a technology executive with more than 35 years of experience building engineering organizations, shipping products, and taking emerging technologies from prototype to market. He has led global engineering teams of more than 600 people and has founded or co-founded more than six startups.

As Vice President of Engineering at Novell, he led development of the NetWare operating system, the company's flagship product at roughly $450 million, and managed 600 engineers, project managers and engineering managers across the United States, Europe and India.

At Microsoft he shipped four products on time and under budget as a Product Unit Manager. As Director of Strategic Partner Alliances for a $1.8 billion division, he delivered the division's offerings through hardware OEMs including Dell, HP, Fujitsu and Hitachi.

At Microsoft, he also worked as a Principal Architect and Senior Director on the company's most forward-looking initiatives. He designed disaggregated GPU, memory and compute platforms for the Azure Horizon 2 incubation. He partnered with NASA Ames Research Center on next-generation airspace management and with enterprises such as BMW, General Motors, Honeywell, Delta and Disney on machine learning, blockchain and connected-systems projects.

He brings hands-on architecture depth together with the operating discipline needed to lead technology at a company that builds both hardware and software. At NanoAi, that experience applies to building the engineering team, setting engineering practices for software and hardware, and setting the technical direction that turns breakthrough science into a dependable product.

Scientific Leadership Over the Core Technology

NanoAi's incoming Chief Scientific Officer is already actively engaged in the company's scientific program to propel its core technology forward. Ahead of laboratory testing, this role is central to the scientific development, validation and advancement of the sensing technology. In this capacity, he will:

Direct the scientific refinement of the company's proprietary sensing formulations and underlying detection mechanisms.
Shape research protocols, validation strategies and data quality standards.
Guide the platform's extension across defense, health and industrial applications, including the Gentex Ops-Core RAILINK program (Gentex Corporation's headborne helmet platform, for which NanoAi holds a development license agreement; see the Company's August 11, 2026 news release and Gentex's June 16, 2025 announcement).*
Evaluate product testing outcomes, performance claims and manufacturing readiness.
Represent the company's science to partners, investors and the research community.
Lay the groundwork for the scientific team and roadmap to be led as Chief Scientific Officer.

* Gentex Corporation, headquartered in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, describes itself as a global leader in personal protection and situational awareness solutions for defense forces, emergency responders, and industrial personnel. Its Ops-Core helmet systems are in service with United States and allied forces, and Gentex has supplied U.S. Special Operations Command since that command's activation in 1987.¹

Defense Logistics and Quality Proven With U.S. Special Operations Command

Alan "Buzz" Fink serves as NanoAi's Vice President, Logistics and Quality. Mr. Fink brings more than two decades of hands-on logistics, government contracting and supply chain experience built across multiple founded businesses and advisory work with defense contractors. He oversees the end-to-end logistics, supply chain and procurement functions that support NanoAi's detection platform from sourcing through delivery, while building the quality frameworks, documentation standards and qualification processes required for commercial and defense-grade deployment.

Mr. Fink founded and operated multiple companies, including Tactical Air Operations, Inc., a civilian company contracted to provide static line and freefall parachute training in support of U.S. Special Operations Command. Under his leadership, Tactical Air Operations delivered training across a 13-year contract lifecycle, with Mr. Fink managing the full logistics and supply chain backbone of the operation, from equipment procurement to vendor sourcing to scheduling, before the business was sold.

His career spans the full discipline of government contracting, including bid preparation, teaming agreements, pre-award and post-award conferences, the appeals process and full contract administration. As the platform advances toward testing and deployment, that experience governs how it is sourced, documented and qualified to the standards defense and commercial customers require.

Jason Dussault, Chief Executive Officer of Intellistake, commented:

"This is a milestone for NanoAi and for Intellistake. In defense, credibility is earned by people, and the team Craig has assembled reflects that. Front-line operational experience, engineering leadership proven at global scale, the science behind the sensor and defense-grade logistics, all under one roof. Teams of that depth are rare at this stage of a company's life. This is the team that developed the technology, and as we work toward completing the proposed acquisition, it is a central part of what we see in NanoAi. With laboratory testing ahead, we intend to report each milestone as it is reached."

Craig Micklich, Chief Executive Officer of NanoAi Technologies, commented:

"The technology speaks for itself. It is designed to detect trace airborne threats at standoff distance, in real time, without physical contact. Behind that technology is the team. I am proud of the people we have brought together. Everything is now in place to test and prove this platform. Different threats, same purpose. Sensing danger sooner."

Laboratory Testing Ahead

With the Op Center and the leadership team in place, NanoAi is preparing to commence laboratory testing of its platform at the Op Center. The Company expects to provide further details as testing begins and to report results as milestones are reached.

Transaction Status

The proposed acquisition of NanoAi was announced on August 4, 2026 and upon completion, NanoAi will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intellistake. Completion remains subject to customary conditions, including completion of satisfactory due diligence (including verifying title to the intellectual property of NanoAi), completion of the audit of financial statements of NanoAi, the Company maintaining a minimum cash balance of $2 million, and no objection from the Canadian Securities Exchange. Closing is targeted within 60 days of the definitive agreement and subject to satisfaction of closing conditions therein. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed on the terms currently contemplated, or at all.