TIDMSURE
RNS Number : 6953K
Sure Ventures PLC
23 December 2022
Sure Ventures plc ('Sure Ventures' or 'the Company')
Portfolio Update Q3 2022, NAV Calculation and Director
commentary
Sure Ventures is a London listed venture capital fund which
invests in early stage software companies in the rapidly growing
technology areas of Augmented Reality ('AR'), Virtual Reality
('VR'), Internet of Things ('IoT') and Artificial Intelligence
(AI). We are pleased to provide an update on the Company's
investment portfolio.
SURE VALLEY VENTURES FUND
Sure Ventures made a EUR7million commitment to Sure Valley
Ventures Fund ('Sure Valley') representing an interest in Sure
Valley of approximately 25.9%. This commitment was made at a price
of EUR1.00 per share. The current NAV of the Sure Valley Ventures
ICAV is EUR1.40 which is a 4.76% decrease from its NAV as at Q1
2022.
Sure Valley has several investments across the AI, AR, VR and
IoT sectors and the major contributing factors and commentary on
underlying companies that has driven this NAV calculation are as
follows:
GetVisibility
This software delivers visibility over unstructured data, e.g.
Word documents or pdfs, for enterprises, by automatically,
accurately and precisely scanning and classifying the data to a
corporate taxonomy using artificial intelligence (AI) at scale (NLP
and Neural Networks). The software enables customers to find,
protect and remediate issues with sensitive/confidential and
regulated data. Getvisibility also integrates into data protection
solutions like Azure Information Protection (AIP) from Microsoft to
allow customers to apply protection automatically (removing the
need for manual intervention by staff).
GetVisibility have made some key customer wins, has opened a new
US West Coast Office in San Francisco, California and has be
awarded the Horizon Europe Seal of Excellence. The product role out
is positive and we are very pleased with their progress and look
forward to sharing more news in the Q4 update.
Smarttech247
Smarttech247 is a multi-award-winning MDR (Managed Detection
& Response) company and a
market leader in Security Operations. Trusted by global
organizations, Smarttech247 combine
threat intelligence with managed detection and response to
provide actionable insights, 24/7
threat detection, investigation, and response. Smarttech247's
service is geared towards proactive
prevention and this is done by utilizing the latest in cloud,
big data analytics and machine learning,
along with Smarttech247's industry leading incident response
team.
Smarttech 247 has now listed on AIM on the 15(th) of December
2022 at a valuation of GBP36.8m raising GBP3.67m from investors and
will us the cash injection to fund its continued international
growth. The Company is profitable and cash generative and has
achieved significant revenue growth in FY21 (20% over projected
revenue and 50% growth compared to FY20) and expects continued
growth in FY22.
Smarttech247 has a diverse portfolio of blue-chip customers that
includes pharmaceutical, technology, industrial and services
companies. The Company has demonstrated a return on investment for
clients that have implemented its platform. Forrester Consulting
determined that the VisionX product provides in excess of a 300%
ROI and EUR2 million net of present value (NPV), providing
customers with a "payback" on investment within 6 months.
Smarttech247 is highly focused on innovation and operational
excellence and has exciting plans to continue to expand its
Research and Development department in order to further enhance its
security technologies. Two new proprietary technologies ThreatHub
and VisionX were launched in 2022, in addition to NoPhish in
2021.
EveryAngle-New Investment
We are pleased to announce a new investment completed by the
first Sure Valley Ventures fund ("SVV1") in EVERYangle Ltd, trading
as EVERYANGLE, a Dublin-based, computer-vision company that helps
physical retailers, hospitality venues, and convenience service
stations to optimise operations.
EVERYANGLE has raised EUR2.7 million in a seed fundraise which
will be used to accelerate sales, invest in ongoing product
development and drive further expansion in the US and UK. The
funding round was led by Sure Valley Ventures, Act Venture Capital
and Furthr VC (formerly DBIC Ventures), with participation from
Enterprise Ireland.
EVERYANGLE's platform uses computer vision and machine learning
to analyse CCTV footage rapidly and cost effectively at-scale to
help retailers, hospitality and fuel station operators gain rich
in-store customer insights, reduce loss and optimise their
operations. The company plans to increase its headcount over the
next 24 months with recruitment underway for key hires in machine
learning, data science, software engineering, product management
and sales. EVERYANGLE has developed strategic go-to-market
partnerships with major vendors including Cisco and SAP, global
distributors such as TD Synnex, as well as international reseller
partners including CDW and WWT. These extensive partnerships enable
EVERYANGLE to serve sectors such as retail, hospitality,
manufacturing and healthcare, with customers including Mulberry,
Peloton and Oxford Industries.
Listed holdings
Equity markets have been volatile, and both Engage XR (EXR.L)
and Immotion PLC (IMMO.L) traded lower on a quarter-on-quarter
basis. The AIFM are happy with both positions and are long term
investors.
Immotion PLC
With revenue of GBP4.4m for the first half of 2022, almost
double the same period last year (and exceeding that of our
seasonally stronger H2 last year) the strength of our core LBE
business is being demonstrated clearly and I am excited by its
growth prospects.
The decision to focus all our efforts on LBE is delivering
results and with the disposal of Uvisan and the spin out of HBE now
agreed in principle we can, as we move through the remainder of H2,
focus our planning and resources on accelerating growth of our core
LBE partner estate.
We believe that considerable growth opportunities lie ahead of
us in both the aquarium sector, where we are now a well-established
player, and in the zoo market where we have taken our initial steps
in what should be an even larger market.
ENGAGE XR
Interim results in September 2022 showed that the business was
trading well with total revenue for the Group up c.41% to EUR1.76m
(H1 2021: EUR1.25m ), ENGAGE revenue up 62% to EUR1.46m (H1 2021:
EUR0.90m) with the Unaudited gross margin 81% in H1 2022 (H1 2021:
80%) and net cash of EUR4.9m as at 30 June 2022.
While interest remains strong in ENGAGE, the Board expects that
the Group will be behind current market consensus expectations for
2022 in terms of revenue and EBITDA loss. The Board currently
expects to report Group revenues for the year to 31 December 2022
of between EUR3.5m and EUR4.0m with an EBITDA loss of between
EUR5.6m and EUR5.9m reflecting the increased headcount in the
Group. ENGAGE revenues are expected to have increased by at least
70% year on year and now represent approximately 86% of the Group's
revenues.
SURE VALLEY VENTURES ENTERPRISE CAPITAL FUND
Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV") has led a GBP3m seed round in
Opsmatix Systems Limited trading as Jaid ("Jaid"), an innovative
technology firm providing AI-powered human communication solutions,
marking the fund's second investment. The proceeds of the funding
will be used to expand its industry-leading machine learning team,
build out business development efforts across America and Europe
and expand into Asia.
Jaid is a rapidly growing company that provides AI as a Service
(AIaaS) solutions to businesses to automate a variety of use cases,
including client service automation, sales automation, payment
exception processing, and claims administration processing. Jaid's
technology helps businesses reduce costs, improve efficiency, and
make data-driven decisions.
This will now appear in our NAV calculation of the Q4 update
which we will release in February 2023.
Sure Ventures PLC NAV
The Sure ventures PLC NAV at the end of September 2022 sits at
124.09p. This represents a 1.32% decrease across the period, down
from 125.75p per share at the end of Q2. This decrease represents
costs and changes to the value of its listed holdings in Engage XR
and Immotion PLC.
Forward looking statement & Director comment
When calculating the NAV for both Sure Valley Ventures and Sure
Ventures PLC we do not re-rate an unlisted investee company
valuation unless there is a funding round priced by another
investor. The nature and stage of the software companies that we
invest requires patience and we are now starting to see these
businesses mature at a strong pace. The pipeline of deals for Sure
Valley V entures Enterprise Capital fund remains robust despite the
market conditions
Gareth Burchell comment
"The market back-drop and specifically the technology sector has
had a hard year in 2022. The Sure Ventures NAV has remained strong
given this backdrop and several of the investments in the fund are
starting to attract interest from larger, more acquisitive players
in their relevant verticals.
We welcome two new investments in Everyangle (SVV1) and Jaid
(Enterprise Capital fund) both of which have been funded from
current cash. The listing of Smarttech247 will of course be
represented in our Q4 NAV, but we are pleased with the injection of
capital and look forward to being updated with its progress."
For further information, please visit www.sureventuresplc.com or
contact:
Gareth Burchell
Sure Ventures plc
+44 (0) 20 7186 9918
Notes to Editors
Sure Ventures plc listed on the London Stock Exchange in January
2018 giving retail investors access to an asset class that is
usually dominated by private venture capital funds. Sure Ventures
is focusing on companies in the UK, Republic of Ireland and other
European countries, making seed and series A investments in
companies with first rate management teams, products which benefit
from market validation with target revenue run rates of at least
GBP400,000 over the next 12 months. Website:
https://www.sureventuresplc.com/
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END
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