October 2018 – Sure Ventures

Sure Ventures Plc – Portfolio Update

Posted on 26th October 2018 by shardadmin

Sure Ventures plc, a London listed venture capital fund which invests in early stage software companies in the rapidly growing financial technology (‘fintech’), augmented reality (‘AR’), virtual reality (‘VR’), and Internet of Things (‘IoT’) sectors, is pleased to provide an update on its investment portfolio.

SUIR VALLEY VENTURES

Sure Ventures made a 4.5 million commitment to Suir Valley Ventures Fund (‘Suir Valley’) representing an interest in Suir Valley of approximately 22.167% (assuming no other funding commitments are made). This commitment was made at a price of €1.00 per share; the last recorded Suir Valley dealing NAV as at 20 August 2018 was recorded at €1.1583 per share.

Suir Valley has several investments across the fintech, AR, VR and IoT sectors:

· Immersive VR Education plc – http://immersivevreducation.com/

Immersive VR Education listed on the Alternative Investment Market in March. Its signature Titanic VR experience has now been launched on all major VR platforms and its ‘Berlin Blitz’ VR recreation of a British bombing raid in the Second World War premiered at the Venice Film Festival to positive reviews. Its founders, husband and wife team David and Sandra Wheldon, were recently nominated for EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.

· WarDucks – www.warducks.com

WarDucks, a Dublin based VR games studio which has created a number of top-ranking VR games, recently launched its popular Rollercoaster Legends II on PlayStation VR. WarDucks also launched the alpha version of the AR powered mobile game called ‘My Smooshy Mushy’ that’s built around the characters of Smooshy Mushy, the hit children’s toy brand.

· Wia – www.wia.io

Wia Studios is a new professional IoT engineering service which assists companies in bringing IoT to their organisation. Wia provides a six-week prototyping process, where Wia takes care of idea exploration, definition, concept ideation, product build, user experience and installation.

· ProVision – www.provisioncameramatics.com

The IoT based fleet manage system continued to develop its advanced technology and expand its client base of more than a hundred fleets across the UK and Ireland. Its technology provides remotely accessible IoT solutions to manage and reduce fleet risk, enhance driver safety, increase fleet efficiencies and help operators comply with growing governance and compliance regulations. The technology combines high quality vehicle camera and tracking technology linked to advanced cloud software. ProVision’s most advanced products can issue warnings such as flagging driver fatigue, mobile phone use, collision dangers, lane departure and driver distractions, ultimately improving road safety and helping companies with compliance requirements.

· NDRC Arc Labs – http://www.arclabs.ie/

Suir Valley secured a partnership deal with a leading EU Accelerator, the Research and Development Centre at the Waterford Institute of Technology, which is expected to provide first look deal flow for Suir Valley. The accelerator is expected to produce 30 companies in Suir Valley’s focus sectors over the next two years and the fund will have the first refusal right to invest in any of these companies.

· Artomatix – https://artomatix.com/

Suir Valley led a €2.7 million investment round in Artomatix which provides AI powered software that reduces the time needed to create 3D art by as much as 80%, thereby significantly reducing users’ production costs. This technology could be game changing for the industry – the computer graphics market is expected to reach $US212 billion by the end of 2023. Artomatix will use the funds to accelerate its market delivery worldwide.

DIRECT INVESTMENTS

Investments made directly by Sure Ventures plc:

· Immotion PLC (‘Immotion’), a UK based company that creates its own high-quality VR content and enhances the immersive experience by coupling this content with motion simulation, is the only direct investment made by Sure Ventures to date, with a £500,000 investment made in February 2018. As previously announced, Immotion listed on the Alternative Investment Market in July 2018, at a price that represented a notable uplift in the value of Sure Venture’s original investment. Immotion has made continued progress, rolling out VR centres in Yorkshire, Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle, Derby and Uxbridge. It has also created new proprietary content (such as Delta zero) and a branded roller coaster experience for the Lego discovery centre in Manchester.

Sure Ventures Director, Gareth Burchell said, “We are extremely pleased with the progress our fund has made thus far Suir Valley Ventures has built a well balanced portfolio with exposure to several exciting and rapidly growing companies. Our investments have grown at a healthy rate which we believe provides an encouraging outlook for further investments in our chosen sectors. We are especially pleased with the successful IPO of our first direct investment, Immotion PLC, that came to fruition just a short few months after cash deployment. I look forward to providing further updates as further investments are made by Sure Ventures directly and by Suir Valley Ventures Fund and the current investee companies continue to develop.”

ENDS

For further information, please visit www.sureventuresplc.com or contact:

Gareth Burchell	Sure Ventures plc	+44 (0) 20 7186 9918
Priit Piip/ Isabel de Salis	St Brides Partners (Financial PR)	+44 (0) 20 7236 1177

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. The Company aims to provide investors with a diversified exposure to three rapidly-growing markets: augmented reality/virtual reality, fintech and Internet of Things. 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 £400,000 over the next 12 months. Website: https://www.sureventuresplc.com/

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

Sure Ventures Plc – Net Asset Value: September 2018

Posted on 26th October 2018 by shardadmin

Sure Ventures Plc, a venture capital fund which invests in early stage software companies in the rapidly growing Financial Technology (‘fintech’), Augmented Reality (‘AR’), Virtual Reality (‘VR’), and Internet of Things (‘IoT’) sectors, is pleased to announce its unaudited, estimated NAV per share for the period as at the 30^th of September 2018.

The NAV as at the 30^th of September 2018 stands at 101.6p, which represents a 5.6% increase from the June 2018 NAV calculation, reported to the market on the 20^th of August 2018.

The Board is happy with the progress made year to date and looks forward to keeping investors informed as the investment strategy outlined in the prospectus continues to be executed by the appointed Investment Manager Shard Capital AIFM LLP.

For further information, please visit www.sureventuresplc.com or contact:

Gareth Burchell	Sure Ventures plc	+44 (0) 20 7186 9918
Priit Piip / Isabel de Salis	St Brides Partners (Financial PR)	+44 (0) 20 7236 1177

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. The Company aims to provide investors with a diversified exposure to three rapidly-growing markets: augmented reality/virtual reality, FinTech and Internet of Things. Sure 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 +£400,000 over the next 12 months.

Website: https://www.sureventuresplc.com/

Suir Valley Ventures (‘Suir Valley’ or ‘the Company’) Investment in AI software company Artomatix

Posted on 8th October 20181st February 2019 by shardadmin

Suir Valley Ventures, the entrepreneur-led venture capital fund launched in partnership with Shard Capital Partners LLP to invest in early stage software companies across a range of verticals including augmented/virtual reality (‘AR/VR’), the Internet of Things (‘IoT’) and FinTech, has led a €2.7 million investment in Artomatix, a ground-breaking Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) start-up delivering software for 3D content creation. This is Suir Valley’s sixth investment in innovative technology companies including: AIM listed educational VR business, Immersive VR Education; leading IoT cloud platform, Wia; accelerator NDRC@Arclabs; reality games developer, WarDucks; and IoT fleet and driver management systems company, ProVision.

Overview

Artomatix has developed revolutionary, award-winning, patented software proven to reduce by as much as 80% the time needed for the creation of 3D art used in digital production
Buoyant computer graphics market expected to reach US$212 billion by the end of 2023
Recent report cites Artomatix as a major industry player, alongside NVIDIA, Pixar, Adobe Systems and others
New funds will be used to accelerate Artomatix’s market delivery worldwide

Artomatix is an award-winning AI software firm with offices in London, Dublin and San Francisco that has radically changed how 3D content gets created across multiple verticals; its patented software has been proven to reduce the time needed for expensive 3D art creation by as much as 80%.

Real-world scans are increasingly becoming the gold standard way to generate high-end 3D content in games, movies, industrial prototyping and interior design, enabling studios to deliver ground-breaking results. From facial-scanning footballers’ facial expressions in Fifa 19, to creating full-length walking Muppets in the ‘HappyTime Murders’, photogrammetry unlocks the key to incredible content, however, end results can often take months or even years to deliver and are expensive.

Artomatix uses neural-nets to drastically reduce the time needed to handle many aspects of the scan-based artistic workflow. It has been exciting 3D artists at AAA Studios around the globe, who took note when NVIDIA awarded the firm $100K and the label of most promising start-up in 2015. Since that time, it has been further developing its software and building its client base; it is now focused on using the new funds totalling €2.7 million to accelerate its market delivery worldwide.

Artomatix operates in a high growth sector. According to a 2018 report by Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLP, the computer graphics market is expected to reach US$212 billion by the end of 2023 (up from US$151 billion the year before), due to hyper growth in demand, driven by new platforms like AR/VR, increasing internet penetration and smartphone usage. A mushrooming media and entertainment industry is driving demand for high end software solutions, alongside new demand from automotive and industrial design sectors. The same report cites Artomatix as a major industry player, alongside NVIDIA, Pixar, Adobe Systems and others.

Suir Valley Ventures Managing Partner, Barry Downes, said, “We believe Artomatix not only complements our existing portfolio, it also allows us to access the new convergence of 3D design and AI. Its technology is about to significantly change every industry exposed to 3D content, cutting costs, speeding up the rendering process and enabling the creation of truly ground-breaking graphics.

Artomatix CEO, Joe Blake, said, “The really exciting thing for me is to see the 3D design concepts that have been pioneered in the entertainment space now become standard for product design and visualisation within mainstream industries like fashion, furniture and automotive. With an increasingly global audience, this investment will allow us to scale rapidly, and reach those international markets.”

– ENDS –

For further information, please visit https://suirvalleyventures.com or contact:

Simon Hughes	Share Capital	+44 (0) 20 7186 9918
Isabel de Salis / Priit Piip	St Brides Partners (Financial PR)	+44 (0) 20 7236 1177
Emily Ross	Artomatix	emily@inkvine.ie

Notes to Editors

Suir Valley Ventures is an entrepreneur-led venture capital fund launched in Ireland in 2017, which invests in early stage software companies across Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT) and FinTech sectors. Suir Valley Ventures works in partnership with Shard Capital, which is London based independent financial services company offering a full range of broking, asset management and corporate capital services. Investments include:

Immersive VR Education plc – http://immersivevreducation.com/
WarDucks – warducks.com
Wia – wia.io
ProVision – provisioncameramatics.com
NDRC@Arclabs – www.ndrc.ie
Artomatix – https://artomatix.com/

Artomatix is an award-winning AI software company that helps to automate the 3D artistic workflow. Based in Dublin, Ireland, and with offices in the UK and the US, Artomatix was founded by Dr. Eric Risser, an expert in the combined fields of artificial intelligence and computer graphics. Since its inception in 2014, Artomatix has won NVIDIA’s Early Stage Challenge (2015, $100k), reached the top 2.5% of TechCrunch Disrupt (2015) and the top 0.8% of Hello Tomorrow (2015). In March 2017, Artomatix closed a seed round of €2.1m which included €1.5m for the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 SME programme. Artomatix will open a second US office in 2019.

Sure Ventures plc – Holding(s) in Company

Posted on 4th October 20181st February 2019 by shardadmin

TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings

NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR HOLDINGS (to be sent to the relevant issuer and to the FCA in Microsoft Word format if possible)ⁱ

1a. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attachedⁱⁱ:			Sure Ventures plc
1b. Please indicate if the issuer is a non-UK issuer (please mark with an “X” if appropriate)
Non-UK issuer
2. Reason for the notification (please mark the appropriate box or boxes with an “X”)
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights						N/A
An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments
An event changing the breakdown of voting rights
Other (please specify)ⁱⁱⁱ:
3. Details of person subject to the notification obligation^iv
Name			Harris & Sheldon Investments Ltd
City and country of registered office (if applicable)			Kingsland House, 122-124 Regent Street, London, W1B 5SA
4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if different from 3.)^v
Name
City and country of registered office (if applicable)
5. Date on which the threshold was crossed or reached^vi:			3 October 2018
6. Date on which issuer notified (DD/MM/YYYY):			4 October 2018
7. Total positions of person(s) subject to the notification obligation
	% of voting rights attached to shares (total of 8. A)	% of voting rights through financial instruments (total of 8.B 1 + 8.B 2)		Total of both in % (8.A + 8.B)	Total number of voting rights of issuer^vii
Resulting situation on the date on which threshold was crossed or reached	7.6675%			7.6675%	4,564,748
Position of previous notification (if applicable)	0			0

8. Notified details of the resulting situation on the date on which the threshold was crossed or reached^viii
A: Voting rights attached to shares
Class/type of shares ISIN code (if possible)		Number of voting rights^ix					% of voting rights
		Direct (Art 9 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.1)		Indirect (Art 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.2.1)			Direct (Art 9 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.1)		Indirect (Art 10 of Directive 2004/109/EC) (DTR5.2.1)
Ords of £0.01 each (GB00BYWYZ460)		350,000					7.6675%


SUBTOTAL 8. A

B 1: Financial Instruments according to Art. 13(1)(a) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.3.1.1 (a))
Type of financial instrument		Expiration date^x	Exercise/ Conversion Period^xi			Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/converted.			% of voting rights



			SUBTOTAL 8. B 1

B 2: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect according to Art. 13(1)(b) of Directive 2004/109/EC (DTR5.3.1.1 (b))
Type of financial instrument	Expiration date^x		Exercise/ Conversion Period ^xi		Physical or cash settlement^xii			Number of voting rights	% of voting rights



					SUBTOTAL 8.B.2

9. Information in relation to the person subject to the notification obligation (please mark the applicable box with an “X”)
Person subject to the notification obligation is not controlled by any natural person or legal entity and does not control any other undertaking(s) holding directly or indirectly an interest in the (underlying) issuer^xiii
Full chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the financial instruments are effectively held starting with the ultimate controlling natural person or legal entity^xiv(please add additional rows as necessary)
Name^xv	% of voting rights if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold	% of voting rights through financial instruments if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold	Total of both if it equals or is higher than the notifiable threshold






10. In case of proxy voting, please identify:
Name of the proxy holder
The number and % of voting rights held
The date until which the voting rights will be held

11. Additional information^xvi
LEI: 213800XNE27OBFVN5X04

Place of completion
Date of completion

END

Sure Ventures Plc – Result of Annual General Meeting

Posted on 1st October 20181st October 2018 by shardadmin

Sure Ventures announce that at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 27 September 2018, all the Resolutions contained in the Notice of the AGM were duly passed on a show of hands.

The total number of shares in issue at 6pm on Wednesday 25^th September 2018 was 3,510,000 ordinary shares. 11.68 % of voting capital was instructed.

Copies of all special resolutions numbered 11 to 12 will be made available for inspection from the National Storage Mechanism, situated at: http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm.

The results of the AGM will be available shortly via the following – www.sureventuresplc.com/documents

For further information about this announcement please contact:

Shard Capital Partners

+44 (0) 207 186 9914