Category: RNS

Sure Ventures plc (the “Company”) announces further information on its investment approach and its entry into a loan facility.

As contemplated in the prospectus published by the Company on 17 November 2017, the Company has made a £5 million commitment to invest in the Suir Valley Venture Fund (the “Fund”), a sub-fund of Suir Valley Funds ICAV.  It is expected that the Company’s commitment to the Fund will be drawn down from time to time over a period of up to four years, dependent on the investment activity of the Fund. The Fund is managed by Shard Capital AIFM LLP (“SCAIFM”) which is also the Company’s manager.

Prior to the full drawdown of the Company’s commitment to the Fund, the cash held by the Company will be utilised in accordance with the Company’s stated investment policy and cash management policy.  The directors, on advice from SCAIFM, consider that it is in the interests of shareholders for the cash held by the Company in respect of its commitment to the Fund to potentially be available for investment in suitable investment opportunities pending draw down by the Fund.

As stated in the Company’s investment policy, the Company will seek to satisfy capital calls on its commitment to the Fund and other investee entities through a combination of reserves, realisation proceeds, borrowings and, potentially, further issues of equity.

In that regard, the Company has entered into a loan facility agreement with Shard Merchant Capital Limited, an associate of SCAIFM, which makes available to the Company a facility of up to £1 million (the “Loan Facility”).  The Loan Facility may be drawn at any time for the purpose of satisfying capital calls or for other working capital purposes.  Amounts borrowed under the Loan Facility are subject to interest charged at a rate of 3 per cent per annum and are repayable within four years of drawdown or (if earlier) on the fifth anniversary of the date of the loan facility agreement.  The Loan Facility will only be utilised in accordance with the Company’s stated borrowing policy.

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 the 31st of December 2018 was E 0.9932

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

· VRE Education Holdings PLC
VR Education Holdings PLC 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 Whelan, were recently nominated for EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. The focus is now on continuing the commercialisation of “Engage” the companies VR education platform that enables content to be shared and taught via VR.

· 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.

· Nova Leah

Nova Leah specialises in developing cybersecurity risk management compliance solutions for the medical device domain. Its first offering, SelectEvidence®, improves the security of connected medical devices and patient safety, and reduces both the costs associated with new cybersecurity regulatory requirements and the likelihood of product recalls and related lawsuits. It operates in a rapidly growing sector, expected to be worth $11 billion by 2020, driven by security concerns and escalating regulations.

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. They company also announced concession deals with the Rank Group and a Middle Eastern partner.

Sure Ventures Director, Gareth Burchell said, “We are pleased with the additional portfolio inclusion of Nova Leah during the investment period and with the progress being made by all of our portfolio companies to date. Volatile and poor market conditions have played a major part in the fall of our NAV calculation this quarter, with the two listed entities suffering from illiquidity and small scale selling. The deal flow the AIFM is seeing is still robust and we are happy with the long term strategy of providing investors value by investing in software companies in three high growth areas”.

ENDS