Risk warning: The value of investments and derived income can fall. Investors may get back less than they invested.

Issue of Equity 2023

RNS Number : 4613M | Sure Ventures PLC | 12 January 2023

Sure Ventures PLC-Issue of Equity

Sure Ventures plc (“the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has raised gross proceeds of  £ 200,000 by way of a private placing.  This represents the issue of 191,387 new Ordinary Shares at 104.5p a share. This was the closing mid-price on the 11th of January 2023.

The money will be used for further investments, follow-on investment in Sure Valley Ventures (ICAV), the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software technology fund and general working capital purposes. The Investment has been made by one Institutional Investor.

Application has been made in respect of Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Specialist Funds Segment of the Main Market of London Stock Exchange plc (“Admission”).  Admission will become effective and dealings in the Ordinary Shares will commence at 8:00 a.m. (London time) on and around the 18th of January 2023.

Following Admission, the Company will have 6,646,472 Ordinary Shares in issue. The total number of voting rights of the Company will be 6,646,472. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company.  

For further information, please contact:

Issuer

 

Sure Ventures plc

Gareth Burchell

0207 186 9900

 

Placing Agent

 

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP

Damon Heath

0207 186 9900

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Portfolio Update Q3 2022

RNS Number : 6953K | Sure Ventures PLC | 23 December 2022

Portfolio Update Q3 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 €7million 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 €1.00 per share. The current NAV of the Sure Valley Ventures ICAV is €1.40 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 amarket leader in Security Operations. Trusted by global organizations, Smarttech247 combinethreat intelligence with managed detection and response to provide actionable insights, 24/7threat detection, investigation, and response. Smarttech247’s service is geared towards proactiveprevention 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 15th of December 2022 at a valuation of £36.8m raising £3.67m 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 €2 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 €2.7 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 £4.4m 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 €1.76m (H1 2021: €1.25m ), ENGAGE revenue up 62% to €1.46m (H1 2021: €0.90m) with the Unaudited gross margin 81% in H1 2022 (H1 2021: 80%) and net cash of €4.9m 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 €3.5m and €4.0m with an EBITDA loss of between €5.6m and €5.9m 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 £3m 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 Ventures 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 £400,000 over the next 12 months. Website: https://www.sureventuresplc.com/

Results of AGM 2022

RNS Number : 6694Z | Sure Ventures PLC | 15 September 2022

 

Sure Ventures PLC

Results of AGM 2022

 

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). The results of the AGM held on the 14th of September 2022 at 70 St Mary’s Axe, London EC3A 8BE:

  • All resolutions contained in the notice of the AGM were duly passed on a show of hands
  • The number of shares represented at the meeting an voted on were 316,255

Copies of all special resolutions numbered 10 to 11 will be made available for inspection from the National Storage Mechanism, situated at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

The results of the AGM will be available shortly on the Company’s website at www.sureventuresplc.com/documents

For further information about this announcement please contact:

Apex Fund Services (Ireland) Ltd: +353 156 79210

Company Secretary

 

Shard Capital AIFM LLP: +44 (0) 207 186 9914

AIFM

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP: +44 (0) 207 186 9914

Placing Agent

 

Computershare Investor Services PLC: +44 (0) 370 707 4023

Registrar

Portfolio Update Q2 2022

RNS Number : 6293ZZ | Sure Ventures PLC | 15 September 2022

Sure Ventures plc (‘Sure Ventures’ or ‘the Company’)

Portfolio Update Q2 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 €7million 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 €1.00 per share. The current NAV of the Sure Valley Ventures ICAV is €1.47 which is a 2.836%% 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:

Admix/Landvault

Admix merged with Landvault, a builder in metaverse worlds like The Sandbox and Decentraland as it pivots to Web 3. The combined company will be known as Landvault. By merging with Laundvault, Admix aims to become a go-to service provider for major intellectual property holders and brands enabling big companies across all industries to enter the metaverse and be monetised with Admix’s in-game advertising technology.

Admix completed a re-organisation of the team and also have integrated the LandVault Management Team. This strategic move has led to a significantly improved margins and they have been successful in winning clients with major world wide brands.

 

GetVisibility

In March 2022 Getvisibility closed a Series A round of €10,000,000 led by AIC which included

Fortino Capital and as well as follow-on investment from Sure Valley Ventures, Pires Investments and Manifold Investments Limited among others.

Getvisibility has also expanded its pipeline by $6M and has onboarded 31 new channel partners across 7 countries. Getvisibility recently expanded its product offering by adding Google’s platform capabilities and a new Data Breach Risk report which will help businesses measure and benchmark their security and data governance capabilities.

 

Volograms

The mobile AR market is forecast to grow from the one billion compatible devices and over $8 billion in revenue in 2019 to 2.5 billion compatible devices and $60 billion in revenue by 2024. The Volograms mobile product will enable mobile phone users to take AR pictures and videos, then view, edit and share them with others. This can be done directly or through social media platforms. Thus, the product is an end user or consumer product but the planned route to market will be through mobile OEMs.

We believe that Volograms is opening a new market category for AR photos and video. This category should have much greater appeal for content creators and social media users than the existing static 3D content solutions on offer

 

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. Both listed entities are producing strong revenue growth and market adoption.

Immotion PLC: the company’s LBE business is currently enjoying very strong trading in the key summer period, with unaudited July 2022 revenue of £1.3m being the division’s best ever month. This takes unaudited LBE revenue for the seven months to 31 July 2022 to £5.7m, a 78% increase from £3.2m in the equivalent period in 2021.

completed two small-scale installations at Chester Zoo and Legoland Discovery Center Philadelphia and so the Group now has 488 seats across 54 locations. The Group has visibility on a pipeline of new sites and additional seats at certain existing sites. Should all these developments materialise, the Directors expect that the Group will comfortably pass the 500 seat mark by the end of H2 2022.

ENGAGE XR reported their Interim results for the period to June 2022 and were inline with market expectations. Total revenue for the Group up c.41% to €1.76m (H1 2021: €1.25m) with Engage revenue up 62%. The gross margin sits at a very healthy 81% and the company had 4.9m Euros of cash.

The number of commercial customers has increased to over 180 since ENGAGE’s launch in May 2019 with over 50 customers added in 2022. US Partner VictoryXR has launched 10 ‘Metaversities’ funded by Meta and built on the ENGAGE platform and now has 24/5 customer support with teams in the US, Australia, and Europe available to support customers.

 

SURE VALLEY VENTURES ENTERPRISE CAPITAL FUND

During the first quarter of 2022 Sure Ventures PLC also made a commitment of £5m to the Sure Valley Ventures Capital Fund. The fund has launched, and the first investment was made in a company called RETìníZE on the 16th of March 2022.

Retinize are developing an innovative software product called Animotive that is harnessing the latest VR technologies to transform the 3D animation production process. The proceeds of the seed round will drive the next two-year step in its growth and the global rollout of Animotive.

The seed round, led by the SVV Software Fund’s £1 million investment, marks the first investment from this fund which recently announced its first close of £85 million, which included a cornerstone £50 million investment from the British Business Bank, an investment arm of the UK Government.

 

Sure Ventures PLC NAV

The Sure ventures PLC NAV at the end of June 2022 sits at 125.75p. This represents a 2.443% decrease across the period, down from 128.9p per share at the end of Q1. 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 ventures Enterprise Capital fund remains robust.

 

Gareth Burchell comment

“Sure Valley Ventures and its portfolio of deep technology companies continue to perform well in what are difficult economic circumstances. There are a number of our companies that are looking to their next stage growth, scaling up the commercialisation of their product offering and we are confident of continued growth in Q3 2022 ”

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

Gareth Burchell

Sure Ventures plc

+44 (0) 20 7186 9918

Unaudited Interim Report and Financial Statements

RNS Number : 1529K | Sure Ventures PLC | 19 December 2022

Unaudited Interim Report and Financial Statements

For the six months ended 30 September 2022

Company Number: 10829500

Table of Contents

 

  1. Chairman’s Statement
  2. Investment Manager’s Report6
  3. Interim Management Report10
  4. Alternative Performance Measures (“APMs”) 12
  5. Financial Statements 14

Condensed Statement of Comprehensive Income 15

Condensed Statement of Financial Position 16

Condensed Statement of Changes in Equity 17

Condensed Statement of Cash Flows 18

Notes to the Condensed Interim Financial Statements 19

 

 

 

Chairman’s Statement

Dear Shareholders,

On behalf of my fellow directors, I am delighted to present the interim results of Sure Ventures plc (the “Company”) for the six months ended 30 September 2022.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

The Company’s performance for the half year to 30 September 2022 returned a net asset value (“NAV”) total return per share of -3.73% (30 September 2021: +16.47%), in line with expectations.

The performance remains largely unchanged from the impressive full year results to 31 March 2022, due to no changes in valuation of the underlying portfolio of unlisted investee companies.

The listed investments of the Company in ENGAGE XR Holdings plc (formerly known as VR Education Holdings plc) (“ENGAGE”) and Immotion Group plc (“Immotion”) have mirrored the sentiment of the stock market and macro-economic environment in general which has been volatile throughout the period. The cause of this volatility has been well documented with Covid, the war in Ukraine and higher interest rates. Market sentiment has been the main driver of the share performance of these listed holdings with ENGAGE trading marginally higher in the period and Immotion returning an unrealised loss, accounting for the slight drop in the Company’s half year NAV. At the time of writing, the share price in ENGAGE has further recovered while Immotion remains lower.

The Board is not overly concerned with the volatile price movements of ENGAGE and Immotion, as unlisted investments represent by far the greater proportion of the Company’s portfolio and there have been no grounds for any portfolio impairment since the Company’s launch.

In the period to 30 September 2022, the Company’s NAV attributable to shareholders increased steadily to £8.01m, with only a limited marketing strategy being employed by the Investment Manager.

The Company’s share price continues to trade a discount to its last published NAV, of around 14%. This is entirely normal for listed investment trusts. As a reflection of investor appetite, in June 2022 the Company was able to raise new subscriptions through a private placing at the mid-market share price, thus validating its share price.

PORTFOLIO UPDATE – FUND I

The Company holds 25.9% in Sure Valley Ventures Fund I, the first Sub-Fund of Suir Valley Fund ICAV (“Fund I”). The total commitment to Fund I was €7m (the Company increased its initial commitment from €4.5m in September 2019), of which €6.1m (87%) has been drawn down as at 30 September 2022.

The Company also holds direct investments outside of Fund I, in Immotion, a listed immersive virtual reality (“VR”) entertainment group and VividQ Limited, a privately owned deep technology company pioneering the application of holography in augmented reality (“AR”) and VR. The Fund I portfolio includes one listed entity, ENGAGE, a developer of VR software and immersive experiences with a specific focus on education. As at 30 September 2022, through its holding in Fund I, the Company has exposure to a further fifteen privately held companies in the AR, VR, internet of things (“IoT”) and artificial intelligence (“AI”) space. Fund I made its final portfolio investment in July 2022 in Everyangle, the Dublin based AI company focusing on the manipulation of CCTV and computer vision applications, transforming the video data into clear, actionable solutions.

PORTFOLIO UPDATE – FUND II

In March 2022, the Company announced its commitment of £5m to the Sure Valley Ventures Enterprise Capital Fund, of which £133k (3%) has been drawn down against this commitment as at 30 September 2022. This is a £85m first close of a total £95m UK software technology fund, investing in AR, VR and the Metaverse, including AI, IoT and Cybersecurity in investee companies throughout the UK (“Fund II”). The British Business Bank is the £50m cornerstone investor through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme and it is envisaged that investment in up to 25 software companies will be made during the investment period. The Company’s decision to invest in Fund II should ensure its future growth and success.

As at 30 September 2022, the first portfolio Fund II investment of £1m has been made in Retinize, a Belfast-based creative tech company developing an Animotive software, harnessing VR technology to transform the 3D animation process.

 

PORTFOLIO UPDATE – FUND II (CONTINUED)

Further information on the investment portfolio is provided in the report of the Investment Manager which follows this statement.

COMMITMENTS AND FUNDING

As previously mentioned, in 2019, the Company announced an increase in subscription to Fund I of €2.5m taking its total commitment to €7m, thereby increasing its share in the Fund from 21.6% to 25.9%. This commitment was made shortly before the Fund closed to new subscribers validating the Company’s belief that the Fund I portfolio is at a mature stage and, with several investee companies preparing for further funding rounds, there is demonstrable potential for further uplifts to occur from initial valuations.

The Company’s commitment to Fund II is £5m over the duration of the Fund’s investment period and the forecast capital calls throughout the investment period was a key consideration prior to agreeing to the Company’s commitment to Fund II.

The Company believes that it will have sufficient access to funding to meet its commitments to the Fund I and to its anticipated commitments to Fund II over the terms of each Fund’s investment cycle, through a combination of available cash, anticipated subscriptions and access to undrawn facilities.

INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT

The Investment Manager has built a robust and varied portfolio of investee companies for Fund I, adding complimentary business in diverse sectors through its portfolio construction. New funding rounds and portfolio uplifts witnessed in the full year to 31 March 2022 are expected to continue into the remainder of the current financial year, as well as potential exit strategies being explored and anticipated over the next 1-2 years. The first investment in Fund II was made in the period and the current investment environment is likely to benefit the Investment Manager’s entry points, as initial investment valuations are expected to be negotiated lower.

Despite the global investment environment and volatile markets, investor appetite for early-stage technology companies remains strong. Ground-breaking advances in technology are critical to future long term economic growth. Labour issues and compressed profit margins provide even more reason to invest in technology. The investments the Company holds have shown considerable success to date and are in an excellent position to stimulate continued investor enthusiasm.

The Company believes that its strategy of early-stage seed investment in its chosen verticals continues to be a growth area, and to a certain degree, is immune to many factors that influence the performance of larger technology companies. The Company is conscious that the due diligence process utilised in the construction of Fund I needs to be equally rigorous in the Investment Manager’s portfolio selection for Fund II. The Board is confident that the disciplined investment process employed by the Investment Manager will continue to produce enhanced shareholder returns.

DIVIDEND

During the period to 30 September 2022, the Company has not declared a dividend (30 September 2021: £nil). Pursuant to the Company’s dividend policy the directors intend to manage the Company’s affairs to achieve shareholder returns through capital growth rather than income. The Company does not expect to receive a material amount of dividends or other income from its direct or indirect investments. It should not be expected that the Company will pay a significant annual dividend, if any.

GEARING

The Company may deploy gearing of up to 20% of net asset value (calculated at the time of borrowing) to seek to enhance returns and for the purposes of capital flexibility and efficient portfolio management. The Company’s gearing is expected to primarily comprise bank borrowings but may include the use of derivative instruments and such other methods as the Board may determine. During the period to 30 September 2022 the Company did not employ any borrowing (30 September 2021: £nil).

The Board will continue to review the Company’s borrowing, in conjunction with the Investment Manager on a regular basis pursuant with the Company’s overall cash management and investment strategy.

CAPITAL RAISING

On 31 May 2022, the Company announced a placing of 441,860 ordinary shares that were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange on 10 June 2022, under the existing ISIN: GB00BYWYZ460, taking the total shares in admission as at 30 September 2022 to 6,455,085.

The Investment Manager’s Report following this Statement gives further detail on the affairs of the Company. The Board is confident of the long-term prospects for the Company in pursuit of its investment objectives.

OUTLOOK

Global markets, and in particular the technology sector, are experiencing turbulent times, with valuations of large, listed stocks coming under selling pressures throughout 2022. As outlined above, the Company is not concerned by the selling pressures in listed stocks and it believes its strategy of portfolio investing in diverse, early-stage technology companies with proven revenue streams in the high growth areas of its chosen verticals is still on track to generate significant returns over the investment horizons of the respective investment funds, including its direct investments. The Investment Manager continues to explore routes to market and potential exits of Fund I investee companies, as well as continuing to identify suitable additions for Fund II, utilising its proven due diligence filter process. The Company is confident that there will be more positive developments in the remainder of the current financial year to announce for Fund I and Fund II, as well as other potential investment opportunities.

Perry Wilson

Chairman

13 December 2022

 

2    Investment Manager’s Report

 Investment Manager’s Report

THE COMPANY

 

Sure Ventures plc (the “Company”) was established to enable investors to gain access to early stage technology companies in the four exciting and expansive market verticals of augmented reality and virtual reality (“AR/VR”), artificial intelligence (“AI”), Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things (“IoT”).

 

The Company gains access to deal flow ordinarily reserved for venture capital funds and ultra-high net worth angel investors, establishing a diversified software-centric portfolio with a clear strategy. Listing the Fund on the London Stock Exchange offers investors:

 

  • Relative liquidity
  • A quoted share price
  • A high level of corporate governance

 

It is often too expensive, too risky and too labour intensive for investors to build a portfolio of this nature themselves. We are leveraging the diverse skillsets of an experienced management team who have the industry network to gain access to quality deal flow, the expertise to complete extensive due diligence in target markets and the entrepreneurial skills to help these companies to mature successfully. Those investing in the Company will get exposure to Sure Valley Ventures which in turn makes direct investments in the above sectors in the UK & Ireland.

 

Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

The Immersive Technologies market has had a significant growth boost during COVID 19 (Netflix or video games for example) and AR/VR is no exception. The AR/VR market was valued at $14.84 billion in 2020 by Allied Market Research and is projected to reach $454.73 billion by 2030, registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (“CAGR”) of 40.7%. Growth of the mobile gaming industry and increase in internet connectivity act as the key drivers of the global AR and VR market. In addition, increase in use of consumer electronic devices is expected to fuel the global AR/VR market growth. Meta is a key player in VR, has had great success with its Quest 2 VR headset and plans to launch a new high-end metaverse headset in Q2 this year, along with Apple which is expected to launch an AR and VR headset before the end of the year, both of which will help accelerate growth in the market even further.

 

Internet of Things

MarketsandMarkets also forecasts that the post-COVID 19 global IoT market size is expected to grow from USD 300.3 billion in 2021 to USD 650.5 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 16.7% from 2021 to 2026. The major factors fueling the IoT market include access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology, availability of high-speed connectivity, increase in cloud adoption, and Increasing use of data processing and analytics. Moreover, increase in smart city initiatives worldwide, increase in connected devices to drive the growth of IoT, and emerging 5G technology to help IoT adoption, globally would provide lucrative opportunities for IoT vendors.

 

Cybersecurity

Grand View Research reports that the global cybersecurity market size was valued at USD 184.93 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 12.0% from 2022 to 2030. The increasing number of cyber-attacks with the emergence of e-commerce platforms, deployment of cloud solutions, and proliferation of smart devices are some of the factors driving the market growth. Cyber threats are anticipated to evolve with the increase in usage of devices with intelligent and IoT technologies. As such, organisations are expected to adopt and deploy advanced cyber security solutions to detect, mitigate, and minimise the risk of cyber-attacks, thereby driving the market growth.

 

Artificial Intelligence

MarketsandMarkets forecasts the global artificial intelligence (“AI”) market size to grow USD 58.3 billion in 2021 to USD 309.6 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 39.7% during the forecast period. Various factors such as growth of data-based AI and advancement in deep learning and need to achieve robotic autonomy to stay competitive in a global market are expected to drive the adoption of the AI solutions and services.

 

 

The benefit of investing in companies in these four key sectors at a Seed stage are that:

 

  • Sure Valley Ventures can invest in these companies at attractive valuations of between £2 to £8m and get up to 20% of the company for initial investment amounts of between £0.75m to £1.25m.
  • The investment sectors (AR/VR, IoT, AI, and Cybersecurity) have massive growth potential ahead of them which creates a tailwind behind the companies that are creating these new markets.
  • These sectors are also ones that have the potential of creating the next big European Companies and build on Europe’s existing technology strengths.
  • These companies have the potential to get to exponential growth and of achieving an IPO or being acquired by one of the Silicon Valley giants who are all investing in these sectors.
  • The Sure Valley Ventures Platform and Network can help fast-track the development of these companies across the chasm to the Series A investment round, which in turn increases the potential for an outsized return and also reduces the risk of the failure of a portfolio company.

 

In summary, Sure Ventures plc can gain exposure to all of these benefit through its participation in the Sure Valley Ventures Funds, as further outlined below.

 

PORTFOLIO BREAKDOWN

 

On 6 February 2018, the Company entered into a €4.5m commitment to Sure Valley Ventures (“Fund I”), the sole sub-fund of Suir Valley Funds ICAV and its investment was equalised into Fund I at that date. On 31 August 2019, a further €2.5m was committed to Fund I, taking the total investment in Sure Valley Ventures to €7m. The first drawdown was made on 5 March 2018 and as at 30 September 2022, a total of €6,118,839 had been drawn down against this commitment.

 

On 26 April 2019, the Company made a direct investment of £500,000 into VividQ Limited, a deep tech start-up with world leading expertise in 3D holography. This investment represents the second direct investment of the Company, alongside Immotion Group Plc, which was announced on 24 April 2018.

 

On 25 February 2022, Sure Ventures plc committed to invest £5m into the second fund of Sure Valley Ventures (“Fund II”).  Fund II completed an £85m first close of a £95m UK software technology fund, which aims to increase the supply of equity capital to high-potential, early-stage UK companies. The first drawdown was made on 23 February 2022 and as at 30 September 2022, a total of £133,500 had been drawn down against this commitment.

 

As detailed in the Statement of Position included in the following financial statements, these two Sure Valley Ventures Fund investments alongside the two direct investments, represent the entire portfolio of Sure Ventures plc as at 30 September 2022.

 

On 31 May 2022, the Company announced a placing of 441,860 ordinary shares. The ordinary shares were admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Segment of the London Stock Exchange on 10 June 2022, under the existing ISIN: GB00BYWYZ460, taking the total shares in admission as at 30 September 2022 to 6,455,085.

 

SUIR VALLEY FUNDS ICAV

 

Suir Valley Funds ICAV (the ”ICAV”) is a close-ended Irish collective asset-management vehicle with segregated liability between sub-funds incorporated in Ireland pursuant to the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act 2015 and 2020 constituted as an umbrella fund insofar as the share capital of the ICAV is divided into different series with each series representing a portfolio of assets comprising a separate sub-fund.

 

The ICAV was registered on 18 October 2016 and authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a qualifying investor alternative investment fund (“QIAIF”) on 10 January 2017. The initial sub-fund of the ICAV is Sure Valley Ventures, or Fund I, which had an initial closing date of 1 March 2017. Fund I invests in a broad range of software companies with a focus on companies in the AR/VR, AI and IoT sectors.

 

As at 30 September 2022, Fund I had commitments totaling €27m and had made seventeen direct investments into companies spanning the AR/VR, AI and IoT sectors. One of these investments was sold in 2019, giving Fund I its first realised gain on exit of around 5X return on investment. On 12 March 2018, Immersive VR Education Limited, Fund I’s first investment, completed a flotation on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) and the Dublin Stock Exchange (ESM). The public company is now called ENGAGE XR Holdings Plc – ticker EXR (formerly VR Education Holdings plc). EXR was the first software company to list on the ESM since that market’s inception. In July 2020, following an improvement in share price, Fund I decided to sell sufficient shares to recover its initial investment. This resulted in a realised gain of €73k being payable to Sure Ventures plc, along with its share of the initial investment, and some escrow funds from the aforementioned exit. The final escrow payment from the sale was settled in July 2021, seeing another €151k flowing to the plc. Total distributions from Fund I to the plc as at 30 September 2022 was €1,759,630.

 

SURE VALLEY VENTURES ENTERPRISE CAPITAL FUND

 

Sure Valley Ventures Enterprise Capital Fund is a close-ended UK based GP/LP Fund which completed its first close on 1 March 2022. The total commitments for this first close were £85m, with potential for a further £10m to be raised in a secondary close. The British Business Bank are the cornerstone investor of this Fund, committing £50m of the initial £85m, with Sure Ventures plc committing a total of £5m.

 

Fund II has a similar investment strategy to Fund I, being a seed capital investor in high growth software companies that are focused on bringing a disruptive innovation to market. It plans to invest into 25 software companies from across the UK through its new fund. As well as being based in London, Dublin, and Cambridge, the Sure Valley team has recently opened an office in Manchester to help access deals in the significant and exciting innovation clusters that have developed around creative technologies in the North of England and in the Metaverse and AI opportunities in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.

 

As at 30 September 2022, the Fund had drawn down a total of £2.27m and has made its first investment into a Belfast based company called Retinize, for an amount of £1m. The total invested capital to date for Sure Ventures plc was £95,000.

 

PERFORMANCE

 

In the period to 30 September 2022, the Company’s performance remained strong, as it returned a net asset value of £1.24/unit, representing a 4% decline from the audited March-22 NAV of £1.29p. The NAV remains largely unchanged as a result of minimal fluctuations in valuation of any of the portfolio companies from year end, against a backdrop of the usual cost base. The two direct investments have have mixed results, with Immotion Group plc, closing the period at 2.8p, down from 4.7p at the year-end; indicative of a tough few months in the public markets and wider economy.  VividQ remains unchanged, having closed a new funding round to give Sure Ventures plc an unrealised gain of 59% on its initial holding in the previous financial year. Given the lack of revenue to support the ongoing operational costs of the plc, these unrealised gains are key to maintaining a steady NAV, until the point that we see more exits and realised gains.

 

FUTURE INVESTMENT OUTLOOK

 

Fund I has achieved one very positive realised gain, recovered its full investment in its listed portfolio company, as well as seeing a number of unrealised gains across the portfolio. The portfolio of current investments is continuing to mature, with more companies completing series A funding rounds, which has started to provide the NAV growth that was set out to achieve from inception. As the investment period of this Fund draws to a close, there are no more new investments to be made, with all remaining capital being allocated to follow-on funding of existing investments, as these companies continue to grow and provide Fund I with opportunities to exit.

 

We remain confident in the future outlook of the Company in the remaining half of this financial year and in line with the Prospectus, particularly with the launch of the new Enterprise Capital Fund, whilst also reserving the right to make further direct investments provided there is sufficient working capital to do so.

 

 

 

Shard Capital AIFM LLP

Investment Manager

28 October 2022

 

3    Interim Management Report

Interim Management Report

The report below together with the Chairman’s Statement, Investment Manager’s Report and related party disclosures in the notes to the financial statements constitute the Interim Management Report for the six months ended 30 September 2022.

 

Principal risks and uncertainties

The principal risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business are divided into the following main areas:

 

  • Operational risks, including risks associated with reliance on third party service providers, reliance on key individuals at the Investment Manager and fluctuations in the market price of the Company’s shares;
  • Investment risks, including risks associated with the investment objective, borrowing and liquidity of investments; and
  • Regulatory risks, including risks associated with maintenance of investment trust status and compliance with applicable legislative obligations.

The above risks are described further in the Company’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2022 together with measures that have been put in place to mitigate and manage those risks.

 

In the view of the directors, the principal risks and uncertainties reported in the latest Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2022 remain unchanged and will be applicable to the remaining six months of the financial year.

GOING CONCERN

The Board and the Investment Manager believe that the operational viability and going concern status of the Company remains intact and will continue for the next financial 12 months ahead and foreseeable future. The Board has no concerns in regards to the ongoing existence of the Company.

 

The Board is also satisfied that the key service providers have the ability to continue to operate efficiently in a remote or virtual working environment.

STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The directors confirm that, to the best of their knowledge that:

 

  1. a) the condensed set of unaudited financial statements contained within the half-yearly financial report have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard (“IAS”) 34, Interim Financial Reporting as required by the Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.2.4R, and give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities and financial position of the Company;

 

  1. b) the Interim Management Report includes a fair review, as required by Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.2.7R, of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year, their impact on the condensed set of unaudited financial statements, and a description of the principal risks and perceived uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and
  2. c) the Interim Management Report includes a fair review of the information concerning related parties’ transactions as required by Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.2.8R.

 

For and on behalf of the board of directors

 

Perry Wilson

Chairman

 

 

 

 

 

13 December 2022

 

4    Alternative Performance Measures (“APMs”)

 

Alternative Performance Measures (“APMs”)

APMs are often used to describe the performance of investment companies although they are not specifically defined under UK-adopted international accounting standards. Calculations for APMs used by the Company are shown below.

ONGOING CHARGES

A measure expressed as a percentage of average net assets, of the regular, recurring annual costs of running an investment company, calculated in accordance with the AIC methodology.

Period ended 30 September 2022

 

Average NAV (£’000) a £8,064
Recurring costs (£’000) b £336
b/a 4.17%

 

PREMIUM/(DISCOUNT)

The amount, expressed as a percentage, by which the share price is more than the NAV per share.

As at 30 September 2022

 

NAV per ordinary share a 124.00p
Share price b 108.00p
Premium/(Discount) (b-a)/a (12.90%)

 

TOTAL RETURN

A measure of performance that includes both income and capital returns. This takes into account capital gains and reinvestment of any dividends paid out by the Company, with reinvestment on ex-dividend date.

Year ended 31 March 2022

 

NAV Share price
Opening as at 31 March 2022 (p) a 128.91 102.00
Closing at 30 September 2022 (p) b 124.00 108.00
Dividend reinvestment factor c 1 1
Adjusted closing (d = b x c) d 124.00 108.00
Total return (d-a) / a (3.81)% 5.88%

 

 

 

5    Financial Statements

 

Condensed Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the six months ended 30 September 2022 (unaudited)

Notes Revenue

£

Capital
£
Total
£
Income
Other net changes in fair value on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss (12,816) (12,816)
Rebate management fee 50,694 50,694
Total net income/(loss) 50,694 (12,816) 37,878
       
Expenses
Management fee (50,628) (66) (50,694)
Custodian, secretarial and administration fees (54,714) (54,714)
Other expenses (125,036) (125,036)
Total operating expenses (230,378) (66) (230,444)
       
Loss before taxation and after finance costs (179,684) (12,882) (192,566)
Taxation
Loss after taxation (179,684) (12,882) (192,566)
     
Deficit per share 6 (2.87) (0.21) (3.08)

For the six months ended 30 September 2021 (unaudited)

Notes Revenue

£

Capital
£
Total
£
Income
Other net changes in fair value on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss  

912,687 912,687
Other income 128,800 128,800
Total net income 1,041,487 1,041,487
 
Expenses
Custodian, secretarial and administration fees (48,259) (48,259)
Other expenses (101,100) (101,100)
Total operating expenses (149,359) (149,359)
 
Profit/(loss) before taxation and after finance costs (149,359) 1,041,487 892,128
Taxation
Profit/(loss) after taxation (149,359) 1,041,487 892,128
 
Earnings per share 6 (2.48) 17.32 14.84

 

The total comprehensive income and expense for the period is attributable to shareholders of the Company. The accompanying notes on pages 19 to 21 form part of these condensed interim financial statements.

Condensed Statement of Financial Position

As at 30 September 2022                                                                                             

Notes 30 September 2022

(unaudited)

£

31 March 2022

(audited)
£

Non-current assets
Investments held at fair value through profit or loss 7 8,000,187 7,516,667
8,000,187 7,516,667
 
Current assets
Receivables 1,600
Cash and cash equivalents 83,398 282,178
83,398 283,778
 
Total assets 8,083,585 7,800,445
 
Current liabilities
Other payables (73,305) (48,849)
(73,305) (48,849)
Total assets less current liabilities 8,010,280 7,751,596
Total net assets 8,010,280 7,751,596
Shareholders’ funds
Ordinary share capital 8 64,882 60,132
Share premium 6,215,280 5,768,780
Revenue reserves (1,495,372) (1,315,688)
Capital reserves 3,225,490 3,238,372
Total shareholders’ funds 8,010,280 7,751,596
 
Net asset value per share   124.09 128.91

 

The accompanying notes on pages 19 to 21 form part of these condensed interim financial statements.

The financial statements on pages 15 to 18 were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on                  13 December 2022. The financial statements were signed on its behalf by:

 

 

 

Perry Wilson, Chairman

 

Condensed Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 30 September 2022 (unaudited)

Ordinary

Share

Capital

£

Share

Premium

 

£

Revenue

Reserves

 

£

Capital

Reserves

 

£

Total

Reserves

 

£

Total

Equity

 

£

For the year ended 31 March 2022  60,132  5,768,780  (1,315,688)  3,238,372  1,922,684  7,751,596
Ordinary shares issued  4,750  470,250  475,000
Ordinary shares issue costs  (23,750)  (23,750)
Loss after taxation (179,684) (12,882)  (192,566)  (192,566)
Dividends paid in the period  –  –  –  –  –  –
Balance at 30 September 2022 64,882 6,215,280 (1,495,372) 3,225,490 1,730,118 8,010,280

For the six months ended 30 September 2021 (unaudited)

Ordinary

Share

Capital

£

Share

Premium

 

£

Revenue

Reserves

 

£

Capital

Reserves

 

£

Total

Reserves

 

£

Total

Equity

 

£

For the year ended 31 March 2021  53,507  5,146,030  (1,026,510)  752,737  (273,773)  4,925,764
Ordinary shares issued  6,625  655,875  –  –  –  662,500
Ordinary shares issue costs  –  (33,125)  –  –  –  (33,125)
Profit/(loss) after taxation  –  – (149,359) 1,041,487 892,128  892,128
Dividends paid in the period  –  –  –  –  –  –
Balance at 30 September 2021  60,132  5,768,780  (1,175,869)  1,794,224 618,355 6,447,267

 

The accompanying notes on pages 19 to 21 form part of these condensed interim financial statements.

 

Condensed Statement of Cash Flows

For the six months ended 30 September 2022

Notes 30 September 2022

(unaudited)

£

30 September 2021

(unaudited)

£

Cash flows from operating activities:
(Loss)/profit after taxation (192,566) 892,128
Adjustments for:
Decrease in receivables 1,600
Increase/(decrease) in payables 24,456 (17,718)
Unrealised profit on foreign exchange 7 (200,393) (23,856)
(Profit)/loss on sale of investment   (2,773)
Net changes in fair value on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 7 213,208 (885,336)
Net cash (outflow) from operating activities (153,695) (37,555)
 
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of investments 7 (496,335) (894,541)
Sale of investments 7 261,360
Net cash (outflow) from investing activities (496,335) (633,181)
 
Cash flows from financing activities:
Proceeds from issue of ordinary shares 475,000 662,500
Share issue costs (23,750) (33,125)
Net cash inflow from financing activities 451,250 629,375
 
Net change in cash and cash equivalents (198,780) (41,361)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 282,178 1,255,199
Net cash and cash equivalents   83,398 1,213,838

 

The accompanying notes on pages 19 to 21 form part of these condensed interim financial statements.

Notes to the Condensed Interim Financial Statements

1)  GENERAL INFORMATION

Sure Ventures plc (the “Company”) is a company incorporated in England and Wales (registration number: 10829500) on 21 June 2017 and commenced trading on 19 January 2018 upon listing. The registered office of the Company is International House, 36-38 Cornhill, London, United Kingdom, EC3V 3NG.

The Company is an investment company within the meaning of section 833 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Company operates as an investment trust in accordance with Chapter 4 of Part 24 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 and the Investment Trust (Approved Company) (Tax) Regulations 2011. In the opinion of the directors, the Company has conducted its affairs so that it is able to maintain its status as an investment trust. Approval of the Company’s application for approval as an investment trust was received from HMRC on 22 November 2018, applicable from the accounting period commencing 1 April 2018.

The Company is an externally managed closed-ended investment company with an unlimited life and has no employees.

The information set out in these unaudited condensed interim financial statements for the period ended 30 September 2022 does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 435 of Companies Act 2006. Comparative figures 31 March 2022 are derived from the financial statements for that year. The financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and contain an unqualified audit report and did not contain a statement under emphasis of matter or statements under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2022 are available upon request from the Company’s registered office at International House, 36-38 Cornhill, London, United Kingdom, EC3V 3NG.

2)  BASIS OF ACCOUNTING

The financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. They do not include all the information required for the full annual financial statements, and should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2022. The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial information in these unaudited condensed interim financial statements are unchanged from those used in the Company’s financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022. This report does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with IFRS.

3)  ESTIMATES

The preparation of the unaudited condensed interim financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenses. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

In preparing these unaudited condensed interim financial statements, the significant judgement made by management in applying the Company’s accounting policies and the key sources of estimation were the same as those that applied to the Company financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 March 2022.

4)  FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT

The Company’s financial risk management objectives and policies are consistent with those disclosed in the Company financial statements as at and for the year ended 31 March 2022.

 

5)  TAXATION

As an investment trust the Company is exempt from corporation tax on capital gains. The Company’s revenue income is subject to tax, but offset by any interest distribution paid, which has the effect of reducing that corporation tax to nil. This means the interest distribution may be taxable in the hands of the Company’s shareholders.

6)  EARNINGS PER SHARE

For the six months period ended 30 September 2022 Revenue
(pence)
Capital
(pence)
Total
(pence)
Earnings per ordinary share (2.87)p (0.21)p (3.08)p
For the financial year ended 31 March 2022
Earnings per ordinary share (4.92)p 42.28p 37.36p

 

The calculation of the above is based on revenue returns of (£179,684) (31 March 2022: (£289,178)), capital returns of (£12,882) (31 March 2022: £2,485,635) and total returns of (£192,566) (31 March 2022: £2,196,457) and weighted average number of ordinary shares of 6,252,264 (31 March 2022: 5,878,910) as at 30 September 2022.

7)  INVESTMENTS AT FAIR VALUE THROUGH PROFIT OR LOSS

As at 30 September 2022

£

As at 31 March 2022
£
 Opening cost
Opening fair value 7,516,667 3,724,611
 
Purchases at cost 496,335 1,693,939
Sales (261,361)
Realised gain 2,773
Unrealised (loss)/gain (213,208) 2,406,989
Unrealised gain/(loss) on foreign exchange 200,393 (50,284)
Closing fair value 8,000,187 7,516,667

 

8)  ORDINARY SHARE CAPITAL

The table below details the issued share capital of the Company as at the date of the Financial Statements.

Issued and allotted No. of shares

30 September

 2022

No. of shares
31 March
 2022

 

Ordinary Share Capital

30 September

 2022
£

Ordinary Share Capital

31 March 2022
£

Ordinary shares of 1 penny each 6,455,085 6,013,225 64,882 60,132

On incorporation, the issued share capital of the Company was £0.01 represented by one ordinary share of £0.01.  Redeemable preference shares of 50,000 were also issued with a nominal value of £1 each, of which 25% were paid. The redeemable shares were issued to enable the Company to obtain a certificate of entitlement to conduct business and to borrow under section 761 of the Companies Act 2006. The redeemable shares were redeemed on listing from the proceeds of the issue of the new ordinary shares upon admission on 19 January 2018.

The following table details the subscription activity for the period ended 30 September 2022.

30 September 2022 31 March 2022
Balance as at 31 March 2022 6,013,225 5,350,725
Ordinary shares issued 441,860 662,500
Balance as at 30 September 2022 6,455,085 6,013,225

During the period ended 30 September 2022, all proceeds from this issue was received (31 March 2022, all proceeds from this issue was received).

9)  RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS AND TRANSACTIONS WITH THE MANAGER

Directors – There were no contracts subsisting during or at the end of the period in which a director of the Company is or was interested and which are or were significant in relation to the Company’s business. There were no other transactions during the period with the directors of the Company. The directors do not hold any ordinary shares of the Company.

At 30 September 2022, there was £1,291 (31 March 2022: £1,445) payable to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) for taxes on the directors fees and expenses.

Manager – Shard Capital AIFM LLP (the ‘Manager’), a UK-based company authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, has been appointed the Company’s manager and authorised investment fund manager for the purposes of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Details of the services provided by the Manager and the fees paid are given in the Prospectus dated 17 November 2017.

During the period the Company incurred £50,694 (31 March 2022; £87,219) of fees and at 30 September 2022, there was £nil (31 March 2022: £Nil) payable to the Manager.

During the period the Company paid £23,750 (31 March 2022: £33,125) of placement fees to Shard Capital Partners LLP.

During the period the Company paid £6,110 (31 March 2022: £12,000) (excluding VAT) of corporate broking retainer fees to Shard Capital Partners LLP.

The Company has an investment in Sure Valley Ventures Fund, the sub-fund of Suir Valley Funds ICAV and Sure Valley Ventures Enterprises Capital LP, amounting to £7,028,893 and £64,668 respectively.

10)  SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

There were no subsequent events which would require disclosure in the financial statements.

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.

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END

 

TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings

RNS Number : 1673S | Sure Ventures PLC | 12 July 2022

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 attached ii: 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  
   
  X
   
3. Details of person subject to the notification obligation iv
Name Pires Investments plc
City and country of registered office (if applicable) UK
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: 10/06/2022
6. Date on which issuer notified (DD/MM/YYYY): 12/07/2022
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 held in issuer (8.A + 8.B) vii
Resulting situation on the date on which threshold was crossed or reached 23.3% Nil 23.3% 1,501,000
Position of previous notification (if applicable) 28.0% Nil 28.0%  
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 ofsharesISIN code (if possible) Number of voting rights ix % of voting rights
Direct(DTR5.1) Indirect (DTR5.2.1) Direct(DTR5.1) Indirect(DTR5.2.1)
GB00BYWYZ460 1,501,000 Nil 23.3% Nil
         
         
SUBTOTAL 8. A 1,501,000 23.3%
 
B 1: Financial Instruments according to DTR5.3.1R (1) (a)
Type of financial instrument Expirationdate 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 DTR5.3.1R (1) (b)
Type of financial instrument Expirationdate 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 X
Full chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or thefinancial instruments are effectively held starting with the ultimate controlling natural person or legal entity (please add additional rows as necessary) xiv  
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
 
Place of completion UK
Date of completion 18 July, 2022

Issue of Equity & Change of Address

RNS Number : 5423N | Sure Ventures PLC | 01 June 2022

Issue of Equity & Change of Address

Sure Ventures plc (“the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has raised gross proceeds of £ 475,000 by way of a private placing.  The Ordinary Shares have been issued at 107.5p a share which was the closing mid-price on the 31st of May 2022.

The money will be used for further investments, follow-on investment in Suir Valley Ventures (ICAV) and general working capital purposes.  

Application has been made in respect of Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Specialist Funds Segment of the Main Market of London Stock Exchange plc (“Admission”).  Admission will become effective and dealings in the Ordinary Shares will commence at 8:00 a.m. (London time) on and around the 10th June 2022.

Following Admission, the Company will have 6,455,085 Ordinary Shares in issue. The total number of voting rights of the Company will be 6,455,085. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company.  

The Board would also like to announce that our registered address has now changed to:

International House
36-38 Cornhill
London
EC3V 3NG 

For further information, please contact:

Issuer

 

Sure Ventures plc

Gareth Burchell

0207 186 9900

 

Placing Agent

 

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP

Damon Heath

0207 186 9900

Q1 2022 Portfolio Update

RNS Number : 7744L | Sure Ventures PLC | 7 May 2022

 

Portfolio Update Q1 2022 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 €7million 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 €1.00 per share. The current NAV of the Sure Valley Ventures ICAV is €1.47 which is a 9.99% increase from its NAV as at Q4 2021.

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

Getvisibility successfully raised €10 million in equity from new investors Alpha Intelligence Capital (“AIC”), a global venture capital firm which invests in deep artificial intelligence/machine learning technology-based companies and Fortino Capital Partners (“Fortino”), a leading B2B software venture capital and growth equity firm.  

Certain existing investors, including Sure Valley Ventures and Pires have also made follow-on investments alongside AIC and Fortino and other additional new investors. As part of this funding round, Sure Ventures PLC invested a further 310,773 Euros from existing cash resources as part of the follow-on round.

Getvisibility has made significant progress in both winning customers and identifying customer needs, in what is clearly a requirement that has become “front and centre” to commercial operations across the globe. This round of funding, based on the post funding round valuation of Getvisibility, provides a 4x uplift to our original investment and has been responsible for the NAV uplift.

VIVIDQ

VividQ announced the launch of its latest cutting-edge technology, unveiled for the first time at the SID Display Week Conference in San Jose, California. VividQ’s Alpha Optical Engine Demonstrator displays high-resolution 3D visuals (60 PPD) with excellent contrast and realistic focal depth using Computer-Generated Holography (CGH), the process of engineering light in software.

This new technology allows device manufacturers to test and evaluate VividQ’s innovations in Computer generated holography (CGH) against their AR display specifications and image quality requirements. VividQ is collaborating with device manufacturers from the US, Japan and China to integrate CGH into the next generation of AR devices soon to be available on the market.

 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. Both listed entities are producing strong revenue growth and market adoption.

During the quarter Immotion PLC signed a three-year agreement for the installation of a 24 seat Gorilla Trek VR Theatre at Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. The company also announced full year results showing Revenues for the year increasing by 230% to £9,391,000 and the Group achieved a full year positive adjusted EBITDA[5] result for the first time since its inception of £908,000 (2020: £1,690,000 negative).

ENGAGE XR is also performing well despite the market volatility and Engage platform revenue comprises 72% of total Group revenue. Since the Group’s interim results, ENGAGE has continued to grow, including the recent signing of a contract with one of the world’s leading professional services groups to use the platform. Annual ENGAGE revenue compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is in excess of 100%.

SURE VALLEY VENTURES ENTERPRISE CAPITAL FUND

During the quarter Sure Ventures PLC also made a commitment of £5m to the Sure Valley Ventures Capital Fund. The fund has launched, and the first investment was made in a company called RETìníZE on the 16th of March 2022.

Retinize are developing an innovative software product called Animotive that is harnessing the latest VR technologies to transform the 3D animation production process. The proceeds of the seed round will drive the next two-year step in its growth and the global rollout of Animotive.

The seed round, led by the SVV Software Fund’s £1 million investment, marks the first investment from this fund which recently announced its first close of £85 million, which included a cornerstone £50 million investment from the British Business Bank, an investment arm of the UK Government.

 

Sure Ventures PLC NAV

The funding round secured by Getvisability has had a significant impact on the Company’s NAV and despite a decline in value of the listed assets, the NAV of Sure Ventures PLC has grown from 118.34p a share to 128.9p a share, which represents a 8.923% uplift quarter on quarter.

 

 

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. This quarter has seen another portfolio company complete a follow on round with a 4x original cash uplift and we look forward to updating the market with progress of our portfolio as it continues to grow.

Gareth Burchell comment 

“Sure Valley Ventures and its portfolio of deep technology companies continue to perform in what are difficult economic circumstances. The speed at which some of the growth is starting to come through has the team excited for the future. The NAV is beginning to reflect some of the achievements of our founders and we look forward to updating shareholders with further 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 £400,000 over the next 12 months. Website: https://www.sureventuresplc.com/

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RETìníZE Investment

RNS Number : 9569E | Sure Ventures PLC | 16 March 2022

Sure Ventures plc (‘Sure Ventures’ or ‘the Company’)

First investment of the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund

 

Sure Ventures plc, 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), is pleased to announce its first investment call from Sure Valley Ventures UK Software technology fund.

Further to the Company’s announcement on 2 March 2022, RETìníZE Limited (“RETìníZE”), the award-winning creative-tech company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has successfully raised £2 million in a seed round led by the SVV Software Fund.

RETìníZE is developing an innovative software product called Animotive that is harnessing the latest VR technologies to transform the 3D animation production process. The proceeds of the seed round will drive the next two-year step in its growth and the global rollout of Animotive.

The seed round, led by the SVV Software Fund’s £1 million investment, marks the first investment from this fund which recently announced its first close of £85 million, which included a cornerstone £50 million investment from the British Business Bank, an investment arm of the UK Government.

Other investors in the round, from the UK, USA, Ireland and the Netherlands, include:

  • TechStart Ventures – leading investor of seed capital across Scotland and Northern Ireland, following on from their 2019 pre-seed investment in ​RETìníZE
  • VGC Partners – London based investor building great companies at the intersection of physical and digital commerce
  • Clarendon/Co-fund NI – equity fund based in Northern Ireland that co-invest with business angels and private investors
  • Lonely Horse Investments – investor association based in the Netherlands
  • Bertram van Munster & Elise Doganieri – multi Emmy award-winning producers behind the CBS hit show “the Amazing Race”
  • Ben Morrow – Senior Product Manager, Adobe Aero (Adobe’s AR creation tool)

The SVV Software Fund is a newly established venture capital fund, investing in a range of private UK software companies with a focus on companies in the Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity sectors. The fund is run by the same SVV team which has been highly successful in achieving several cash realisations from, and upward revaluations of, companies in the SVV portfolio.

Gareth Burchell Quote: “Really pleased with the first investment made by the SVV software fund and RETìníZE fits in perfectly with the strategy of the fund. This is creative technology at its best and the £1m seed round will allow the team to rollout their ground-breaking VR animation process on a global basis. The round brings with it a number of highly regarded co-investors, which I believe is testament to the experience, capability and skill that the team at RETìníZE possess”.

Enquiries: Sure Ventures PLC – Gareth Burchell – Director – 0207 186 9951

Corporate Broker: Damon Heath – Shard Capital – 0207 186 9952

Investment in Sure Valley UK Software Tech Fund

RNS Number : 3470D | Sure Ventures PLC | 02 March 2022

Sure Ventures plc (‘Sure Ventures’ or ‘the Company’)

Investment in Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund Alongside the British Business Bank

Sure Ventures plc, 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), is pleased to announce that it has agreed to invest, alongside the British Business Bank (“BBB”), in a new venture capital fund, the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund (the “New SVV Fund”).

Highlights

  • The principal investor in the New SVV Fund is the British Business Bank, an investment arm of the UK Government.  The first close of this fund will amount to £85 million, with the BBB investing up to £50 million and other investors (“Private Investors”), including Sure Ventures PLC, investing up to £35 million over the 10-year life of the fund.
  • The New SVV Fund will invest in a range of private UK software companies with a focus on companies in the Immersive Technology and Metaverse sectors, including Augmented and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and Security.
  • Sure Ventures PLC, will initially be investing circa £90,000, in the New SVV Fund on first close in order to fund the New SVV Fund’s first investment which has already been identified.   It expects to invest up to £5 million in total over the life of the New SVV Fund which would equate to a circa 5.9% interest.
  • The New SVV Fund will be managed by the same Sure Valley Ventures fund (“SVV”) team which, to date, has been highly successful in achieving a number of cash realisations from, and upward revaluations of, companies in the SVV portfolio.
  • The profit share arrangements within the New SVV Fund are designed to encourage the involvement of Private Investors alongside the BBB, meaning that Sure Ventures PLC and the other Private Investors would expect to receive a significantly enhanced profit share of the total return generated by the fund compared to industry standard.
  • This investment will enable Sure Ventures PLC shareholders to gain exposure to exciting, fast growing venture capital investments through a listed company structure with the expectation of an enhanced return which would otherwise be difficult for such investors to achieve.
  • The Company has several sources available to fund this investment over the coming years. These would include a combination of potential realisations from SVV Fund 1, an Equity Subscription Agreement and Loan Agreement, funds from future subscriptions and receipts generated from any sales of listed investments.

Comment from Gareth Burchell

Given the market conditions, raising £35m privately and attracting investment from an organisation such as the British Business Bank is testament to the success and talent of the Sure Valley Ventures team.

The Board recognise this is a very attractive investment opportunity for shareholders in Sure Ventures given that the New SVV Fund is a larger size than SVV Fund 1 which will allow for a more diverse investment portfolio and the structure of the new fund provides for enhanced returns to investors, when compared to the more traditional structure of SVV Fund 1. The existing team from SVV will continue to manage the new fund having demonstrated a proven track record from the returns to date achieved from managing SVV Fund 1.

Fund 2 has been created as part of the BBB’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme that only accepts a very limited number of fund managers on to the programme, so this is a clear validation of the quality of the investment team at SVV”

The British Business Bank (BBB) and Enterprise Capital Funds

The BBB is the largest domestic backer of venture capital funds in the UK. Established in 2006, the Enterprise Capital Funds (“ECF”) programme helps those looking to operate in the UK market to raise venture capital funds specifically targeting early-stage small businesses believed to have long-term growth potential.

The ECF programme combines private and public money to make equity investments into high growth businesses. The aim is to increase the supply of equity to UK growth companies and to lower the barriers to entry for fund managers looking to operate in the venture capital market.  The BBB’s ECF programme only accepts a very limited number of fund managers on to its programme i.e. some 24 fund management groups over the last 16 years since the programme started in 2006.

The BBB specifically invests alongside venture capital funds on terms which improve the outcome for the co-investors. The reason for this clear advantage is simply to encourage venture capital funds to operate in a part of the market where smaller businesses may not be able to access the growth capital they need.

Other well-known fund managers that have been involved with the BBB ECF programme include Dawn Capital, Notion Capital, Amadeus Capital Partners, IQ Capital, and Episode 1.

Details of the New SVV Fund

The New SVV Fund is expected to complete its first close with total investment commitments of £85 million, of which £50 million will be invested by the BBB with the balance of £35 million coming from Private Investors, including financial institutions and family offices. The total investment may, however, increase to £95 million, with the Private Investors investing up to £45 million. Sure Ventures PLC’s investment allocation of £5 million will, however, not be required to increase in these circumstances.

Sure Ventures PLC’s investment commitment over the life of the New SVV Fund will be drawn down in tranches as and when funds are required for investment over the 10 year life of the fund. However, as is similar to the existing SVV fund, any realisations of its investments will be distributed to investors at the time of realisation (as is common with funds of this nature) therefore the return on this investment is expected to be received throughout the life of the fund.

The New SVV Fund will invest in a range of private UK software companies with a focus on companies in the Immersive Technology and Metaverse sectors, including Augmented and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and Security and is aligned with Sure Ventures PLC’s investment strategy.

The Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund has been created under the partnership, Sure Valley Ventures Enterprise Capital LP (“Partnership”).  The Partnership has been constituted under an agreement between Sure Valley General Partner Limited (“GP”) and Sure Valley Ventures Founder LLP (“FP”) to carry on the business of an investor and, in particular, of identifying, negotiating, making, monitoring and realising investments and to carry out all functions and acts in connection therewith.

Shard Capital AIFM LLP has been selected by the GP to act as the Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) of the Partnership and has been appointed by the Partnership to (i) admit Investors to the Partnership and thereafter to operate the Partnership and manage its investments, and (ii) act as Alternative Investment Fund Manager (as defined in the AIFMD) to the Partnership.

The role of Sure Valley Ventures Limited shall include sourcing investors and deal flow for the Partnership, advising the Manager on making investments, and arranging deals in investments for the Partnership. If Sure Valley Ventures Limited or another Associate of the General Partner becomes an Authorised Person permitted under FSMA to act as Manager of the Partnership, it is intended that Sure Valley Ventures Limited or its Associate (as applicable) shall be appointed as AIFM of the Partnership.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this announcement.

 

Enquiries: Sure Ventures PLC

Gareth Burchell: Director – 0207 186 9951

Corporate Broker: Damon heath

Shard Capital: 0207 186 9952