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