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Immotion Group IPO as interest in VR continues to skyrocket

Sure Ventures backed Immotion Group have today listed on AIM after announcing their intent to list officially last week. Immotion Group are striving to become the market leader in ‘out of home’ entertainment, combining best in class Virtual Reality with cutting edge motion platforms to create a unique, fully immersive entertainment experience. The state of the art experiences will be offered to consumers in leisure destinations such as shopping centres and family entertainment centres.

Immotion Group was the first direct investment by the entrepreneur led Venture Capital firm, Sure Ventures in April 2018 who specialise in AR, VR and IoT and is led by Chief Investment Officer, Barry Downes.

Speaking of the IPO, Barry Downes commented “As we know, the VR and AR space is booming, and the market is forecast to grow significantly over the next few years. Immotion Group are pioneers in the industry and, with their unique immersive experience, they’re set to fully transform family, out of home entertainment. The team behind Immotion are a group of true innovators and we don’t see anything slowing them down.”

The full operation of Immotion Group incorporates three key areas – Content Creation, Motion Platforms and Proprietary Content Management Systems which allows the company to continue to evolve and offer fresh, high quality content. Within their content creation, Immotion’s subsidiaries, ‘Studios’ and ‘C2K’ have over 20 years of expertise in computer generated animation. Their historic clients include BBC, Toyota and Warner Brothers.

The unique cinema pod motion platforms from Immotion have been developed in exclusive partnership with a Chinese manufacturer which has enabled Immotion to optimise their hardware design and functionality. Whilst their bespoke Content Management System allows the group to analyse experience statistics on each machine in real time in addition to distributing content.

For investors, the revenue model for Immotion has four key channels to market. 1) Motion Platform Sales which will see distribution throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East. 2) Immotion VR, which Immotion will own and operate platforms in shopping malls and high footfall locations, consumers will pay a small fee for the experience. 3) Concessions, through partnership opportunities with high traffic leisure destination partners. VR content will be tailored to suit the location and revenue will be shared with the concession partner. 4) Turnkey & Commercial Solutions which will see Immotion continue to offer immersive solutions for commercial clients as well as larger turnkey VR solutions.

Speaking of the IPO, Rob Wiegold from Shard Capital Stockbrokers said “This is a very interesting sector and we feel Immotion have the right management team in place to drive this model forward. There has been significant appetite in the IPO from investors and should the company be able to take advantage of their current pipeline, we see it being a very interesting 12-18 months ahead.”

As virtual and augmented realities become more accessible, there’s no surprise that the industry is seeing exponential growth. The VR industry in the UK alone is set to be worth £353.3 million by 2020, up a staggering 390% as the industry was worth just £46.4 million in 2016. Globally, the AR and VR market is set to hit US$547.2 billion by 2024 across software and hardware technologies.[1]

For more information on Immotion Group, please contact Shard Capital Stockbrokers on 0207 186 9950 / scsb@shardcapital.com

 

Sources

  1. Transparency Market Research. 2018. Global Virtual and Augmented Reality Market: Snapshot. [ONLINE] Available at https://www.transperancymarketresearch.com/virtual-augmented-reality-market.html. [Accessed 5 July 2018].

 

Important Investment Information: The views above are published solely for information purposes and are not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities, or related financial instruments. It does not constitute advice or a personal recommendation as defined by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs of individual investors. These views are based on public information and sources considered reliable. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Yields are variable and not guaranteed. Investments can fall as well as rise, therefore you could get back less than you invest. If you are unsure about the appropriateness of an investment for your circumstances please seek independent financial advice. Investors should form their own view on any proposed investment. This publication has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is considered a marketing communication. Figures correct as at 5 July 2018 unless otherwise stated. This publication is issued by Shard Capital Partners LLP, 20 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 3BY United Kingdom who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Sure Ventures Plc – Investee Company, Immotion, Lists on AIM

SURE VENTURES PLC (SURE), a venture capital fund which invests in early stage software companies in the rapidly growing financial technology (‘FinTech’), augmented reality (‘AR’), virtual reality (‘VR’), and Internet of Things (‘IoT’) sectors, is pleased to announce that its first direct investee company, Immotion Group PLC (‘Immotion’), listed on AIM today having raised £5.75 million through an oversubscribed placing.

Immotion is a UK-based company focused on becoming a leading participant in the ‘Out of Home’ VR experience market by creating and publishing high quality VR content and combining it with its VR motion platforms to create truly immersive experiences.   Given that this sector is forecast to grow seven-fold to $8bn by 2022, Immotion is well placed to capitalise on its position as a key player in the space; it is already generating revenues through sales with leisure and entertainment operators, concession partners such as Merlin Entertainments, and owned and franchised outlets.

On 24 April 2018 Sure announced that it had invested £500,000 in Immotion at a pre-money valuation of £8 million. Sure is pleased to inform investors that Immotion’s placing and admission to trading on AIM has today been successfully concluded (Ticker IMMO.L).

Immotion raised £5.75 million (gross proceeds) to scale its out of home VR content and platform roll out. The pre-money valuation achieved in the significantly over-subscribed placing was £13 million, which represents an unrealised gain of circa 60% on Sure’s initial investment.

Sure Director, Gareth Burchell, said, “Having invested in Immotion in April this year, we are delighted that it has now listed on AIM, which will further raise its profile and fast-track its strategy focused on building the business across the UK, Europe and the USA.   The placing was significantly oversubscribed, providing further confidence in the sector given that other professional investors have also recognised the opportunity that this company offers.  It operates in a buoyant sector and is one of the few companies in its target markets providing out of home VR experiences. We look forward to watching its progress with interest.”

 

ENDS

 

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

 

Gareth Burchell

Sure Ventures plc

+44 (0) 20 7186 9918

Isabel de Salis / Priit Piip

St Brides Partners (Financial PR)

+44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Immotion

immotion@redleafpr.com

+44 (0) 20 3757 6880

 

Notes to editors:

Sure Ventures plc listed on the London Stock Exchange in January 2018, giving retail investors access to an asset class that is usually dominated by private venture capital funds. The Company aims to provide investors with a diversified exposure to three rapidly-growing markets: augmented reality/virtual reality, FinTech and Internet of Things.  Sure is focusing on companies in the UK, Republic of Ireland and other European countries, making seed and series A investments in companies with first rate management teams, products which benefit from market validation with target revenue run rates of at least £400,000 over the next 12 months. 

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

 

About Immotion

Immotion is UK-based company focused on creating superior out-of-home immersive virtual reality experiences in Europe and the USA.

Website: http://www.immotiongroup.com/

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

Immotion Group PLC – Admission and First Day of Dealings. Placing to raise £5.75 million

Immotion Group Plc (“Immotion Group” or the “Group”), the UK-based immersive virtual reality (“VR”) ‘Out of Home’ entertainment business, is pleased to announce that the Admission and trading of its Ordinary Shares will take place today at 8.00am on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (“AIM”). The Company will be trading under the ticker symbol IMMO.

 

Highlights

·      £5.75 million gross proceeds raised through the placing of 57,500,000 new Ordinary Shares at 10p per share, in a significantly oversubscribed placing through WH Ireland Ltd and Shard Capital Partners LLP – the number of ordinary shares in issue will be 195,351,590

·      Upon Admission, the Group will have a market capitalisation (at the Placing price of 10p per Ordinary Share) of approximately £19.54m

·      Funds will be used to implement Immotion Group’s strategy to become a leading participant in the ‘Out of Home’ VR experience market by creating and publishing high quality VR content and combining it with its VR motion platforms to create truly immersive experiences

·      The ‘Out of Home’ VR experience market is forecast to grow eight-fold to $8bn by 2022

·      Immotion generates revenues through the delivery of high quality “state of the art” VR experiences, combined with cutting edge motion platforms to consumers at an affordable price point through a range of routes:

Sales – sale of VR Motion Platforms to Leisure and Entertainment operators provide the opportunity for the operator to drive substantial ancillary revenues
Concession partners – currently installed at Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston, USA and Genting Resorts World in Birmingham, with further sites under agreement – this channel provides an opportunity for its partners to earn ancillary revenues, as well as providing an exciting additional attraction to their facilities
Owned and franchised outlets, trading as Immotion VR, located in high footfall shopping centres – first retail store in Bristol (opened in December) has seen growing revenues, and has enjoyed 100% 5* reviews on TripAdvisor
·      “Create, Publish and Distribute” model – Immotion Group’s award winning creative studios are creating exciting VR content for its motion platforms, published using its proprietary Content Management System

·      Established by Martin Higginson and David Marks, two highly experienced technology and media entrepreneurs, with Sir Robin Miller as Chairman

Martin Higginson, Chief Executive Officer of Immotion Group, said: “In combining award-winning storytelling, CGI production and precise motion synchronisation, Immotion Group can deliver experiences that are not easily replicable in the ‘in home’ market. We have already experienced a very positive reaction from consumers, many of whom are trying VR for the first time, and from business partners who see the strong potential for our VR platforms to provide a new revenue opportunity.

“The five star reviews received from our retail customers, along with the early sales of motion platforms and a successful launch experienced by our Concession Partner, Merlin Entertainments’ Lego Discovery Center in Boston, have given us confidence in the market and our strategy to deliver on the opportunity. We believe that this IPO will enable us to build momentum and achieve our goal to build the business across the UK, Europe and USA in what is an exciting, fast growing market.”

To view the Company’s Admission Document, please visit: https://immotion.co.uk/

 

Enquiries:

Immotion Group

Martin Higginson

Tel: +44 (0) 161 235 8505

 

WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)

Adrian Hadden

Jessica Cave

Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666

 

Shard Capital Partners LLP (Joint Broker)

Damon Heath

Erik Woolgar

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9900

 

Redleaf Communications (Financial PR)

Elisabeth Cowell

Robin Tozer

Ian Silvera

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 6880

Immotion@redleafpr.com

 

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