Annual Corporate & Strategy Update

Tekcapital plc

22 December 2023

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company (Companies House registration number 08873361) to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR")s. With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

22 December 2023

Tekcapital Plc

("Tekcapital", the "Company" or "the Group")

Annual Corporate & Strategy Update

Tekcapital Plc (AIM: TEK) the UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating valuable products that can improve people's lives, is delighted to take this opportunity to provide an update on activities in 2023 and the progress towards its objective of achieving a US$100m + valuation for its portfolio companies.

Tekcapital's investment objective is to achieve long-term growth of net assets and returns on invested capital through the commercialisation of university IP that can positively impact people's lives.

We see a clear runway of growth for each of our portfolio companies in the coming year and look forward to reporting progress to shareholders.

Tekcapital intends to maintain material holdings in select portfolio companies until we feel sufficient value has been created to warrant crystallising value for shareholders while balancing the requirements for Tekcapital to support portfolio companies in achieving commercial traction and key milestones.

Dr Clifford Gross, CEO of Tekcapital plc, commented:

'Despite challenging macroeconomic conditions in 2023, we have never been as excited about the near-term commercial opportunities for our portfolio companies, and we expect to report significant additional milestones for them in the coming year. We are grateful for the terrific teams we have assembled, the IP and innovation they have acquired and developed and their steadfast efforts to bring useful and valuable products to market that can make a positive impact on the customers they serve. Further, we are most appreciative of our dedicated shareholders who have made this journey possible. We wish all members of the Tekcapital family a safe and happy festive season."

Strategy Update

·    Tekcapital remains committed to medium and long-term shareholder value creation by identifying university technologies with significant commercial opportunities and the ability to improve the lives of millions of people.

·    Consistent with this important goal, we are continuing to assist MicroSalt in the completion of their planned IPO.

·    In 2024, Tekcapital will support select portfolio companies in accelerating commercial traction and achieving revenue milestones.

·    Tekcapital remains committed to distributing special dividends to shareholders at the appropriate time.

·    MicroSalt recently received wholesale orders from two Fortune-500 companies, one a leading snack food company and the other one of the world's largest pharmacy/food retail chains. Additionally, the company is engaged in late-stage supplier discussions with other major snack food brands which the company hopes to announce in 2024.  

·    Innovative Eyewear, Inc. has launched Nautica® smart eyewear and is on track to launch Eddie Bauer® and Reebok® branded ChatGPT-enabled smart eyewear in 2024, supported by the Lucyd 2.0 ChatGPT enabled voice interface app.

·    Belluscura plc is preparing to meet the demands of licensing agreements and orders with a circa £8m funding package and a strengthened management team.

·    Guident ltd intends to accelerate growth of its Software as a Service (SaaS) Remote Monitoring and Control Centre (RMCC) solution that is currently generating recurring revenues. The Company has engaged a leading US investment bank, Paulsen Investment Company, to raise capital for expanding its RMCC business.  In addition, the company plans to conduct further testing and appraisal of its proprietary Regenerative Shock Absorber technology after completing successful trials with a tier-1 tire company.

·    Tekcapital will continue to seek new investment opportunities that fit the company's long-term objective of creating shareholder value and improving millions of people's lives. Current focus in this regard is on vertical applications of Generative AI technology. To this end Tekcapital has on-boarded two additional science advisors to help screen future acquisition opportunities.

o Dr. Russ Salakhutdinov, the former director of AI at Apple. Russ is a Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Machine Learning at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Toronto. After spending two post-doctoral years at MIT, he joined the University of Toronto and later moved to CMU. He has authored/co-authored over 150 research papers, and was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellow, a recipient of the Early Researcher Award, Google Faculty Award, and Nvidia's Pioneers of AI award and, 

o Alexander Mordvintsev who currently serves as a Senior research scientist at Google and is the inventor of Deep Dream. Alexander is one of the world's leading scientists in AI and computer graphics.   

Portfolio Companies 2023 Review

MicroSalt plc

Highlights:

·    MicroSalt received an initial 60,000 lb commercial volume purchase order with one of the world's largest beverage/snack food companies and is expecting continued, recurring orders going forward.

·    MicroSalt has now delivered its first commercial-volume purchase order from leading pharmacy/food retailer for use on an initial four lines of its own brand salted nuts, to be sold across an initial c.800 stores, as announced on 2 May 2023.

·    MicroSalt filed a Schedule One with the London Stock Exchange with updates, regarding its proposed AIM IPO and is working diligently towards achieving this goal.

·    As announced on 6 February 2023 US Salt entered an agreement with MicroSalt for the distribution and sale of its low-sodium salt.

·    As announced on 31 July 2023 MicroSalt expanded into the Philippines market with new distribution deals with major retailers Healthy Options and S&R, demonstrating global demand for its sodium-reduced snacks.

·    As announced on 7 September 2023 MicroSalt filed a patent for a low-sodium, faster-leavening dough technology using micron-sized salt particles to improve the nutritional profile and production efficiency of baked goods. MicroSalt believes the use of MicroSalt in bread is potentially transformative for the bread industry.

·    As announced on 1 October 2023 MicroSalt secured placement of its SaltMe! low sodium crisps with distributor MR Williams Inc servicing convenience stores across North Carolina, South Carolina, and surrounding states up to Delaware and down to Georgia.

·    As announced on 19 October 2023 Longs Drugs, a leading 70-store drug store chain in Hawaii owned by CVS Health, agreed to place MicroSalt's SaltMe! Crisps in their stores across the state.

·    Since releasing their saltshakers in 2023, more than 400 food stores in the US have purchased and provide MicroSalt saltshakers to their customers.

Belluscura plc

Highlights:

·    On the 5 Oct 2023 Belluscura announced orders and licensing royalty agreements totalling up to potentially US$85m.

·    On the 30 August 2023 Belluscura entered into a ten-year exclusive License, Marketing and Distribution Agreement with its global manufacturing partner, InnoMax Medical Technology covering China, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore worth up to US$55m in potential revenue for Belluscura.

·    On the 5 Oct 2023 Belluscura announced it received interest exceeding 10,000 DISCOV-R™ units with a potential sales value of over US$30 million.

·    On the 20 December 2023 Belluscura received its first approval for the distribution of X-PLOR® portable oxygen concentrator from the Hong Kong Department of Health - Medical Device Division and received its first purchase order from a Hong Kong distributor.

·    On 5 Oct 2023 Belluscura announced a circa £8m growth capital funding package raised by means of a conditional equity placing, a conditional issue of 10% Unsecured Convertible Loan Notes and a proposed share-for-share offer for TMT Acquisition plc.

·    Following the announcement, it has received X-PLOR® approval in Hong Kong, on 13 Dec 2023 Belluscura  further announced it has received approval from the Singapore Health Sciences Authority to distribute the X-PLOR® portable oxygen concentrator in Singapore.

Guident ltd

Highlights:

·    On the 16 June 2023 Guident was awarded funding from Space Florida for a groundbreaking project under the Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership program, together with the Company's valued Israeli partner, NOVELSAT. The project will explore low-orbit satellite connectivity to provide 24/7 back-up monitoring with reduced latency in Remote Monitoring and Control Solutions.

·    On the 24 August 2023 Guident secured a paid proof of concept agreement with a tier-1 OEM, resulting in successful tests and detailed reports for Guident's regenerative shock absorber.

·    Also, on the 24 August 2023 Guident announced it had received and fulfilled its first purchase order from Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) for JTA project to provide remote monitoring and control services and is receiving recuring revenue from JTA.

·    On the 6 Sept 2023 Recognising commercial and funding opportunities in their Regenerative Shock Absorber technology, Guident formed 100%-owned subsidiary ReVive Energy Solutions. Separating their shock absorber technology from RMCC services will support a precision-targeted go-to-market and strategic investor strategy.

·    On the 16 Oct 2023 Guident secured landmark Software as a Service (SaaS) agreements with European partners to provide its Remote Monitoring and Control Centre (RMCC) software for fixed-route electric bus services. Under the terms of the agreement, Guident will receive both upfront and incremental recurring revenue for each software installation.   

Innovative Eyewear Inc.

Highlights:

·    Innovative Eyewear launched the world's first ChatGPT-enabled smart eyewear and filed a patent application covering this important integration.

·    To service the requirements of the world's first AI-enabled smart eyewear with a voice interface, Innovative Eyewear launched its new iOS/Android app called Lucyd.

·    Innovative Eyewear signed licensing agreements with Nautica®, Eddie Bauer® and Reebok® brands for the development of branded ChatGPT-enabled smart eyewear.

·    Nautica-branded smart eyewear powered by Innovative Eyewear's Lucyd technology has launched and will be available in eight styles and will be shipped in January 2024.

·    Innovative Eyewear filed a patent on a key product innovation, flexible spring hinges for smart eyewear. The solution will be used on most Innovative Eyewear ranges, enhancing comfort and open Lucyd smart eyewear up to a wider array of customers.

·    Innovative Eyewear launched the new addition of the Company's cordless charging dock, enabling the simultaneous charging of smart eyewear and other devices, including mobile phones.

·    Innovative Eyewear new transitional blue light blocking lens designed to maximize utility, eye protection and user satisfaction of Lucyd eyewear.

·    With improved ergonomics and large sizes, Innovative Eyewear launched Lucyd Lyte XL in six new styles suited for larger heads.

·    Innovative Eyewear has announced the signing of Emmanuel Ogbah as an official brand ambassador. Ogbah is a Nigerian professional football who plays defensive end for the Miami Dolphins, where he received a US$65m contract in 2022. Lucyd eyewear's open-ear audio interface makes it a perfect companion for outdoor sports, by enabling the user to enjoy music while helping to maintain situational awareness and protecting their eyes from the sun in one convenient product, according to the company.

Corporate Services

Tekcapital's technology transfer service business has demonstrated in the first half of 2023 ~ 30% year over year increase in revenue vs 2022. This consists of both specialist tech-transfer executive search and invention evaluator analytic reports. Key clients include Hewlett Packard Enterprises and MIT amongst many others. In H1 2024 Tekcapital will introduce an upgraded invention evaluator service that will incorporate generative AI produced analytic results, which we believe will add significant additional value, improve operating margins, and add multilingual capabilities to the finished reports.

About Tekcapital plc

Tekcapital creates value from investing in new, university-developed discoveries that can enhance people's lives and provides a range of technology transfer services to help organisations evaluate and commercialise new technologies. Tekcapital is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered in the UK. For more information, please visit www.tekcapital.com.

LEI: 213800GOJTOV19FIFZ85

For further information, please contact:

Tekcapital Plc		Via Flagstaff IR
Clifford M. Gross, Ph.D.
SP Angel  Corporate Finance LLP                                                         (Nominated Adviser and Broker)		[phone]
Richard Morrison / Charlie Bouverat (Corporate Finance) Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)

Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications                                    [phone]

Tim Thompson/Andrea Seymour/Fergus Mellon        

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information herein does not constitute investment advice nor an offer to invest and may contain statements related to our future business and financial performance and future events or developments involving MicroSalt that may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. We may also make forward-looking statements in other reports, in presentations, in material delivered to customers, stakeholders and in press releases. In addition, our representatives may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. Such statements may be based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of Tekcapital's management. Please note that these are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and factors, including, but not limited to those described in various disclosures. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should underlying expectations not occur or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of Tekcapital may vary materially from those described explicitly or implicitly in the relevant forward-looking statement. Tekcapital does not intend, nor assumes any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.

 

END