EMV Capital (AIM:EMVC) earlier this week announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed £1.5 million fundraising round, conducted at a 15% premium to the market price.
The company attributed this success to strong shareholder support and its robust business model, even amid challenging market conditions.
The funding will primarily focus on expanding EMV Capital (AIM:EMVC)’s fund management practice, launching new funds, and supporting its Venture Build program.
The company, which manages £100 million in assets, has a portfolio of 70 companies and aims to reach £200 million in assets under management by 2025. It has £40 million-plus in direct balance sheet holdings, which it expects to grow.
Here, we take a closer look at what was said.
Proactive: Congratulations on the capital raise, which was oversubscribed. Also, strong support for the retail offer.
Take us through the placing and the mechanics of it.
Ilian Iliev: Well, let me start by saying that we all know we live in a rapidly changing environment, and the markets have been difficult and challenging, to say the least, including on AIM.
What I hope we have demonstrated is that when there is a business with high conviction and a shareholder following that understands and supports the business model, it is possible to have successful fundraising despite the negativity.
We are, of course, very pleased with the outcome and are looking forward to the next steps.
To your question about the mechanics of it, we have just closed an oversubscribed £1.5 million investment round into EMV Capital. Importantly for us, this was at a 15% premium to the closing market price when the subscription was announced.
We did this in two parts. The first was a subscription of just over £900,000, which included management—myself included—and shareholders who know the company well. We were keen to keep this open for the broader retail market and smaller shareholders. We were happy that the retail offering brought in about £600,000, bringing the total to £1.5 million.
The mechanisms worked well, and despite the difficult market conditions, all parties remained focused. Overall, we were very happy with the result.
Proactive: Have you also added new shareholders to your register?
Ilian Iliev: We have indeed. Several new parties have joined.
Proactive: How do you plan to use the capital to support your growth strategy?
Ilian Iliev: Just as a reminder, our strategy is now streamlined. We aim to be a leading deep-tech and life sciences VC investment group.
As you mentioned, we have £100 million of assets under management, with a significant portion in direct balance sheet holdings. We have an expanded portfolio of 70 companies, and our next milestone is reaching £200 million AUM.
We achieve this through a combined model of fundraising, fund deployment, direct investments, and our value creation services, which help our portfolio companies exit successfully.
The funding will primarily focus on working capital, growing our fund management practice, and launching additional funds to expand our assets under management.
We have also seen great success with our Venture Build program. Across four companies, including DeepTech Recycling and DName-iT, we have created more than £7 million in value from modest investments of £400,000 in cash and in-kind services.
This remarkable outcome highlights our proactive management approach and integrated business model.
Proactive: Ilian, your focus for 2025 as you target £200 million in funds under management?
Ilian Iliev: We now have a diversified portfolio of over 70 companies, which provides significant upside.
With active involvement, we expect capital gains from portfolio exits over the next 18-24 months.
We also hold £40 million-plus in direct fair value, which we anticipate will grow further. Additionally, our operational income is paving the way for profitability, independent of capital gains from exits.
Our Venture Build program, with its proven value creation model, continues to add new companies to our portfolio.
So, 2025 will be an exciting year as we target £200 million in AUM.
Proactive: We'll be following your progress. Thank you for speaking with us today.