Chrysalis Investments Share Discussion Threads

[speedsgh] 17/8/2021 11:18

Portfolio Update -

The Company is pleased to announce an investment of $65 million in the US based parent company of InfoSum, as part of its Series B scale-up round. Previous investors in InfoSum include IA Ventures and UpFront Ventures, among others.

InfoSum is a data infrastructure business that has built a way for organisations to share data with each other such that it does not put customer data or personally identifiable information at risk. InfoSum works with global enterprises that utilise InfoSum's technology to connect customer records without sharing data, helping to alleviate security concerns and is compliant with all current privacy law, including GDPR.

The investment by Chrysalis will enable InfoSum to continue to invest in engineering resources, grow its sales and marketing capabilities, and expand its international presence, as the company addresses the significant market opportunity in front of it.

The Company's cash and liquidity positions remain robust, bolstered by a partial realisation of the position in Wise, given Wise's strong share price performance since its IPO in July. This recycling of capital means the Company's Investment Adviser has full visibility over the sources of funds to meet its near-term requirements, which include another new investment progressing through the latter stages of due diligence.

Richard Watts and Nick Williamson (co-portfolio managers) comment:

"InfoSum is a company at the forefront of society's changing digital needs, addressing data collaboration in a trusted and privacy first-way, with an impressive track record of revenue growth. The company sits within a significant addressable market, and we look forward to offering our shareholders access to this exciting opportunity.

InfoSum has developed proprietary technology that ensures brands can enrich their data with other parties without it leaving their environment. This offering has driven one of the fastest scale-up revenue streams we have come across in the software space, and significant engagement from major customers.

Given the nature of the product, InfoSum demonstrates "network effect" potential, which we believe will be fundamental to driving future revenue growth.

We are delighted to be partnering with InfoSum and look forward to working with Brian Lesser (Chairman and CEO), Nick Halstead (Founder and CTO), and the rest of the InfoSum team to deliver on the possibilities of the technology."...

[rambutan2] 16/8/2021 20:26

As posted previously, CHRY took approx 28m shares at 160p in recent listing of REVB. So out of interest:

[justnathan] 14/8/2021 09:51

I'm looking at this one as a possible investment. A couple of questions for holders who've been following it for longer than me:

1. Do the high proportions of the fund invested in Klarna (27%) and Starling Bank (11%) bother you? (These from the RNS of 6.7.21)
2. Similarly high costs of 4.31% per annum (taken from the KID) - this is similar to HG Capital Trust (for example) and driven by the 20% carry.

[captain stock] 29/7/2021 07:40

Portfolio UpdateThe Company can today announce the sale of Embark Group Limited ("Embark") to Scottish Widows Group Limited, part of Lloyds Banking Group plc ("Lloyds") for GBP390 million. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.Existing shareholders of Embark, including Chrysalis, will retain the Rowanmoor SIPP and SSAS administration business of Embark ("Rowanmoor"). Rowanmoor will be operated by the existing management team as a standalone business and will continue to provide specialist services to its scheme members. Completion of the transfer of the Rowanmoor business is also subject to regulatory approval.As per the portfolio update released by the Company on 6 July 2021, Embark currently represents approximately 5% of the Net Asset Value of the Company. The Company first invested in Embark in July 2019 and invested further follow-on capital in May 2020. The sale price represents an estimated current IRR of 63% to Chrysalis shareholders on invested capital, with the final IRR on the investment to be determined by the future performance and capital requirements of Rowanmoor.The prevailing valuation of the investment had already factored in the potential sale. As a result, the terms of the transaction are not expected to have a material impact on the NAV per ordinary share of the Company.Richard Watts and Nick Williamson (co-portfolio managers) comment :"Embark has grown materially since our first investment, assisted by the funds we committed to complete value accretive M&A, making it one of the UK's fastest growing digital retirement and savings businesses. We congratulate the board and management team at Embark on this transaction, which represents Chrysalis' first trade sale event.The exit IRR demonstrates strong returns for shareholders, and, following regulatory approval, the sale proceeds will be recycled to fund our exciting pipeline of investment opportunities."

[blondviking] 07/7/2021 17:04

Great news with the WISE IPO today

Portfolio Update

Following Wise plc's ("Wise") direct listing today on the London Stock Exchange, the Investment Advisor believes it is important to give the Company's shareholders further clarity over the carrying value of the Company's holding in Wise.

The Company's carrying value of Wise, based on the number of shares at admission, equates to a Wise share price of approximately 511 pence. Per the announcement released by the Company on 6(th) July 2021, Wise accounted for approximately 8% of the Net Asset Value of Chrysalis.

Wise has followed a direct listing route to IPO, which involves no new capital being raised. In order to make sufficient liquidity available to enable the process to proceed, along with other principal shareholders, Chrysalis agreed to sell a small part of its pre-IPO position at the auction clearing price. The rest of the Company's position is unencumbered by any selling restrictions.

Richard Watts and Nick Williamson (co-portfolio managers) comment:

"Our engagement with Wise dates back to 2017 - when it was just breaking into profitability - and Wise formed part of Chrysalis's initial portfolio at IPO. As such, we have observed the significant growth in both revenues and profits delivered by Wise for our investors. This has resulted in a rising valuation for Wise and we wish Kristo, Taavet and the team much success in the listed environment as they continue their mission of increasing access to significantly cheaper foreign exchange channels."

[speedsgh] 30/6/2021 06:28

Interim Results to 31 March 2021 -

Financial summary

NAV per share: 31/3/21 206.15p (30/9/20 160.97p) +28.1%

Share price: 31/3/21 195.5p (30/9/20 145p) +34.8%

Total net assets: 31/3/21 £1.128 billion (30/9/20 £542 million) +108.1%


Highlights

- NAV per share of 206.15p, representing 28.1% growth over the first half of the financial year, driven by £249.9m of net investment gains.

- Continued strong performance from the key portfolio companies, driving over 70% blended revenue growth year-on-year.

- This performance has led to several significant funding rounds in the portfolio, particularly Klarna and Starling Bank, which have driven NAV performance.

- Post period end, follow-ons made in wefox (€30m) and Starling Bank (£35m), as well as a new investment in Smart Pension (£75m). In addition, a cornerstone agreement was signed between the Investment Adviser and Revolution Beauty that would allow Chrysalis to invest approximately £45m as part of Revolution Beauty's upcoming IPO.

- Current cash position of approximately £150m and strong total liquidity of over £270m, both adjusting for the investment in Smart Pension but prior to the possible Revolution Beauty investment.

- The Company has another potential new investment proceeding through latter stages of due diligence, with further assets in earlier stages.

- Chrysalis is exceptionally well-placed to capitalise on the significant opportunities that it is increasingly seeing in the late-stage private market, as the proposition is bolstered by its growing scale and reputation for empowering entrepreneurs with crossover capital.

Andrew Haining, Chair, commented:

"Chrysalis has achieved another period of strong growth and in March completed a further successful fund raise, once again demonstrating the attractiveness of its investment proposition to investors, based on its proven ability to identify and deliver on exciting late-stage disruptive opportunities. Shareholders have more than doubled their money since Chrysalis launched in November 2018 and, with the value of its existing portfolio being substantially underpinned by recent portfolio company funding rounds and a strong pipeline of new investments identified, we believe the company is well placed to continue to generate material growth."

Nick Williamson and Richard Watts, co-portfolio managers, commented:

"The portfolio has continued to perform strongly, with several companies seeing exceptional growth. In certain cases, this has led to funding rounds at significant uplifts to our prevailing carrying values, including post period end. We believe the trends underpinning many of these performances are well entrenched.

More widely, we believe Chrysalis is only scratching the surface of the opportunity available in the late-stage private market. Our original hypothesis of a "blurring of the lines" between private and public markets appears to be playing out and our crossover proposition, backed by significant scale, is resonating strongly with entrepreneurs. This has allowed us to access some fabulous companies.

Our early-mover advantage is substantial, but we are continually looking for ways to develop the Chrysalis offering. Our origination network is generating a significant cadence of leads, and the current pipeline of new investments is very exciting, with a further potential investment in the final stages of DD and others in earlier stages. With substantial cash and liquidity available, we are well on track to continue our drive to diversify the portfolio, selectively targeting exceptional investment opportunities".

[captain stock] 29/6/2021 06:35

Nice news flow with great updates.

[speedsgh] 28/6/2021 13:07

Interim results for the six months to 31st March must be due any day now. They were released on 26 June last year.

[captain stock] 28/6/2021 07:10

Chrysalis Investments Limited Portfolio UpdateSource: UK Regulatory (RNS & others)TIDMCHRYRNS Number : 2371DChrysalis Investments Limited28 June 2021The information contained in this announcement is restricted and is not for publication, release or distribution in the United States of America, any member state of the European Economic Area, Canada, Australia, Japan or the Republic of South Africa.28 June 2021Chrysalis Investments Limited ("Chrysalis" or the "Company")Portfolio UpdateThe Company is pleased to announce an investment of GBP75 million in Smart Pension Limited ("Smart"). The investment forms part of a GBP165 million Series D funding round and includes GBP110 million of newly issued primary capital and GBP55 million of secondary equity acquired from existing shareholders of Smart. Chrysalis, which will be providing primary capital, will join a pool of well-established investors in Smart, including Legal & General, J.P. Morgan, the Link Group, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers, all of whom are considered strategic investors by Smart.The investment by Chrysalis will enable Smart to grow its retirement technology platform offering in the UK, the US, Australia and the Middle East, with additional territories to follow.Richard Watts and Nick Williamson (co-portfolio managers) comment:"Smart is an innovator and is building its position as the leading retirement technology platform provider globally. In just a few years, it has disrupted the retirement savings industry, working with some of the world's most well-known financial services providers to create a better way to save toward retirement, and access funds during retirement.The world has changed. Just as companies like Wise and Klarna add huge benefits to their users via best-in-class financial technology, Smart offers user experience and technology to transform retirement for savers around the world. What Smart has achieved in the last 12 months alone was a real catalyst for our support, and we believe that together we can help Andrew and Will achieve their global ambitions."About Smart Pension LimitedSmart is a global savings and investments technology platform provider and was founded in 2014 by Andrew Evans and Will Wynne. Its mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial well-being around the world.Smart partners with governments and financial institutions (including insurers, asset managers, banks, financial advisers) to deliver retirement savings and income solutions that are digital, bespoke and cost efficient. Smart's focus is on the workplace pension market, and it helps employers to offer, typically government mandated, pensions schemes in an efficient manner to their employees. In the UK, it operates one of the biggest master trusts. Smart's technology also helps employees effectively and easily manage their pension pot via an app.In addition to the UK, Smart is operating in the USA, Europe, Australia and the Middle East with close to a million savers entrusting over GBP1.7 billion in assets on the platform. Smart supports its clients with a 550 strong global team and saw 160% growth in assets on its technology platform in 2020.-ENDS- For further i

[captain stock] 25/6/2021 13:25

Jupiter Asset management now holding over 22 percent via RNS.

[speedsgh] 24/6/2021 06:35

£35m follow-on investment into Starling Bank...



The Company is pleased to announce a further follow-on investment into Starling Bank ("Starling") of approximately £35 million.

This investment is connected to Starling's successful Series D funding round, which was announced in April 2021, and saw a total of £322 million raised at a valuation of approximately £1.3 billion post new-money. At the time of this transaction, the Company's Investment Adviser negotiated a structure that gave Chrysalis the option to participate, which has now been exercised.

As of April 2021, Starling's deposit base topped £6 billion, compared with approximately £1 billion a year before, continuing its strong run of growth.

At the time of the March 2021 NAV announcement, the Investment Adviser referenced it had line-of-sight to two follow-on opportunities. Following the announcement on 1 June 2021 of a €30 million investment in FinanceApp AG ("wefox") as part of its Series C funding round, this investment in Starling represents completion of these two potential deals.

Nick Williamson and Richard Watts (co-portfolio managers) comment:

"Starling made huge strides over 2020, seeing substantial growth in customer numbers, deposits and lending. This drove approximately 400% revenue growth over the year to January 2021 and positioned the bank into sustainable profitability. We are delighted to continue our support of Anne and her team as they build on this success, and are optimistic about the company's future prospects."

[captain stock] 23/6/2021 19:18

Wow, really trucking north now. ?

[captain stock] 20/6/2021 16:22

Hoping for further movement north.

[captain stock] 11/6/2021 14:02

Flying along, happy days.

[speedsgh] 01/6/2021 13:44

Portfolio Update -

The Company is pleased to announce that FinanceApp AG (''wefox''), the Berlin-based digital insurance company, has successfully raised $650m for its Series C funding round resulting in a post-money valuation of US$3 billion.

wefox is Europe's leading digital insurance company and the round is the largest for an 'insurtech' business globally and one of the largest Series C rounds ever recorded. wefox intends to invest the proceeds in strengthening its presence in existing markets and expanding globally within the next two years.

The funding round was significantly oversubscribed with strong participation from existing investors as well as new investors such as LGT, Partners Group, EDBI and Lightrock. The Company participated in the funding round with an investment of € 30m. This takes the Company's total investment in wefox to date to € 74.4m.

Prior to this funding round, the Company had completed four investments into wefox via a series of convertible loans. These four separate investments totalled € 44.4m. The current valuation represents a 2.2x return on those four investments and an IRR of 157%.

Due to visibility over the funding round, the reported valuation has already been captured in the Company's reported 31 March NAV.

The Company's convertible loan notes have now converted to equity as a result of this transaction.

Nick Williamson and Richard Watts (co-portfolio managers) comment:

"We would like to congratulate the team at wefox on their successful fundraise. wefox has been an extremely successful investment for Chrysalis and demonstrates our ability to identify attractive opportunities across Europe.

We have now completed five investments in the company, and this is further evidence of Chrysalis utilising its scale to drive successful outcomes and extraordinary returns for its shareholders. We look forward to supporting wefox through its ambitious plans for 2021 and beyond."

[speedsgh] 26/5/2021 10:09

NAV performance:

208.16p as at 31/3/21
160.97p as at 30/9/20
108.65p as at 31/3/20
113.33p as at 30/9/19

launch: Nov 2018

[speedsgh] 26/5/2021 10:06

Net Asset Value(s) -

NET ASSET VALUE
The Company announces that as at 31 March 2021 the unaudited net asset value ("NAV") per ordinary share was 208.16 pence.

The above NAV calculation is based on the Company's issued share capital as at 31 March 2021 of 547,273,076 ordinary shares of no par value.

March's NAV represents a 15.2% uplift since 31 December 2020, driven by funding rounds for two key assets (which were referred to in the Company's announcements on 1 March and 8 March), modestly reduced by weakness in the share price of THG plc ("THG"). The following investee companies were the most significant drivers of NAV movement in the quarter:

· Klarna Holding AB ("Klarna") - which undertook a $1bn funding at a valuation of $30bn pre new-money, compared with a post new-money valuation of $10.65bn in September 2020, and which represented a material mark up in the Company's carrying value of the asset;

· Starling Bank Limited ("Starling") - which undertook a £272m funding round at a £1.3bn post new-money valuation, which was a material uplift to the Company's carrying value of Starling; and

· THG - which saw its share price weaken from 780p as of December 2020 to 623.5p, despite continued strong operating performance.

OVERVIEW

The trading performance of the portfolio over the period has remained strong. A good example is THG that saw growth accelerate to 58% year-on-year in the quarter to March 2021, versus 51% in the prior quarter, and 42% across calendar 2020 as a whole. While a number of the Company's investee companies initially saw COVID-19 drive customer sign up, the Investment Manager believes the impetus many of them experienced will persist and allow them to continue to grow robustly across the remainder of this year.

PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY

During the quarter, the following follow-on investments were undertaken:

· the Company invested circa $10m in Graphcore as part of its series-E funding round; and

· the Company invested circa £4m in Featurespace as a secondary investment.

In addition, the Company successfully closed a £300m funding round to support its on-going strategy of diversifying the portfolio with new investments and continuing to provide follow-on growth capital to its existing investee companies.

PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION

[see full announcement via link above]

INVESTMENT MANAGER OUTLOOK

Nick Williamson and Richard Watts (co-portfolio managers) comment:

"While there has been some pull-back in valuations of certain listed tech names as investors consider whether short-term inflationary pressures will persist, the NAV continued to perform well over the quarter; we believe this reflects the strong growth being delivered by the portfolio. Looking forward, we do not believe inflation is necessarily "here to stay"; regardless, our view is the underlying growth dynamics of our investments should continue to deliver value to shareholders.

Following our £300m raise at the end of March, our focus is on deploying capital. To this end, we are currently in the latter stages of due diligence on two potential new investments and have line-of-sight to two further follow-ons. In addition, the new investment pipeline looks strong, and we continue to source a wide variety of interesting investment opportunities for consideration."

[speedsgh] 11/5/2021 19:55

Chrysalis-backed THG soars as Softbank takes 10% stake -

Shares in THG (THG), the beauty and lifestyle e-commerce company backed by Chrysalis Investments (CHRY), jumped 13% today after Softbank, Japan’s leading internet investor, took a 10% stake and pledged to invest £1.1bn ($1.6bn) in a new joint venture.

THG, formerly The Hut Group, raced 80.5p to 676.5p, after it raised more than £710m ($1bn) in new equity, including £517m ($730m) from SoftBank Group (9984.T).

Other investors put in £226m ($320m) in an oversubscribed placing priced at 596p per share.

Shares in Chrysalis, a £1bn growth capital fund that has invested about 10% of its assets in Manchester-based THG, eased half a penny to 197.5p in a falling market, though analysts estimate the e-tailer’s spike would add about 1% to its underlying net asset value (NAV).

The Guernsey investment company run by Jupiter fund managers Richard Watts and Nick Williamson has in the past two years proved successful in picking companies before they float. Its shares have more than doubled in the past year but trade slightly below the 205p level at which it raised £300m in March and their 204p NAV estimated by Numis Securities before Softbank’s investment...

[speedsgh] 10/5/2021 17:59

Chrysalis eyes big gain as Lloyds looks to buy Embark -

Lloyds (LLOY) bank is reportedly in talks to buy retirement savings and platform company Embark Group in a £400m deal that could net another big gain for Chrysalis Investments (CHRY) run by Jupiter fund managers Richard Watts and Nick Williamson.

The £1bn growth capital fund, which backs companies preparing for a stock market flotation, has invested a total of £27m in Embark, equivalent to 6% of its assets at the end of last year.

Although it has never disclosed the size of its stake in Embark, analysts at Chrysalis’ joint broker Liberum said reports of its first investment nearly two years ago indicated a 19.9% position.

The company raised more money at the end of 2019, £12.2m of it from Chrysalis, to fund the acquisition of Zurich’s investment platform. Liberum analyst Conor Finn said if Chrysalis’ exposure to Embark had remained the same, a £400m price tag would lift the £69m value of its stake by 15% and add about 1.5p to net asset value per share.

Numis, the fund’s other corporate broker, estimates Chrysalis’ underlying NAV per share has risen from 180.8p to 203p this year as a result of the hikes in valuations of its stakes in fintech companies Klarna and Starling bank.

This leaves the shares, up 1.5p to 203.5p, on a small premium to NAV but just below the 305p level at which it issued £300m of new shares at the end of March.

Finn said this was an ‘attractive entry point for a high-growth portfolio’ that has doubled since its launch two years ago, had funds to invest in a pipeline of investment opportunities and which had several companies in its portfolio preparing to float...

[captain stock] 01/4/2021 18:32

Jupiter Investment Limited have taken a whopping 20% holding and Quilter Cheviot 7% both from 0% holdings. As notified by aftermarket TR1 RNS. Follow the money.

[speedsgh] 26/3/2021 10:32

Successfully raised £300m. Issue was increased to the maximum £300m against the initial target of £240m.

Result of Initial Issue -

[speedsgh] 25/3/2021 11:44

Private Equity: Where are the real bargains? -

#APAX #CHRY #MNTN #GROW #III #HGT #HVPE #AUGM #SYNC #LMS #ICGT #PEY #OCI

[mrscruff] 20/3/2021 08:20

I have taken up my basic entitlement and even a little more. Got to be done. This is pretty much under the radar but with a portfolio of really great private investments.

[speedsgh] 11/3/2021 12:23

Placing Programme, Issue, Revolving Credit Facility -

Chyrsalis kicks off expansion plan with £240m share issue -