Shows the regions they partner onhTTps://www.astutegroup.com/services/franchise-electronics/franchise-lines/pulsiv/ |
"A huge thanks to our strategic distribution partner Astute Group who are featuring our world-leading USB-C technology this week at embedded world Exhibition&Conference in Nuremberg, Germany. If you're visiting this event, please be sure to visit them in Hall 3A / Booth Number 3A-418"A few weeks ago.With accompanying photo of their stand with Pulsiv showing everywhere. I think many distribution companies just want to have the most competitive products to market myself and will sell accordingly. The distribution fees might make a difference but guessing Pulsiv being small and seeking new markets could not drive a hard bargain.So I'm guessing every reason to think the distributors are out there trying to get contracts...some clarity of the success in those endeavours would be very helpful as Pulsiv is such a key portfolio holding.Info on Astute. hTTps://www.astutegroup.com/Might contact the company and asked where can i buy their award winning USB-C charging cables from. |
Pulsiv I made this comment several months ago the world major major electrical electronics distributors signed up as we know those same companies supply the existing products it’s a blocking delaying tactic |
 Another write-up by Simon Thompson:
This UK tech investor only needs one win to re-rate
Simon Thompson: Shares trade on a 66 per cent discount even though it could get a boost from an IPO this year
- Net asset value of £46.6mn (67.6p)
- Unchanged equity portfolio valuation of £33.2mn
- Net cash of £3.6mn
- Interim pre-tax loss of £1.6mn reflects operating expenses
Shares in Edinburgh-based Frontier IP (FIPP:23p), a technology investment company that provides commercialisation services to university spin-outs in return for ‘free equity’ stakes, are priced on a massive 66 per cent discount to book value. It means you are getting a free ride on £30.8mn (44.6p) of investments, even though the portfolio continues to mature, bringing potential exit dates ever closer.
For instance, Central Lancashire spin-out Alusid plans to IPO and has appointed a broker to explore options. The company has developed formulations to create premium-quality tiles by recycling industrial waste ceramics and glass. The UK’s top tiles retailer, Topps Tiles, has started selling a second Alusid range, and the company has announced its first international distribution agreement with a Dutch sustainable building materials specialist. Frontier IP holds a 35.4 per cent stake in Alusid.
Frontier IP’s chief executive Neil Crabb points out that: “A connecting thread across investee companies is that they offer potential to do things in a much more cost-effective way: they work more efficiently and offer a lower cost alternative to existing technologies, being cheaper to use and often to manufacture.”
A good example is 2D Photonics, a company established to own and manage the UK and Italian activities of Cambridge University spin-out CamGraPhIC. After the half-year end, 2D Photonics completed a €25mn (£21mn) funding round from investors spanning industry (Sony Innovation Fund and Bosch Ventures) finance (CDP Venture Capital, Join Capital and Indaco Ventures), and government (Nato Innovation Fund).
The keen interest is because initial applications for 2D Photonics’ advanced graphene photonics show potential to transform AI and mobile communications by cutting costs through improved energy efficiency and higher speeds. 2D Photonics’ prototype graphene transceivers have outperformed current silicon technologies, work at a greater range of temperatures, and consume 80 per cent less energy. Frontier IP held a 20 per cent equity stake prior to the €25mn fundraise.
Investee companies offer tangible benefits
Accounting for more than a quarter of the £33.2mn equity investment portfolio valuation, the group’s largest investment is an 18.2 per cent shareholding in Plymouth spin-out and green technology company Pulsiv Solar. Its on-chip technology markedly improves the energy efficiency of power supplies, battery chargers, LED lighting and photovoltaic solar cells. Pulsiv has launched an award winning 65W USB-C charger reference design that operates at 94 per cent average efficiency and at ultra-low operating temperatures.
Crabb also highlights the commercial opportunity for GraphEnergyTech, a company that is developing graphene inks and pastes, initially to create graphene electrodes to replace metal electrodes, particularly silver, in solar cells. This could make conventional solar cells cheaper to make and addresses concerns over global silver resources, which are threatened with exhaustion by 2050 because of solar demand.
Backed by funding from Innovate UK, GraphEnergyTech recently announced a collaboration with the Taiwan Perovskite Solar Corporation and the University of Cambridge to drive the development of the next generation of solar technology. Frontier IP hold a 23.97 per cent equity stake.
True, it has been an incredibly difficult environment for early-stage technology markets, but it would only take one highly profitable exit from more than 20 investee companies to improve sentiment and narrow the deep share price discount to book value. It could happen this year, as I previously noted (‘This deep value tech investor is eyeing up exits’, 28 November 2024). Buy. |
I guess the other issue with £3.6m at year end and £3.7m of annualised admin costs..is they will not get to the end of this year without further recourse to shareholders unless they can make a meaningful monetisation or cost savings ..we are already at the end of the 1st quarter...that is besides the need to be able to hold ones corner in any portfolio fundraises...if you can't participate you often get stuffed on terms.So whilst i quite like the portfolio holdings and can see good upside ..funding remains an issue not just follow on funding but working capital. |
The problem i pecrceive fom a quick view of he half year results is that a lot of fundraising has been going on from these start ups.
I dont remeber seeing anything about us being involved in that, so does that mean our holdings have been diluted? |
We really do need to hear something substantive from Pulsiv soon. Today we read this positive sounding line
“ Commercial traction is strong and growing: the company is in advanced discussions with major manufacturers and has put in place a global distribution network.”
Sounds promising, what was said last year?
March 2024
“Commercial traction is strong and growing: the company is in advanced discussions with major manufacturers and has put in place a global distribution network”
Hmm! And what about the year before?
March 2023
“ Commercial traction is strong and growing: the company is in advanced discussions with major manufacturers and has put in place a series of distribution agreements globally.”
So “advanced̶1; discussions for 2 years. Maybe I’m ignorant on these matters but I always thought advanced meant drawing to a conclusion. It’s difficult to get excited that news maybe soon when the discussions are always advanced, when in reality they had commenced or were ongoing. And no mention of initial customers for product that they had hoped to announce by end of last year.
I remain confident that Pulsiv will deliver, but difficult to see share price moving back up strongly without any definite commercial News. |
You can't survive on one outstanding investment as they have proved having to raise more equity at a large discount to NAV...The share-price is unchanged over a decade despite that success...think this works better for those running it than holding it! |
I'm not sure if it's occasionally. Agree they do follow on investment but the original stakes are normally for nil or nominal value.
The original cost for EXSCIENTIA shares was less than £2,000.
Investors Chronicle have written about the company getting free stakes. |
They do invest in the businesses..they occasionally get equity in lieu of consulting but that is no the norm as far as i can see. |
If you have to make a return on capital of 10% a year to cover costs then the model cannot work. |
Pulsiv is in advanced discussions with manufacturers!
Regarding costs, this is how Fipp develop value for companies through their know how, expertise and effort in developing and creating commercial networks for their stable of companies. In turn for their efforts they take a stake in these companies (without any upfront cost being made).
This model is different according to my understanding to that of other investment companies like ipo etc where they actually pay money upfront to buy their stake and therefore are probably less hands off as well.
Hence, I would expect Fipp's cost to come in higher. |
Whilst there is a positive but cautionary narrative across the portfolio one cant help noticing admin expenses up 5% at £1.88m which is running total assets of about £37m and a portfolio of £33.2m. We are looking at costs of over 5% of AUM for the half year!On target for admin expenses of £3.75m (£3.5m) for full year and costs representing 10% of assets...this is totally unsustainableLarger venture funds are looking at less than 2% and ideally nearer 1% annualised costs. See GROW and IPO.Any money made is straight out the door on running the business...it's just not of a suitable scale to work for shareholders. |
We are overdue interim results any day now .
Concurrently the selling pressure seems to have eased , and technical signals like the MACD and the MA’s have turned positive .
With the portfolio looking more transformative by the day , might the NAV not look fairly well underpinned near 70p per share ? |
Well we tick all the investment criteria |
This will hopefully help some of our portfolio companies get funding in future. Elbow Beach backed Fieldworks with £1.5m last year. |
They have indeed had successes and better than peer group performance i guess..but the share price is where it was 10 years so in terms of creating long term value for shareholders even when they have cashed out on such a bonanza how is it working?They have also had to raise cash from equity at a significant discount diluting asset value.I appreciate the discount to NAV is large but to a holder the price on the screen is the price should they want to exit. |
On that basis with the significant higher investment and with the potential market size for Cam Graph a Nasdaq flotation could easily surpass the £14million EXC stake |
Current market conditions certainly raises question marks about the business model. However I don’t recall anyone questioning it when the £2000 Exscientia investment returned £14,000,000. Fipp need to show they are more than just a one hit wonder and for me there are at least 10 companies in portfolio that should deliver. |
Questions the model of getting in very early ...and therefore taking higher risk , when once progressed and derisked the company is no better off than the new investors just getting in.Can only think the loan agreement was not that beneficial on conversion terms.Agree though..the market is awful still and the new investors are very solid...i guess FiPP had little option or negotiating position..thats the other issue with the model when you do not have deep pockets.Further example of whether this is a model that works well for investors when there is no efficient ability to raise new equity and the company cannot necessarily hold its corner? |
Yeah having a clear runway to commercialisation and an exit can’t be overvalued. And it’s worth remembering that in the run up to Exscientias IPO, the value of Fipps stake in them quadrupled. Also should be noted that it was in those 6m ahead of Exai float that Fipps share price had its strongest run. With 3 potential exits in short/medium term let’s hope history repeats itself. |
Acuere - I shared your frustrations with the low value post the Series A Funding. I guess it demonstrates how difficult it is to raise this type of money in the markets at the moment. I guess I didn't appreciate to go from Seed to Series A is hardwork for unquoted organisations.
I'd rather take the £3.1M value post the fundraise though, as they have some excellent partners onboard. |
So CamGraphic as we know have been making great progress and it’s good to get confirmation of our new high quality investment partners.
It seems that for confidentiality reasons we are not going to find out what our percentage holding in CamGraphic is for a while.
I must admit to being slightly disappointed with the £3.1m stake valuation. I’m not sure if that’s being a deliberately conservative value, or if it’s a reflection of the problems posed investing in unquoted companies.
As £2.7m + interest of that valuation was loans, then our 18.7% stake was worth less than £400k. Bear in mind that in September 2021, our stake was worth £1.5m and we chipped in a further £300k in August 2022. £1.8m down to £400k in 2 years seems very poor for a company that, from what we are told, is on the verge of being hugely successful. |
Exclusive: NATO Innovation Fund co-leads €25m Series A in photonics startup Camgraphic
The money will be used to develop the startup’s R&D operations in Pisa and establish a pilot manufacturing line in Milan
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) — the €1bn vehicle backed by 24 NATO allies to invest in deeptech startups and investors — has co-led a €25m Series A in Cambridge, UK-based photonics startup Camgraphic.
Italy’s CDP Venture Capital, Sony Innovation Fund — Japanese conglomerate Sony’s CVC arm — and Berlin-based early-stage VC firm Join Capital also co-led the round. Other investors included Bosch Ventures, Frontier IP Group and Indaco Venture Partners.
Camgraphic is building a type of graphene microchip that uses light and electrical signals to transmit data in a way that it says is faster, cheaper and more energy efficient than silicon-based alternatives. Applications will involve things like AI and high-performance computing, satellite point to point communications, autonomous cars and radar imaging.
Camgraphic’s CEO Ben Jensen tells Sifted the round took eight months to close and was raised by Camgraphic’s parent company, 2D Photonics Sa. The money will be used to develop the startup’s research and development operations in Pisa and establish a pilot manufacturing line in Milan.
Jensen says he expects commercial applications of the tech to be ready in the next few years.
How does graphene photonics work and what does it do?
Photonics is the name for the technology which turns data into light to move it down fibre-optic cables. Currently, silicon is widely used in photonic circuits, which are used in systems like AI and high-performance computers and 5G and 6G communications.
But there are challenges with silicon photonics. The material has a band gap, meaning electrons cannot move freely, and a low extinction ratio, meaning the difference between “on” and “off” states of the light signal is small. These issues lead to distorted signals as well as high latency — delays between sending and receiving signals.
“Silicon photonics today is performing amazingly, but it has a finite future because you can only go so far with it,” Jensen says. “Given the rapid rise in data consumption for AI, and the rapid rise in data consumption for 5G and 6G, the existing incumbent material is being stretched severely.” This necessitates “more and more complicated architectures to get more and more data through.”
Graphene, by contrast, allows for a more “simple architecture that can deliver much more data throughput at a much better cost,” Jensen says. As it is a "gapless material" (meaning no band gap) it has greater scalability, as well as no risk of latency and bandwidth issues, Jensen says.
What will Camgraphic do with the money?
The company is looking to further develop its technology, scale it and then outsource manufacturing before selling to customers.
It's currently looking to hire a chief financial officer, and Jensen predicts that its team will grow from 17 to 34 over the next 12 months, and then to 68 in two years’ time.
Ben Balmforth, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund, Antonio Avitabile, managing director of the EU at Sony Investment Fund, Sebastian von Ribbentrop founding partner at Join Capital, Gianmarco Del Bono, investment manager at CDP Venture Capital; and Neil Crabb, CEO of Frontier IP, have all joined the company’s board as part of the round. |
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