TMT Investments PLC Portfolio Update (4308J)

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RNS Number : 4308J

TMT Investments PLC

13 December 2022

13 December 2022

TMT INVESTMENTS PLC

("TMT" or the "Company")

Portfolio Update

TMT Investments Plc (AIM: TMT.L), the venture capital company investing in high-growth technology companies, is pleased to announce the following developments in the Company's portfolio since the publication of the Company's interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2022 on 16 August 2022.

Revaluations and Exits

-- Muncher, a cloud kitchen and virtual food brand operator operating in Central and South America ( www.muncher.com.co ), has completed a new equity funding round. The transaction represented a revaluation uplift of 41% (of US$1.6 million) in the fair value of TMT's investment, compared to the previous announced amount as of 30 June 2022.

-- In its 2021 Annual Report, the Company reported that Delivery Hero SE, one of the world's leading local food delivery platforms, had announced in October 2021 that it had entered into an agreement with TMT's portfolio company Hugo Technologies Ltd. ("Hugo") ( www.hugoapp.com ) , to acquire Hugo's multi-category marketplace's core food delivery and quick commerce business in Central America (the "Original Disposal") . As a result of the Original Disposal, the fair value of TMT's investment in Hugo rose to approximately US$3.8 million as of 31 December 2021. Given the significant delays in the completion of the Original Disposal, TMT decided to revert the fair value of its investment in Hugo to the pre-Original Disposal level of approximately US$1.8 million in its 2022 Interim Report published in August 2022. In November 2022, the Original Disposal finally completed under amended terms (the "Final Disposal"). While the final payment consideration amounts implied by the Final Disposal are still being finalised, TMT now expects the fair value of its investment in Hugo to be closer to the amount envisaged by the Original Disposal (i.e. US$3.8 million), implying an NAV increase of approximately US$2.0 million from the amount announced in the 2022 Interim Report. TMT originally invested a total of US$1.2 million in Hugo in 2019 and 2020.

Negative revaluations

-- Usual Beverage Co., currently trading as Usual ( https://usualwines.com ), and previously as Vinebox, has completed a new equity funding round, in which TMT decided not to participate. As a result of this funding round being highly dilutive, TMT expects the fair value of its investment in Usual to be reduced to approximately zero, compared to the previous reported amount of US$0.45 million as of 31 December 2021.

New Investments

The Company has also made the following new and additional investments:

-- Additional GBP0.5 million in Laundryheap Limited, a marketplace for on-demand laundry and dry-cleaning services ( www.laundryheap.com );

-- Initial US$1.0 million in MedVidi Inc., an online mental healthcare provider ( www.medvidi.com );

-- Additional US$0.5 million in Bafood Global Limited, a hyper local ready-to-eat food delivery and cloud kitchen operator in Eastern Europe ( https://bafood.app ); and

-- Additional US$0.2 million in My Device Inc., trading as Whizz, a device-as-a-service e-bike rental company ( www.getwhiz.co ).

Alexander Selegenev, Executive Director of TMT, commented:

"The majority of TMT's portfolio companies, including its largest holdings, continue to demonstrate good business progress and are adapting well to the challenges of the current environment.

TMT's largest portfolio holding, ride-hailing and food delivery platform Bolt ( www.bolt.eu ) has been finding its lower-cost competitive advantage very timely in today's environment, enabling it to continue delivering notable revenue growth and margin improvements, with the additional security offered by its very sizeable cash reserves following its successful capital raise in January 2022.

Whilst the significantly reduced share prices of publicly traded technology companies continue to negatively affect the value of TMT's equity stake in NASDAQ-traded cloud storage company Backblaze ( www.backblaze.com ), TMT's second largest investment, its business has been developing well, recording 27% revenue growth in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021 (or 6.8% growth compared to the second quarter of 2022). Backblaze remains well capitalised with approximately US$80 million in cash, short-term investments and restricted cash reported as of 30 September 2022.

Regarding the early and mid-stage component of TMT's portfolio, the recently published State of European Tech 2022 report indicates there is around US$44bn worth of "dry powder" available in Europe alone for venture capital investment and an increasing level of private equity funding available for growth companies, taking the total to over US$80bn. Companies with strong business models are continuing to attract competitive attention from investors and this bodes well for a number of TMT's early and mid-stage portfolio companies. A good example is Muncher, TMT's portfolio company, whose recent financing round of US$27.3 million resulted in a 41% revaluation uplift of TMT's investment in Muncher.

TMT continues to make very selective investments into new and existing portfolio companies when attractive opportunities arise.

As of 12 December 2022, TMT had approximately US$10.2 million (unaudited) of cash and bank deposits with no debt. With over 55 companies in its portfolio and an established 12-year track record as a publicly traded company, TMT offers a diversified and liquid route to access some of the fastest-growing technology companies globally. Our strategy of early stage investing into exciting and innovative fast growth companies continues, with a focus on areas with significant growth potential such as SaaS and the online delivery of mental health services.

We look forward to keeping shareholders updated on relevant developments in due course."

For further information contact:

 
TMT Investments Plc            [phone] 
 Alexander Selegenev            (Computershare - Company Secretary) 
 Executive Director 
 www.tmtinvestments.com         [e-mail] 
Strand Hanson Limited 
 (Nominated Adviser) 
 James Bellman / James Dance   [phone] 
Cenkos Securities plc 
 (Joint Broker) 
 Ben Jeynes                    [phone] 
Hybridan LLP 
 (Joint Broker) 
 Claire Louise Noyce           [phone] 
Kinlan Communications          [phone] 
 David Hothersall               [e-mail] 
 

About TMT Investments Plc

TMT Investments Plc invests in high-growth technology companies across a number of core specialist sectors and has a significant number of Silicon Valley investments in its portfolio. Founded in 2010, TMT has a current investment portfolio of over 55 companies and net assets of US$210 million as of 30 June 2022. The Company's objective is to generate an attractive rate of return for shareholders, predominantly through capital appreciation. The Company is traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. www.tmtinvestments.com .

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December 13, 2022 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)