EMVC syndicates additional £0.73m investment
13th December 2021
Syndication highlights strength of capital light investment model
London, UK – 13 December 2021 – NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI), the international life sciences and sustainability technology investment and commercialisation Group, announces that on 9 December 2021 its corporate finance and venture capital subsidiary EMV Capital Ltd (“EMVC”) (i) syndicated approximately £0.74m of its investment into Martlet Capital, first announced on 16 September 2021, to its investor network, and (ii) invested a further £0.73m, approximately, into Martlet Capital which has been agreed to be syndicated to the investor network shortly.
As a result of this investment, the total syndicated amount is £1.47m, under carried interest arrangements, while the Group’s direct holding upon completion will have decreased from £1m to £0.25m. This brings the total direct and syndicated investment in Martlet Capital, to a total of £1.72m, which represents 11.2% of the Martlet Capital’s issued share capital (1.6% direct holding and 9.6% advised), and £0.52m of Convertible Loan Notes (£0.075m direct holding and £0.445m advised).
Since the September 2021 investment co-led by the Group, Martlet Capital has completed the transfer of assets agreement with Marshall Group for the transfer of 50+ technology assets, as well as continued to support Marshall Group’s existing portfolio of early stage, Cambridge based, deep tech companies through additional follow-on investments, including:
- Techspert.io (AI driven expert network connections platform): £200,000 in September 2021 as part of an £8.5m round;
- Spotta (smart insect and pest detection and monitoring systems): £128,000 in October 2021 as part of a round of over £2.2m; and
- Dogtooth Technologies (intelligent fruit picking robots): £125k in December 2021 as part of a £7m round.
Commenting on this increase in investment, Dr Iliev CEO of NetScientific and Board member at Martlet Capital, said: “This provides yet another example of the use of NetScientific’s capital light investment to add value. The £1m original investment by NetScientific in September enabled the execution of a complex deal, while the use of EMV Capital’s investment network enabled the completion of the deal through further advised investment into Martlet Capital – enabling the return of much of the original investment to NSCI’s balance sheet. The Martlet Capital team has hit the ground running, resulting in further growth opportunities for NetScientific as we gain exposure to the excellent deal flow from the Cambridge cluster.”
Paul Bailey, Managing Director of Martlet Capital, said: “Martlet Capital Ltd is delighted to have the continued support of NetScientific with the completion of their second investment closing endorsing our position as a leading seed stage tech investor. The European technology sector is booming and as reported in The Times recently, Britain is leading the way in tech investment with Cambridge being chosen as the unicorn capital of Europe. Early stage investment levels are now on a par with the US for the first time and with the transatlantic links that NetScientific can offer Martlet’s portfolio companies then we are in a great position to nurture founders, invest at seed stage, provide scale-up capital and talent management expertise to these amazing technology companies.”