Last checked at 29 Nov 2022 07:00
Reach: 07.00, 29 November 2022
NetScientific plc
("NetScientific" or the "Company")
EMV Capital leads £4.2m investment round in Scottish 5G and SATCOM leader
Sofant Technologies also announces contract with Fortune Global 500 defence company
London, UK - 29 November 2022: NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI), the active international holding company which invests in, develops, and commercialises life sciences/healthcare, sustainability, and technology companies, announces that it has joined an investment round led by its subsidiary EMV Capital Ltd ("EMVC"), together with Scottish Enterprise, Kelvin Capital Limited, and The Future Fund, in Edinburgh based Sofant Technologies Ltd ("Sofant"). The final close took the total joint investment round to £4.2m. This utilises the Company's capital light investment model, including c. £0.3m of investment from NetScientific through convertible loans converting at a discount into this round, and £1.6m of investment from investors introduced by EMVC, including both direct equity and convertible loans.
Sofant has also announced a contract with a Fortune Global 500 defence company to support the development of a next-generation tactical communication system.
Sofant will use the proceeds from this investment round to build a satellite communications terminal which targets mobile applications during the first half of 2023, and with commercial sales expected to begin later in the year. During the past year, Sofant has doubled the size of its team and achieved several significant technical and commercial milestones which have cleared the pathway to market.
Sofant is building a proprietary, highly efficient radio platform that directly addresses the most difficult challenges facing future wireless communication systems. While Sofant is targeting satellite communications and terrestrial fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications where power consumption is reduced by more than 70%, it has now also demonstrated the relevance of its technology to national security applications.
Dr Ilian Iliev, CEO of NetScientific and Sofant Board member, said that:
"We are delighted with Sofant's tremendous progress in their development roadmap. They continue to make a key contribution to the UK's space tech and telecoms sectors by developing a key component for increased resilience and energy efficiency in SatComs and other telecommunications systems.
"We also congratulate Sofant on their first commercial agreement with a leading defence contractor, as global awareness of the critical importance of communications to national security increases. We expect Sofant to play a significant role in future communication systems and are very pleased that its value is already recognised by industry leaders."
David Wither, CEO of Sofant, added:
"We are very pleased to have investors who understand the disruptive nature of Sofant's technology. When Sofant closed the previous funding round we told our investors we would demonstrate our core technology, which occurred in June of 2022. Sofant will use the proceeds from this investment round to build a satellite communications terminal which targets mobile applications, with commercial sales expected to begin later in the year."
This investment will result in the direct equity holding in Sofant by NetScientific of 1.8% at an aggregate value of £0.4m based on this funding round, in addition to EMVC's Capital Under Advisory representing 27.2%.
-Ends-
For more information, please contact:
NetScientific
Ilian Iliev, CEO Via Belvedere Communications
WH Ireland (NOMAD, Financial Adviser and Broker)
Chris Fielding / Darshan Patel / Enzo Aliaj +44 (0)20 7220 1666
Belvedere Communications
John West / Llew Angus +44 (0) 203 008 6864
Email: langus@belvederepr.com
About NetScientific
NetScientific Plc ("NSCI") is an active holding Company that proactively invests in a global portfolio of companies across the healthcare, life science, ESG, and deep technology sectors. NetScientific delivers shareholder returns through a proactive and hands-on management approach to its portfolio companies; identifying, investing in, and helping to build game-changing companies. The Group targets value inflection points and the release of value through partial or full exits from trade sales, public listings, or equity sales. The Company has a strong Trans-Atlantic and growing international presence, providing attractive expansion prospects.
The Company differentiates itself by employing a capital-light investment approach, making use of its wholly owned subsidiary, EMV Capital's network of private, corporate, and institutional investors. By syndicating investment and making minimal use of its balance sheet, the Company is able to secure direct stakes, as well as carried interest stakes, in its portfolio. This ultimately creates a structure that can support a large portfolio with a limited balance sheet.
NetScientific is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and was admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange, in 2013.
www.netscientific.net
About Sofant Technologies
Sofant Technologies is a leading-edge radio technology company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company is applying its proprietary RF MEMS technology to develop an extremely low power, low-cost platform which solves power consumption and heat problems in satellite communications and 5G antenna systems. Sofant employs a fabless semiconductor business model which enables it to leverage long established high-volume, low-cost production methods. This positions Sofant to offer its customers game-changing performance at a highly competitive price and guaranteed scalability.
www.sofant.com