Sure Ventures PLC (LSE:SURE), the London-listed venture capital fund that invests in early-stage software companies, pointed to a partial exit from one of its holdings as evidence that its shares trade well below the underlying value of its portfolio.
Director Gareth Burchell said a cash realisation from CameraMatics, alongside an injection of up to €49 million into the business, was significant and demonstrated the value held within the fund's investments.
CameraMatics, a fleet safety and compliance company, completed a funding round of up to €49 million led by Blume Equity during the quarter.
Sure Ventures will receive €880,000 in cash from the transaction while retaining its indirect holding.
Burchell said the proceeds were significant relative to the company's market capitalisation of around £2.8 million.
He pointed to the gap between the share price and the underlying value of the portfolio, noting the shares trade at a 70% discount to net asset value.
Burchell added that the quarter had seen three further artificial intelligence companies added to the portfolio, each with deep AI technology at its core.
Those three deals, closed through the company's Enterprise Capital Fund, were investments in agentic payments platform Ralio, video games testing company ManaMind and B2B sales tool BuzzTrail.
The Enterprise Capital Fund's net asset value rose 5.15% over the quarter, and the fund now holds 20 investments.
The company holds its investments through two vehicles, the Sure Valley Ventures fund and the Enterprise Capital Fund.
Against that progress, Sure Ventures reported a fall in its overall net asset value during the first quarter.
The company's net asset value stood at 117.94p per share at the end of March, down 22% from the December quarter.
The fall was driven by a further 31.9% writedown to its stake in Napster, the music brand now operating as an artificial intelligence business, and the write-off of Nova Leah, a cybersecurity company that filed for administration during the quarter.
Sure Ventures said it had marked down the Napster position prudently and agreed the valuation with its auditors.
The net asset value of the Sure Valley Ventures fund fell 24.8% over the quarter, leaving the fund fully invested.
The shares continue to trade at a 70% discount to the reduced net asset value.
