Tekcapital’s portfolio company Guident is seeking to accelerate its growth strategy through a US funding round.
In a UK Investor Magazine interview released yesterday, Tekcapital’s CEO, Dr Clifford Gross, outlined plans for Guident to pursue a private equity funding round.
Guident has engaged a US investment bank to facilitate the capital raising which is expected to provide an uplift to Guident’s current valuation.
Tekcapital has historically provided Guident with growth capital from its own capital. Should Guident complete this round as a privately held completely, with Tekcapital as the controlling shareholder, it will alleviate the requirement for Tekcapital to provide Guident with growth capital.
After MicroSalt was listed in February, Guident is the only current portfolio company privately held, with MicroSalt, Innovative Eyewear, and Belluscura, promising multi-million-pound revenue in 2024 to support their respective growth strategies.
Of the £2m recently raised by Tekcapital, £300,000 was allocated to Guident’s new headquarters, which will be launched in April. Should the US private equity round be successful, this may be the last cash injection from Tekcapital.
The funding round is expected to be completed in about three months and would mark a major milestone for the autonomous vehicle safety company.
Guident has developed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and secured its first contracts providing recurring revenues from its Remote Monitoring and Control Centre (RMCC) services. SaaS companies tend to attract higher valuations due to the visibility of future revenues.
Last year, Guident spun out its regenerative shock absorber technology into a new entity, ReVive Energy Solutions, with the aim of maximising the value of the technology and creating the opportunity to secure growth capital specifically for the progression of regenerative shock absorber IP.
Tekcapital said the Guident had conducted successful tests with a tier-one tyre company, yielding positive results. Further announcements are expected this year.