Tekcapital has issued an update on their portfolio companies including Belluscura’s $15m in orders, progress in the MicroSalt IPO and a summary of developments at Innovative Eyewear.
Tekcapital has a portfolio of four privately-held and publicly-listed companies including Belluscura, Innovative Eyewear, Guident and MicroSalt.
Each company was born of university technology identified by Tekcapital as having a significant commercial opportunity.
Tekcapital’s process, strategy and ability to select technologies with substantial market demand received a major endorsement this week after Belluscura received $15m in orders for their portable oxygen units.
Tekcapital founded Belluscura, raised seed capital, and filed patents to protect its intellectual property, before floating the company on AIM in 2021.
This week, Belluscura announced a step change in the adoption of their portable oxygen units with $15m worth of orders from retailers for their new DISCOV-R model. The company said they had received similar levels of interest from healthcare providers which suggest they expect further orders before long.
Should Belluscura secure further orders from healthcare providers to the tune of $15m, the total order flow could generate $30m revenue which would make the current £58m market cap very good value.
‘We are excited to see Belluscura gaining commercial traction with their announced orders for over 6,500 units for their next-generation DISCOV-R portable oxygen concentrator, with estimated potential revenues of $15 million,” said Dr Clifford Gross, CEO of Tekcapital.
“This underscores Tek’s investment thesis that commercialisation of advanced intellectual capital in the oxygen therapy space can result in the potential for better and significantly more affordable oxygen concentrators. As such, we believe Belluscura is now well placed to help improve the lives of a great number of people who require supplemental oxygen.”
Tekcapital has an 11.16% take in Belluscura.
MicroSalt
Tekcapital hope to replicate the success of Belluscura with its low-sodium food technology company, MicroSalt.
In today’s portfolio company update, Tekcapital provided an insight into the highly anticipated MicroSalt IPO saying the company was making steady progress and that they were hopeful that MicroSalt would list its shares this year. This is a key step in crystalising value for Tekcapital’s shareholders.
MicroSalt has developed a salt which contains 50% less sodium than traditional table salt, without sacrificing taste.
MicroSalt has two main consumer products in SaltMe! crisps and salt shakers which are stocked in thousands of stores across the United States and will now be available in the Philippines through two new partners.
However, it is the B2B market that could create the most shareholder value.
Earlier this year, MicroSalt signed a strategic partnership with US Salt to supply low-sodium salt in bulk for use in US Salt’s products. It’s these types of partnerships which could yield the highest revenue for MicroSalt.
US Salt, founded in 1893, gave MicroSalt their vote of confidence when the deal was announced.
“US Salt is looking forward to working with MicroSalt® to help with our low-sodium initiatives. Sodium is a worldwide concern in the food industry, and we believe Rick and his team are the industry leaders that can help propel our future growth,” said Bob Jordan, Vice President of Sales & Marketing of US Salt LLC.
Today’s update alluded to ongoing negotiations between MicroSalt and ‘key players in the snack food industry’. Although Tekcapital did not mention specific companies or potential order sizes, one would be forgiven for speculating that should these negotiations bear fruit, the resultant revenue for MicroSalt could be substantial.
Innovative Eyewear
The most interesting part of today’s update concerning Innovative Eyewear was news Nautica, Eddie Bauer and Reebok licensed smart eyewear is expected to launch by Q1 2024. When these products launch, it will dramatically increase Innovative Eyewear’s revenue generation capabilities.
In addition, Lucyd has launched its 2.0 Lucyd app which features an easy-to-use voice interface for ChatGPT.