Investment in ThusFresh Inc.

RNS Number : 1499A

TMT Investments PLC

27 March 2012

 

27 March 2012

TMT INVESTMENTS PLC

("TMT" or the "Company")

Investment in ThusFresh Inc.

The Board of TMT is pleased to announce the completion of an investment in ThusFresh, Inc., which is developing "Undrip", a mobile and web application that filters, organises and sorts the content that users' friends are sharing on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.  Undrip is currently in the private beta phase.

ThusFresh, Inc. ("Undrip") is a Delaware corporation, founded by experienced entrepreneur Mick Hagen.  After Mick's first year at Princeton University, he dropped out to start Zinch.com, a website that connects young people with schools, scholarships and graduate school opportunities.  Mick recently sold the company to Chegg.  He was recently named one of the top 100 high-tech entrepreneurs in Utah and Top 40 business persons under 40 by Utah Business Magazine.  Mick is a regular speaker and panellist at various industry events, business plan competitions, and other events.  Every semester, he is invited back to Princeton University to share his experiences in entrepreneurship.

As part of the current US$1.5m financing round, TMT has acquired 892,365 new zero coupon convertible preferred shares in Undrip representing 7.71% of the company's fully diluted equity capital (post-transaction) for an aggregate consideration of US$485,000, assuming a fundraising of US$950,002.  Assuming the full US$1.5m is raised, TMT's fully diluted equity stake in the company will be 7.09%.

Definitive agreements for the transaction were entered into, and the transaction was completed, yesterday.

The agreements between the parties include pre-emption rights, liquidation preferences and other rights and protections in favour of TMT customary for preferred stock holders.  The acquired preferred shares may be converted at any time into Undrip's common shares at a 1:1 conversion rate.  TMT will have the right to purchase up to 20% of the total number of Undrip's equity securities sold in the next equity financing.

According to Mick Hagen, "There are more than 4 billion Facebook posts and 250 million Tweets shared every single day.  Social networks like Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest are exploding with growth.  The amount of content and noise coming through our social streams is painful and frustrating.  Undrip has a massive opportunity to be the app that understands the content, organizes it, filters it, and delivers it in a rich, simple and compelling experience.  We're super pleased to be partnering with TMT to build a franchise company that gets global, mass-market consumer adoption."

TMT realises the problem of excessive content in people's online and mobile social lives and believes that the founders' vision and deep understanding of the market will make Undrip a successful application.

Undrip has not yet published any financial accounts.

For further information contact:

TMT INVESTMENTS PLC Mr. Alexander Selegenev www.tmtinvestments.com	[phone] [e-mail]
ZAI Corporate Finance Ltd NOMAD and Broker Marc Cramsie/Irina Lomova	020 7060 2220
Kinlan Communications David Hothersall	Tel. [phone] [e-mail]

About TMT Investments

The Investment Policy & Strategy

The Company's objective is to generate an attractive rate of return for Shareholders, predominantly through capital appreciation, by taking advantage of opportunities to invest in the TMT Sector. The Company aims to provide equity and equity-related investment capital, such as convertible loans, to private companies which are seeking capital for growth and development, consolidation or acquisition, or as a pre-IPO financing.

In addition, the Company intends to invest in publicly traded equities which have securities listed on a stock exchange or over-the-counter market. These investments may be in combination with additional debt or equity-related financing, and in appropriate circumstances in collaboration with other value added financial and/or strategic investors.

The Company is not geographically restricted in terms of where it will consider making investments. It will consider any geographical area, to the extent that the investment fits within the Company's investment criteria. The Directors and Consultants have expertise in emerging markets and, in particular, in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Company will not be subject to any borrowing or leveraging limits.

Private Companies

The Company will target small and mid-sized companies and will seek to secure at least blocking stakes and board representation, where it considers that the Company and/or an investee company would benefit from such an appointment. The Company will consider making equity investments in lower than blocking stakes only where it sees ways to increase the stakes to blocking or controlling stakes at a later date. Each investment is expected to be at least US$250,000.

The investments targeted by the Company will aim to support rapidly-growing private companies to increase market share and achieve long-term shareholder value. It is envisaged that if the Company invested in a private company prior to that company listing on a stock market, the Company would retain a part of its investment in the listed entity going forward. The Company intends to work closely with the management of each investee company to create value by focusing on driving growth through revenue creation, margin enhancement and extracting cost efficiencies, as well as implementing appropriate capital structures to enhance returns.

Public Companies

When investing in public equities, the Company will seek to select companies with a dominant market share or strong growth potential in their respective segments. No restrictions will be placed on the size of public companies in which the Company may make an investment. The Directors intend to make investments in companies or businesses with attractive valuation, growth potential, with competent and motivated management, which enjoy brand recognition, have scalable business models, have strong relationships with customers and have in place transparent accounting policies.

Realisation of Returns

The Directors will, when appropriate, consider how best to realise value for Shareholders whether through a trade sale, flotation or secondary refinancing of the investee companies. The proposed exit route will form a key consideration of the initial investment analysis.

The Company expects to derive returns on investments principally through long-term capital gains and/or the payment of dividends by investees. The primary ways in which the Company expects to realise these returns include: (a) the sale or merger of a company; (b) the sale of securities of a company by means of public or private offerings; and (c) the disposal of public equity investments through the stock exchanges on which they are listed.

For private investee companies the Company believes that its typical investment holding period should provide sufficient time for investee companies to adequately benefit from the capital and operational improvements resulting from the Company's investment. The targeted holding period shall be reviewed on a regular basis by the Company, but it is expected that this will typically be between two to four years. For public equities the Company's objective is to maximise capital appreciation. Following the acquisition, the Company will continue to conduct extensive research and monitoring of the investment. Importance will be placed on the timing of any disposal which will follow a thorough review of market conditions and those reports and sources that are available to investors. Should the Company consider that the capital appreciation of a particular public equity investment has reached its peak or is likely to or has begun to decline, then the Company will consider the sale of that investment.

 

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