REG - Mindflair PLC - New investment by SVV III Limited Partnership

MindflairAnnouncement

05/06/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 1124R  Mindflair PLC  05 June 2024

5 June 2024

Mindflair plc

("Mindflair" or the "Company")

New investment by Sure Valley Ventures III Limited Partnership

Sure Valley Ventures leads $1.1 million investment in Inspeq AI

 

Mindflair plc (AIM: MFAI), the company investing in next-generation technology
focused on AI, notes the announcement made by Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV")
regarding the first investment by Sure Valley Ventures III Limited Partnership
("SVV3 Fund"), in which it has an investment.

SVV3 has led a $1.1m funding round for Inspeq AI, a transformative full-stack
AI Ops platform, alongside Delta Partners and a number of other leading
investors.

Inspeq AI aims to become the trusted source of safe and reliable AI
development, enhancing generative ("Gen") AI application deployment with its
comprehensive platform designed for effective and efficient production. The
platform addresses AI performance issues throughout the Large Language Model
("LLM") development lifecycle, ensuring optimal safety and ethical compliance.
Inspeq AI's advancements have notably reduced security and hallucination
(events in which machine learning models produce outputs that are coherent and
grammatically correct but factually incorrect or nonsensical) issues by up to
80%, significantly improving reliability and trustworthiness.

The company was founded by Apoorva Kumar and Ramanujam Macharla Vijayakumar,
who have prior experience at Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and LinkedIn.

Inspeq AI plans to invest these new funds into their full-stack LLM AI Ops
platform, which assists developers in optimising all Gen AI production and
development phases, from testing and evaluation to monitoring, performance,
and guard-railing of B2B and Enterprise AI applications.  It will also expand
its team in Applied AI, Data Science, and Full Stack Development, and extend
its operations in Ireland, London, and India. Inspeq AI's mission is to
provide businesses with tools to confidently deploy AI solutions in production
environments, mitigating AI-related risks and fostering a trustworthy and
secure AI future.

The SVV3 Fund has to date received commitments of over €30 million, of which
Enterprise Ireland has committed to invest 50% or circa €15 million and
plans to invest in 15 high growth AI software companies in sectors such as
Enterprise, Immersive Technologies and Cybersecurity across the Republic of
Ireland.  Mindflair has a 16.0% interest in this fund.

The SVV3 Fund is managed by the same SVV fund team which, to date, has been
successful in achieving cash realisations/liquidity events from, and upward
revaluations of, a number of investments made by the first Sure Valley Venture
Fund as well as launching the £85 million Sure Valley Ventures UK Software
Technology Fund backed by the British Business Bank.

 

Nicholas Lee, Director of Mindflair, commented:

"It is encouraging to see the first investment being made by the third SVV
fund into a growing company in the AI space.  This investment again
highlights the great potential within Mindflair's exciting AI focused
investment portfolio."

 

The Directors of the Company are responsible for the release of this
announcement. The person who arranged for the release of this information is
Nicholas Lee, a director of the Company.

 

Enquiries:

 

 Mindflair plc                       Tel: +44 (0) 20 3368 8961

 Nicholas Lee, Director

 Nominated Adviser                   Tel: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880

 Cairn Financial Advisers LLP

 Liam Murray / Ludovico Lazzaretti
 Broker                              Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0935

 Peterhouse Capital Limited          Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 0936

 Duncan Vasey/Lucy Williams

 

Notes to Editors

Mindflair plc (AIM: MFAI) is an investment company providing investors with
access to a portfolio of next generation technology businesses focused on AI
with significant growth potential. The Company is building an investment
portfolio of high-tech businesses focused on Artificial Intelligence, across
such areas as Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Machine Learning, Immersive
Technologies and Big Data, which the Board believes demonstrate evidence of
traction and the potential for exponential growth, due to increasing global
demand for development in these sectors. For further information, visit:
http://www.mindflair.tech/.

Sure Valley Ventures (www.surevalleyventures.com) ("SVV") is a venture capital
firm that invests in early-stage AI software companies in the UK and Ireland.
Investing in AI since the firm's inception in 2017, SVV has a strong track
record of accelerating the growth of private AI companies through to Series A
and beyond.

Delta Partners (www.deltapartners.com) is a venture capital firm that invests
in early-stage startups in Ireland. For over 30 years, Delta Partners has been
supporting entrepreneurs to build great businesses. Having invested in over
140 companies with exits generating €1.8 billion, Delta has a track record
of investment performance with LPs including Enterprise Ireland, Bank of
Ireland, and Fexco, as well as the family offices of successful Irish
technology entrepreneurs.

Enterprise Ireland is the Irish government organisation responsible for the
development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets who works in
partnership with Irish enterprises to help them start, grow, innovate and win
export sales in global markets. In this way, it supports sustainable economic
growth, regional development and secure employment. www.enterprise-ireland.com

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