Investor Newsletter H1 2021
May 7, 2021
Welcome to our Semi-Annual investor newsletter edition for May 2021. This Newsletter will present an update on the investment activity of the Wesley Clover Global Ecosystem of Technology companies as well as updates on the expansion of New Funds, LP participation opportunities of the Alacrity Global program and what trends we are watching in technology, investment, and policy.
In this Edition:
- Thought Leadership on Cybersecurity
- Our Latest Watch List
- Portfolio Investment Highlights
- New Initiatives
- Investment Spotlight
- Alacrity Entrepreneurship News
- Upcoming Events
Cyber Security
Dichotomies of a Surveillance World
Ecosystem Thought Leader Simon Gibson establishes Wales as a Regional Cybersecurity hub for talent development. See his latest publication on Cybersecurity.
Our Watch List
- Cyber Security: SolarWinds hack – understanding adversary infrastructure
- 5G: Encepta Plays Key Behind-the-Scenes Role in Emergence of New 5G Wireless Networks
- Smart City: Stockholm’s Smart & Connected Lighting Project
- IoT: Internet of Med Tech Is Improving Patient Access
Portfolio Investment Highlights:
The Alacrity Global Ecosystem has had 5 exits. The tech verticals of Exits were in Cyber Security, Data and IoT. Similarly, the greatest follow-on investment attraction is also in the areas of Security and Data. Over the past twelve months our portfolio has attracted over US $50 Million in early-stage funding in Security and Data technology related categories from Corporate Venture as well as Venture Capital. You can follow the links below for deal details:
- Solink secured Series B $23 million CAD (2020).
- Alacrity Canada, Certn secured Series A & Series A+ $43M CAD (2020).
- Alacrity Turkey, Pisano Customer & Employee Experience Management Company Secures Early-Stage funding $2.5 M USD (2020).
- Alacrity Canada, Hyas Cyber Security Secured Series B Funding $16 Million USD (2021).
- Alacrity Canada (2) exits Tutela Technologies (2019), Echosec Systems (2020).
- L-SPARK Exits (2) Cybeats Technologies (2021), Nugget.ai (2021).
- Wesley Clover Direct Investment CounterPath Completes Closing of Acquisition by Alianza, Inc (2021).
- Martello [TSXV:MTLO], Acquires GSX(2020), 5-Million-Bought-Deal-Public-Offering-of-Units (2021)
5 initiatives we are working on this year are:
- New Alacrity Funds & Accelerators under development: UAE, ASEAN, India, and South America.
- Attract LPS for Alacrity Secondary Funds
- Support the acceleration of Pre-seed companies to investible revenue levels.
- Enhance engagement with Global Investor and Industry Analyst community via briefings and informative content.
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Deal Book: Investment Spotlight
Over the next 6-8 months we are anticipating further Early-Stage Investment attraction specifically in the area of HRTech, MarTech and Security & Monitoring. Companies have continued to grow in the past year regardless of the pandemic and businesses still require Security as well as Workforce and Customer Retention Strategies. We have 3 companies looking to raise funds over the next 6-8 months: ThinkRF, CareerJSM and SaaSquatch. Find the investment profile details below:
ThinkRF
Website: https://thinkrf.com/
Industry/Vertical: Security & Monitor, Software-defined spectrum analysis platform Location: North America
Investment Timeline: April-June 2021
Estimated Annual Revenue CAD: 3.2Million+
Funding Target: Pre-Series, $3 Million+
Investor Targets: Institutional Angels, Angels
Wireless spectrum is a scarce and expensive resource. Wireless operators in Canada paid $3.5 billion for spectrum licenses in 2019. These operators have little actionable intelligence about what spectrum to license and where to license it. These challenges are worsened by the complexity of next generation 5G deployments.
ThinkRF built its reputation designing and selling highly accurate low cost spectrum analyzers delivering capacity of 8kHz to 45GHz, these ranges of network are extremely important to wireless networked sensors in the world of 5G. ThinkRF is currently working with leading Operators to instrument cities around the world, collecting data about what is happening in the spectrum, and using AI to create actionable intelligence. ThinkRF sells multi-year subscriptions to these insights to operators and regulators. To further develop this offering, ThinkRF is seeking $3M in the short term to bridge to a larger VC round later this year. Having grown revenues 3x last year, the plan will be to go public in five years with over $100M in ARR.
Current Investors: VC, Corporate, Angel, Institutional Angel
Thrive
Website: https://thrivemycareer.com/
Industry/Vertical: HRTech, Career Management
Location: North America
Investment Timeline: April-Nov 2021
Estimated ARR CAD: $2Million+
Funding Target: Series A, $10 Million
Investor Targets: VC and Corporate Venture
Thrive Career Wellness platform is an enterprise career marketplace built to help any individual advance their career. Employers deposit dollars into the platform which individuals can use to access over 70+ services in our integrated marketplace. Thrive is used by employers for career transition, internal redeployment, and career management. Thrive is growing over 100% Year over Year and has customers in eight different countries around the world. Thrive is seeking capital to increase investment in enterprise customer requirements while growing and building direct sales and customer service teams across active geographies.
Current Investors: Angels, Institutional Angels, VC
Strategic Customers: Walmart, Scotiabank, Lowes Canada
SaaSquatch
Website: https://www.saasquatch.com/
Industry/Vertical: MarTech, Customer Engagement, Advocacy, Rewards & Loyalty
Location: North America
Investment Date: May-Nov 2021
Estimated ARR USD: $2 Million+
Funding Target: Series A
Targets: VC
SaaSquatch is a loyalty, referral and rewards platform helping B2C and B2B companies across industries such as SaaS, Finance, Media, Telecom, and other online businesses grow through incentive marketing. SaaSquatch has increased revenue by 50%+ in the last 5 months and is forecasted to increase revenue 2.5 X this year. SaaSquatch is raising funds to accelerate sales and marketing while advancing the SaaSquatch platform to better serve Enterprise clients.
Current Investors: Founder, Institutional Angel, Debt
Strategic Partners/Customers: Western Union, Ring Central, PluralSight, Self Financial
Alacrity News
Alacrity Canada
Alacrity Canada (Non-Profit Organization) completes second exit of original cohort, placing total exit value to over $50 Million USD. Additionally Alacrity Canada completes 2020 with record Series A raise of $43 Million CAD by startup Certn. 2021 begins with closing of Series B funding for Cybersecurity company HYASInfoSec.
Alacrity France
Alacrite France has supported the development of 8 NewCos to-date, each received Startup funding of €250K+. There are 7-8 additional NewCos in the pipeline planned for Alacrite France I. Alacrite France II is being developed for launch mid-decade.
Alacrity Affiliate: L-SPARK
L-SPARK Accelerator achieves milestone of attracting 100 Million CAD of follow-on funding for startups and achieves its first 2 exits Cybeats & Nugget.AI.
Alacrity Mexico
Alacrity Mexico grows portfolio to 4 tech startups targeting logistics, Fintech and hospitality solutions. First startup outside round raise expected early 2022.
Alacrity Turkey: Fund II Under Development
Wesley Clover seeking to develop a Second Fund in Turkey to take advantage of Seed & Early Stage funding gap in talented tech ecosystem.
Alacrity U.K.
Alacrity UK has supported the development of 12 NewCos to-date, each receiving startup funding of £250K+. The Cyber Security Program was launch in 2020, currently with a cohort of 3 NewCos.
Alacrity ASEAN New Fund Under Exploration
Wesley Clover undertaking exploration of a new fund in the ASEAN region. Early Stage Venture Builder model for SAAS technology 5 ++2 years, targeted fund size of $10 Million USD.
Alacrity India, New Delhi New Fund Under Exploration
Wesley Clover undertaking exploration of new fund in the New Delhi. Early Stage Venture builder in Alacrity India model for SAAS technology 5 ++2 years, targeted fund size of $10 Million USD.
Alacrity South America New Fund Under Exploration
Wesley Clover undertaking exploration of a new fund in South America. Early Stage Venture Builder model for SAAS technology 5 ++2 years, targeted fund size of $10 Million USD.
Alacrity UAE New Fund Under Development
Wesley Clover undertaking exploration of a new fund in the UAE. Early Stage Venture Builder model for SAAS technology 5 ++2 years, targeted fund size of $10 Million USD.
Upcoming Events
- Telus L-SPARK MedTech Accelerator Demo Day
Thursday May 13 at 10AM
Thank You
For any Investment related enquiries on portfolio companies, Alacrity Funds or for a Wesley Clover Briefing please contact Joshua Seerattan.
About Wesley Clover International
Wesley Clover International is a private, global investment management firm and holding company with over a Billion Dollars of Assets Under Management in Real-Estate & Technology. The focus is to fund and grow successful technology companies. More than 100 firms have been created to-date by Wesley Clover with more than $1.0B in direct investment. The portfolio regularly has more than 40 investments under active management around the globe. All are committed to next-generation Cloud and SaaS applications for fixed and mobile communications, video analytics, security, customer engagement, business enablement and more. Deal flow includes companies within the Enterprise Accelerator, L-SPARK, as well as the Alacrity Global Ecosystem of technology partnership funds which have been deployed in 6 international regions.