Viritech develops cutting-edge technologies for hydrogen vehicles, making them lighter and more efficient
Business overview
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Social media | |
| Website | www.viritech.co.uk |
| Sectors | Automotive & Transport Non-Digital B2B |
| Company number | 13063420 |
| Incorporation date | 4 Dec 2020 |
Investment summary
Business highlights
- £2.5m in awarded grants over next 2 years
- Partnership w/ Ford to develop hydrogen Transit Van
- Led by a serial entrepreneur & motorsport engineer
- International patent and trademark portfolio
Key features
Idea
Introduction
Viritech aims to revolutionise sustainable transport via cutting-edge hydrogen powertrain solutions.
With an engineering team drawn from motorsport industries, our initial product development centred on our iconic hypercar, the Apricale, and involved optimising the weight, packaging and performance of our technologies.
The global powertrain market is £460bn, and the Hydrogen Council forecasts that by 2050, hydrogen will power up to 20m trucks and 5m buses. However, existing solutions are burdened by ineffective enabling technologies, making vehicles heavy and inefficient.
This is where Viritech comes in. Our enabling technologies in power electronics and hydrogen storage eliminate the drawbacks of existing solutions - a Viritech-enabled hydrogen truck would match the load capacity of its diesel counterpart.
Imagine a world where sustainable transport didn't evoke concerns over range anxiety or the depletion of rare-earth resources. Viritech was founded so you could stop imagining.
Substantial accomplishments to date
Grant awards - 6/6 successful government grant applications for technology development, totalling £2.8m in awards.
Traction and bluechip partners - Significant role with Ford, BP and Ocado to develop a hydrogen Transit van, the UK's best-selling commercial vehicle. Recent collaboration with Europe's leading automotive engineering and test consultancy, Horiba Mira, to develop hydrogen powertrain solutions for heavy goods vehicles.
Technology development - Our products have now been proven out and refined on our two hydrogen test vehicles, enabling us to begin our commercialisation phase.
Patented, differentiated technology - Comprehensive international trademark portfolio combined with patents granted and pending across the UK, Europe, China, India and the US.
Proven management team - The founder is a former investment banker turned serial entrepreneur with two previous exits. Co-Founder is a performance road car engineer who founded and exited a company specialising in high-performance automotive projects.
Strong backing - £6 million of equity capital raised (in addition to grants above), including the backing of two VCs, Energy Revolution Ventures and Arosa Capital, and one strategic investor.
Industry recognition - Have prominently featured in publications such as Top Gear, Evo and Autocar.
Monetisation strategy
Our business model is to develop proprietary hydrogen powertrain technologies and license them to manufacturers, taking a royalty on every product manufactured and sold.
This approach avoids the need to raise significant amounts of capital for manufacturing facilities, which often result in low operating margins. In contrast, licensing generates high-margin, recurring revenue streams and is scalable in terms of both volume and geographies.
In the near term, our early revenues will come from application engineering services and low-volume sales produced in-house (up to 1,000 units per year). This approach allows us to integrate or customise products for customers with the aim of opening sales channels for long-term licensing agreements.
Though our present focus is on the automotive industry, our technologies have numerous applications, such as marine and distributed power.
Use of proceeds
As we anticipated nearly three years ago, the hydrogen economy is rapidly becoming a reality, and our commitment to sharing ownership of Viritech with a community that believes in our mission remains core to our identity.
Crowdfunding has played a significant part in our journey and success to date. Thanks to nearly 3,000 investors, we have been able to develop our technology, demonstrate it on our test vehicles, log patents and partner with blue-chip businesses like Ford.
Now, with proven technology, a strong management team, and traction with the largest players in the market, combined with our non-dilutive grant funding, we are fundraising to support the next phase of our growth: commercialisation.
This raise will help us:
• Bring key products to market
• Demonstrate those products on key vehicle platforms, including a hydrogen truck mule
• Scale revenues to convert our opportunity pipeline and traction into income
• Add to the Board and Management Team
Key Information
Outstanding Convertible Loan Notes
The company currently has a £1,745,000 Convertible Loan Note, with the following key terms:
• Interest rate: 10% pa (fixed)
• Conversion trigger:
o a) Qualifying equity raise of £5,000,000
o b) on election of investors lender majority on completion of a non-equity qualifying equity raise
o c) on election of lender majority on a change of control; or
o d) at the option of investors the lender majority upon maturity date of 1st November 2024
• Conversion price: the lower of £2 or a 20% discount to the priced financing.
• Valuation Cap: N/A
• Share class: Highest share class at time of issue (currently Ordinary).
• Repayment date:
o a) with written consent of investors, the company may redeem the principle amount (or portion therefore) and interest at any time;
o b) on a change of control, with lender majority consent;
o c) at the request of the lender majority; or
o d) on an event of default (winding up / liquidation etc).
Please note that the principal amounts of these convertible loans have been factored into the pre-money valuation calculation for the campaign, using a 20% discount on the current round and therefore a share price of £1.40. Interest to date has also been factored in to this, however there will be additional interest applied prior to either conversion or repayment of the loans. This will therefore cause further dilution in a conversion scenario.
Connected Parties
Viritech and Horiba MIRA have various business interactions, including as partners for a project to build a hydrogen truck, MIRA are Viritech's current landlord and the businesses occasionally collaborate on engineering projects.
Founder Disclosure
The Founder, Timothy Lyons, holds Director roles at the following companies.
• TERRAFEND LTD
• SPYDER CAPITAL LIMITED
• DAMYNS HALL AERODROME LIMITED
• SKYMAX (AVIATION) LIMITED
• ASPREMONT LIMITED
Noting his NED roles require occasional meetings, he otherwise works full-time at Viritech Ltd.
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