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Viritech

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Viritech develops cutting-edge technologies for hydrogen vehicles, making them lighter and more efficient

110%
 - 
Funded 15 Dec 2023
£600,002 target
£664,410 from 568 investors
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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
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Investment summary

Type Equity
Valuation (pre-money) £17.4M
Equity offered 3.69%
Tax relief

EIS

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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
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Key features

  • Secondary Market
  • Nominee investment min. £10.50 +
  • Direct investment min. £35,000.00 +

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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If you successfully purchase a share lot of this business, you will be granted access.

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Only shareholders can access this page

If you successfully purchase a share lot of this business, you will be granted access.

Buy shares

Only shareholders can access this page

If you successfully purchase a share lot of this business, you will be granted access.

Buy shares

Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. Please read the Risk Warnings before investing. Investments should only be made by investors who understand these risks. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future.

This campaign for Viritech has been approved by Seedrs Limited (trading as Republic Europe) ("Republic Europe", "us" or "we"), as of 24 October 2023 as a financial promotion. Republic Europe is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 550317. In approving this campaign, Republic Europe has concluded that the information, taken as a whole, is "fair, clear and not misleading." This means that for factual statements we have reviewed evidence of their accuracy, and that for aspirational statements we believe they are phrased appropriately in light of their speculative nature. You should note that in the case of factual statements, the evidence we review is provided by the business, and we do not audit it, which means that we may not be able to identify forged or altered evidence. You should further note that in the case of aspirational statements, the nature of the type of businesses presented on the Republic Europe platform is such that they are likely to have high ambitions, and we may approve statements that convey those ambitions even where we do not believe, or we do not have a view on whether it is likely, that they will be fully realised. The pre-money valuation and investment sought in the campaign are those set by the business: they are not reviewed or established by us, and the valuation is not an independent view of what the business is worth. Given the nature and type of businesses presented on the Republic Europe platform, it is possible that the business has very little cash remaining prior to receiving this investment, and the investment sought may be necessary for the business's on-going existence.

Republic Europe does not make investment recommendations to you. No communications from Republic Europe, through this website or any other medium, should be construed as an investment recommendation. Further, nothing on this website shall be considered an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security to any person in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Republic Europe does not provide legal, financial or tax advice of any kind. If you have any questions with respect to legal, financial or tax matters relevant to your interactions with Republic Europe, you should consult a professional adviser.

Tax Relief (SEIS)

This business is eligible for SEIS relief - providing qualifying investors with income tax relief of 50% of their investment and certain other tax reliefs. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Click to learn more.

Tax Relief (EIS)

This business is eligible for EIS relief - providing qualifying investors with income tax relief of 30% of their investment and certain other tax reliefs. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in future. Click to learn more.

Valuation (pre-money)

Valuation rounded from £17,352,115

This is the fully-diluted pre-money valuation of the business (i.e. before the new investment comes in and including issued options and other equity interests). In contrast, the post-money valuation is based on inclusion of the new investment in the value.

It is calculated as the pre-money valuation plus the amount of new investment. e.g. If Company A is ascribed a pre-money valuation of £1,200,000 by prospective investors investing £300,000, its post-money valuation is £1,500,000.

The investee business is responsible for setting its own valuation, it has not been prescribed by Seedrs.

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Equity Offered

The equity offered is the percentage of the company’s shares being issued in return for the amount of investment raised.

When the amount raised is less than 100%, the equity offered is based on the target raise. Once the company has raised over 100% it is based on the total raised.

In some scenarios, entrepreneurs may accept additional direct investment after closing their Seedrs campaign. Provided this is within 6 months of the closing and on the same terms, we do not typically offer pre-emption rights on that extra investment (where you have the opportunity to invest again to maintain your percentage shareholding).

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Custodian

If you invest in this Campaign, Seedrs will act as Custodian rather than provide our standard nominee service. This is due to the fact that the business is not directly involved in the share sale and Seedrs will not benefit from any rights under a shareholder agreement. As a result, Seedrs will handle administrative tasks as we do normally, but you will not have information or voting rights, updates from the business, preemption on future fundraising, or ongoing support about business trading activity.

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Secondary market

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Direct investment

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Payment options

We are not able to accept card payments for investments into this sector. You can pay for your investment by creating a bank transfer, using funds in your investment account or create a Pay by Bank payment. Your investment will only be completed once the funds have reached our account.

Business Involvement

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Payment options

We are not able to accept Pay by Bank payments for investments into this sector. You can pay for your investment with a card payment, by creating a bank transfer or by using funds in your investment account. Your investment will only be completed once the funds have reached our account.

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