GCITekcapital shares jump as Lucyd debuts on NASDAQ
( ) shares jumped 10% in London this morning as Innovative Eyewear, the US subsidiary of 's portfolio company Lucyd, is set to debut on NASDAQ under the ticker LUCY.
Innovative Eyewear, a maker of smart eyewear, announced the pricing of its IPO of 980,000 shares of common stock and accompanying warrants to purchase up to 1,960,000 shares of common stock at a combined price of US$7.50, for gross proceeds of approximately US$7.35m before underwriting discounts and other expenses.
Innovative Eyewear's common stock and warrants will being trading on NASDAQ today under the tickers LUCY and LUCYW respectively. The offering is expected to close on 17 August 2022.
Innovative Eyewear said it would use the proceeds from the offering to advance its sales and marketing, expand inventory, update and produce in-store displays, develop new styles and sizes of its smart eyewear, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Tekcapital currently owns 100% of of Lucyd's share capital, and 5,189,086 shares (approximately 70% post-IPO) of Innovative Eyewear. Assuming the offering is fully subscribed at the IPO price, Innovative Eyewear will have a market cap of approximately US$55m. Tekcapital had previously reported the value of Lucyd at US$17.5m on its FY21 balance sheet.
Lucyd saw sales grow over 100% YoY in Q1 2022, while the company secured distribution agreements with DICK's Sporting Goods, the largest sporting goods retailer in the US, as well as Best Buy, one of the largest electronics retailers in North America. The retailers will provide ecommerce platforms for Lucyd Lyte smart glasses.
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Tekcapital's bets on multiple disruptive technologies have paid off thus far. It seems investors believe the IP of Tekcapital’s portfolio, addressing multiple billion dollar markets, could become worth 9 figures. shares have hovered around +10% this morning on today's announcement, and are now up around 50% in the last 12 months and 270% in the last 2 years.
The combined value of Tekcapital's four portfolio companies has grown steadily since initial investment in 2018, from £8.4m in 1H18 to £62.5m in FY21. Innovative Eyewear's expected valuation of US$55m makes up a significant proportion of TEK's entire current market cap of £52.6m, explaining investors' excitement over today's news.
Tekcapital most recently reported a 13% increase in net assets in 1H22 to a record US$76.9m, with NAV per share increasing 6% HoH to US$0.51. Previously, had announced a 108% net asset increase and a 243% increase in income YoY for FY21.
Investors' confidence in Tekcapital is justified given the consistent revenue and value growth of its assets since initial investment in 2018. has proven that it can pick IP companies with the potential to grow and disrupt their respective sectors, despite repeated headwinds in the global economy over the past 5 years.
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