Almost every month ShareSoc organises a central London seminar bringing interesting growth companies to the attention of private investors. Obviously these companies all have a story that they want to tell/sell but even so I find the experience of seeing directors in the flesh a positive one. It's surprising just how variably executive board members (usually the CEO and/or FD) from different companies come across. Beyond this the room is packed full of investors with decades of experience and they're not afraid to pose searching questions; just listening to these provides a valuable lesson in how to approach and understand companies.
If you've never been to one these seminars then I recommend heading to the ShareSoc Events page and signing up. Everyone is very friendly (unless you're a director trousering too many nil-cost options) and the buffet at the end is excellent!
Arria NLG
A small company (£25M) with a short listed history (2 years) Arria NLG is a fairly typical loss-making start-up. However their key product, the NLG platform, may actually change the world and they have patents in place to protect their IP. In a nutshell they automatically convert structured data, such as a hospital chart, into a human-readable report which can make expert recommendations. This has the dual benefit to clients of allowing reporting to be scaled up massively (e.g. the Met Office has multiplied its 3-day forecast output by 100x) whilst ensuring that the 'expert' never has an off-day.
However Arria NLG suffered a huge setback a year ago when their main customer Shell (90% of revenue) terminated their contract. This wasn't down to the software not being fit for purpose, apparently, but either way the company looked in danger of collapse. Fortunately the fairly unusual shareholder base of HNWIs, hedge funds and founders enabled the firm to survive and broaden their customer base. One key outcome of this near-death experience is that the board decided to push towards a SaaS solution and the potential for a smoother revenue stream.
An example of this is the RECOUNT product which hooks into on-line accounting packages and provides a virtual accountant for SMEs. Priced at $35/seat/month this is due for imminent launch in May 2016 and has the potential for huge growth. Longer term the company is providing a platform for individual developers to use the NLG service (think Apple App…
