REG - Mineral & Financial - Investment Update: Ideon Receives VC Investment

Mineral & Financial InvestmentsAnnouncement

14/09/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 3492Z  Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited  14 September 2022

MINERAL AND FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED

Investment Update: Ideon Technologies Receives Silicon Valley VC Investment

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

·    Ideon Technologies has received US$15.0M Series-A Investment from
Playground Global LLC

·    The value of Ideon, and M&FI's investment has increased more than
9 times in 2 years

·    M&FI's investment in Ideon, based on this financing, will be
valued at C$1.35 million

 

GEORGE TOWN, CAYMAN ISLANDS, September 14, 2022 - Mineral and Financial
Investments Limited (LSE-AIM: MAFL) ("M&FI" or the "Company") is pleased
to provide an update on its investment in Ideon Technologies Inc. ("Ideon").
Ideon is a company in which M&FI holds 1.4% on a fully diluted basis of
the issued share capital of the Company.

M&FI has been notified today that Ideon has received a US$16.0M new equity
investment, US$15.0M from Playground Global Fund III ("Playground"). This
investment will result in Playground owning circa 20% of Ideon. M&FI's
original investment was made in June 2020, and has participated with top-up
investments in all of Ideon's subsequent capital raises. Based on the
resulting valuation from this Series A financing by Playground, M&FI's
investment in Ideon is worth C$1.348M (approximately £874,500). M&FI are
advised that the proceeds of this equity raise will be used by Ideon for
general corporate purposes.

Ideon is a private company with very limited liquidity. There can be no
guarantee of what value M&FI will achieve for its holding on disposal. At
this stage, the Company have not determined how this revaluation will be
reflected in the M&FI's Net Asset Value but given the relative performance
of other investments in the M&FI portfolio, it is not expected to have
material impact on the overall performance.

Playground Global was founded in January 2015 by an alumnus of former Google,
Apple and Microsoft employees. They have US$825M under active management.
Based on publicly available information, Playground have had 11 investment
"Exits" of which there have been multiple "Unicorn" investment exits (i.e.
company valuations in excess of US$1.0B) which include Relativity, Fabric,
PsiQuantum, Branch, Cruise, Next Silicon and Virta Health. Playground's
current investment portfolios have a total of 50 companies. Playground's
investment strategy is to commit capital in companies run by its founding
teams with winning concepts in deep tech sectors and "game-changing"
enterprise products.

Ideon Technologies Inc. is a world pioneer in the application of cosmic-ray
muon tomography. Ideon's Discovery Platform™ provides x-ray-like visibility
up to 1 km beneath the Earth's surface, much like medical tomography images
the interior of the body using x-rays. Using proprietary detectors, imaging
systems, inversion technologies, and artificial intelligence, Ideon maps the
intensity of cosmic-ray muons underground and construct detailed 3D density
profiles of subsurface anomalies. Ideon's discovery Platform can identify and
image anomalies such as mineral and metal deposits, air voids, caves, and
other structures with density properties that contrast with the surrounding
earth.

 

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jacques Vaillancourt, Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd.
+44 780 226 8247

Katy Mitchell and Ben Good, WH Ireland Limited
                        +44 207 220 1666

Jon Belliss, Novum Securities Limited
                +44 207 382 8300

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