VCT News
Beringea exit of Saffron Digital values company at £30million
7th February 2011 - Beringea, the international venture capital firm and manager of the ProVen VCTs announced today that it has sold its stake in Saffron Digital, a developer of video delivery platforms, to the HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones. In 2007 Beringea invested £1.15m in Saffron Digital through its ProVen VCT & ProVen Growth & Income VCT. The deal values the company at £30m and generated an IRR of 65%, on an investment return of 5.8x, for the two VCTs.
Trevor Hope, Beringea's Chief Investment Officer, commented:
"We recognised some years ago the potential of mobile to drive digital media adoption and the great investment opportunity Saffron represented. The success of Saffron demonstrates what a digital media company in the UK can achieve when a dedicated, highly‐skilled management team is able to draw on experienced and knowledgeable investment."
Jamie Kennell, Beringea's Non‐Executive Director at Saffron, said:
"When I first met Shashi (CEO of Saffron Digital) in 2006 it was evident that he had a talented management team who understood the mobile market. Since our original investment both management and the business have gone from strength to strength. We are particularly pleased to sell to HTC, who have been an important relationship for Saffron and demonstrated they have the vision and capability to take the business forward."
David McDonald, COO of Saffron Digital, said:
"We're delighted in our new partnership with HTC which enables us to broaden our horizons and tackle new markets such as China, but we're obviously grateful to our investors like Beringea who have enabled us to get to this stage. A great result for all concerned."
Saffron is a global video delivery platform company whose products and services are live in 26 countries and 14 languages. Founded by CEO Shashi Fernando in 2003 and previously known as Filmnight, Saffron has become a pivotal player in the mobile space. Its technology enables users to access video content via personal mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops. Saffron's clients include Nokia, Sony Ericson, LG and Samsung. The company also provides services for Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Paramount, 20th century Fox, Sky, T‐Mobile and Vodafone.
In 2010 Saffron won Best Video Service Provider for the second year running at the Mobile Entertainment Awards and the company's exceptional year on year growth secured its place in the Media Momentum Top 50, the Tech Media Invest Top 100 and Deloitte Technology Fast 50.
Beringea's exit from Saffron is a further example of the firm's successful track record of investing in the digital media sector. Its previous investments in the sector have included Mergermarket, which realised a 14x return on investment when sold to the Financial Times, and ilG Digital, which delivered an IRR of 115% and a 3.4x return.
Beringea's ProVen Growth & Income VCT, which invested in Saffron, Mergermarket and iLG, has the second best performance since launch for its original ordinary shares of all new VCTs with a track record of at least two years. ProVen Growth & Income currently has a share offer open to raise up to £15 million.
About Beringea
Beringea is an international venture capital firm with offices in London and Detroit. In the UK Beringea manages ProVen VCT, ProVen Health VCT, ProVen Growth & Income VCT and Global Rights Fund II. Beringea launched its first VCT in 1996, making it one of the most experienced VCT managers in the UK. ProVen Growth & Income and ProVen VCT are highest performing VCTs of their launch years, respectively, according to www.taxefficientreview.com. For more information please visit www.provenvcts.co.uk.