Katalysen Ventures publishes year-end report for 2023
Katalysen Ventures AB (publ) hereby publishes its year-end report for 2023 (bokslutskommuniké). The full report is available immediately as an attached document, and on the company’s website. Below is a summary of the report.
Report from CEO Peter Almberg
The Market: Since early 2021, the early-stage investment segment has been tested. Markets, however, are inherently destined to rebound and we believe that we have finally reached a turn in momentum. In Katalysen Ventures’ IPO memorandum, we published a growth target that we think is appropriate for a venture developer, given the characteristics of the model and previous performance data: 35% annual growth in portfolio value. This represents average growth over a full economic cycle and we are confident that we will reach this target over time.
The Katalysen shares represents an accessible investment in a portfolio of Nordic early-stage innovation. For the past two weeks, the shares are also traded on the Nasdaq INET platform, making it significantly easier for international investors to trade the stock. This is important, since a large part of the company’s shareholders is based abroad, a fact that we are very proud of.
In 2023, we have increased our stakes in the portfolio ventures that we think hold the most potential over the next 30 months, and we have significantly reduced our costs, with a further 20% reduction in operating costs starting Q1 2024. Through a partner strategy, we have grown our network and improved our access to expertise. By focusing on developing companies around great partnerships, we can implement lessons learned over the last five years and maximize our own potential for the next five years (more on this soon). To reflect this new strategic direction, we re-designed our logo and website in early 2024.
Care: The public launch of ChatGPT in 2022 marked the beginning of a craze reminiscent of the dot-com era. At Katalysen Ventures, we are strong supporters of AI, and we look forward to using its growing capabilities to leverage our own unique competence. While AI may one day overtake human intelligence – which of course is not necessarily good news for people who claim to have a high IQ – we can excel in a world in which passion, curiosity and resilience (AQ) are what separate “winners” from “non-winners”. Indeed, we have observed that it is already the norm for early-stage venture developers.
As intelligence takes a giant leap and becomes affordable through AI, we celebrate the chance that it may be made available to all humans in a way that is fair. The keys to "making it" in the future, we believe, will be to have an entrepreneurial mindset, a personal brand and a network. You will also need to care.
And we care. Mid-pandemic, we asked all our portfolio companies to fill out a questionnaire to find out what they thought of us as investors and partners. The responses were unanimous: what our entrepreneurs liked was that we genuinely cared about them. Today, when I talk to investors, our shareholders and our board, the response is very similar. That we listen, understand and care is central to who we are and to what makes Katalysen different, in a good way. Adding up our resources such as experience, hands-on problem-solving skills, a quality network, and a knack for financing strategy, results in a very solid partner. And this has always been central to our mission: to be the best partner possible to entrepreneur-led ventures.
Another one of Katalysen’s strength lies in our tenacity. We do not give up. We listen, understand, care and constantly look for solutions. Even during as difficult an experience as a company bankruptcy we turned that “defeat” into a fantastic opportunity (see the QuTEM case study). Such an outcome would not have been impossible without relying on our core strengths.
Collaborations: With the recent inflation and interest rate increases, start-ups have found it particularly difficult to obtain additional funding while suffering from reduced valuations. These challenges often create tension among shareholders and founders. Partly due to these issues, even fundamentally strong businesses with high potential are struggling, and tensions lead to diminished collaboration.
Our philosophy is centred on achieving greater outcomes through collaborative efforts. In the last 24 months, our belief in the power of teamwork as a cornerstone of success has been validated. The first transaction using our new Venture Targeter Framework is a great example of what can be achieved by the great collaboration of all involved parties. We are confident that this transaction will have a significant positive impact on the future value of our portfolio, and we are now looking at similar turnaround opportunities.
As venture developer with a collaborative mindset, we are particularly proud to demonstrate how to salvage great IP and turn failure into success.
Conclusion: The highlight of the quarter was the inaugural investment of the Venture Targeter Framework into QuTEM. We are currently working on two similar transactions into special situation opportunities, pooling expertise, experience and cash using the same framework. We look forward to soon being able to share more information about how we are capitalising on the lessons learned from the last five years to continue building a unique investment platform.
Following a complete, bottom-up revaluation of the portfolio using an upgraded valuation approach, we arrived at a total portfolio valuation that is 1.7% lower than the total portfolio valuation at the end of 2023Q3. Given the economic climate, our portfolio is developing well.
KPIs
- Portfolio ventures: 25 (24)
- Estimated portfolio market vlaue 158 MSEK (161 MSEK)
- Cash resources in bank 1.3 MSEK (0.4 MSEK)
Financial KPIs
| Key Figures (Group, TSEK) | Q4 2023 | Q4 2022 | 2023-01-01 2023-12-31 |
2022-01-01 2022-12-31 |
| Net sales | 239 | 291 | 1 013 | 2 645 |
| Profit after financial items | -21 966 | -19 129 | -43 027 | -31 023 |
| Balance sheet total | 73 745 | 91 966 | 73 745 | 91 966 |
| Solidity, % | 88% | 95.6% | 88% | 95.6% |
| Earnings per share | -3.17 | -3.27 | -6.21 | -5.31 |
| Number of outstanding shares | 6 924 185 | 5 842 208 | 6 924 185 | 5 842 208 |
| Key Figures (Parent, TSEK) | Q4 2023 | Q4 2022 | 2023-01-01 2023-12-31 |
2022-01-01 2022-12-31 |
| Net sales | 239 | 291 | 1 013 | 2 645 |
| Profit after financial items | -21 173 | -17 886 | -38 106 | -27 147 |
| Balance sheet total | 75 465 | 91 009 | 75 465 | 91 009 |
| Solidity, % | 93.0% | 98.3% | 93.0% | 98.3% |
| Earnings per share | -3.06 | -3.06 | -5.50 | -4.65 |
| Number of outstanding shares | 6 924 185 | 5 842 208 | 6 924 185 | 5 842 208 |
Important events during the period
| 2023-10-03: Katalysen Ventures closes a fully subscribed warrant issue with strong backing from the company’s operational team. In total, 1’200’000 warrants will be issued, adding 3.7 MSEK to the company through option premiums. |
| 10-11: Portfolio company Manico AB announces strong sales traction and forecasted profitability for 2023. |
| 10-24: One of the Company's anchor investors, Alex Schütz Familienstiftung, has recently acquired the entire remaining shareholding of MHomman AB. This successful acquisition accounts for 3.0% of Katalysen's total outstanding shares and is expected to enhance the stability of the Company's shareholder base. |
| 10-27: Katalysen Ventures publishes a notice for an EGM, to be held on the 13th of November. The board will propose for the EGM that Peter Olsson be elected to the board. If elected, Peter would replace Dominique Belloin on the board. |
| 11-13: Peter Olsson was elected to the Board of Directors of Katalysen Ventures, replacing Dominik Belloin. |
| 11-21: Katalysen Ventures published its report for 2023Q3. |
| 11-22: Katalysen Ventures announced the inaugural investment of Venture Targeter into QuTEM, alongside leading European VCs. |
| 12-06: Katalysen Ventures announced the addition of QuTEM to the portfolio, alongside the downward adjustment in the valuations of VenturePort, Payer, and Uggla. Aggregated positive impact on the portfolio’s value of +10.7MSEK for a total portfolio value of 171.5MSEK. |
| 12-14: Katalysen Ventures clarified to the market that its total financial exposure to the “Payer Group” was estimated at 9.7MSEK (excluding accrued interest) at the time of the communique. |
| 12-15: Katalysen Ventures an update on the progress being made in Venture Targeter, including a case study covering the inaugural investment into QuTEM. |
Important events after the period
| 2024-01-23: Katalysen Ventures announced a partnership with professional asset valuation firm Leonh to ensure more precise portfolio valuations. |
| 01-30: Katalysen Ventures announced the successful closure of a 10MSEK directed share issue to strategic, long-term investors. 667’169 new shares were issued at a subscription price of SEK 15 per share corresponding to a discount of approximately 13% compared to the the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) for the KAV share over the period 2023-12-29 to 2024-01-30. The total value of the share issue is approximately SEK 10 million before transaction costs. Total transaction costs are estimated at SEK 25’000. |
| 02-01: Katalysen Ventures announced that its shares are now traded over Nasdaq INET, following Spotlight Stock Market’s transition to the Nasdaq trading platform. This gives more banks and brokers easier access to trade the Katalysen share, also outside of Sweden. |
This disclosure contains information that Katalysen Ventures AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 20-02-2024 07:54 CET.