New Investment by SVV UK Software Technology Fund

Pires Investments plc (AIM: PIRI), the company investing in next-generation technology focused on AI, is pleased to provide an update on its investment in the Sure Valley Ventures UK Software Technology Fund (the "SVV Software Fund").

Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV") has led a £2.2 million seed round in Captur, a company that has built an enterprise AI platform for real-time, rules-based image recognition. Existing investors, MMC Ventures and Ascension Ventures participated in this round, along with other investors including ex-Deliveroo, and enterprise AI investors Concept Ventures and Two Culture Capital, backers of ElevenLabs and Electric AI.

The company's technology uses Edge AI, the implementation of artificial intelligence in an edge computing environment, which allows calculations to be completed nearby to where data is created, rather than an offsite data centre or a centralised cloud computing facility. This localised processing allows Captur's technology to make decisions using visual AI in under 3 seconds.

Captur's visual AI solution is fast to implement and offers product owners easy-to-embed APIs and SDKs that act as a smart camera within their mobile apps. Captur is currently being used in the delivery sector for drivers to map doorways and verify the correct address, reducing delivery to incorrect addresses and fraud by up to 40%.

Captur aims to expand its visual AI automation technology across the logistics, transportation, and automotive sectors and to integrate its solutions into modern enterprise's logistics. The company's customers include Forest, Dott, and Moove, and discussions are taking place with prominent logistics firms and Fortune 100 retailers. With operations in Europe, Captur plans to enter the US market next year.

The SVV Software Fund is a venture capital fund, investing in a range of private UK software companies with a focus on companies in AI and ML, Immersive Tech, Metaverse and Cybersecurity sectors. The fund is run by the same SVV team which has been highly successful in achieving a number of cash realisations from, and upward revaluations of, companies in the SVV portfolio.

The SVV Software Fund, which includes a cornerstone £50 million investment from the British Business Bank through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme, was launched in March 2022.

Nicholas Lee, Director of Pires Investments plc, commented:

"We are pleased with the investment in Captur which has developed innovative technology and has the potential to improve profitability and efficiencies across sectors."

Captur is a London-based enterprise AI startup, backed by top European VCs and InnovateUK. The company was founded in 2020 and incubated by Google for Startups.