8 December 2021

Pires Investments plc

("Pires" or the "Company")

Nova Leah closes investment round led by major US healthcare provider Northwell Health

Pires Investments plc (AIM: PIRI), the investment company focused on next generation technology, is pleased to provide an update on Nova Leah, a leading IoT cybersecurity firm for connected medical devices, in which Pires is invested through its investment in Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV").

Nova Leah has announced the closing of its seed investment round led by Northwell Holdings & Ventures, the for-profit venture investment arm of Northwell Health, New York State's largest healthcare provider. The investment includes additional funding from existing investors Kernel Capital and SVV. Nova Leah plans to use the funds to significantly expand its market opportunity and global reach.

In recent years, healthcare delivery organisations around the world have experienced increasingly significant disruption to the provision of medical care as a result of security threats. Nova Leah has won international awards for its cloud-based security product SelectEvidence® which ensures that connected medical devices are continuously assessed for cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The company also now supports cybersecurity processes across medical device design and development, market approval, monitoring, supply chain, purchasing, deployment and use, right the way through to produce decommissioning.

Pires has a combined direct and indirect interest of circa 20% in SVV, a venture capital fund focused on investing in the software technology sector with a specific focus on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Machine Learning, Immersive Technologies and Big Data.

Nicholas Lee, Director of Pires commented:

"We are delighted to announce the closing of Nova Leah's seed investment round, which was led by Northwell Holdings & Ventures, the for-profit venture investment arm of Northwell Health, New York State's largest healthcare provider. The valuation attributed to Nova Leah for this round represents around 200% of the company's valuation at which SVV initially invested, further demonstrating the high quality of SVV's portfolio.

"Given the current global environment, Nova Leah is well positioned in the healthcare delivery market to tackle the significant security threats which are causing increasing disruption to the provision of medical care. This funding should support Nova Leah as it enters new markets and to scale effectively. We look forward to updating the market on Nova Leah's progress in due course."

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors

About Pires Investments plc

Pires Investments plc (AIM: PIRI) is an investment company providing investors with access to a portfolio of next generation technology businesses with significant growth potential.

The Company is building an investment portfolio of high-tech businesses across areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Machine Learning, Immersive Technologies and Big Data, which the Board believes demonstrate evidence of traction and the potential for exponential growth, due to increasing global demand for development in these sectors.

For further information, visit: https://piresinvestments.com/.

About Nova Leah

Nova Leah is a world leader in the provision of cybersecurity solutions for medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. With offices in the US and in Ireland, Nova Leah's software helps connected medical device manufacturers meet cybersecurity compliance requirements throughout the entire product lifecycle. Nova Leah's flagship product, SelectEvidence® is an expert cybersecurity risk assessment platform that guides medical device manufacturers through the processes of identifying applicable threats to their products and implementing the right security controls to mitigate them.

Nova Leah was founded by Dr. Anita Finnegan, government advisor and award-winning international expert in cybersecurity risk management. Finnegan is a published author and project leader of multiple, internationally regulated, industry standards for medical equipment in healthcare technology.

For further information, visit novaleah.com.  

Reach is a non-regulatory news service. By using this service an issuer is confirming that the information contained in this announcement is of a non-regulatory nature. Information required to be notified under the AIM Rules for Companies, Market Abuse Regulation or other regulation would be disseminated as an RNS regulatory announcement and not on RNS Reach.