Portfolio Company Update : Guident

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

8 April 2020

Tekcapital Plc

("Tekcapital", the "Company" or "the Group")

Portfolio Company Update: Guident Ltd.

Tekcapital Plc (AIM: TEK), the UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating marketplace value from investing in university technology, is very pleased to announce that Guident has made significant progress in the development of both its management team and its intellectual property portfolio.

Guident is pleased to announce several management additions including the appointment of Harald Braun as the Company's Chairman and CEO.  Mr. Braun, has previously served as CEO of Siemens Networks USA (NYSE: SI) and Aviat Networks (NASDAQ: AVNW). He also served as a Senior Executive at Nokia Siemens Networks, North America. Guident has also appointed Daniel Grossman as the Company's Chief Revenue Officer. Daniel who currently serves on the board of Guident has previously helped to create General Motors mobility division, "Maven", where he led  operations as COO, and was Vice President at Zipcar, where he helped pioneer the brand globally, amongst other senior executive positions. 

Additionally, the Company has appointed Michael Trank as VP Software Development and Dr. Gabriel Castaneda as Lead Architect, Artificial Intelligence Software to its team.   

Guident has also announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application # 16/386,530 entitled "Methods and Systems for Emergency Handoff of an Autonomous Vehicle" and has filed an additional patent entitled, "Intelligent Remote Monitoring and Control of Autonomous Vehicles." This brings Guident's IP portfolio to five intellectual properties, of which four have been allowed or granted. All of these patents are focused on improving the safety of AV's and land-based delivery drones.

The Market

According to Allied Market Research ^"the autonomous vehicle ("AV") market is expected to reach $556 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 39%.¹ Contactless or "touch-free" delivery is in high demand due to the COVID 19 pandemic.^2,3 Guident believes this increased demand will accelerate the roll-out of land-based delivery drones for food and medicines to improve their availability and reduce the costs of these deliveries.

"We are very pleased to report our development progress in strengthening the team and the intellectual property of Guident. We believe autonomous, land-based delivery drones will likely be implemented in several markets in the U.S. and elsewhere in 2021 and we are readying the Company to provide patented software and remote monitoring and control services to enhance the safety of these vehicles and enable them to comply with local laws," says Harald Braun, Chairman & CEO of Guident Ltd. 

Dr Clifford Gross, Executive Chairman at Tekcapital, commented: "We are very glad to see the significant progress of Guident Ltd and we are confident they have the right leadership, strategy and intellectual property to make a meaningful contribution to the safety of AV's and delivery drones."

Tekcapital owns 100% of the share capital of Guident Ltd.

About Guident, Ltd.

Guident commercialises new technology to enhance the utility and safety of autonomous vehicles and drones using its proprietary IP.  To learn more please visit www.guident.co.

About Tekcapital plc

Tekcapital creates value from investing in new, university-developed intellectual properties and provides a range of IP investment services to make it easy for organisations to commercialise university-developed technology. Tekcapital is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: symbol TEK) and is headquartered in Oxford, in the UK. For more information, please visit www.tekcapital.com

LEI: 213800GOJTOV19FIFZ85

For further information, please contact:

Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications                                   +44 (0)207 129 1474

Tim Thompson/Andrea Seymour/Fergus Mellon        

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information herein does not constitute investment advice nor an offer to invest and may contain statements related to our future business and financial performance and future events or developments involving Guident or Tekcapital that may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. We may also make forward-looking statements in other reports, in presentations, in material delivered to customers, stakeholders and in press releases. In addition, our representatives may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. Such statements may be based on the current expectations and certain assumptions of Guident' and/or Tekcapital's management. Please note that these are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and factors, including, but not limited to those described in various disclosures. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialise, or should underlying expectations not occur or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of Guident or Tekcapital may vary materially from those described explicitly or implicitly in the relevant forward-looking statement. Neither Guident nor Tekcapital intends, nor assumes any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements in light of developments which differ from those anticipated.

References

¹ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/autonomous-vehicle-market 

² https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-safely-order-food-delivery-takeout-and-groceries-during-coronavirus-quarantines/

³ https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/01/uber-eats-beefs-up-its-grocery-delivery-offer-as-covid-19-lockdowns-continue/