TIDMPRIM
RNS Number : 4674X
Primorus Investments PLC
19 December 2019
Primorus Investments plc
("Primorus" or the "Company")
Update on WeShop Limited
The Board of Primorus is pleased to provide an update to
shareholders on its investee company WeShop Limited ("WeShop"),
following receipt of a shareholder update.
Primorus has invested a total of GBP875,000 in WeShop
representing approximately 3.5 per cent. of the issued share
capital of WeShop.
The shareholder update is as follows:
"The Board of directors are pleased to give shareholders a
year-end update with the following highlights:
-- Term sheets signed for a pre-IPO funding round of GBP2.0m
with cornerstone investment of GBP0.5m by EQUI Capital Partners - a
technology investment firm co-founded by Steve Wozniak and Doug
Barrowman.
-- IPO planned for Q2 2020 subject to market conditions
-- Paul Ellerbeck formerly of DMGT PLC and LDC, appointed as
Chief Executive Officer of the company
-- The company continues to complete its roadmap in anticipation
of a global launch in 2020
-- 2019 has been a year of progress including key commercial
deals with Amazon, Instagram, iTunes and many more to enable WeShop
to be largest retail platform in the UK by product count, currently
up to 150m which is 15x the size of Google Shopping
-- Social Commerce continues to be undefined by any one platform
with largest deal of the year completed between Mail.RU, Alibaba,
Megafon and the Russian Direct Investment Fund
Pre IPO Funding
Term sheets have been signed for a pre IPO funding round of
GBP2.0m committed by various parties including a corner stone of
GBP500,000 from EQUI Capital Partners ("EQUI"). The fundraise is a
blend of debt and equity with the equity priced at GBP5.98. This
funding will take the company through to a full product launch and
planned IPO on the London markets in H1 2020.
The company is delighted to invite EQUI onto the register and
their intention is to be a proactive shareholder. It is intended
that EQUI take a seat on the Board and also have exclusivity over
up to 50% of the IPO fundraise in 2020.
Quote from Doug Barrowman, existing shareholder of WeShop:
"As a shareholder of WeShop, I am pleased with the significant
progress that has been made with the business positioning itself
now for international growth with a truly innovative user
acquisition and retention strategy which empowers its users to
benefit directly from the financial success of the business."
Paul Ellerbeck appointed as Chief Executive Officer
Paul has technology and digital product deep within his makeup,
having held C Level roles within portfolio groups such as DMGT and
LDC he has also worked extensively in the start-up space and has a
deep understanding for the consumer ethos. Bringing this start-up
spirit and combining it with his extensive knowledge of public
markets and M&A protocol Paul is a very well balanced
professional to lead WeShop into the public markets.
Paul Ellerbeck, Chief Executive Officer commented:
"Having overseen the technology implementation for WeShop in the
last 12 months I am now extremely happy to accept the position of
CEO and take on this new challenge to drive the business to a
public listing. For me the social commerce opportunity is very
exciting and represents one of the most investable propositions of
this decade."
General Summary of 2019 & Market
2019 has been a year of technological progress as the company
has continued to build on its extensive platform. It has also been
a year of developing global launch strategies which will lead to
aggressive user acquisition, retention and referral whilst at the
same time making the commercial model highly profitable and which
will make the company attractive in a public markets
environment.
The Company has seen a number of companies enter the "social
commerce" race during 2019, with the majority focussed on female
fashion and paying influencers large amounts of money to try and
onboard existing followings. We watch with interest to see if these
platforms can retain their users and get them to transact.
Other existing platforms continue in their attempts to reverse
engineer their user experiences by injecting social or e-commerce
into them. Instagram are now allowing users to check out within the
platform on a limited amount of brands, pinterest continue to
expand their "shoppable content", Facebook marketplace has now
moved into selling property and Amazon Spark continues to try and
facilitate product discovery as a social platform amongst its
products.
The most successful social commerce deal of the year completed
on October 9(th) . Mail.ru Group (MAIL), the leading internet and
IT company in Russia, Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), a global digital
commerce company, MegaFon, a pan-Russian operator of digital
services, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's
sovereign wealth fund, announced the completion of the joint
venture transaction to integrate Russia's key consumer internet and
e- commerce platforms and launch of a leading social commerce joint
venture in Russia and the CIS.
Quote from co-founder and non-executive Chairman of WeShop,
Matthew Hammond:
"Globally we are beginning to see social commerce come together
as demonstrated by JV's between social networks and e-commerce
companies. I expect to see more joint venture partnerships in this
space over the coming years."
As WeShop continue to monitor closely the Social Commerce
market, the company firmly believes there are 5 key building blocks
to a successful social commerce platform:
-- Huge choice of products for the consumers - WeShop has up to
9,000 online merchants with up tp 150m products across multiple
categories including fashion, beauty, travel, sport, food and
drink, technology, experiences and many more.
-- Giving consumers price comparison and retailer choice - As a
result of WeShop having access to such a large inventory this is
achieved
-- A social layer of true recommendation with pictures, videos
and text allowing users to promote good products and seek advice
from trusted social networks
-- Ability to integrate across existing social platforms where
people already have their audiences - WeShop integrates with
several platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp,
Pinterest, Twitter, Youtube and many more
-- Safety around users data and also allowing users to share in
the financial success of the company via rewards so users,
management and shareholders are aligned.
WeShop's mission continues to be about enabling anyone to
recommend a product and make it shoppable, based on the key premise
that a "word of mouth" recommendation is the most important form of
influence on a consumer's purchasing decision. Social commerce, at
the most basic level, is based on brands selling through social
channels, but in its powerful format, like the WeShop social
commerce model, is based on authentic, shoppable user to user
recommendations. WeShop digitalises word of mouth marketing, where
everyone is an "influencer" in their own right. The statistics are
compelling, as people are 4x more likely to purchase a product that
has been recommended by a friend (Nielson).
As with any B2C platform it is crucial to have a clear user
acquisition, retention and referral plan. WeShop have been working
on such a plan which scales globally and encourages loyalty and
therefore usage of the platform in a very unique way. The company
looks forward to updating shareholders more on this in Q1 2020.
The company would like to take the opportunity to thank those
who have supported the company throughout 2019."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For further information, please contact:
Primorus Investments plc: +44 (0) 20 7440 0640
Alastair Clayton
Nominated Adviser: +44 (0) 20 7213 0880
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP
James Caithie / Sandy Jamieson
Broker: +44 (0) 20 3657 0050
Turner Pope Investments
Andy Thacker / Zoe Alexander
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END
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December 19, 2019 04:05 ET (09:05 GMT)
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