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Firsthand Technology Value Fund's Exit History is not "SPAC-tacular"

By: Issuewire

New York City, New York May 10, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - Don Chambers, a shareholder of Firsthand Technology Value Fund (Nasdaq: SVVC) today stated: "The disastrous returns from investing in SVVC appear to be due (in part) to its very disappointing history of SVVC-led exits from its portfolio companies"

Chambers states: "The primary value of venture capital managers is their ability to nurture their portfolio companies to the point of being launched as publicly-traded successes.  A few "homeruns" can more than offset the losses from the many companies that fizzle."  Mr. Chambers continued:  "Over the last five years,  three of SVVC's attempts to launch companies appear to have been closer to strikes than homeruns."   Chambers described the three launches:


"Strike #1: In July of 2018 SVVC's investment in Pivotal Systems went public as reported by PRNewswire "...[PVS] made its debut as a public company, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), following a heavily oversubscribed $53.5M (AUS) / $40.2M (US) initial public offering (IPO)" with a pro forma FY18 EBITDA of over $4 million in its prospectus. PVS has consistently lost money ever since and appears to be trading at about half its price relative to the summer of 2018.    SVVC acquisitions of PVS date back to 11/28/2012 and, although they show an unrealized gain, it is not the sort of success that venture capitalists need to achieve in order to offset the likely high failure rates of many ventures.

Strike #2: In December of 2018 Revasum (RVS) went public on the ASX with attractive pro forma forecasts of gross profits.  But RVS's CEO left as the firm's viability faltered.  At one point (as found in its Preliminary Final Report for the Period Ended 5 January 2020) the company reported that "..there is material uncertainty...that may cast significant doubt on whether the consolidated entity will continue as a going concern...".  For the last year RVS has traded at one-half or less of its initial listing price on the ASX.  SVVC's 2020 annual report appears to show its holdings of RVS as having an unrealized loss.

Strike #3: In January of 2019 Firsthand helped launch Phunware (PHUN), a software company, using a "blank check" or "SPAC" approach to going public. The early days of PHUN's trading formed a historic boom and bust as documented by Dave Michaels and Alexander Osipovich in The Wall Street Journal on 2/13/19.   SVVC's 2019 annual report appeared to show its holdings in Phunware (acquired 3/13/2014) with a $4,567,633 cost basis and only a $812,666 value."

Chambers notes: "SVVC's disastrous SPAC generated a huge loss rather than achieving the ultimate goal of venture capital: successful exits of portfolio companies through public markets.   Nevertheless, SVVC's Board claimed that its manager's SPAC expertise is a huge plus for the future: In the proxy statement for the forthcoming shareholder meeting, the Board's statement (in unanimous opposition to my shareholder proposal) appears to read as follows:"

"Unique SPAC Expertise Required in this Extraordinary Time ... If the Company were to pursue such opportunities in 2021 and beyond, the SPAC expertise of FCM would be extremely important."


Dr. Chambers noted that:  "The three strikes in the portfolio companies listed above should motivate investors to call SVVC's management 'out'."

Data in this release based on https://www.pivotalsys.com/wp-content/uploads/pivotal-systems-replacement-prospectus.pdf, and
https://hotcopper.com.au/documentdownload?id=uOMxKKzFkiWRTLKhOROKAxjvSDY
L4gy9zhn2v2BVv7LFiGug3D

The phone number to contact Don Chambers is 310-401-4724'

Media Contact

Concerned Firsthand Technology Value Fund (SVVC) shareholders


DonaldRChambers@gmail.com

Source :Concerned Firsthand Technology Value Fund (SVVC) shareholders

This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.

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