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")

16 October 2017

Vela Technologies plc

("Vela" or the "Company")

Investment of £200,000 in THEVIBE Ltd

The Board of Vela (AIM: VELA), the investing company focused on early stage and pre-IPO disruptive technology investments, announces that, following the announcement on 4 October 2016 regarding an investment in THEVIBE Ltd (trading as Vibe Tickets) ("Vibe Tickets"), the Company has agreed to invest a further £200,000 in Vibe Tickets as part of a follow-on funding round being undertaken.

Vibe Tickets has raised c.£750,000 of follow-on funding, comprised of £618,450 of equity funding and the balance being the conversion of a loan note and associated interest (the "Vibe Fundraise"). The total funds raised to date by Vibe Tickets, a pre-revenue business, stands at c.£1.7 million. The Vibe Fundraise is being carried out to provide Vibe Tickets with additional working capital to enable Vibe to expand its offering into new verticals, build up its user base and enable Vibe Tickets to add to its headcount.

On completion of this investment in Vibe Tickets it is anticipated that Vela will have a resultant 5.17% equity interest in the share capital of Vibe Tickets.

In addition, as part of the Vibe Fundraise, the investors in the current funding round, including Vela, will be issued with warrants to acquire additional new ordinary shares in Vibe Tickets for nominal consideration. The warrants will only be exercisable if and when the next funding round is undertaken by Vibe Tickets and providing this funding round raises in excess of £1,000,000. The exercise price of the warrants will equate to a 25% discount to the value of this next funding round.

Based on the last published accounts for the year ended 31 March 2016, Vibe Tickets generated a net loss of £226,931 and had net liabilities of £158,822 as at 31 March 2016. Vibe Tickets is currently pre-revenue.

Background on Vibe Tickets

Vibe Tickets is an open fan-to-fan ethical ticketing platform that allows fans to exchange tickets with other trusted members of the Vibe community. Vibe Tickets helps to directly connect buyers and sellers of tickets to popular events across the world. Vibe has been recommended by Which? and, following the recent success in the Virgin Media Business VOOM competition (Vibe Tickets were rated as top 3), Vibe Tickets has won the support of Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Media who are continuing to provide promotional support to Vibe Tickets. Vibe Tickets has recently launched an "app" and has a stated strategy to disrupt the secondary ticket market. Vibe Tickets was founded in 2013 by Luke Massie.

For further information on Vibe Tickets and to download the app please visit: www.vibetickets.co.uk. 

Vibe's press release in relation to the fundraising round is copied below

£1.7m raised to date for disruptive social marketplace

Vibe Tickets raises additional funds as it expands London-based team with three new appointments including two former-Ticketmaster industry specialists

Transparent social marketplace Vibe Tickets has raised a further £750k of follow-on funding, meaning total investment to date for the pre-revenue business stands at £1.7m.

Since 2013, founder and managing director Luke Massie, now 24, has raised over £1.7m through a combination of crowdfunding, seed capital and private investment. In his second round of funding, Luke aims to raise in excess of £2m from new investors, which would value the business at over £10m. Founder Luke is the majority shareholder of the business and has made it his aim to maintain controlling stake as the company scales and takes on new investment. Conversations with global venture capitalists, early-stage tech funds and family offices are in the latter stages, with a number of offers already on the table.

Those backing in the company's ambitious plans for further global expansion, as a result of its successes to date, include current investors and technology entrepreneurs Scott Fletcher MBE and Matt Newing, along with AIM investment company Vela Technologies PLC. 

This additional funding follows the recent announcement of Vibe Tickets' new London office and a string of new appointments who left industry players, including Ticketmaster and Sky Tickets to join the disruptive business. The newest recruits include Steph Maxwell and Daniel Gould as senior business development managers, and Chelsea Sargautis as senior social strategist. The latest investment will provide Vibe with operating capital, enabling it to expand its offering into new verticals, build its user base and continue to headhunt and recruit the best talent from across the industry.

Vibe Tickets is transparent, trusted and dynamic, allowing fans to exchange and negotiate on the price of tickets for live events. The disruptive fan-to-fan app has organically built a following of more than 70,000 users across eight countries since 2013 and has also been backed by serial entrepreneur and Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, in addition to a range of other investors.

Commenting on this news, Luke Massie said: "Vibe has massive potential to completely transform the way people buy and sell live event tickets and share experiences with others. We've generated exponential growth over the last year both in terms of our user base and the size of our team, and our new London office is enabling us to recruit the brightest minds in the industry.

"Scott, Matt and Vela Technologies' confidence in myself and the business has been reinforced by their recent investment and this will be used to accelerate the business at an even greater rate. I'm determined to see our offering further expand beyond tickets and increase our user base to over two million in the next two years. Our goal is to become the number one destination for live events for fans across the globe."  

Scott Fletcher added: "Vibe Tickets is a force to be reckoned with in the secondary ticketing market and offers something completely unique that others in the market just don't have the vision to foresee.

"At its core, Vibe is about creating transparency for the people. It's a young and dynamic business that is attracting the best talent and constantly evolving its platform to create a seamless experience for its users. Luke's ambitions are boundless and he has a fantastic team behind him. I have no doubt that Vibe has the potential to revolutionise the market."

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