Campaign of the Week: Toximet

Our latest winning campaign is a mould-borne toxin testing system that’s trying to raise just over £180k via the SyndicateRoom platform.

The Investment Opportunity

• Toximet carries a pre-money valuation of approximately £10.2m. The company needs to raise nearly £1.6m and will give up 13.34% in equity.
• In keeping with the SyndicateRoom model, the bulk of the amount required has already been contributed by Angel investment. Online investors now have the opportunity to make up the remaining £181,740.
• It’s worth noting that Toximet has previously taken on board nearly £6.6m of equity funding from business angels.
• Toximet is still some time away from profitability. According to its forecasts, the company will break into the black on an annual basis in Year 4. Cumulative profitability is over 5 years away.
• In terms of the pricing, Toximet carries a valuation that is c. 2x year 4 revenues and c. 13.5x year 4 profits. That valuation will doubtless have been justified by the large amount of spending (just shy of £7m to date) that has already been poured into the business.
• Toximet requires external investment in order to finance its ambitious growth plans, and investors will want to make sure that they are adequately rewarded for providing that growth capital.
• All investors will receive shares carrying equal rights to the lead investors in terms of voting, participating in dividend yields and capital returns. Investors will also enjoy pre-emption rights on the issue of new shares and drag-along/tag-along rights – as is typical of all SyndicateRoom projects.

The Tech Take by Oli Batchelor

Food is one of those necessities of life. So much so that it is very easy to stop thinking about where it comes from, or what it really is beyond the supermarket shelf from which it’s been purchased. However, the old adage 'you are what you eat' is inescapably true and you don't have to spend long in a less developed nation to realise that if you are not careful about what goes in, you won't like what comes out! Luckily for those living in more developed areas there are all sorts of governing bodies monitoring the food that is sold to the public to make sure that they are protected.

Everyone has seen the mould that occurs on food not eaten quickly enough and very quickly throw it away while holding it at arms length and making a face of disgust. However, some fungus are far more difficult to detect, certainly beyond the scope of a consumer, and often beyond the food producer. One of these, known as mycotoxin, requires that food samples be sent out to a lab, tested by scientists and then either cleared for distribution or disposed of. This process takes significant time and money – driving the price up for the end consumer. Here is where Toximet's new rapid testing system comes in. It's easy to use, supremely precise and comes in at a low cost. By utilising this system, producers no longer need to send off test batches to some distant lab – they can process their produce in-house. This saves time, money and hassle.

Disruptive technologies are exactly that – disruptive. If you consider the advanced printing system that you now have access to at home or the office, alongside the countless external vendors that would have once been in place to provide you with the same service, it’s easy to imagine the highly efficient Toximet ultimately supplanting the incumbent laboratories. The question is whether Toximet's intellectual property will keep them ahead of the competition long enough to realise the financial potential of their invention, or whether a newly-birthed idea will render theirs’ as obsolete as the laboratory might become. While it doesn’t seem likely, inspiration is impossible to predict – as so many a crowdfunding campaign has already proved.

Campaign Breakdown

Capital required: £1,575,840

Amount invested so far: £1,394,100

Equity offered: 13.34%

Tax relief: EIS

Voting rights: Yes

Pre-emption rights: Yes

Pre-money valuation: £10,233,060

Share price: £60