November 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria-based investment platform Webit Investment Network [BUL:WIN1], or WIN, said that it is holding negotiations to invest in two start-ups - French green tech company EcoTree and Swiss food tech firm Alver - along with potential acquisitions of shares in upcoming Founders Games finalists.
The investment firm expects revenue in 2022 to be double last year's figure, it said in an interim financial report without providing specific figures.
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In the nine months through September, WIN booked a pre-tax loss of 39,000 levs ($20,655/19,940 euro), the company also said. The result was a consequence of stock value declines on capital markets in the face of high inflation, fears of upcoming recession and Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
The simultaneous decline in the valuations of high technology start-ups and scale-ups which WIN targets makes potential investments more favourable, the company added.
WIN will take part in Alver's planned fourth fundraising round once a lead investor is brought on board, according to the filing.
Alver, which produces healthy foods based on microalgae, has already worked with one of WIN's portfolio companies, Bulgaria's Smart Organic [BUL:SO], to develop sustainable food samples based on Alver's plant protein.
In search of a lead investor, Alver's founders have meanwhile scaled down the company's valuation by 30%, WIN noted.
French EcoTree, for its part, raised 12 million euro ($12.4 million) in June and added Societe Generale Ventures, Financiere Fonds Prives and Famae Impact to its list of backers, including Luxembourg venture fund Accurafy and French investment firm Epopee Gestion. The start-up, inspired by nature projects in the UK and the Nordic countries, is beefing up liquidity in pursuit of becoming nature-based solutions provider for sustainable forestry and conservation projects.
Having reached agreement on its future investment, WIN will finalise the transaction once EcoTree confirms revenue projections for 2022, the Bulgarian investor said.
WIN, which listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in June, was set up to invest in technology start-ups and scale-ups that are chosen as finalists of the Founders Games, the growth programme of the Sofa-based Webit Festival. Alver and EcoTree were past finalists, along with mobile video platform 360VUZ, in which WIN invested $900,000 (869,172 euro) in September.
Shares in WIN closed flat at 1.04 levs on the BSE on Tuesday, a smidgen below the IPO price of 1.05 levs apiece.
($ = 0.9657 euro)