Pires Investments (AIM: PIRI ) has invested £0.25 million in Polience Limited, a security solution platform company that provides data intelligence to combat crime, terrorism and protect vulnerable people, as part of a £1 million fundraising round.

The investment group focused on next generation technology has satisfied the investment through its existing cash resources. Sure Valley Ventures ("SVV"), in which Pires has an effective overall interest of c.20%, has invested the remaining £0.75m from the round.

The proceeds of the funding will be used for product development, the further expansion of the PreCog team and for working capital purposes in order to help scale the company.

PreCog is an offering for governments, organisations and asset owners who are increasingly focused on identifying parties and individuals who may represent a security threat. 

As a result of this, Pires said security services and organisations are investing in real time solutions that can help provide them with further intelligence ‘to use their resources more efficiently and effectively, so they can act in a more proactive and preventative way.’

PreCog provides a security solution that, through their software platform and IoT hardware infrastructure, ‘can monitor people flow and detect the movement of persons of interest thereby ensuring that locations are protected from those who wish to cause damage.’

The platform collects and analyse data to provide both ‘scalable and actionable’ intelligence that helps its clients to combat organised crime, human trafficking as well as terrorism.

PreCog was incorporated in January 2020 and has participated in and been supported by the Microsoft for Startups programme and, via this programme, has established a partnership with Arrow ECS, a world-leading distributor and contract manufacturer. As part of this relationship, Arrow is manufacturing the hardware components for the PreCog system.

Commenting on the fundraising round, Peter Redmond, Chairman of Pires, stated that, "We are delighted to announce this investment in PreCog, both directly and via Pires' interest in SVV. PreCog has developed a security solution platform to provide unique data intelligence which we believe can be ground-breaking in its ability to combat crime and terrorism.

With the proceeds raised in this funding round, we expect to see PreCog scale up significantly. We look forward to updating the market on this investment in due course."

Shares in Pires Investments have seen an over three-fold increase in value since the start of 2021. The stock was trading 2.29% higher this morning at 17.9p following the announcement.

Pires expects to see PreCog ‘scale up significantly’ with the proceeds raised in this funding. Its investment, both directly and via Pires' interest in SVV, occurs as more governments and organisations around the world recognise the importance of identifying security threats. 

The global cyber security market size is expected to gain momentum by reaching USD $366.10bn in 2028 while exhibiting an impressive CAGR of 12.0% between 2021 and 2028.

Reasons to PIRI

Pires Investments (PIRI) is an investment company providing investors with access to a portfolio of next generation technology businesses with significant growth potential. 

The Company is focused on building an investment portfolio of high-tech businesses across areas such as Artificial Intelligence ("AI"), Internet of Things ("IoT"), Cyber Security, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality ("AR/VR") and Big Data. 

The Board believes its portfolio demonstrates evidence of traction and the potential for exponential growth, due to increasing global demand for development in these sectors. 

In December 2020, Pires announced its new venture into decentralised finance through a share subscription agreement into .DeTech Studio Limited developing a decentralised finance technology platform ("YOP"), providing Pires with a 15% equity interest in DeTech. 

The company told investors that it believes decentralised finance technology platforms offer opportunities for growth and that it could capture a significant portion of the DeFi market. 

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