Tern

About Tern

Tern Plc is a London-based AIM-listed closed-end investment company specialising in private software and Internet-of-Things innovators with international scale potential. The company was incorporated in May 2004 under the name Silvermere Energy Plc; following a strategy reorientation and shareholder vote in August 2013, the company divested its oil and gas interests and rebranded as Tern Plc, switching its investment policy to technology with an initial focus on telecoms, mobile and cloud, later refined to IoT, AI, AR/VR and adjacent enterprise software categories. Tern is headquartered at 19 Eastbourne Terrace in London and trades on AIM under the ticker TERN. As at 31 December 2024 (year-end), Tern portfolio valuation was approximately GBP 12.8 million with Net Asset Value of GBP 12.3 million (approximately €14.5 million). Tern operates as a single permanent-capital vehicle rather than a series of closed-end funds, deploying balance-sheet capital through bilateral private placements. Al Sisto serves as Chief Executive. The company complies with AIM Rule 26 governance disclosures.

Investment thesis

Tern Plc stated strategy is to partner with disruptive UK software companies starting local but dreaming global, providing patient permanent capital to back portfolio names from early stage through scale. The thesis concentrates on platform-level enterprise software with global market potential, specifically across Internet of Things security and device management, virtual and augmented reality for vertical applications such as surgical training, industrial IoT and machine learning, natural language processing, communications technologies and increasingly the broader AI infrastructure stack. Sector focus is software-heavy with secondary exposure to healthcare-technology (immersive medical training) and cybersecurity (IoT device identity). Geography is primarily UK-headquartered companies with material US or international commercial operations. Individual position sizes typically range from a few hundred thousand pounds for new entries to several million pounds for follow-on rounds into core portfolio names. The capital base is the public-market shareholder register of the parent AIM-listed Plc, providing permanent capital rather than fund-life-cycle pressure. Value creation is delivered through long-term board representation, follow-on financing, syndicate construction with specialist co-investors and milestone management.

Recent activity

The core portfolio in 2024 and 2025 comprises Device Authority in IoT security (valued at GBP 4.3 million at year-end 2024), FundamentalVR in immersive medical training (GBP 3.6 million), Talking Medicines in healthcare data and NLP, Konektio in industrial IoT and Wyld Networks AB in LoRa and mesh networking (listed in Sweden). Recent investments include a January 2025 commitment into Sure Ventures Plc in software (2025), follow-on participation in Device Authority financing rounds in cybersecurity (2024), and continued support of FundamentalVR in healthtech VR (2024). On the exits side, portfolio realisations have been limited to partial monetisations and asset sales within investee companies given the permanent-capital structure. Material portfolio events include Device Authority asset disposals in cybersecurity (2024) and the FundamentalVR Best Healthcare and Wellness Solution award at the 2025 Auggie Awards. Detailed buyer names and multiple data available on Pro at €29/month.