Aiforia raised 8 MEUR in an expected directed issue

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 5/28/2025 at 8:10 am EEST.

The issue was fully expected, as we believe the company’s implementation of its growth strategy requires additional funding to be collected this year. The terms (EUR 3.2 per share, gross proceeds of some 8 MEUR) were quite well in line with our expectations. With the issue, the company can continue implementing its growth strategy that has progressed well without material short-term financing risks.

8 MEUR collected in the issue before costs

In the directed share issue announced yesterday, Aiforia will issue roughly 2.5 million new shares. The subscription price of the shares in the issue was EUR 3.20 per share, which corresponds to a discount of approximately 8% on yesterday's (May 26) closing price of EUR 3.47 per share and approximately 10.6% lower price compared to the three-month volume-weighted average share price (EUR 3.58). The issue was carried out in an accelerated bookbuilding process based on bids. The issue was aimed at domestic and international institutional investors and other professional investors. The new shares account for approximately 8.0% of all Aiforia shares after the issue, so the dilution is quite moderate.

The successful issue came as no surprise, as the implementation of Aiforia’s growth strategy has progressed well and we thus believe the company was in a good position in the financing negotiations. Aiforia raised gross proceeds of 8 MEUR in the share issue, which, after typical costs of around 5-10%, would correspond to net assets of 7.2-7.6 MEUR. In a well-organized directed issue, the cost level should definitely remain at the lower end of the range. In our previous valuation (4/23/2025), we had included a 10 MEUR share issue in 2025 (and another one in 2026), at a price of EUR 3.10 per share, excluding costs. Considering the typical costs of approximately 5-10% for the directed issue carried out at EUR 3.5 per share, the issue was largely as expected.

Before the issue, we estimated that Aiforia will raise a total of some 20 MEUR in additional funding to enable maintaining growth investment and achieving cash-flow neutrality, so the directed issue covers just under half of this. With our forecasts, the company's financing need would be covered with the support of the offering until 2026, and the company's cash flow after investments would turn positive during 2028. 

We feel the elimination of short-term financial uncertainties with expected terms is in principle positive for the company, even though a share issue carried out slightly below yesterday’s closing price may also bring short-term downward pressure to the share and room for play.