Shaires Holdings Ltd (SHR) has launched a retail offer, giving individual investors the opportunity to gain exposure to a portfolio of private technology companies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI).

The AIM-listed investment company is making new ordinary shares available at $20.00 each through the Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP). The offer is expected to close on 18 August 2026, although eligible investors should note that individual financial intermediaries may impose earlier closing times. The minimum subscription is $100.

The $20.00 offer price represents a discount of approximately 18% to the mid-market closing price of $24.50 yesterday and a premium to the company’s existing net asset value (NAV).

The retail fundraising comes after SHR’s first institutional fundraising, which closed on 30 July and raised $28.5m through the issue of 1.424m new ordinary shares at $20.00 each. Together with around $8m of existing cash resources, SHR had approximately $36.5m available for deployment before the latest fundraising. A second institutional fundraising tranche is also in progress.

Initial portfolio includes Anthropic, ByteDance and Stripe

The company has already identified an initial portfolio valued at up to $86.7m. It has entered into binding commitments to purchase up to $40m of interests in single-asset SPVs providing exposure to private technology businesses including Anthropic, Stripe and Figure AI.

It has also agreed subscriptions with third-party SPVs providing exposure to ByteDance and Moonshot AI. Separately, its in-kind share-for-share contribution programme (more info below) includes $14.8m of interests in SPVs providing exposure to SandboxAQ and $12m of shares in Colossal Biosciences.

The initial portfolio comprises:

SHR says its ambition is to build a portfolio worth more than $500m. It is in advanced discussions over further investments in private technology and AI businesses, although these opportunities remain at different stages of negotiation and there is no certainty that they will complete.

Over time, the portfolio is expected to grow to around 40-50 holdings while retaining its concentrated, high-conviction approach. SHR says it intends to focus on companies valued at more than £1bn, seeking to reduce the risk of portfolio companies failing.

A listed route into private AI

Shaires was created through the strategic transformation of former AIM-listed investment company Jade Road Investments. The company has adopted a new investment policy and is now focused on providing public market investors with exposure to private mid- and late-stage technology businesses, particularly those operating at the forefront of AI.

The rationale behind the strategy is that many technology companies are remaining private for longer, allowing a substantial proportion of their value creation to take place before an eventual IPO. SHR believes this leaves traditional public market investors with limited access to some of the strongest growth opportunities in technology.

A key differentiator is SHR’s use of in-kind contributions. Rather than buying all of its investments for cash, the company can acquire private company shares from founders, employees, venture investors and other early shareholders in exchange for newly issued SHR shares.

For the contributor, the arrangement provides liquidity and diversification without an outright cash sale of the underlying private holding. For SHR, management believes it creates access to shareholders who might otherwise be unwilling or unable to sell through conventional secondary transactions.

The company has a strong board and executive management team, with plenty of technology venture capital experience including executive chairman Suhail Rizvi, who over two decades invested in excess of $3.5bn across technology, media and entertainment businesses including SpaceX, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, and chief executive Vivek Seth, who has more than 35 years of investment banking and capital markets experience and advised on transactions exceeding $110bn. He has previously served as vice chairman of investment banking at Raymond James.

We expect to publish a research note on SHR’s later today, which will cover in more detail the company, its new executive team and its investment policy. Look out for that.

Our view:

QuotedData’s Richard Williams said: “Shaires is offering retail investors something that is difficult to access through conventional listed investment companies: exposure to a portfolio of sizeable, late-stage private technology businesses, with AI at its core. The initial portfolio, which includes names such as Anthropic, Figure AI, ByteDance and Stripe, gives the strategy considerable interest from the outset.

“An interesting part of the proposition is the in-kind contribution model. If Shaires can establish itself as a trusted buyer for founders, employees and early investors looking for liquidity, it could create a differentiated source of investment opportunities. The ability to issue listed shares in exchange for private holdings also provides a potential route to scale without relying entirely on cash fundraising.

“There are plenty of risks. The portfolio is deliberately concentrated and there is also the possibility of dilution if the company raises further capital as it hopes to. Overall, we think Shaires is an intriguing proposition, but one where execution will be critical. The initial portfolio provides a strong starting point; the key question is whether management can turn its private-market relationships into a repeatable pipeline of attractive investments while maintaining NAV discipline as the company grows.”