A venture capital spin-off from buy-now pay-later (BNPL) company Afterpay has reported its third consecutive annual loss after impairments in Sendle and Postpay kept Touch Ventures (ASX: TVL) in the red, taking its accumulated losses since inception to $114.7 million.

In the group's annual report released today for the 2024 calendar year, Touch Ventures chair Michael Jeffries says the net loss after tax of $24.9 million was predominantly driven by these impairments.

Touch Ventures copped a $14.6 million fair value loss on its investment in Sydney-headquartered global courier service Sendle after it raised further capital in July at a pre-money equity valuation of US$60 million ($95 million).

With this level being only slightly higher than the $90 million Sendle had raised prior, Touch declined to participate in the recent round.

A month earlier in June, Touch Ventures took stock of the prospects of UAE-based fintech Postpay and revalued its investment to nil, representing a fair value loss of $10.9 million.

The group also registered a fair value loss of $1.6 million on its investment in Sydney-based 'refund now, ship later' tech platform Refundid, writing down its investment to $4.3 million after the startup raised further capital via a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) agreement.

The last time Touch Ventures ran at a profit was its $13.9 million positive result in 2021, but that was followed by a $65 million loss "in line with market movements" in 2022 a further $15.4 million in losses in 2023.

But the group is also looking to the future after securing Gannet Capital as its largest investor in early 2024, which soon led to the departure of then-CEO Hein Vogel.

"During the year, we welcomed Gannet Capital as our largest investor, following their acquisition of a 19.09 per cent interest in Touch Ventures. We also welcomed Gannet’s founder, Glenn Poswell to the Board," Jeffries says.

"Glenn and his Gannet team have been working closely with the Touch Ventures executives and board to maximise the outcomes in the legacy investment portfolio but, more importantly, to provide Touch Ventures access to high quality deal flow. Gannet’s extensive experience in investment management is already proving invaluable to the company.

"Over the past year and with Gannet’s assistance, the board has acted to reset the cost base of the company and improve its overall performance."

He says cost reduction initiatives included the replacement of its leadership team, and Touch Ventures continues to concentrate efforts on 'realising value from its legacy portfolio' and delivering "exciting new investment opportunities" into the portfolio.

Touch Ventures made two investments with funding rounds it led in December, firstly investing $4.5 million in Melbourne-based live entertainment ticket resale platform Tixel, as well as a US$6.6 million ($10.6 million) investment in US retail tech company Reshop which is also backed by Afterpay co-founders Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen; the latter was appointed its CEO in January.

Founded in 2018 by Zac Leigh, Jason Webb, and Denis Mysenko, Tixel helps fans buy or sell tickets for a wide variety of live events including music concerts, festivals, theatre and sport.

When the investment was made in December, Tixel had more than two million registered users and an "impressive number" of top festivals amongst its customer roster, including Beyond the Valley, F1 Australian Grand Prix and Unified Music.

Since launching operations in the UK, Tixel has also seen significant growth, signing on major partners including Superstruct UK Festivals and Kilimanjaro Live.

Funds from Tixel's Series B round are expected to accelerate Tixel’s attractive global growth opportunities as it looks to further disrupt the live entertainment ticket resale market.

"We have been impressed by Tixel’s passion and expertise for the live events and ticketing industry," Touch Ventures director Glenn Poswell said at the time.

"Tixel brings a tech-led, fan-first, honest approach to an area of ticketing that was ripe for innovation and has established itself as the most trusted ticket resale marketplace in Australia. We look forward to being part of Tixel’s next phase of growth," added Poswell, who joined the Tixel board following the round.

Reshop, which in some ways resembles existing Touch Ventures investee Refundid, is "on a mission to make returns more valuable for shoppers and retailers by powering instant customer refunds", and has partnered with leading US retail brands including Alo Yoga, Steve Madden, Dolce Vita and many others.

"We are very excited to be backing a highly experienced management team and investor base with such a strong pedigree in the US retail technology and payments industry," Poswell said at the time.

"There is a huge potential market opportunity for Reshop in the US, and the company is poised for significant growth with this round of capital."

Help us deliver quality journalism to you.As a free and independent news site providing daily updates during a period of unprecedented challenges for businesses everywherewe call on your support