Shaires Holdings appoints Rizvi, Seth and Pishevar to lead AI fund
Shaires Holdings Ltd (AIM: SHR), the London-listed investment vehicle focused on private technology companies, has announced the appointment of Suhail Rizvi as Executive Chairman, Vivek "Vick" Seth as Chief Executive Officer and Shervin Pishevar as Vice Chairman and Non-Executive Director. Rizvi takes up his role immediately; Seth and Pishevar join on 21 July 2026. Existing Chairman John Croft moves to a non-executive role.
The three appointments bring together investors who collectively claim involvement in some of the most significant private technology bets of the past two decades. Rizvi Traverse, the firm Rizvi co-founded in 2004, has deployed more than US$3.5 billion across private companies including SpaceX, Facebook, Twitter, Square, Snapchat and Figure AI. Seth, founder of Sunsar Capital Management, says he has advised on transactions with an aggregate value exceeding US$110 billion during a career that included building Raymond James's real estate investment banking practice. Pishevar, previously co-founder of Sherpa Capital which managed approximately US$650 million across three funds, led early investments in Uber, Airbnb and SpaceX, and founded the SPAC that took quantum computing firm D-Wave Quantum public.
The investment model
Shaires is positioning itself as a permanent capital, internally managed vehicle with no management or performance fees, targeting a concentrated portfolio of approximately 10 to 15 private mid- and late-stage technology companies, primarily those involved in artificial intelligence. A distinguishing structural feature is its in-kind contribution model, under which founders, employees and early investors in private companies can exchange their shareholdings for publicly traded Shaires shares, providing liquidity without a traditional secondary sale or IPO.
Vick Seth said the company intends to operate "with the discipline, transparency and governance expected of a public company," with net asset value reported using a board-approved valuation framework informed by recent funding rounds and observable secondary market transactions. The company has not yet disclosed its initial portfolio, but an institutional placing and a retail offer are described as forthcoming.
Market and regulatory context
Shaires is entering a crowded but structurally distinct corner of the listed-fund market. Listed private equity and technology-focused investment trusts, including vehicles such as Chrysalis Investments and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, have faced persistent discount-to-NAV pressure since the 2021 growth-stock correction, as rising interest rates compressed valuations for long-duration assets. Whether Shaires can sustain a narrower discount will depend heavily on its ability to demonstrate credible NAV methodology and deliver portfolio exits.
The in-kind contribution model is novel on AIM but raises governance questions that the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and AIM's Nominated Adviser framework are likely to scrutinise closely. Valuations derived from secondary market transactions rather than audited financials can be opaque, and retail investors on a lightly regulated market will require clear disclosure standards. The company's inside-information notification accompanying this release signals awareness of its obligations under the UK Market Abuse Regulation, but the adequacy of ongoing NAV and portfolio disclosures will be a key test once trading activity begins.
The broader thesis, that AI value creation is concentrated in private markets and inaccessible to public investors, reflects a genuine structural shift. Many of the most capitalised AI businesses, including OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, have remained private well beyond the scale at which earlier generations of technology companies listed. A London-listed vehicle offering access to that cohort could attract meaningful institutional interest, provided the portfolio composition and entry valuations prove credible.