One of Bigtincan’s (ASX:BTH) largest shareholders has sold a large chunk of stock off market with no explanation.

Silicon Valley and Australia venture firm Southern Cross said today it had sold 4.5 per cent of the company off market for $2.52m, leaving it with 8.51 per cent of the automated sales software maker.

The sale was for 42c a share which is near 52-week highs. The share price began to recover in December — it’s up 80 per cent since then — after descending in the doldrums at the start of 2018.

Southern Cross’ last trade was in April last year when it sold down from 17.34 per cent of Bigtincan to 13.01 per cent.

Bigtincan COO Vivian Stewart did not know why its major shareholder sold and Southern Cross has been contacted for comment.

Southern Cross invests in early stage tech, energy and resources companies.

Over the last year small cap investor Regal Funds and an anonymous investor run by Australia Ethical investments have been building positions. The former to 14.35 per cent and the latter to 14.03 per cent.

The fundraising money is for acquisitions and pushing harder into the UK and US.

Earlier in April the company upgraded its full year revenue growth guidance from 35-40 per cent to more than 40 per cent.

Bigtincan posted revenue of $13.1 million for FY18 last year, but its loss ballooned 10 per cent to $6.6 million. Half-year results issued in February suggest it’s getting this under control with the loss dropping by 37 per cent to $2m.