TIDMGROW
RNS Number : 6188T
Draper Esprit PLC
16 October 2017
16 October 2017
Draper Esprit plc
("Draper Esprit" or the "Company")
Draper Esprit targets seed funds with strategy to invest
significantly over the next five years
Draper Esprit (AIM: GROW, ESM: GRW), a leading venture capital
firm investing in high growth digital technology businesses,
announces a strategy to target up to GBP75m ($100m) of investment
in the top seed funds across Europe over a five-year period.
Draper Esprit has committed to invest in the latest funds of
both Seedcamp (www.seedcamp.com) and Episode1 Ventures
(www.episode1.com), widely recognised as two of the UK's leading
seed fund platforms. Draper Esprit are already investors in leading
crowdfunding companies, Crowdcube and Seedrs.
This complements Draper Esprit's core investment strategy, set
out at the time of the Company's fundraising in June this year, to
invest up to approximately GBP100m ($130 million) a year in
technology businesses at series A, B, and C+ rounds across the
Group's funds (the plc balance sheet, EIS, VCT and secondary
funds), with investment from the Company's balance sheet
representing approximately GBP60 million per annum.
By closely aligning Draper Esprit with the seed fund ecosystem,
the Company is able to provide growth capital to the best companies
and unlock the strong performance of Europe's highest quality seed
funds to the benefit of the plc shareholders.
Simon Cook, CEO Draper Esprit plc commented:
"Our mission to democratise the venture capital model continues.
Our plan is to create a significant fund of funds business, which
will target investment in 10 to 20 seed funds, angel networks and
early stage investment platforms over the coming years. We are
investing in two of the UK's best-known seed investors: Seedcamp
and Episode1 and are currently looking into three others.
"By partnering with the best seed funds, we can help them scale
up their series A and B funding rounds more quickly, which in turn
will accelerate growth for the most ambitious entrepreneurs.
"We have a number of pools of capital to back leading
entrepreneurs and to deploy across the different funding life
cycles of fast growing technology companies. External investors
both institutional and private can use our evergreen listed venture
capital model to access, on a pooled basis, the top seed funding
platforms, screened and picked by our experienced team. This gives
them exposure to a very important asset class on a pooled portfolio
approach; giving a degree of risk mitigation, with added liquidity
and without them having to sift through and pick individual seed
funds themselves."
He added: "Post Brexit it is imperative that UK investors
continue to have access to the best early stage investment
opportunities and having established itself as a leading hub for
technology entrepreneurs from all over the world, the UK needs to
keep supporting all stages of venture funding. Draper Esprit is
building a business of scale, partnering with leading institutional
and private investors, to support and benefit from high growth
private technology companies across Europe."
Reshma Sohoni, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Seedcamp
commented:
"At Seedcamp there is a key ingredient of our model that gives
us a performance edge. That ingredient is our LPs and we choose
them carefully. We strive to bring on experienced Angels, top tier
VCs, active Corporates and knowledgeable Family Offices and Fund of
Funds around the table. With Draper, we are thrilled to get a
double combination - both a top-notch VC who will be able to invest
at Series A and beyond in our companies and is a fund of funds
business with relationships we can benefit from. We are honoured to
be one of the first investments from their new fund of funds."
Simon Murdoch, Managing Partner of Episode 1 commented:
"We've known Draper Esprit for many years and are excited to be
working with them again. As a leading seed fund our role is to find
and accelerate UK startups helping them to become the sort of
rapidly growing businesses that Draper Esprit want to invest in and
grow to global success stories."
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Draper Esprit plc
Simon Cook (Chief Executive Officer)
Ben Wilkinson (Chief Financial Officer) +44 (0)20 7931 8800
Numis Securities
Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker
Alex Ham
Richard Thomas
Jamie Loughborough
Harry Trueman +44 (0)20 7260 1000
Goodbody Stockbrokers
ESM Adviser & Joint Broker
Don Harrington
Linda Hickey
Charlotte Craigie
Richard Tunney +353 1 667 0420
Belvedere Communications (PR)
John West
Kim van Beeck +44 (0)20 3567 0510
Notes to Editors
About Draper Esprit
Draper Esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms in
Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high growth
technology companies. We believe the best entrepreneurs in Europe
are capable of building the global businesses of the future. We
fuel their growth with long- term capital, access to international
networks and decades of experience building businesses. Currently
Draper Esprit is a shareholder in a diverse portfolio of companies
including Trustpilot, Graze, Perkbox, PushDoctor and Graphcore.
For more information visit www.draperesprit.com
About Seedcamp
Seedcamp is Europe's seed fund, identifying and investing early
in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving
real problems using technology. Since launch a decade ago Seedcamp
has invested in 250 startups including fintech unicorn
TransferWise.
For more information visit www.seedcamp.com
About Episode 1 Ventures
Episode1 Ventures is a software -only venture capital firm that
invests GBP250k to GBP1m in early- stage, revenue- -generating
startups and plays an active and supportive role in turning them
into growth businesses. With experience of startups from the
inside, it provides frank and fast feedback to founders as well as
strong entrepreneurial 'know- -how' and a passion for building
successful businesses.
With 20+ years of experience investing in software businesses,
its partners have made early investments in some of the UK's best-
known success stories including Betfair, LoveFilm, Natural Motion,
ScanSafe, Shazam, Shutl, Zoopla and Viagogo.
Founded in 2013 and based in London, the firm is rapidly forming
a portfolio of software businesses with enormous potential for
growth. Its investments include CarWow, Cluster HQ, Raising IT,
Scurri, SwiftShift, Touch Surgery, TripTease, TV Beat and User
Replay.
For more information visit www.episode1.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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