As of this morning, VC firm Draper Esprit has moved its listings on London’s AIM and Dublin’s Euronext Growth Market and begun trading on their respective main marketing counterparts. In doing so, the firm becomes the largest tech-only focused VC on London’s Main Market.
The move arrives just weeks after the firm announced a raise of £111 million in new deployable capital, and by moving to the Main Market, the firm now shows up on the radar of a much wider pool of investors. In doing so, Draper Esprit is providing for more continuous, long-term investments in European startups to be possible.
The global pandemic has fueled a number of mega-rounds. as the influx of institutional capital has leveled the playing field and given European tech companies the same type, and quality, of investments their US-based counterparts have enjoyed years prior.
By the numbers
In conjuction with its move to the Main Markets, Draper Esprit has shared a number of investment stats, figures that are usually accompanied with the stamp “for eyes only” or “top secret”. Let's dig in:
The firm has a current market value of approximately £1.4 billion, a number that is 11x higher than its initial listing value of £120 million just five years prior.
Draper Esprit has raised £619 million, and seen cash realisations of over £300 million, with £206 million occurring in the last full year alone. The firm has deployed over half a billion GBP (£550 million) into companies, and has an annual rate of deployment at around £200 million.
The firm counts 67 portfolio companies including Trustpilot, UiPath, Graphcore, Revolut, Cazoo, Ledger and Aircall, with a combined valuation of £984 million. In addition to its own portfolio, Draper Esprit has a seed fund of funds programme in which it actively invests in 42 additional funds including industry stalwarts Seedcamp and Earlybird.
On the Main Market listing, co-founder and Director Stuart Champman commented, “Listing Draper Esprit five years ago was a radical and unusual step for a venture capital business. What we knew then, and we can prove now, is that publicly listed venture capital is a powerful force for supporting entrepreneurs on their own long-term journeys to outsized success. For the UK and European tech sectors to prosper, startups need support throughout their growth stages and as they mature into successful businesses. This is exactly what Draper Esprit’s public model can offer because there is always capital on hand to invest. Moving to the Main Market will enable us to make more possible.”
Photo by David Vincent on Unsplash.
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