Draper Esprit Plc

("Draper Esprit", "the Group" or the "Company")

Board Appointment

Draper Esprit (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Gentleman as Non-Executive Director with effect from 8 September 2021. Sarah will become Chair of the Remuneration Committee and will also be a member of the Audit, Risk & Valuations Committee and Nominations Committee.

Sarah is Non-Executive Director, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Member of the Audit, Risk & Nomination Committees at Rathbone Brothers. She has over 30 years' experience working in a combination of strategic and financial roles, having started her career as an analyst at McKinsey & Company. These include Business Development Director at Egg UK and Chief Financial Officer at LCR Telecom. Until 2012, she was a sell side banking analyst at Sanford Bernstein where she covered French, Spanish and Italian banks. Most recently, Sarah has been working as an advisor to early-stage technology companies with a focus on FinTech.

Sarah's appointment follows the recent appointment of Gervaise Slowey as a Non-Executive Director in July 2021. 

Karen Slatford, Chair of Draper Esprit, said:

"Sarah's diverse expertise further strengthens the Draper Esprit Board and will be invaluable in ensuring an even more robust corporate governance structure as a FTSE 250 company in support of our continued growth. We welcome her to the business as we progress with our journey towards becoming Europe's leading venture capital investor."

Sarah has no interests in the shares of Draper Esprit Plc. There are no details to disclose for Sarah Gentleman under Listing Rule 9.6.13.

-ENDS-

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About Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, 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 71 companies with 17 of those part of our core portfolio which accounts for over 60% of our holdings. Our core companies include UiPath, Aircall, Graphcore and Revolut. We invest across four sectors: Consumer Technology, Enterprise Technology, Hardware and Deeptech, and Digital Health and Wellness, with highly experienced partners constantly looking for new opportunities in each. We look for high-growth companies operating in new markets, with a serious potential for global expansion, strong IP, powerful technology, and management teams to deliver success. We also look for businesses with the potential to generate strong margins to ensure rapid, sustainable growth in substantial addressable markets.

Draper Esprit provides an opportunity for public market investors to access these fast-growing tech businesses, without having to commit to long term investments with limited liquidity. Since IPO to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc in June 2016, we have deployed circa £550m+ capital into fast growing tech companies and have realised over £300m. In June 2021, we raised gross proceeds of circa £111m to help us capitalise on the transition to a digital future in a European VC market which is expanding rapidly but is still less than one quarter of the combined size of the US and European market by value.

For more information, go to https://draperesprit.com/