Investment and exit update

23 June 2021

Draper Esprit plc

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

Investment and exit update

Draper Esprit (LSE: GROW, Euronext Growth: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, today provides an update on recent developments in its portfolio.

Key highlights are as follows:

·      Continued acceleration of investment cadence post year end, investing £52 million in 7 businesses in the first months of this financial year, 3 of which were new to the portfolio

·      Investments in a number of existing portfolio companies including Ledger, Lyst and, as announced this morning, Aircall.

·      New investments in Series A and B rounds in Cervest, Manna and FintechOS

·      £22.8 million exit from SportPursuit as bd-capital acquires majority ownership

·      Significant opportunity for capital deployment in the growing European venture capital market as post-pandemic shift to technology and digital transformation continues

AIRCALL

As announced today, Draper Esprit participated in a $120 million Series D round in Aircall. This round brings the company's total valuation to more than $1 billion. Aircall has now raised over $226 million, with Draper Esprit first investing in the $25 million Series B round in 2018. Aircall is an entirely cloud-based voice platform which integrates seamlessly with popular productivity and helpdesk tools.

LEDGER

Also this month, Draper Esprit invested in a $380 million Series C round in Ledger. The raise values the business at more than $1.5 billion. Draper Esprit first invested in Ledger in 2018, as part of its $75 million Series B. Ledger allows investors to access the world of digital assets securely.

LYST

In May, the Company participated in an $85 million funding round in Lyst, joined by new investors Fidelity International, Novator Capital, Giano Capital and C4 Ventures. Lyst is the largest global fashion search platform that lets users search thousands of online fashion stores at once, bringing together 5 million products from 12,000 of the world's leading brands and retailers.

SPORTPURSUIT

Earlier this month, Draper Esprit exited its investment in SportPursuit as the consequence of an investment by private equity firm bd-capital. Draper Esprit has realised a total cash return of £22.8 million, above the £18.5 million fair value held in the year end March 2021 accounts. The Company first invested in SportPursuit in 2012 as part of a Series A round, providing the first institutional investment and has supported the company in each subsequent fund raising. 

SportPursuit is the leading online private sales club in the UK and Germany focused on sports, outdoor and active lifestyle products.

CERVEST

Earlier in May, the company led a $30 million Series A round in Cervest. Cervest is the creator of the world's first AI Climate Intelligence platform. The platform combines public and private data sources, machine learning and cutting-edge statistical science to present a unified view of climate risk that has been previously impossible. Its EarthScan™ product gives enterprises and governments on-demand access to current, historical and predictive views of how combined risks such as flooding, droughts and extreme temperatures can impact the assets they own or manage.

MANNA

In April, Draper Esprit led a $25 million Series A round in Manna. Manna designs, builds and operates unmanned aerial vehicles which perform high-speed deliveries of takeaway food, groceries and pharmacy goods/supplies up to 3kgs in suburban last-mile settings. It is the most commercially progressed company of its kind in the world, currently trialling its service in Galway, Ireland.

FINTECHOS

Earlier in April, the Company led a $60 million Series B funding round in FintechOS, supported by existing investors including Earlybird Digital East. FintechOS is a global technology provider for banks, insurers and other financial services companies, whose low-code approach to digital transformation has seen rapid adoption in Europe. It allows institutions to build, test and scale new digital products and services in weeks rather than months.

Martin Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Draper Esprit, commented:

"It has been an incredibly strong start to the year, with our investment team finding several exciting new companies for us to partner with as well as follow on rounds in some of the more established businesses in our portfolio. As a result of our accelerated investment strategy and increased fundraising, we are able to lead rounds in companies like FintechOS, Manna and Cervest as well as continuing to invest in the later stage rounds in companies of the scale of Ledger and Aircall. The post-pandemic transition towards technology is showing no sign of slowing and we continue to see so many new businesses with huge potential."

-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 with strong IP, powerful technology, and the management teams to deliver success. They operate in new markets, with serious potential for global expansion. 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 in June 2016, we have deployed circa £500m+ capital into fast growing technology companies and have realised over £300m. In June 2021 we raised gross proceeds of circa £111m to help us capitalise on 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. It will also allow us to capitalise on the transition to a digital future that has been given added impetus as a result of the recent pandemic.

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