Investment update

RNS Number : 2356R

Draper Esprit PLC

28 October 2019

 

Draper Esprit plc

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

Investment update

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

RavenPack

Core portfolio company RavenPack, a leading big data analytics provider for hedge funds and banks, has raised $10.0 million from technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound as the company seeks to expand sales of its analytics platform in Asia. RavenPack's platform uses alternative data by creating sentiment indicators derived from news and social media that plug systematically into financial trading applications.

As a result of the valuation at which this latest funding round was completed, the fair value of the Company's investment in RavenPack has increased NAV by £18.3 million to £33.9 million.

Pollen

Pollen, formerly known as Verve, an invite-only marketplace that allows people to bring their friends to the best experiences and share rewards, has raised $60.0 million in new finance, bringing the total capital raised to date to $100.0 million. The funding round was led by Northzone with Draper Esprit participating alongside others including Sienna Capital, Backed and Kindred.

Draper Esprit plc invested £5.9 million in the round as part of a bridge in Q1 2019, as well as the original £3.0 million series A investment in 2017.  As a result of the valuation at which this latest funding round completed, the NAV increased by £2.3 million to £13.2 million meaning that Pollen has joined Draper Esprit's core portfolio.

Sweepr

Draper Esprit led a $9.0 million funding round into Sweepr, investing £2.7 million from the plc in the Dublin-based customer experience platform for the connected home, alongside support from Frontline, a seed investor.   The funds will be used to facilitate expansion of its workforce to 75 employees in 2020 alongside expansion into North America and Europe.

Interim Results

The Company will publish interim results for the period ended 30 September 2019 on the 26^th November, where trading is expected to be in line with our stated financial target of 20% annualised portfolio return.

Simon Cook, CEO at Draper Esprit, commented:

"These investments underline our commitment to supporting both existing portfolio companies and new investments by providing them with the funding they need in order to scale their offering. This funding, as well as our international network and experience in high growth technology companies, means that we are well placed to help our portfolio of European companies become global businesses. We also welcome the other quality investors coming on board as part of these respective funding rounds, bringing their own expertise and capital to help support these companies for future growth."

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Enquiries

Draper Esprit plc Simon Cook (Chief Executive Officer) Ben Wilkinson (Chief Financial Officer)	[phone]
Numis Securities Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker Alex Ham Richard Thomas Jamie Loughborough	[phone]
Goodbody Stockbrokers Euronext Growth Adviser & Joint Broker Don Harrington Charlotte Craigie Dearbhla Gallagher	[phone]
Powerscourt Public relations Elly Williamson Jessica Hodgson	[phone]

 

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