Investment Update

RNS Number : 4036F

Draper Esprit PLC

15 July 2021

 

15 July 2021

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, notes the announcement today that Revolut, the financial superapp, has raised more than $800 million in a Series E round from new investors Softbank Vision Fund 2 and Tiger Global Management.

As a result of the investment, Revolut is now valued at $33 billion (~£24 billion). Based on the valuation implied by the fundraising, the Company's gross fair value holding (before carry deductions) is approximately £119 million. This is an uplift of £99 million to the March 2021 gross fair value of £20 million. The Company first invested in Revolut in 2018 as part of its Series C round.

Having launched in 2015, Revolut now has more than 16 million customers around the world using dozens of innovative products to make more than 150 million transactions a month.

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Enquiries:

Draper Esprit plc Martin Davis (Chief Executive Officer) Ben Wilkinson (Chief Financial Officer)	[phone]
Numis Securities Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker Simon Willis Richard Thomas Jamie Loughborough	[phone]
Goodbody Stockbrokers Euronext Growth Adviser & Joint Broker Don Harrington Charlotte Craigie Linda Clarke	[phone]
Powerscourt Public relations Elly Williamson Jane Glover	[phone] / [phone]

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 October 2020 we raised gross proceeds of circa £110m 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/

 

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