Draper Esprit’s tech bets pay off as portfolio value leaps 40 per cent to £984m
UK venture capital firm Draper Esprit has increased its annual gross portfolio value by 40 per cent to £984m, the company said this morning.
Delivering its annual results for the year ended 31 March, Draper Esprit posted a pre-tax profit of £267m, compared to £40m a year earlier.
The group invested £128m into a total of nine new companies throughout the year, including some of Europe’s “fastest growing private technology firms”.
Following the full year update, shares in Draper Esprit fell 1.4 per cent as markets opened.
Martin Davis, CEO of Draper Esprit, said that the annual growth demonstrated the “strength and flexibility” of its business model in market conditions at two extremes.
“Despite market shock in the first half, our scale and maturity gave us room to focus on the needs of our portfolio companies and structuring ourselves for growth.
“Our close relationship to our portfolio and industry insight enabled us to accelerate into the digital transformation catalysed by the pandemic.”
Draper Esprit also announced a further acceleration of its strategy to capture a bigger share of tech investment opportunities.
The company intends to place new ordinary shares at a placing price of 800p each to raise circa £111m of new money to provide the firm with extra investment firepower.
In addition, there will be an offer made on the PrimaryBid platform of up to 603,500 new ordinary shares, to provide retail investors with the chance to participate in the equity fundraise.