Draper Esprit PLC Investment Update since October (3211K)

TIDMGROW

RNS Number : 3211K

Draper Esprit PLC

13 December 2018

Draper Esprit plc

("Draper Esprit" or the "Company")

Fourth Lead Investment since October announced: FINALCAD $40m growth round

Draper Esprit (AIM: GROW, ESM: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, today announces it is leading a $40.0 million investment in FINALCAD, the leading building, infrastructure and construction mobile software platform.

Other recent investments led by Draper Esprit include $14.0 m Form3 Series B round, $31m Series A Fluidic Analytics round and a GBP14.5m ($19.0m) growth round for Crowdcube, in addition to the previously announced Secondary portfolio acquisition of DFJ Europe X fund for GBP25.9 million ($33.7 million).

FINALCAD

FINALCAD improves construction companies' operational efficiency through a mobile digital platform. Site engineers, Foremen, Architects and Consultants can collaborate using FINALCAD's app, enabling collaboration across a wide variety of workflows both on site and at the office.

The building and construction industry has been a slow adopter of digital technology; using predominantly manual, non-digital processes and FINALCAD is experiencing very strong growth as a result.

Draper Esprit invested GBP12.4 million (EUR14.0million) in the round, alongside international investors Cathay Innovation and Salesforce Ventures. The latest Series C funding round brings the total funds raised by FINALCAD to $60m. The investment will be used to extend the product platform into the energy, operations and maintenance sectors, increase headcount globally, and to invest further in R&D.

Crowdcube

In November, the Group, including Draper Esprit's co-investment EIS and VCT funds, invested GBP6m, of which GBP4.0m was by the Company, in Crowdcube. This was part of a GBP14.5 million raise from both the crowd and other institutional investors.

Crowdcube is the UK's leading equity crowdfunding platform with a leading share of the GBP200m+ UK market in 2017. Crowdfunding is becoming a more prevalent form of fundraising, with one in four entrepreneurs choosing to crowdfund over other forms of equity finance.

Fluidic Analytics

Fluidic Analytics Ltd, the Cambridge-based protein characterisation firm, raised $31.0 million to continue developing its transformational products for characterising proteins and their behaviour. Fluidic Analytics' products are based on a proprietary technology platform from the University of Cambridge, with the potential to help researchers understand the mechanisms underlying major diseases, aiding in drug development and accuracy of diagnosis.

The funding round was led by Draper Esprit, investing GBP8.0m, of which GBP4.0m was invested by the Company. The proceeds of the financing will be used to continue the commercial roll-out of Fluidic Analytic's lab-tools pipeline, and to develop further high-value clinical applications of its technology.

Form3

Draper Esprit led Form3's recent $13.0m Series B funding round, investing GBP7.0m, of which GBP3.5m by the Company, alongside existing shareholders Barclays Bank plc, Angel CoFund and several private investors.

Form3, the cloud technology provider of Payments-as-a-Service processing for banks and regulated fintech companies, has solved one of the more challenging problems the financial services industry faces, namely sending and receiving payments in real time. Form3's platform significantly reduces the time taken to deploy new propositions and reduces operating costs. Existing customers include Ebury, N26, Tandem Bank, LHV Bank and myPOS.

Simon Cook, CEO at Draper Esprit, commented:

"These four investments demonstrate our position as one of Europe's most active VC firms, the attractiveness of our GBP500m+ evergreen capital and global network to potential investees, and the growing diversity of our portfolio across fintech, deep tech and digital health. This offers our investors access to companies with the potential to disrupt the industries that they operate within. With new investments in FINALCAD and Form3, and follow-on capital in Fluidic Analytics and Crowdcube, we're thrilled to see such a diverse range of companies joining, and growing within, the Draper Esprit family. We are further pleased to have concluded another key secondary acquisition, having been the active pioneers in secondary VC investments for over 12 years including single companies and portfolios."

*ENDS*

For further information, please contact:

 
Draper Esprit plc 
 Simon Cook (Chief Executive Officer) 
 Ben Wilkinson (Chief Financial Officer)   [phone] 
Numis Securities 
 Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker 
 Richard Thomas 
 Jamie Loughborough                        [phone] 
Goodbody Stockbrokers 
 ESM Adviser & Joint Broker 
 Don Harrington 
 Charlotte Craigie                          [phone] 
MHP Communications (PR) 
 Reg Hoare 
 Pete Lambie 
 Flo Mayo                                  [phone] 
 

About Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, helping to build and invest in disruptive, high growth technology companies. We believe the best entrepreneurs in Europe are capable of building the global businesses of the future, by partnering with the global Draper Venture Network with VC funds in 22 countries. We fuel their growth with long- term capital, access to international networks and decades of experience building businesses. Draper Esprit's portfolio includes global technology leaders such as Trustpilot, Ledger, Perkbox, Revolut, and Graphcore. Recent successful exits include Grapeshot, Clavis Insight, Tails.com, and Movidius.

Visit www.draperesprit.com

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December 13, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)