Draper Esprit to raise £115m via share placement

The placement will value shares in the firm at 420 pence apiece. The total amount raised will be combined with the £61m the firm has raised across its EIS, VCT and secondary funds this year, representing an increase of £176m in its pool of capital.

Draper Esprit has a pan-European remit and invests in series-A-C rounds for digital technology companies focused on the consumer tech, enterprise technology, hardware and healthcare sectors.

According to a statement, the firm is currently investing at a rate of £100m per year. Most recently, it led a $16.2m funding round for Realeyes, a UK-based artificial intelligence company that gauges people's emotional responses to online content. Other existing investments include Revolut, Aircall, Graphcore, Ledger, Transferwise, Graze, Trustpilot and Lyst.

The latest development comes two years after the VC raised €102m from its IPO on both the Irish and London stock exchanges. The firm has a gross primary portfolio value of £243.5m as of March 2018, up from £78.7m at the time of admission and £112.7m in March 2017.

Of the 24 companies that the VC had in its portfolio at the time of its listing, it has made 10 divestments, generating returns of £57m.

Nomis Securities is acting as nominated adviser and joint broker in the latest placement, with Goodbody Stockbrokers acting as ESM adviser and joint broker.

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