Draper Esprit invests in two seed funds as part of FoF push

Greg Gille
@unquotenews
16 October 2017

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Listed venture investor Draper Esprit has committed capital to the latest funds of Seedcamp and Episode1 Venture, as part of a five-year strategy to deploy capital as an LP in seed funds across Europe.

The size of the two investments was not disclosed. Draper Esprit is expected to also act as a co-investor to the funds.

The move comes as Draper Esprit, which usually works as a direct investor, announced it would look to deploy up to £75m over a five-year period as an LP in European seed funds. The new strategy will see Draper Esprit target between 10-20 fund investments – three other LP investments are currently being considered.

This comes in addition to the listed firm's usual strategy of deploying up to £100m per year as a direct investor in venture deals.

Draper Esprit listed in London and Dublin in mid-2016 with an initial £102m in permanent capital. In June this year, it raised an additional £100m by issuing new shares. This added to the £60m already raised in 2017 by Draper Esprit across its EIS, VCT and secondary co-investment fund platforms.