HomeFundingVC firm Draper Esprit plans to invest $100 million in seed funds...

VC firm Draper Esprit plans to invest $100 million in seed funds around Europe

Draper Esprit, a leading venture capital firm investing in high growth digital technology businesses, just announced a strategy to invest up to $100 million in the top seed funds across Europe over a five-year period. Tho VC firm has committed to invest in the latest funds of both Seedcamp and Episode 1 Ventures, widely recognised as two of the UK’s leading seed fund platforms. Draper Esprit previously also invested in two of Europe’s leading crowdfunding companies, Crowdcube and Seedrs.

This complements Draper Esprit’s core investment strategy, set out at the time of the Company’s fundraising in June this year, to invest up to approximately $130 million a year in technology businesses at series A, B, and C+ rounds across the Group’s funds (the plc balance sheet, EIS, VCT and secondary funds).

By closely aligning Draper Esprit with the seed fund ecosystem, the company is able to provide growth capital to the best companies and unlock the strong performance of Europe’s highest quality seed funds to the benefit of the plc shareholders.

Reshma Sohoni, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Seedcamp commented: “At Seedcamp there is a key ingredient of our model that gives us a performance edge. That ingredient is our LPs and we choose them carefully. We strive to bring on experienced Angels, top tier VCs, active Corporates and knowledgeable Family Offices and Fund of Funds around the table. With Draper, we are thrilled to get a double combination – both a top-notch VC who will be able to invest at Series A and beyond in our companies and is a fund of funds business with relationships we can benefit from. We are honoured to be one of the first investments from their new fund of funds.”

Simon Cook, CEO Draper Esprit stated: “Our plan is to create a significant fund of funds business, which will target investment in 10 to 20 seed funds, angel networks and early stage investment platforms over the coming years. We are investing in two of the UK’s best-known seed investors: Seedcamp and Episode 1 and are currently looking into three others.

Cook added: “Post Brexit it is imperative that UK investors continue to have access to the best early stage investment opportunities and having established itself as a leading hub for technology entrepreneurs from all over the world, the UK needs to keep supporting all stages of venture funding. Draper Esprit is building a business of scale, partnering with leading institutional and private investors, to support and benefit from high growth private technology companies across Europe.”

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Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr
Thomas Ohr is the "Editor in Chief" of EU-Startups.com and started the blog in October 2010. He is excited about Europe's future, passionate about new business ideas and lives in Barcelona (Spain).
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