Draper Esprit pours cash into Earlybird Digital

Venture capital firm Draper Esprit announced on Monday that it is furthering its strategic partnership with Earlybird Digital West, as it initially announced in July last year.

The AIM-traded firm said it had conditionally agreed to acquire a 27% interest in Earlybird GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs-KG IV (EB IV) for about €63m (£55m), and separately a 5% interest in Digital East Fund 2013 SCA SICAR (DEF) for around $20m (£16m).

As a result, Draper Esprit would acquire underlying holdings in smava, Peak Games, Nfon, B2X, Socialbakers and UiPath, which - along with underlying holdings in 13 other companies - would be added to its portfolio.

The company also announced a proposed placing to raise gross proceeds of £100m at an issue price of 530p per share to fund the acquisitions, as well as financing further direct and secondary investment opportunities.

It said the placing shares were being offered by way of an accelerated bookbuild, which was launched on Monday morning.

Completion of the acquisitions remained conditional on, among other things, admission of the placing shares to trading on AIM and ESM.

“We passionately believe in the potential for Europe to become a high-tech powerhouse and are putting our money where our mouth is by furthering our strategic partnership with Earlybird,” said Draper Esprit chief executive officer Simon Cook.

“This allows us to cement our position as a leading VC in Europe, whilst simultaneously offering investors access to exciting and high quality underlying assets.”

Cook said the acquisitions represented an “exceptional opportunity” made available to Draper Esprit through its strategic partnership with Earlybird.

“The two funds include a number of high quality, well positioned and fast growing European assets, the prospects of which we are very excited about.

“We're also supplementing our current financial resources to continue to invest in our strong pipeline of potential future investment opportunities.

“We're pleased to have the support of our current investors in this fundraise, along with welcoming new investors from the UK and Europe.”