Draper Esprit reveals new name

The new brand reflects an ongoing transformation of the European VC firm, it says.

Listed venture capital firm Draper Esprit has rebranded as Molten Ventures.

The rebranding effort was, the firm says, prompted by a recent period of transformation for the business. 

Draper is an active VC investor in the fintech space with stakes in Revolut, N26, Primary Bid, Crowdcube, Thought Machine and others.

Unike most VC outfits, however, it allows retail investors to gain exposure to its holdings as a constituent of the FTSE 250 with a market capitalisation of around £1.6bn

Martin Davis, CEO at Molten Ventures said:“Our rebrand to Molten Ventures is rooted in the team’s long experience of transformation – both our own, and our successful efforts to help our portfolio do the same. It encapsulates that moment when VCs give their energy to help companies succeed and indicates what transformation means to us – for our portfolio, for our investors and for our society we make more possible. 

The name, Molten said in a media statement, was inspired by “the natural process of State Change, by which matter is transformed via the injection of energy – the first transformation is from solid to molten form.”

Molten Ventures’ portfolio contains investments in 67 companies in total. This includes European unicorns such as Trustpilot, UiPath, Graphcore, Revolut, Cazoo, Ledger and Aircall. 

Since 2016, Molten Ventures has raised £600m and seen cash realisations of £380m with £206m in the last full year. It has deployed over £700m into companies and has an annual rate of deployment of approximately £200m.