Molten Ventures plc (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a London, UK-based venture capital firm investing in and developing high-growth digital technology businesses, has launched its Irish focused fund.
With investment from existing Molten shareholder Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (“ISIF”), the fund will back high growth technology companies whose core activities, management and expertise are located in the Republic of Ireland.
The first close of the new fund is €50m with the scope for this to increase with participation from an additional syndicated partner. Molten’s commitment as a 55.5% LP is €27.75m, with ISIF committing the remaining €22.25m. Two existing Irish portfolio investments of Molten will be transferred into the fund at their net asset value generating immediate cash proceeds of around £2.5m to Molten. The fund has a ten-year lifespan, with future investments expected to be made over a three year period subject to the existing Molten investment criteria.
This builds on the firm’s existing presence and strength in Ireland, where it has been active for over 10 years and where current portfolio companies Manna, Sweepr, &Open and Vaultree are based. Previous successful investments in Ireland include Movidius and Clavis Insights. The fund brings additional third party capital alongside Molten’s existing investment criteria and deployment plans, thereby providing further capital for the Irish market.
In line with the Group’s stated strategy to build out third-party managed funds, the new fund will generate both management and performance-related fees for Molten through its role as manager, bringing an additional pool of capital alongside the plc balance sheet, EIS/VCT funds and syndicated Fund of Funds programme.
Led by Martin Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Molten Ventures is a venture capital firm developing and investing in disruptive, high growth technology companies across four sectors: Enterprise Technology, Hardware and Deeptech, Consumer Technology, and Digital Health and Wellness.
As at 31 March 2023, the firm had a diverse portfolio with shareholdings in 70 companies, 17 of which represent our Core holdings and account for 62% of the Gross Portfolio Value. Core companies include Thought Machine, Coachhub, Graphcore, Aiven, Ledger and Aircall.
Since its IPO in June 2016, Molten has deployed over £1bn capital into fast growing tech companies and have realised over £480m to 31 March 2023.
FinSMEs
28/07/2023