We are one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high-growth technology companies.
We inject visionary companies with energy to help them transform and grow. This energy comes in many forms - capital, of course, but also knowledge, experience, relationships and commitment.
We believe it is our role to support the entrepreneurs who will invent the future, and that future is being built, today, in Europe.
We are different.
We create value.
Our public listing and multi-fund
Investors get access to some of the
model offers us flexibility to provide
fastest growing private technology
entrepreneurs with backing across
companies. Entrepreneurs get a
their company's life cycle, fuelling the
more flexible approach to funding.
best for longer.
We have a proven
We are there
track record.
for the journey.
Our Investment Team have a long
Be it a few investment rounds, until
history of investing in tech and a
exit or even IPO, we devote time and
strong track record.
energy to supporting our portfolio
for the long term.
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ANNUAL REPORT FY22
Performance highlights
OVERVIEW
Chair's introduction
Financial highlights
£1,532m £1,434m
Gross Portfolio Value
Net Assets
(31 March 2021: £984m)
(31 March 2021: £1,033m)
937p £78m
Operational highlights
• Cash investments of £311m during the year from the
Molten Ventures balance sheet (year to 31 March 2021:
£128m), with a further £45m from EIS/VCT funds (year
to 31 March 2021: £34m). This increased cadence is
attributable to a higher level of follow-on opportunities
in the existing portfolio, consistently leading rounds in
new primary investment opportunities and the continued
expansion of our scalable platform
• Committed to 22 new seed funds via our Fund of Funds
programme bringing the overall seed portfolio to
57 funds
• Cash proceeds of £126m received during the year (year
to 31 March 2021 £206m). These were predominantly
FY22 has been a busy year for us - we began it as Draper Esprit, listed on AIM and Euronext Growth, and ended it as Molten Ventures, a FTSE 250 and Euronext Dublin company. The successful rebranding and step up to a Main Market listing reflect the considerable progress we have made since our AIM listing in 2016 in maturing and growing the business in pursuit of our commitment to investing in Europe's best entrepreneurs and seed funds.
NAV per share
plc cash
(31 March 2021: 743p)
(including restricted cash)
(31 March 2021: £161m plc cash)
37%
£301m
Gross Portfolio fair value growth
Profit after tax
(31 March 2021: 51%)
(year to 31 March 2021: £267m)
£126m
£108m
Cash proceeds from realisations
Net funds raised during the year
(year to 31 March 2021: £206m)
(31 March 2021: £107m)
<1%
£311m
Operating costs (net of
Cash invested in the year, and a further
fee income) continue to
£45m from EIS/VCT funds
be substantially less than the targeted
(year to 31 March 2021: £128m from plc
1% of year-end NAV
and £34m from EIS/VCT funds)
The above figures contain alternative performance measures ("APMs") - see Note 33 for reconciliation of APMs to IFRS measures.
generated by the sale of shares held in publicly-listed
Trustpilot and UiPath, exits from SportPursuit, Premfina,
Conversocial and Bright Computing, as well as amounts
being released from escrow relating to previously
announced disposals
• Completed successful move to the Premium Segment
of the Official List and to trading on the London Stock
Exchange's Main Market as well as to the secondary listing
segment of the Official List of Euronext Dublin and to
trading on the regulated market of Euronext Dublin
• Unveiled a new name, Molten Ventures, and a new
motto "Make More Possible". The new brand reflects
• Continued to progress our ESG roadmap, including being
awarded the Diversity VC Standard Level 1 certification,
becoming a signatory of the Investing in Women Code,
establishing an ESG Committee of the Board (in addition
to the ESG Working Group), completing our first year
of TCFD reporting, approval of our Board Diversity and
Inclusion Policy, Investment Team ESG training, and
engaging with the portfolio on their own ESG activities
Post period-end highlights
Deployed £73.7 million into new and existing portfolio companies, including our announced deal in HiveMQ
Announced the funding rounds of Thought Machine and Aiven (Aiven is held via our partnership in Earlybird)
At 31 March 2022, we held interests in three listed companies - Trustpilot, UiPath, and Cazoo. Their valuations are based on their quoted share price on 31 March 2022. Their value using the closing quoted share price on 8 June 2022 was £43.9 million
Our people remain the most important part of our business. The considerable work which we have undertaken in recent years to create an agile, scalable and resilient platform provides a very sound base for our continued delivery of value to our Shareholders.
Karen Slatford
Chair
This transformation continued in FY22 amidst a volatile external environment. It saw the end of many national lockdowns and the beginning of a post-pandemic 'new normal', followed by the invasion of Ukraine and a resulting fall in stock markets across the world. Despite these factors, overall FY22 was a period of strong performance and significant investment opportunity for the Molten team.
I would like to offer my thanks to Grahame Cook, our Senior Independent Director, who stepped up to assume the responsibility of temporary Chair during a short period earlier in the year when I was indisposed due to illness.
I am very impressed by the team at Molten, who have managed these challenging times with professionalism and consistency. They have invested in some of the best companies in the market, while maintaining a high level of investment discipline and rigour. Our people remain the most important part of our business. The considerable work which we have undertaken in recent years to create an agile, scalable and resilient platform provides a sound base for our continued delivery of value to our Shareholders.
Once again, we exceeded our stated gross fair value growth target in FY22 and are actively invested in a diverse portfolio of high-growth technology businesses, all of which have their own ambitions to harness the power of technology to invent a better future.
FY22 has also been a positive year for realising investments, where Molten's role has come to a natural conclusion, including the sale of Bright Computing and SportPursuit, which were sold to new owners. Cazoo and UiPath were listed on leading Stock Exchanges during the year, following TrustPilot's listing in the previous financial year. These are, in some cases, decade- long partnerships and we are happy to have been able to support these entrepreneurs and companies in a key stage of their development.
At Molten, we are also proud to be playing a significant part in society's mission to achieve a sustainable future for coming generations. As well as our own internal ESG initiatives, we are committed to working with our entrepreneurs to support them with their own ESG programmes.
We are active board members, and we know that as investors we have a responsibility to help build companies which are successful in growing value but also sustainable in the long term. ESG is increasingly embedded into every part of our business, including within our investment criteria, our initiative into climate tech investing, our subscription to the UK Corporate Governance Code, as well as through our remuneration structure.
Finally, I am pleased to welcome Gervaise Slowey, Non-Executive Director and Chair of our newly formed ESG Committee, and Sarah Gentleman, Non-Executive Director and Chair of Molten's Remuneration Committee, who joined the Board in July and September 2021 respectively. They bring with them decades of experience in strategy, general management and governance.
Karen Slatford
Chair
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ANNUAL REPORT FY22
Strategic report
STRATEGIC REPORT
Contents
CEO's statement
Market context
Our value chain
How we fuel growth
Opportunities, dealflow and pipeline
Sectors, stages and criteria
The investment process
Supporting companies for growth
20 Case study: Supporting our portfolio for growth
22 Case study: Climate tech at Molten Ventures
Our portfolio
Our strategy
KPIs
Activities in the year
What's in a share?
Portfolio review
Financial review
Sustainability
Risk management
Principal risks
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