Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit, now rebranded as Molten Ventures following a rebrand in November 2021, was a London-based publicly listed venture capital firm that became one of the most significant European technology investors of the 2010s and early 2020s. The firm was originally founded in 2006 as Esprit Capital before joining Tim Draper's global venture network and rebranding as Draper Esprit in 2015. In June 2016, Draper Esprit completed an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin, making it one of the only large, technology-focused venture capital companies to trade publicly. The public listing structure gave retail and institutional investors in the UK and Ireland direct access to a portfolio of high-growth European technology companies without the typical lock-up periods and minimum investment requirements of conventional venture funds. The firm invested from Series A through to IPO or acquisition in European technology companies, with a particular focus on enterprise software, consumer technology, deep tech, and fintech businesses. Molten Ventures also operates an extensive fund-of-funds programme, backing 42 European seed venture capital funds including Seedcamp, Earlybird, and Future Positive Capital. Portfolio companies include Revolut, the UK neobank; Trustpilot, the consumer review platform that completed a London IPO; Cazoo, the UK online used car marketplace; Graphcore, the UK AI chip company; and Perkbox, the employee benefits platform. Beyond its original investments, the broader Molten Ventures portfolio includes Aircall, Ledger, UiPath, and dozens of European tech companies.