Draper Esprit, the technology venture capital firm backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, rose on its first day on the junior London and Dublin stock markets.
The company, which raised about £79 million (€100 million) from a sale of new shares, saw its shares rise 2.5 per cent in trading on Tuesday on London’s Alternative Investment Market, to £3.075. The shares rose 3.95 per cent in Dublin, albeit amid much smaller trading volumes.
Draper Esprit, whose Irish business is headed up by serial entrepreneur Brian Caulfield, also issued £24 million of shares as part consideration of an initial portfolio of minority interests in 24 companies. They include Irish-founded technology company Movidius, a provider of low-power integrated circuits and software to enable visual sensing and computer vision for mobile devices and the internet of things.
Mr Caulfield, who is also a non-executive director of The Irish Times, said that the company’s initial public offering allows for Draper Esprit to move from its origins to be able to invest for longer term. While Movidius is 10 years old, it is only now delivering on its potential, he said.
“These companies take time to find their mojo,” Mr Caulfield said at an event at the Irish Stock Exchange in Dublin.
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund has taken a 27 per cent stake in Draper Esprit, while other leading backers include UK asset managers Woodford Investment Management and Baillie Gifford as well as China Huarong International Holdings.
Mr Caulfield said earlier this week that the venture capital firm has agreed as part of its shareholder accord with ISIF to invest a “material amount” of money on Irish companies over the next five years. He declined to give a figure.
Draper Esprit's chief executive Simon Cook said that moving to become a pubwill attract investors who were restricted from investing in the traditional venture capital limited partnership model in Europe.
“Many growing technology companies are not accessible to institutions or public investors until they go public,” he said.
