Molten Ventures (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, today announces its final results for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Financial highlights

  • £1,532m Gross Portfolio Value (31 March 2021: £984m)
  • 37% Gross Portfolio fair value growth (31 March 2021: 51%)
  • £311m Cash invested in the year, and a further £45m from EIS/VCT funds (year to 31 March 2021: £128m from plc and £34m from EIS/VCT funds)
  • 937p NAV per share (31 March 2021: 743p)
  • £78m plc cash (including restricted cash) (31 March 2021: £161m plc cash)
  • £301m Profit after tax (year to 31 March 2021: £267m)
  • £126m Cash proceeds from realisations (year to 31 March 2021: £206m)
  • £108m Net funds raised during the year (31 March 2021: £107m)
  • <1% Operating costs (net of fee income) continue to be substantially less than the targeted 1% of year-end NAV
  • £1,434m Net Assets (31 March 2021: £1,033m)

The above figures contain alternative performance measures (“APMs”) - see Note 33 for reconciliation of APMs to IFRS measures.

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 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 our ongoing transformation: our increased investment cadence and expanding team
  • 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

Martin Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Molten Ventures, commented:

“This year, we made huge progress across the business from both an operational and financial perspective. In addition to producing strong full year results, we successfully moved to the main market of the London Stock Exchange and the official list of Euronext Dublin, subsequently entered the FTSE 250 and underwent a complete rebrand to Molten Ventures.

“Our job is not only to identify the best opportunities but to do everything we can to support the growth of the companies in our portfolio, and ensure they have all the tools they need to realise their full potential. Molten is better positioned than ever to take advantage of investing in these sought-after assets right the way through their lifecycle from seed to exit.

“Despite recent volatility in world markets caused in part by the tragic events in Ukraine, VC remains resilient, and the European technology market continues to be an area of growth. We have successfully navigated several market cycles and our adaptable and scalable business model, combined with the significant progress made this year, puts us in an advantaged position within the current market context." 

Availability of Annual Report and Notice of AGM

The Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March will be available today on Molten’s website at investors.moltenventures.com.

The RNS is available here.

Annual Results Video Presentations