Draper Esprit Initiation of Coverage
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Draper Esprit Initiation of coverage Europe’s leading pureplay listed VC Listed venture capital 3 February 2021 Draper Esprit is the leading listed VC in Europe, committing £120m of funding annually to European start-ups, with a proven track record (over Price 766p 125 deals since 2006, US$13bn of exits) and a high-quality management Market cap £1bn team. Since 2016 Draper Esprit has been scaling its model, building the breadth and maturity of its underlying portfolio, with multiple core Net cash (£m) at 30 September 2020 62.1 holdings ready to exit in 2021, market conditions permitting. Through a Shares in issue 139.0m diversified investment holding company, Draper Esprit provides liquid exposure to a growing portfolio of Europe’s leading, high-growth tech Free float 90% start-ups, an investment class that is hard to access for the public market Code GROW investor. In our view, Draper Esprit’s 15.1% FY16–20 NAV/share CAGR, Primary exchange AIM together with the latent value in its portfolio, justify a premium rating. Secondary exchange Euronext Growth Dublin Period plc cash* Gross portfolio NAV NAV/share P/NAV Share price performance end (£m) value (£m) (£m) (p) (x) 03/18 56.6 243.5 300.5 416 1.84 03/19 50.4 594.0 618.6 524 1.46 03/20 34.1 702.9 659.6 555 1.38 09/20 62.1 702.4 714.7 600 1.28 Note: *Includes restricted cash but not funds held on behalf of EIS/VCT investors. Team with proven investment and exit track record Draper Esprit is an active investor providing venture and growth capital to Europe’s fast-growing technology businesses. Early-stage investment requires specialist % 1m 3m 12m expertise and Draper Esprit’s investment team has proved that it can successfully Abs 16.1 29.4 47.3 identify, invest in and exit leading European technology companies. As well as Rel (local) 15.0 11.2 62.0 having made over £500m of investments since IPO, the team has already realised over £200m of exits. We estimate the group had plc cash of c £109m at 31 52-week high/low 766p 269p December 2020 (March year-end) and undrawn facilities of £60m, leaving plenty of Business description capacity for continuing investment as Europe catches up with the US tech sector. Draper Esprit is a London-based venture capital High-growth portfolio with exit potential firm that invests in the European technology sector. Draper Esprit has a portfolio of c 70 investee Draper Esprit invests at seed through to Series C and beyond, across the UK and companies and includes a range of funds (seed, Europe, with investments in four broad technology sectors: consumer, enterprise, EIS and VCT) within the group, as well as its hardware and deeptech, and digital health and wellness. The group is looking to flagship balance sheet VC fund. deploy c £120m annually (+£40m of EIS/VCT funds), taking minority stakes in Next events c 15–30 companies a year at Series A+ (including follow-on investments). The Portfolio update February 2021 investment team has built a portfolio of c 70 companies, with 15 core holdings representing 62% of portfolio value. Recent exits include Peak Games, PodPoint Portfolio day 25 February 2021 and TransferWise, yet the portfolio still includes late-stage companies ready to FY21 results June 2021 drive future NAV appreciation, such as Graphcore, Revolut, Trustpilot and UiPath Analysts (US$750m Series F funding round, 3x uplift, £78m gross fair value gain). Richard Williamson +44 (0)20 3077 5700 Valuation: 15%+ annual NAV/share growth since IPO Dan Ridsdale +44 (0)20 3077 5729 [email protected] Investors increasingly recognise that Draper Esprit warrants a premium as a rapidly scaling leader in the technology sector, which has delivered a 15.1% FY16–20 Edison profile page NAV/share CAGR, with a promising portfolio of investments and a growing fund management business. As such, the company trades at 1.28x historical NAV (H121: Draper Esprit is a research 600p). Catalysts for a re-rating include further scaling of the business, a listing on client of Edison Investment the main market, growth in third-party fee income, and successful exits and IPOs. Research Limited Investment summary Leading VC player with a proven track record Draper Esprit invests in high-growth companies across the UK and Europe, and has built a direct investment portfolio of c 70 companies, including a number of Europe’s leading technology companies, across four technology sectors: consumer, enterprise, hardware and deeptech, and digital health and wellness. Its core portfolio comprises its 15 largest holdings, representing 62% of portfolio value. Exhibit 1: Core portfolio by sector (H121) Exhibit 2: Core portfolio by value (H121) ICEYE Aiv en Consumer SportPursuit Trustpilot 21% Thought Machine Cazoo Enterprise Ledger 41% Perkbox Smav a Graphcore Rev olut Hardware/ Digital Aircall Deeptech Health UiPath M-Files Rav enpack 38% 0% Source: Draper Esprit (30 September 2020) Source: Draper Esprit (30 September 2020) The company has a proven track record of delivering successful investments, having deployed c £513m of capital in total since its IPO in 2016 and realised £212m of investments. Its portfolio was valued at £702.4m (gross portfolio value) in its H121 results at 30 September 2020, with a NAV of £714.7m. The group has delivered a 15.1% CAGR NAV/share in FY16–20, reporting 8.1% growth in H121 despite the impact of COVID-19. This compares to HgCapital Trust, which has delivered a 19.1% NAV CAGR over five years (12% over 20 years), Oakley Capital with a 14.4% five-year CAGR and 3i with a 22% five-year CAGR. The group is well-capitalised, with more than £100m in plc cash (together with a £60m undrawn revolving credit facility) following a successful placing in October 2020 that raised net proceeds of £106.6m. The placing was completed at 555p per share (equivalent to the FY20 NAV), with the latest share price of 766p at a 28% premium to the H121 NAV per share of 600p. Recent exits include Peak Games, PodPoint and TransferWise, still leaving a portfolio featuring a number of late-stage companies potentially also close to exit (such as Graphcore, UiPath, Revolut and Trustpilot). As the latest example, UiPath’s US$750m Series F funding round in February 2021, valuing UiPath at US$35bn, raises the fair value of Draper Esprit’s stake from £37m to £115m, a 3.1x uplift of £78m or over 50p per share (before carry deductions, FX and costs) to Draper Esprit investors. We expect to see further NAV progress in 2021 from exits from the core portfolio, market conditions permitting, but also, from funding rounds and revaluation across both core and emerging portfolios, despite the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Draper Esprit’s key USPs The following factors help differentiate Draper Esprit from competing investment propositions: Rare pure tech exposure: unlike the US, the UK and European public markets offer only relatively limited exposure to the technology sector. Draper Esprit provides rare exposure to an alternative asset class, offering a diversified portfolio of leading, high-growth, private technology businesses from across Europe as the European sector accelerates to catch up Draper Esprit | 3 February 2021 2 with the US. For private investors, although options for seed investment are available, this asset class is hard to access at the growth stage (Series A+). Established reputation: as an early mover and market leader in the European VC sector, Draper Esprit has cemented its reputation as an investor of choice. This creates a virtuous circle where the company can attract the best entrepreneurs, allowing it to invest in the best businesses and consequently deliver the best returns to investors. Market-leading track record and history of exits: having delivered an average 20% annual IRR up to its IPO, management is targeting a 20% annual gross portfolio return through the cycle (H121: 10.4%). This has translated into a NAV/share CAGR of more than 15% since IPO. The group has realised c £212m of investments since IPO, with £105.6m realised in H121 alone. We estimate that this leaves the company with c £109m of plc cash to invest at 31 December 2020 (together with a £60m undrawn RCF). The group’s portfolio has matured and includes market leaders such as Graphcore, UiPath, Revolut and Trustpilot, with a number of core portfolio holdings ready to exit in 2021, market conditions permitting. Exposure diversified by asset class, investment stage and vintage: Draper Esprit offers a portfolio diversified across both segment and stage of investment. It focuses exclusively on technology, investing in four separate segments (consumer, enterprise, deeptech and digital health). These allow access to emerging technology themes, including micro-satellites (ICEYE), quantum computing (Riverlane), artificial intelligence/machine learning (Graphcore, UiPath), consumer (Smava, Cazoo), digital health (Endomag, Push Doctor) and fintech (Revolut, N26). This broad approach means that Draper Esprit has been able to diversify its portfolio and ensure that it has investee companies ready for realisation as well as investment. Targeting 20% annual portfolio return Draper Esprit typically builds long-term stakes in companies, with initial investments often sourced through its network of seed funds investing across Europe. Draper Esprit has a strong track record of cash realisations, with £212m returned since IPO. Having delivered a 20%+ IRR prior to its IPO in 2016, management continues to target a 20% gross annual portfolio return over the cycle, which it appears to be on track to deliver in FY21 (H121: 10.4%), despite the impact of COVID-19.