Molten Ventures

Draper Esprit is now Molten Ventures.  #MakeMorePossible Molten’s rebranding from Draper Esprit represents the huge growth the firm has seen in the past 24 months.  The Molten name is rooted in our team’s long experience of transformation – both our own, and our successful efforts to help their portfolio do the same.  The name was inspired by the natural process of State Change, by which matter is transformed via the injection of energy – , the first transformation is from solid to molten form.  The Molten team believes that venture capital works best when VCs give their energy to help companies succeed. This ‘energy’ goes far beyond providing just capital, it also means experience, knowledge, relationships and a commitment for the long term.   "The time has come to try something fresh. We wanted a brand that embodied who we are, how we operate, and what our strategy is and could help to tell our story. That, I firmly believe, we have found in Molten Ventures: a brand that is not only befitting of where we are now but reflects our ambition as the leader of a new generation of tech VCs.” CEO, Martin Davis https://lnkd.in/dQufUTBe

🌟 Celebrating Growth and Connection in the CEE VC Community 🌟   We were thrilled to host our annual drinks event in Warsaw bringing together the vibrant CEE VC community. It was a fantastic opportunity to strengthen our networks and celebrate the remarkable growth of the regional venture capital industry.   Bringing together friends and key players from the local ecosystem, the event was filled with engaging conversations, insightful discussions, and a sense of shared purpose and ambition. 🚀   A big thank you our partners for this event, Molten Ventures, and to everyone who joined us. 🥂   #CEEVentureCapital #VCCommunity #OTBVentures

Watching closely with enormous respect as Isar Aerospace’s first test flight of launch vehicle Spectrum begins today. Follow here: https://lnkd.in/dGm65TsQ

This year’s Investor Day felt like a real shift—one that reinforced Molten as a leading European VC firm. Read and watch here: https://lnkd.in/ee3_v9PT CEO Ben Wilkinson laid out five strategic priorities—backing Series A & B deals, scaling through co-investment, maintaining a selective Fund of Funds programme, safeguarding our balance sheet, and narrowing our discount to NAV with a £15m buyback. Richard Marsh demonstrated how our portfolio continues to deliver realisations at or above NAV. Ten key companies took the stage, showcasing innovations in fintech, deeptech, AI, and sustainability—proof of the breadth of transformative technology we support. An AI panel moderated by Ryan Browne of CNBC featured many of our Investment Team – Inga D., George Chalmers, CFA, Nicola McClafferty, Vinoth Jayakumar and Christoph Hornung – who examined the technology’s next wave of impact, while Andrea Kerwat’s session spotlighted how we guide founders and teams on everything from talent acquisition to exit planning. A huge thank you to all of our portfolio companies that gave fantastic presentations: Form3, ICEYE, Riverlane, Freetrade, Altruistiq, causaLens, MOSTLY AI, Sightline Climate (CTVC), Makers and Material Exchange.

Every year we are fortunate enough to bring our investors together and update them on our progress as a leading venture capital firm in Europe. This week we welcomed over 200 of them to London to hear directly from our CEO Ben Wilkinson, our Chief Portfolio Officer Richard Marsh and our Investment Team on a panel debate on Thematic investing in AI.    Coupled with that, a selection of our portfolio companies – Freetrade, Form3, Riverlane, causaLens, MOSTLY AI, Sightline Climate (CTVC), Altruistiq, Material Exchange, Makers and ICEYE – also presented; to show the progress they are making as successful businesses in their respective fields. This gave investors real insight into how their investment is being put to work, helping build the next set of European tech businesses.    Please do watch the video of Ben’s keynote as he spoke about how we were refocusing on our core strengths of investing at the Series A and Series B stages, ensuring that we continue to back high-potential companies at these crucial growth stages; how we continue to scale with institutional capital; an update on recent deal flow and realisations; and importantly, showing that we are at the heart of helping businesses we invest in lead the next generational shift in technology. #VentureCapital #AIInvestment #TechGrowth #StartupSuccess

We are delighted to welcome Renew Risk into our portfolio this week. It is a domain leader in risk modelling and analytics for renewable energy assets (think hurricanes and wind farms!), and has successfully raised £5 million in a funding round led by Molten Ventures with participation from Lloyd's, existing investors Insurtech Gateway and influential angels. George Chalmers, CFA, Head of Climate at Molten Ventures, commented: “Renewable assets coming online need to be financed and insured. The pace of deployment is being impaired by the lack of appropriate risk modelling for these new assets—leading to risk that isn't properly quantified and priced. We are delighted to partner with the Renew Risk team as they built out their world leading risk analytics for the renewable energy sector.“ Read more: https://lnkd.in/dQEiRGTJ

We are excited to share that our portfolio company CoachHub today announced the launch of AIMY™, an AI powered coach for today's workforce. Congratulations to Matti Niebelschütz and the team—a huge achievement.

It's been a stellar week for PocDoc as it announced its nationwide launch with Well Pharmacy. Featured on the Mail Online, the Sun and a host of technology publications on Tuesday; on Wednesday, ITV's This Morning hailed it a 'Tech Revolution for our Health'. Congratulations to Steve Roest and the team—we're very proud.

In this brilliant interview, Inga D. speaks to Ian Coyne of Coulter Partners about where health tech investments are headed in 2025, the big trends beyond that horizon, and what could dramatically accelerate innovation in this space. “For 2025, I'm looking at companies that have a clear understanding of their customers and can provide immediate, measurable results. There's a significant supply-demand issue in specialties like pathology, and AI tools can have a substantial impact here.” Inga also shines a light portfolio companies Deciphex and IMU Biosciences, demonstrating how these technologies can transform healthcare. Well worth a read 👇

Molten would like to send our huge congratulations to Martin Sweeney, Mairtin O'Riada and the whole Ravelin team on their acquisition by Worldpay announced today. We are incredibly proud of Ravelin’s achievements and look forward to seeing them continue to transform fraud prevention on a global scale. Read about our journey with Ravelin in our latest blog here as we wish them the very best for their next chapter. 🥳