Molten Ventures (formerly Draper Esprit) is a London-headquartered venture capital firm founded in 2006, with additional offices in Cambridge and Dublin. It invests in high-growth European technology companies from Series A through growth stage.
Molten Ventures Growth Fund targets Series B and later-stage growth-equity investments in high-growth UK and European technology companies, with a stated focus on space, AI, fintech, quantum, deeptech and hardware.
The fund is designed to provide category-leading European founders with the growth capital needed to scale into global leaders, an area the firm says is often underserved relative to earlier-stage funding.
Molten Ventures Growth Fund reached a first close of $237M in September 2026, toward a $474M target.
British Business Bank committed $102M as cornerstone investor, alongside a $135M commitment from Molten Ventures' own balance sheet.
The Growth Fund sits alongside Molten's broader platform, which has invested over $948M across more than 40 growth-stage deals over the past decade, and complements the firm's existing Secondaries strategy.
Leadership
Investment Strategy
Growth-stage equity investments targeting meaningful ownership stakes to support international expansion, reflecting top-quartile returns reported by the firm to date.
Notable Investments
Notable Exits
Ben Wilkinson — Chief Executive Officer
Phoebe Kitchen — Principal
phoebe.kitchen@molten.vc
Nic Brisbourne — Senior Partner
nic.brisbourne@molten.vc
Franco Danesi — Senior Partner
franco.danesi@molten.vc
Inga Deakin — Partner, Healthtech
George Chalmers — Partner, Energy & Industrial Technologies
george.chalmers@molten.vc
Nicola McClafferty — Partner
Nelly Markova — Partner
nelly.markova@molten.vc
United Kingdom
