- The British Business Bank will be the principal investor in Molten Ventures’ new £350 million Growth Fund, committing £75 million.
- Because of its commitment, Molten secured a first closing of £175 million, of which £100 million came from its own funds.
- The Bank has been a principal investor in a venture capital fund at least six times in the past two years.
Molten Ventures intends to raise £350 million in order to increase its investments in its top portfolio companies; it has so far achieved one-fifth of its target, and a large part of the initial financing came from the same government body that has supported at least six venture funds over the past two years.
The £75 million the British Business Bank invested was the principal amount of support for Molten Ventures’ new Growth Fund, enabling the London-listed company to achieve its first close of £175 million.
The company has also contributed £100 million of its own funds and is still seeking further external investment to reach its target of £350 million.
The fund will provide support to UK and European technology companies at the Series B stage and in subsequent financing rounds, with a focus on sectors such as space, AI, fintech, quantum computing, deep tech and hardware. This is in keeping with Molten’s normal method of investing.
Over the past 10 years, the firm has made more than 40 growth-stage investments and has invested over £700 million, which it states has resulted in top-quartile returns.
“Securing the British Business Bank as cornerstone investor is a strong endorsement of Molten’s strategy and of the relationship we have built over many years. There is no shortage of exceptional founders or technology businesses in the UK and Europe; what they too often lack is sufficient growth capital to help them become global leaders,” said Ben Wilkinson, Molten’s chief executive.
A firm with a history of reinvention
Wilkinson has experience in managing change. The company began as Esprit Capital in 2006, changed its name to Draper Esprit in 2015 when it joined forces with Tim Draper, went public in 2016 and then renamed itself Molten Ventures in November 2021. Wilkinson was appointed chief financial officer in 2016 and became chief executive in October 2024, after Martin Davis had left.
At present, he is guiding the company from a strategy of making individual investments, such as those in ICEYE, towards one better suited to institutional fund management, using both external capital and its own resources.
How the Bank invests in other funds
It isn’t the first instance this year of the British Business Bank acting as a cornerstone investor; in May, it contributed £50 million to Longwall Venture Partners‘ £100 million deep tech fund and invested £25 million in Antler‘s UK Fund II.
The Bank has previously supported Balderton, Revaia, and Lansdowne Partners. Having invested more than £600 million directly in over 50 companies, such as Wayve and Quantum Motion, the state-owned bank has become one of the most active investors in UK venture capital funds.
The Bank has previously worked with Molten on this fund and has held shares in Molten’s listed platform since 2018; it has also invested alongside Molten in companies such as SatVu, IMU Biosciences, Thought Machine, and Paragraf.
“Molten Ventures is one of the UK’s leading growth investors, with a strong track record of backing fast-growing technology businesses. This fund will help the next generation of tech entrepreneurs scale faster and build global companies from the UK,” added Robert Greenwood, senior director of funds at British Business Bank.
As the Atomico State of European Tech report states, Europe has invested $375 billion less than required in its tech sector over the last ten years and will need to raise about $1 trillion more in the next ten years to bridge the gap.
Molten will only achieve its £350 million aim if private organisations follow the Bank’s example. Up to now, participation by the private sector has been slower than the government’s commitments have been.
