Jul 12, 2024

Exit and Investment Update Share Exit and Investment Update Exit and Investment Update Step-up in realisations coming through, above holding value Molten Ventures (LSE: GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high-growth digital technology businesses, today provides an update on recent developments in its portfolio. Key highlights are: Acquisition of Perkbox by Great Hill Partners now closed The acquisition of Endomagnetics (‘Endomag’) by Hologic, Inc continuing through the closing processes All three exits reinforce the rigour of the Molten valuation process, underpinning Molten’s net asset value (‘NAV’) Isar Aerospace closes £220m Series C round RavenPack raises $20m to launch new AI platform Bigdata.com GRAPHCORE As announced by Graphcore earlier today, the company has been acquired by SoftBank. Molten has realised a total return of $26m, in line with its Group holding value. Molten first invested in Graphcore in 2016 as part of the company’s Series A and further supported the business in subsequent funding rounds. At a 0.9x multiple on invested capital, the majority of the cost has been returned which demonstrates the benefit of downside protection with preference shares. Graphcore is a machine intelligence semiconductor company, which develops Intelligent Processing Units (‘IPUs’) that enable world-leading levels of AI computing. Graphcore will continue to operate under the Graphcore name, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank, with its head office remaining in Bristol and offices in Cambridge, London, Gdansk and Hsinchu. PERKBOX Further to the announcement of 18 March, the acquisition of Perkbox, a British-based employee benefits and reward platform, by Great Hill Partners, a US-based private equity firm, has closed. The award-winning platform has been a portfolio company since Molten first invested in 2016. Further capital was invested to support the growth of Perkbox from 2017 to 2019. Cash proceeds of approximately £18m, will be received in circa 60 days once released from escrow. This is above the Molten holding value of £16.3m and delivers a 1.3x multiple on invested capital. ENDOMAG Further to the announcement of 30 April in respect of the acquisition of medical technology company Endomag by global leader in women’s health Hologic, Inc, the regulatory review, working capital and other customary closing adjustments remain on track. As previously announced and subject to minor adjustments, this deal also values Molten's stake in Endomag modestly above its Group holding value of £34.7 million. At the current holding value this would deliver a 3.7x multiple on invested capital. The three realisations provide a cross section of the portfolio returns and add to the over £520m of realisations by the Company since 2016. In accordance with the capital allocation policy outlined in the Company’s final results on 12 June, a further update will be provided on the allocation of a minimum of 10% of the proceeds from the above realisations to share buybacks, once the funds have been received by the Company. ISAR AEROSPACE In June, core portfolio company ISAR Aerospace announced the closing of its Series C round raising £220m. ISAR Aerospace is a German launch service provider for small and medium-sized satellites. The funds will be used to build a bigger, fully automated factory near Munich to produce at least 40 of its Spectrum rockets a year by the end of the decade. RAVENPACK In July, Core Portfolio company RavenPack, a leading big data analytics provider for hedge funds and banks, has raised $20m from technology advisory and investment firm GP Bullhound as the company aims to accelerate the development and launch of RavenPack’s new AI platform, Bigdata.com, enhancing decision-making for leading financial professionals. Martin Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Molten Ventures, commented: “As we anticipated at the time of our recent trading update and final results, we are seeing a step-up in realisations, most recently with our exit from Graphcore and the previously announced Perkbox and Endomag transactions. These realisations and the fact that Core Portfolio companies ISAR Aerospace and Ravenpack are attracting investment, even in an environment which is still challenging for fundraising, all demonstrate the high quality of our portfolio. More importantly, the valuation of recent exits underscores the rigour of our valuation methodology and should give further confidence to investors in our net asset value.”