Draper Esprit backs construction software firm
DRAPER Esprit is leading a $40m (€35m) investment in Finalcad, an infrastructure and construction mobile software platform.
The Dublin-listed venture capital company invested €14m in the round, along with international investors Cathay Innovation and Salesforce Ventures.
This latest Series C funding round brings the total funds raised by Finalcad to $60m (€53m).
The French business will use the money to extend its product platform into the energy, operations and maintenance sectors.
Along it with this, it intends to increase its headcount, and invest further in research and development.
Founded in 2012, Finalcad’s product allows site engineers, foremen, architects and consultants to interact using its app, enabling collaboration across a wide variety of work flows, both on site and at the office, a statement from Draper Esprit said.
To date it has delivered more than 20,000 projects across 35 countries.
Other recent investments led by Draper Esprit include $14m in fintech company Form3 through a Series B round, $31m of Series A funding in protein characterisation firm Fluidic Analytics, and a £14.5m growth round for UK-based crowd funding platform Crowdcube.
These ventures are in addition to the previously announced secondary portfolio acquisition of DFJ Europe X fund for £25.9m.
“These four investments demonstrate our position as one of Europe’s most active VC firms, the attractiveness of our £500m-plus evergreen capital and global network to potential investees, and the growing diversity of our portfolio across fintech, deep tech and digital health,” said CEO Simon Cook.
In November, the company announced that its portfolio value had jumped 45pc to £354m (€404m) in the six months to September 30.
However, the company said at the time it was “mindful” of the prevailing market backdrop and committed to maintaining a “prudent” approach to new opportunities.
Announcing its interim results last month, the group also said that the uncertainty caused by Brexit was something it was conscious of.
The company reported a 20pc return to investors during the six-month period, driven by a strong performance in its core investment portfolio.