Molten Ventures — FY25 results: Staying resilient

Molten Ventures (LSE: GROW)

Last close As at 12/06/2025

GBP2.96

−16.20 (−5.18%)

Market capitalisation

GBP539m

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Research: Financials

Molten Ventures — FY25 results: Staying resilient

Molten Ventures confirmed the key highlights from its FY25 trading statement published in April, including a positive uptick in portfolio valuations and, in turn, a 4% NAV per share total return in H225 (1.4% in FY25 to end-March 2025), strong cash realisations of c £135m in FY25 (ahead of the original guidance of £100m) and a robust cash balance of £89m at end-March 2025. Molten has collected a further £30m in proceeds so far in FY26 from the exits of Lyst and Freetrade. The company earmarked £30m of its FY25 proceeds for share buybacks amid a continued wide discount to NAV (c 53% at present), of which £24m has been executed to date.

Milosz Papst

Written by

Milosz Papst

Director of Content, Investment Trusts

molten05

Investment companies

Listed venture capital

12 June 2025

Price 312.60p
Market cap £568m
Shares in issue 181.6m
Code/ISIN GROW/GB00BY7QYJ50
Primary exchange LSE
AIC sector N/A
Financial year end 31 Mar
52-week high/low 432.5p 215.6p

Fund objective

Molten Ventures is a UK 250, London-based venture capital (VC) firm that invests in the European technology sector. It has a portfolio of 100+ investee companies and includes a fund of funds programme (as well as EIS and VCT schemes) in the group, as well as its flagship balance sheet VC fund.

Analysts

Milosz Papst
+44 (0)20 3077 5700
Dan Ridsdale
+44 (0)20 3077 5700

Molten Ventures is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

Molten’s 17 core holdings (making up 61% of its end-March 2025 gross portfolio value) maintained robust growth in average revenue of 45% in 2024 to US$309m, and management expects further growth of 36% in 2025. We understand that the expected deceleration versus 2024 is mainly the result of portfolio maturation, as the average age of Molten’s core portfolio companies is 11 years, while the average age of Molten’s core portfolio investments is five years. Molten expects the average gross margin across its core portfolio to reach a solid 70% in 2025, and forecasts that 44% of its core companies (excluding Isar Aerospace and a pre-revenue company) will be profitable in 2025. This is coupled with a solid cash runway across the core portfolio, with 88% of companies funded for at least 12 months or already profitable, and 71% funded for more than 18 months or already profitable. We note that the share of holdings with a cash runway of at least 12 months increased from 78% at end-September 2024, which could suggest some progress in closing new funding rounds. Beyond the core holdings, Molten expects its top 15 revenue-generating emerging assets to post average sales of c £15m in 2025, which is more than double the 2024 level (£7m).

Molten invested £73m in FY25 (c 5% of opening gross portfolio value) across six new direct investments (£15m), secondaries (£19m), fund investments (£19m) and eight follow-on investments (£20m, including investments in three core holdings: HiveMQ, Schüttflix and SimScale). For FY26, management expects a continued balanced mix of capital deployment, with its direct primary investments focused on Series A and B opportunities, around £15–20m expected to be deployed into secondary investments, c £15m to be deployed selectively into its fund-of-funds programme (to a narrow set of managers) and EarlyBird, as well as follow-on investments in existing holdings at a level broadly in line with recent years (ie c £20m). This would allow Molten to redeploy most of its current liquidity. Molten has made four investments in FY26 so far, including the participation in the US$42m Series B round of its existing health tech portfolio holding Hilo (formerly Aktiia).

Molten remains committed to growing its third-party capital under management, from which it generates fee income, which resulted in net ongoing charges of 0.6% of NAV in FY25 (in line with its target of below 1%). This year, Molten expects the first close of its c €100m Molten East fund, focused on opportunities across Eastern Europe, including countries such as Turkey, Poland and Estonia. Management highlighted that the launch of its growth (Series B) co-investment fund (which is meant to be larger than the Molten East fund) will likely take more time. Once launched, it will provide additional fee income but also support Molten’s deal flow and consistent deployment in later-stage deals, allowing it to participate in a greater number of rounds a year.

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