Draper Esprit, the technology venture capital firm backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, has made its first investment since listing last month.
The Irish business, which raised about £79 million (€94.7m) from a sale of new shares as it listed on the junior London and Dublin stock markets, said it had invested £3.1 million (€3.7m) to acquire a stake in Stockholm-based digital health company Lifesum.
Launched in 2013, Lifesum has created a health and fitness platform that has over 15 million users. The company has closed a $10 million Series B funding round, with Draper Esprit, Nokia Growth Partners, Bauer Media and VC SparkLabs Global Ventures, among the investors.
Following the funding round, Vishal Gulati, venture partner at Draper Esprit, is to join the Lifesum board.
“As we outlined during our IPO, we are looking to invest in high quality management teams with innovative digital technology from across all of Europe. Scandinavia has produced many great digital success stories such as Spotify and the team at Lifesum has created a very powerful platform.”
Lifesum, which was formerly known as Shape Up Club, closed a $6.7 million Series A funding round in April 2014, that was led by Bauer Media and SparkLabs.
The start-up is headed by chief executive Henrik Torstensson, who was previously head of premium sales with Spotify.
Lifesum said it intends to use the latest funding round to aid international growth and increase product development.
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund recently took a 27 per cent stake in Draper Esprit, while other leading backers include UK asset managers Woodford Investment Management and Baillie Gifford as well as China Huarong International Holdings.
