Molten Ventures plc (LON:GROW, Euronext Dublin: GRW), a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, has announced that CEO Martin Davis will be stepping down after five years at the Company. He will be succeeded as CEO by CFO Ben Wilkinson, and Finance Director Andrew Zimmermann will step up as Interim CFO. These changes are taking place with immediate effect, with Martin remaining with Molten until the end of April 2025 to provide handover support and ongoing strategic advice.
Laurence Hollingworth, Molten Ventures Chairman, said:
“We are grateful to Martin for the critical role he has played in the development of Molten into the unique and leading business it is today. Having taken over as CEO from the co-founding CEO just three years into public company life on AIM, Martin leaves Molten as a main market company and a member of the FTSE 250, with an extensive track record of strategically additive M&A, evidenced most recently by the acquisition of Forward Partners as well as multiple secondary portfolio investments.
“Martin achieved this against the backdrop of a challenging period, which saw an all-time high in private company fundraising activity and valuations, followed by a significantly more challenging market. He continued the further expansion of the Molten Ventures platform supported by Ben. The Board offers Martin its thanks for his leadership of the business and wishes him success in his next venture.”
“Maintaining a strong focus on succession planning has been among the Board’s priorities in 2024 and we are delighted to be making two internal promotions to create a strong top team. Ben has been instrumental in maintaining a robust balance sheet and executing on the Company’s strategy over his eight years as CFO at Molten. We look to Ben to continue to scale Molten, drawing on his deep knowledge of the business and its people.”
Ben Wilkinson said:
“I am grateful to the Board for the opportunity to continue the evolution of the business. The Molten Ventures platform is significantly larger than when I joined immediately post-IPO and has incredible potential for the next phase of growth, with a strong investment team supported by a platform team with a unique skillset. I look forward to outlining our growing vision for the business and can assure all stakeholders that we will continue our focus on supporting the best founding teams in the most exciting technology sectors, supported by intelligent capital management.”
Martin Davis said:
“After five years including a global pandemic, the additional impetus it gave to the acceptance and adoption of technology and a pendulum swing back away from that peak, I am pleased to leave Molten Ventures stabilised, expanded and in safe hands. I set out to grow the portfolio and build the infrastructure to be able to scale the business and am pleased with the progress we have made. As the Company prepares to enter the next stage of the cycle I believe that Molten Ventures needs a leader and executive team to drive growth for the next phase. I am proud of what we have achieved at Molten and have greatly enjoyed working with such a talented team and with our exceptional founders. I wish Ben and the team every success.
