Digital media business Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) has reached a USD1.56 billion (GBP919 million) valuation as it priced its initial public offering ahead of admission to the London Stock Exchange on 23 June.
As an early investor in ZPG, Octopus has had a strong relationship with founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain having invested in their previous business LOVEFiLM.
Alex Macpherson, head of the ventures team at Octopus, says: “We’re really proud to have invested in Zoopla Property Group when the business was still very young and faced numerous challenges to succeed, at a time when the property market in the UK was at its lowest ebb and the economic environment looked very poor. We believed in Alex and Simon from the beginning and have been thrilled to see the business grow explosively over the last six years. The flotation is testament to their vision and hard work, and we are extremely grateful to the whole team for this success. We now look forward to continuing to support the company in this exciting next stage of its development.”
Octopus originally invested in 2009 through its Octopus Titan Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and the Octopus Eureka Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).
Macpherson says: “VCTs and EIS are now mature and established investments that combine attractive government approved tax reliefs with the growth potential that early stage businesses can offer. They are valuable and effective sources of funding for smaller companies in the UK which, coupled with the partnership we create with management teams, helps these businesses realise their growth potential.
“The Zoopla Property Group flotation shows that VCTs and EIS are doing exactly what the government intended them to do – helping to build and support the next generation of successful businesses in the UK – and we are very pleased to play an active part in that. The enterprise market in this country is thriving at the moment, and we have some really exciting and dynamic businesses in our portfolio with bright futures ahead of them.”
