Investment Thesis
We follow a structured approach through which we invest and abide by three principles which every idea should match up with.
South East Asia is unique from the perspective of size of outcomes and scale of exits in the region. Beyond the 100-150M valuation range, the potential and probability of exits reduces significantly due to limited number of potential acquirers for trade sale and low liquidity on regional stock exchanges to undertake local IPO. India on the other hand has a much larger spectrum of exit opportunities for startups and scaleups.
Right Fit & Shared vision
Wave Test
Ideas which are building a solution in which there is a broader market or industry trend to drive adoption of that category. We prefer themes where industry consensus towards a transition is already on its way, example digitization of KYC, formalization of social commerce, streamlining SME business processes, card issuing, etc. We are not always the first one to back ideas which are on path to establish new waves.
GRass Test
In the face of storm or flood, grasses are best survivors since they don't try to fight head on with storms. Ideas which are not trying to compete head-on with incumbents and large funded competitors by identifying either niche areas or less competitive domains. We focus on ideas which are not in need of steep marketing spend or long burn windows, thus prioritize sustainable growth over grow at any cost business models.
Sand Test
Sand has unique ability to withstand shocks and also being flexible enough to take the shape of container. Sand bags are a common site for bunkers, blast-bins, castles on a beach and even component of every building construction. A startup team needs both these characteristics to achieve long term success. A startup journey is long and challenging, having the right team with aligned motivations is imperative for scalability.
Are there any specific sectors or stage of company you prefer
We don't have any fixation over stage of company but prefer to invest in the domains where we have strong understanding of sector like fintech, digital commerce, wealthtech, enterprise software.