Legatum Ventures’ investment strategy is predicated on our belief that commercial capital can play a catalytic role in supporting developing world entrepreneurs in achieving their highest social impact. As a result of the proprietary nature of our capital, Legatum Ventures is not bound by the traditional liquidity requirements of most private equity investors. There is however both a financial and social opportunity cost associated with our capital. On this basis we seek to exit investments from time to time, in situations where we believe there is a compelling reason for us to do so. Such decisions may be based on financial, development or mission related considerations.
Details of our past investments:
Financial Information Network and Operations (“FINO”) provides end-to-end technology and operational solutions to financial institutions, revolutionising the way their services reach bottom-of-the-pyramid citizens by minimising the cost of executing multiple, small ticket financial transactions. The company has combined the delivery of a biometric-enabled smart card front-end with a proprietary Core Banking System on the back-end, developed specifically for the microfinance market. In May 2007, Legatum Ventures invested USD 4.12 million for a minority stake in the company. Although we sold our entire stake via a secondary sale in December 2009, our investment helped FINO to further develop and deploy its solution in India, whilst also catalysing a greater flow of capital into the company. www.fino.co.in
The Portfolio Analytics Expert System ("PAES") provides easy to use, outsourced risk analysis and management services to emerging financial institutions characterised by low loan sizes but large transaction volumes. In October 2008, Legatum Ventures provided USD 250,000 of mezzanine debt to the company, allowing it to further develop the technology asset and to accelerate the process of deploying this system in the market. PAES fully redeemed the debt instrument in October 2009. www.paesinc.com