Dear Readers,
Välkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome. Feel at home.
Why Swedish? Because I studied in Stockholm. I did not learn a word and asked Google to translate. Don’t ask too many questions, and if you do, ask the right ones. Such as:
What the hell is this about? Are you wasting my time?
I’m glad you asked.
I am very happy to start a blog and newsletter, it has been a longstanding idea of mine, about a topic that should get a lot more specific coverage: Growth Capital.
Most people have heard about Venture Capital and Private Equity, yet Growth is a somewhat less clear category in the investing world. A somewhat misunderstood one, too.
For most people, and especially nowadays, Growth Capital is synonymous with mega funding rounds, inflated valuations, investor recklessness, founder hubris and garbage financial discipline.
Our fellow industry neighbours don’t help with that reputation, either:
Venture Capital guys whisper that Growth investors care too much about analysing useless numbers instead of understanding the team and market opportunity of a given business, and thus are useless fools.
Private Equity guys mumble that Growth investors don’t even know how to open Excel and salivate over fancy metrics that don’t mean anything (Community-adjusted EBITDA, anyone?), and thus are useless fools.
While some of that is true (and some Growth investors have definitely been total fools), it does not paint the whole picture! Also, did I say that VC guys just spray their money and pray all the gods to get some of it back one day, and that PE guys have no life besides computing absurd scenarios on Excel over the weekend for a deal that has a meagre 0.1% chance of happening anyways? I did not say it. That would be rude of me.
Egos aside, doing Growth Capital justice requires more depth, focus, patience and explanation than the content I have found online so far. Hence, this blog will focus on Growth Capital to fill this gap. Thank you very much.
As a starting point, I aim to cover a few areas:
Growth 101: what is Growth Capital? What role does it play?
Principals & People: Which funds do Growth? Who works for them?
Companies & Deals: growth companies/sectors profiles and stories (both success stories and, of course, horror stories!)
News & Gossip: new funds, funding rounds and exits
Interview & Career Guides: how to break and grow into the Growth Capital world
I am open to suggestions to enrich this blog. Feel free to spam me. But not too much. I have a life (and a P1 grading in Krav-Maga to prepare for…).
Who the hell are you?
I’m somewhat less glad you asked, for what I don’t like to talk about myself.
I don’t know the guy above, but this looks fun. Anyways. I was born and raised in France, but have moved to London and remained there since the start of my professional life, where I have worn a few hats:
I started my career in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, focusing on Technology companies. I worked on several M&A and financing deals there, and made a bunch of great friends. I also spent countless late nights in the office, ate more than 2,847 salmon sushis and learned how to make pretty slides fast.
I then joined SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages the SoftBank Vision Funds, where I was focused on covering Fintech, Mobility, and France (because French people do it better). I also ate quite a lot of sushis, made more pretty slides, and travelled the world.
COVID hit, I left and worked with some former colleagues to start a Growth fund focused on Emerging Markets. I learned a lot about how do you actually put together a fund, find investors, and source deals when you have no brand name.
I was amazed by the strength of the crypto storm in Emerging Markets, and decided to join Binance to help them manage their investments and M&A activities, especially in EMEA. I still eat a lot of sushis (and my personal trainer would prefer that I switch to sashimis…).
Oh, and I did all this before turning 30. Don’t ask me how (or buy me a beer and I’ll tell you. Or some sushis).
That’s about me. If you want to learn more, just shoot me an email or ask in Comments and if you look like you are not going to murder me in a dark alley, I’ll reply.
Our first post later this week will be about the definition of Growth Capital and its role in the financing ecosystem.
Subscribe, stay tuned and grow patient,
Alex