Investment
Rocketship Remakes Early Stage Venture Investing – pymnts.com
Most investors claim to follow the data, which is good investing practice and even better marketing. Besides, no really successful investor is ever going to claim blind luck or gut instinct as their secret sauce.
But letting the data drive one’s actual investment decision-making is a lot more difficult in practice than it is in theory. After all, there’s a lot of data out there, Sailesh Ramakrishnan, a partner at early-stage global venture capital firm Rocketship Ventures told Karen Webster in a recent conversation.
He said the world is awash with data all day, every day – from mobile apps, social media, ratings sites of all sorts, etc. – a stream that generates a constantly shifting sea of information for any investment firm.
But Ramakrishnan said that information breaks down into three distinct types. “There’s a bunch of day-to-day, changing data that come in, things like newspaper articles, employment history, new executives joining, funding announcements and so on,” he told Webster.
On the other end of the spectrum is the static, mostly historical data about a company. And in between is the slow-changing data – quarterly performance results and the like.
“So there’s a whole continuum of data, and not only do you need different techniques to extract information, you also need different ways of combining these different streams to get an entire image,” Ramakrishnan noted.
And that is what Rocketship’s algorithm-based investment model was constructed to do. It sets multiple models keyed into different time slices against the startup ecosystem and gears the firm’s investments toward early-stage firms in their earliest investment rounds (generally the seed, A and B rounds).
The model aims to accomplish the same goal of every early-stage investor: to get in on the ground floor with the next amazing company and disburse the funds entrepreneurs need.
Following The Data To The Unexpected
Rocketship’s models are varied – some compute data every day, some every few weeks and others every few months.
Ramakrishnan said none of these models are perfect, because perfect models don’t exist. But they’re designed to learn and improve over time, filtering data into better guidance and recommendations as to where the firm should be looking to invest.
That doesn’t mean the model gets to make decisions on its own. Ramakrishnan said one of the most important realities of working with mathematical modeling is that it has its limits. Reality is full of intangibles that matter very much to a company’s success, but they’re hard to present mathematically.
“That is why we have not invested in every company that our algorithms identify,” Ramakrishnan explained. “We as human partners spend a lot of time trying to understand that ‘secret sauce’ that exists within the company, and whether that is a sustainable, resilient element.”
But it does mean that when the data point in a certain direction, the firm knows that’s the place to start looking – even if it’s not what Rocketship expected to see.
A World Of Opportunities
That was the firm’s experience almost immediately upon launching its first fund five years ago. The plan was to do what nearly every Silicon Valley investment firm was doing at the time.
Rocketship intended to start local with all the opportunities in the Valley, then down the road push out into the country at large and eventually the wider world. But when the firm actually started running its algorithmic models, Rocketship quickly found that its plan was, in a word, wrong.
What the data told the company was that its own backyard was the wrong place to play. The broader world was full of amazing companies without much regard to borders – in India, the European Union or Latin America.
Ramakrishnan said Rocketship was founded by career data scientists, all operating under one golden rule: “Never impose one’s strategy in conflict with what the data is saying.”
“Data offered us these kinds of global opportunities and we followed,” he said. “We became a global investor pretty much on day one, and were immediately very different from what most other investors were doing.”
Thriving During The Pandemic
Ramakrishnan pointed out that the world of investing is changing all around us, but in ways that play to Rocketship’s strengths.
In a world where a pandemic has shut down face-to-face meetings, everyone on Earth suddenly has to learn something that Ramakrishnan said his firm has spent the past half-decade working on: investing in firms whose founders you’ve never met in-person.
And he added that the investment landscape is still lively in an awful lot of places. For example, firms that enable cloud-shift, FinTechs that enable lending, firms specializing in employee management and neobanks/digital banks are all areas where opportunity is exploding in response to recently skyrocketing demand.
Democratizing Venture Capital
Perhaps even more interestingly, Ramakrishnan said, is that the investing landscape itself is beginning to change as it becomes more globalized and democratized. The balance of power is shifting in ways he believes will ultimately benefit the best, most innovative companies worldwide, without regard to where they were founded.
Ramakrishnan said the next amazing startup might come from Silicon Valley, but it could just as well come from Vietnam, Nigeria, Chile or Colombia. And those firms will come to market better able to build a track record of results without raising capital – which means by the time they’re talking to potential investors, “the dynamic has changed,” he noted.
The money will always be extremely important, but the data-driven investing world of the future is about more than that, he said.
“Everybody’s asking investors, ‘What can you do for me?’” Ramakrishnan said. “[But] it’s not just about if we have the dollars – it’s because of our backgrounds, our data science, our data.”
“We now have to have those reasons why you should take our money from us versus anybody else who’s offering money to you,” he said. “And I think that dynamic – where there is that recognition of the value investors play over and beyond just the dollars – is [an] essential part of this conversation.”
Welcome to CB’s personal-finance advice column, Make It Make Sense, where each month experts answer reader questions on complex investment and personal-finance topics and break them down in terms we can all understand. This month, Damir Alnsour, a lead advisor and portfolio manager at money-management platform Wealthsimple, tackles eco-friendly investments. Have a question about your finances? Send it to [email protected].
Q: It’s Earth Month! And… there’s a climate crisis. How can I invest in companies and portfolios funding causes I believe in?
Earth Day may have been introduced in 1970, but today it’s more relevant than ever: In a 2023 survey, 72 per cent of Canadians said they were worried about climate change. Along with carpooling, ditching single-use plastics and composting, you can celebrate Earth Month this year by greening your investment portfolio.
Green investing, or buying shares in projects, companies, or funds that are committed to environmental sustainability, is an excellent way to support projects and businesses that reflect your passions and lifestyle choices. It’s growing in favour among Canadian investors, but there are some considerations investors should be mindful of. Let’s review some green investing options and what to look out for.
Green Bonds
Green bonds are a fixed-income instrument where the proceeds are put toward climate-related purposes. In 2022, the Canadian government launched its first Green Bond Framework, which saw strong demand from domestic and global investors. This resulted in a record $11 billion green bonds being sold. One warning: Because it’s a smaller market, green bonds tend to be less liquid than many other investments.
It’s also important to note that a “green” designation can mean a lot of different things. And they’re not always all that environmentally-guided. Some companies use broad, vague terms to explain how the funds will be used, and they end up using the money they raised with the bond sale to pay for other corporate needs that aren’t necessarily eco-friendly. There’s also the practice of “greenwashing,” labelling investments as “green” for marketing campaigns without actually doing the hard work required to improve their environmental footprint.
To make things more challenging, funds and asset managers themselves can partake in greenwashing. Many funds that purport to be socially responsible still hold oil and gas stocks, just fewer of them than other funds. Or they own shares of the “least problematic” of the oil and gas companies, thereby touting emission reductions without clearly disclosing the extent of those improvements. As with any type of investing, it’s important to do your research and understand exactly what you’re investing in.
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and Impact Investing
SRI and impact investing portfolios hold a mix of stocks and bonds that are intended to put your money towards projects and companies that work to advance progressive social outcomes or address a social issue—i.e., investing in companies that don’t wreak havoc on society. They can include companies promoting sustainable growth, diverse workforces and equitable hiring practices.
The main difference between the two approaches is that SRI uses a measurable criteria to qualify or disqualify companies as socially responsible, while impact investing typically aims to help an enterprise produce some social or environmental benefit.
Related: Climate Change Is Influencing How Young People Invest Their Money
Some financial institutions use the two approaches to build well-diversified, low-cost, socially responsible portfolios that align with most clients’ environmental and societal preferences. That said, not all portfolios are constructed with the same care. As with evaluating green bonds, it’s important to remember that a company or fund having an SRI designation or saying it partakes in impact investing is subjective. There’s always a risk of not knowing exactly where and with whom the money is being invested.
All three of these options are good reminders that, even though you may feel helpless to enact environmental or social change in the face of larger systemic issues, your choices can still support the well-being of society and the planet. So, if you have extra funds this April (maybe from your tax return?), green or social investing are solid options. As long as you do thorough research and understand some of the limitations, you’re sure to find investments that are both good for the world and your finances.
Investment
MOF: Govt to establish high-level facilitation platform to oversee potential, approved strategic investments
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KUALA LUMPUR: A meeting with 70 financial fund investors and corporate members at the recently concluded Joint Investors Meeting in London has touched on the MADANI government’s immediate action to stimulate strategic investment in important technologies, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
In a statement today, it said that the government is serious about making investments a national agenda through the establishment of a high-level investment facilitation platform to ensure the implementation of potential and approved strategic investments through a “Whole of Government” approach.
Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan (pix), who led the Malaysian delegation to the Joint Investors Meeting from April 20 to 22, said that the National Investment Council (MPN) chaired by the Prime Minister is an integrated action that reflects how serious the government is in making Malaysia an investment hub in the region.
Among the immediate actions taken by the government is establishing the National Semiconductor Strategic Committee (NSSTF) to facilitate cooperation between the government, industry players, universities, and relevant stakeholders to place the Malaysian semiconductor industry at the forefront and ensure the continued growth of the electronics & electrical industry, especially the semiconductor sector, as a major contributor to the Malaysian economy.
The government also aims to empower Malaysia as a preferred green investment destination as well as remove barriers and bureaucracy in the provision and accessibility to renewable energy, especially for the new technology industry, including data centres, said Amir Hamzah.
He also said that the country’s investment prospects have reached an extraordinary level, with approved investments surging to RM329.5 billion in 2023 from RM268 billion in 2022.
He said about 74 per cent of manufacturing projects approved between 2021 and 2023 have been completed or are in process.
In addition, Amir Hamzah said the greater initial stage construction work completed in 2023 (RM31.5 billion) and 2022 (RM26.3 billion) shows a positive trend for future investment opportunities.
“From a total of 5,101 investment projects approved in 2023, as many as 81.2 per cent or 4,143 projects are in the services sector, 883 projects in the manufacturing sector, and 75 projects in other related sectors,” he said.
Before this, Amir Hamzah met with international investors in New York and Washington to clarify the direction of the implementation of the MADANI Economic framework to improve investors’ confidence in Malaysia’s economic level and strengthen the perception and investment sentiment of foreign investors towards the country.
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Compound interest is a thing of magic. It’s also one of your best bets if you’re looking to retire rich.
It might take time and patience but there’s not a whole lot of heavy lifting when it comes to a buy-and-hold investment strategy. What matters most is having decades of time in front of you, which will allow you to maximize the benefits of compounded returns. And, of course, choosing the right investments is equally important.
The magic of compound interest
With a decent return, building a million-dollar portfolio might not be as hard as you think. An initial investment of $15,000, returning 15% annually, would be worth just shy of $1 million in 30 years.
First off, 30 years is a long time, which means you’ll need to be planning your retirement far in advance. However, all it takes is one initial investment of $15,000 and the right stocks to build a $1 million portfolio.
Additionally, it’s important to remain realistic and acknowledge that a stock returning 15% annually is not exactly common. That being said, the TSX certainly has its share of dependable companies with track records of returning far more than just 15% per year.
I’ve put together a list of three Canadian stocks that are perfect for hands-off investors who are looking to retire rich.
Constellation Software
It will require a steep initial investment, but Constellation Software (TSX:CSU) is well worth its nearly $4,000-a-share price tag. When it comes to market-crushing returns, the tech stock has been in a league of its own over the past two decades.
Even as the company is now valued at a massive market cap of close to $80 billion, the impressive returns have continued. Shares are up more than 200% over the past five years. That’s good enough for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25%.
At a 25% annual return, a $15,000 investment would be worth a whopping $12 million in 30 years.
Descartes Systems
Descartes Systems (TSX:DSG) is another tech stock that’s no stranger to delivering market-beating returns. The company is also only valued at a market cap of $10 billion, leaving plenty of room for growth in the coming decades.
There’s a reason why Descartes Systems is one of the few tech stocks trading near all-time highs today. This stock is a proven winner, with lots of growth left in the tank.
Over the past five years, the stock has had a CAGR just shy of 20%.
goeasy
The last pick on my list is a beaten-down growth stock that’s trading at a serious discount.
The consumer-facing financial services provider has been hit by short-term headwinds from sky-high interest rates. With potential rate cuts around the corner though, now could be an excellent time to be loading up on goeasy (TSX:GSY).
Even with shares down 25% from all-time highs, the stock is still nearing a return of 300% over the past five years.
goeasy was crushing the market’s returns before the recent spike in interest rates, and there’s no reason to believe why the company won’t continue to do so for years to come.
Why the Bank of Canada decided to hold interest rates in April – Financial Post
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