DIstinct Outlook

Distinct Process

Fintech, deep tech, climate tech. We look for pioneering solutions that radically enhance financial services across a wide spectrum, from account opening, compliance, asset creation, marketplace, payment gateway, identity verification, clearing and settlement to post-transaction reporting – you name it. Within deep tech, we focus on the foundational technology, tools, and systems required to support the development, deployment, and management of artificial intelligence, quantum computing as well as the next iteration of the internet. Within climate tech, we focus on software, communication systems, development tools and other special purpose tools that support the development and deployment of renewable energy, carbon trading, sustainable agriculture and circular economy initiatives.

Seed to Series A. Companies in the seed stage typically have a prototype or minimum viable product being tested with potential customers. As they mature, they will be developing a viable business model, starting to generate revenue, and validating their product-market fit.

North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, excluding China and India.

Our process comprises two stages: Screening and Advanced Due Diligence.

The screening phase is a stage-gated process that often consists of three calls: initial associate/analyst call, partner call, and full team call.The goal of these calls is to understand your background and what makes the opportunity you present to us unique and capable of creating or dominating a market in a short period of time.

If all initial indicators are strong, we will proceed to advanced due diligence, where we assess the strength of your business across strategic, growth, financial, and technical dimensions.

We typically ask for a data room to help guide our evaluation at this stage. Our strategic and business diligence requires a written due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) that covers outstanding questions after our evaluation of the DD room as well as a market mapping session with the founder. The market mapping session is a collaborative exercise to help us develop bottom-up insight into your market potential, while identifying the key drivers of risks and value for your business.

For deep tech opportunities, we engage our tech partners to evaluate your product, identify potential tech risks and make recommendations to support growth and differentiation.

The final part of the process is a life-stage assessment, where we will take stock of all information and generate datasets that could inform our proprietary risk-return model, which then calculates the probabilityof success for the company at each stage in its life.

Do note that the above framework serves as a general guideline, as weadapt our approach based on each unique opportunity.

Regardless of the outcome, founders who went through our due diligence process tend to appreciate how much it helps them solidify their business roadmap and even strengthen their codebase.

The bottom line is that we want to know where we can add value and engage our network to give you more firepower.

We recognize that your time is valuable and we want you to focus on building products and scaling your business. With this in mind, we provide feedback on a near weekly basis (sometimes two weeks as things get busy). Regardless, you will always know where we stand and where we’re at in our process. This process can be as fast as three weeks, but in most cases it averages three months.

Our initial investments usually range from $250,000 to $2 million, depending on the needs of the business and our intended equity stake. From there, we devise a strategic capital formation plan, and allocate follow-on capital contingent on the company's progress against its key performance indicators.

In addition to providing their businesses with capital, we are active investors that help founders refine their business goals, formulate expansion strategies, structure board of directors, recruit management talents as well as strategize for subsequent fundraising rounds. We also enlist executive coaches to enhance their leadership skills. In short, we help our founders go from walking to running. But don’t take our word for it. Listen to what our founders have to say.

Historically, we have made as many as 10 investments in a year or as few as two. We see over a thousand deals every year. Yet we only invest in exceptional founders and businesses where our expertise can add substantial value, with the potential for at least a 10x return.

We structure our funds as closed-end vehicles with a decade-long investment horizon. This approach is designed to provide the necessary duration for portfolio companies to realize their potential and allow investors to maximize returns. By registering our funds in the Cayman Islands, we also offer a tax efficient framework for international participation. Our fund administrator is Carta, meaning that real-time reporting and precise allocation of returns at the partner level will be delivered by an objective third-party to ensure transparency and efficiency throughout the entire fund lifecycle.

Beyond zoom, you can generally find one of us in Honolulu, New York, San Francisco and Singapore. We also hit the road routinely, knowing how crucial face-to-face meetings can be. Drop us an email and let’s meet in-person :)

It’s not about age, gender, race, education background or work experience. It’s about vision, passion, drive and your plan of attack.