Investing in the Next Decade of Big Ideas

[Music] good afternoon I can see Jenny who I think is oh she's joined us there Jenny very good to see you um late in the afternoon in Singapore um I mean the past 10 years have been so explosive for private markets um and at the center of that really has been Venture Capital just in terms of the multiplication of assets being directed at Venture Capital opportunities really all around the world I think I looked at a uh a statistic and and found that Venture Capital grown about eight times in the past decade or so which is absolutely extraordinary um so I'm delighted to be joined uh today by three very high-profile um Venture Capital uh investors and we're going to explore in 20 minutes uh if that's at all possible where kind of some of the Big Ideas are not necessarily tomorrow but really looking out for the next 10 years or so um of course the past 12 months have been a little bit more problematic but let's not dwell too much on that I think the whole business of invent investing in Venture Capital uh is by nature very much longer term than just one year um and I suppose at the at the heart of venture capital is is trying to find businesses that have got Innovative um uh new products and services and I guess as investors that's what you um are looking out for uh the whole time and and really at the very center of that is technology um and I suggest that we're probably only at the very early stages of um I suppose what we could call the technology super cycle or the fourth Industrial Revolution as I think some people refer to it but uh you guys can tell me a lot more about your views on that um so let's get started um ibam let me turn to you first and thank you very much uh for muala for um sponsoring um and being uh a leader of this particular event but you've been in technology for a long time you lead the ventures uh business there so from the perspective of a sovereign wealth fund um interesting to hear just how you are looking at Venture now in the hindsight of everything we've seen it's been explosive valuations have pumped up but really looking forward to the future both here in the region and also among some of your Global Investments yeah uh well let me start by you know I think the way you started in framing the the conversation which is really at the heart of what we do and Jenny and Courtney are really good at that is really finding genius that's what we do for a living we that's our craft really we just want to go find genius and then we support them and these are the founders and Sovereign wealth funds historically did not do that we just that's not the lens of how we looked at the world when we looked at Investments which is being out there finding the founders having a very deep founder kinship way of investing and and helping Founders so we spent the past 10 years really building that muscle that capability which is around going out there and finding Founders finding genius and putting all the resources um of a sovereign behind them so at its core what we do at badla and what we've made happen and what we continue to build and refine is do two things at the same time which is be quick agile in the field in the community finding the founders the genius that's going to shape the future and then putting the resources and the power and the network and the capital of a sovereign wealth fund that if we can execute on that there's magic in that that's really the craft of what we do in mle Adventures I'll I'll come back to that in a point about the um you're in the business of finding genius and and ask probably of all the three people there is that whether that bar for genius has gone up by what has been going on in the past um uh in the past uh year or so um but Courtney let me let me turn to you you you're from California originally but you've now moved to the region you've been here quite a while three years yes now that must be also for investing reasons um Talk us through that kind of um thought process that brought you out here and what you're seeing um particularly here and then we'll probably expand that into some of the the global opportunities that you are seeing at 500 sure so a little bit of context as you said uh 500 Global is a multi-stage uh Venture Capital firm we started in Silicon Valley back in 2010 but very quickly decided that we wanted to begin investing globally because our thesis was these Emerging Markets nent markets are largely undervalued and it's a great opportunity to go in invest alongside the growth of the ecosystem and uncover these incredible Founders so you know fast forward to around 2019 2020 when we started um really thinking about you know myself moving to the to the region at that point we had over or nearly I should say a 50 uh companies valued at over a billion dollars in our portfolio and half of those unicorns came from outside the United States so we felt very strongly that our investment thesis was being validated and that we really wanted to double down on our efforts the Middle East was a really bright spot uh in terms of what we expected and GDP growth in the youth population in The Sovereign wealth fund support ing the ongoing development of the regulatory infrastructure and the future of Entrepreneurship so we made the call we have Partners um we're investing in 80 countries today and for me uh the Middle East was just terribly exciting in terms of our expectations and to date we've invested in over 400 uh companies across the region and I think that that's an interesting point that you said that half of the Investments you found outside the US if you go back to I don't know 15 years ago if you think where Venture Capital was being invested over two-thirds of it were in the United States and probably in the United States over two-thirds of that were there's a there's an incredible stat that basically if you if you look at all of the capital deployed in the early Innings of venture capital it was within um roughly like a 2 mile radius of minow Park uh so that in of itself tells you how um you know how the industry began but uh today it is truly a global game and I think that that's a very key point that it's it you know the the the menu I suppose of of investing opportunity for um for firms and and for yourselves is large it's growing but I think probably very notable that it is a lot more Global than it ever has been um and I'm going to come to you Jenny now actually because um you're out in in in Asia Pacific and um I think one of the things and and courney you brought it up there about the kind of population demographics sometimes be quite a Big Driver the asia-pacific region and then we include India in that is just huge um Jenny and you know that in itself means that the opportunity set must be um must be very significant there um add to that the kind of the demographic um uh particularities that you find in that region a younger population great teex ABY um Talk us through what you're seeing um in in in the region that you're covering there um and and if you could pick out any sort of high spots either countries or any particular sectors where you're seeing Excellence or should we call it genius um uh that uh that you're sourcing for decent investment opportunities yeah sure thanks uh thank you Jack so I you know just a little bit of a background as well I think ggb uh 2000 we started as a global firm and so over the last 23 years we've been following entrepreneurs Founders around the world right around markets like the us or China now southeast Asia into Middle East and so as the founders move and make their um you know startups in new places were able to follow the talent and follow the ideas so Jack as you mentioned sitting in asan and Ray Dalo in his remarks also identify asan has a very interesting emerging regions I think you know what we are seeing here is a Confluence of various drivers I think first of all um we have to acknowledge that while venture capital is a long-term business and we are looking for transs next 10 20 years um it is also true that in the last you know three five years with geopolitics with the world trying to bipoc technology bifa even when you sit in Asia you know this are all consideration that has to come in as we look at opportunities that so roughly I I like like to highlight maybe three trends that we are seeing I think the first Trend in asan sitting asan you know uh uh you know many countries here uh 5 billion population there is definitely the first Trend here is around count specific and this would be defensive Trend that we're seeing whether it's around AI whether it's around you know semiconductor whether it's around even space technology there's increasingly government participation in this so-call country specific defensive opportunity right so that I would say is the first type of exciting opportunities that we are seeing the second I think sitting in asan is about the region and the region cannot you know um be be be great as a venture capital region by one country alone and so when you look at asan the 600 plus million population in Southeast Asia it's about connecting Technologies and so connecting Technologies is it's about digitization it's about you know the online component connecting that population whether it's in terms of Commerce trade identity payment and then of course correspondingly offline it's about infra data centers you know it's about logistic that connects the southeast Asia region and then lastly I think the third Trend uh is that we sitting in asan or in Asia we cannot dissociate ourselves from the world right so the third Trend really is global unifying trend and some of the speakers in earlier panels has talked about as well we are also seeing you know there are technology influencing the food ecosystem whether it's aitech AquaTech whether it's EV energy migration countries getting onto you know new EV adoption and then lastly I think around Global unifying trend is that whole real supply chain being restructured and and I I actually believe that asan and the Middle East will continue uh you know to benefit from the supply chain restructuring that happen yeah thank thank you Jenny um want to come back to kind of what a good entrepreneur looks like and and back to this genius Point um you know most of my background is in the hedge fund industry and I remember when long-term capital failed and there was a book written titled when genius failed um you know given we've gone through a bit of a tougher time there were huge Tailwinds supporting the Venture Capital industry for you know well over a decade after the global financial crisis and some might say that those have turned into um headwinds in some respect with with with interest rates where they are um uh inflation the general economic uncertainty everything we know about and what you know thinking about where that bar is for an entrepreneur what do they need to look like in this new environment to attract money because it seems to me that you're probably going to be this is probably the wrong way of putting it more Discerning about about where you put your money now take a bit more time um to put to deploy Capital than um The Rush that seemed to be going on but what what do you look for particularly amongst the founder of a startup business and Coury you're you're you're an early stage quite a bit um you know what what stands out for you and what do they need to what criteria do they need to meet now yes I think I you know certainly being able to to spot the magic uh is is the game that we're in uh but I think especially today um entrepreneurs have a lot of access to information that simply didn't exist uh 20 years ago and I think that information has really empowered more and more Founders to be at least aware of Entrepreneurship as an option and willing to to start companies um I think within the broader group of companies being founded worldwide you're really still looking for Founders who have a unique point of view that they're trying to bring to the world like at the part of it they're trying to solve some problem that they believe exists um and I think something that's really critical in our assessments of the Investments we make is number one uh you know how skilled are they going to be what unique point of view unique Advantage unique Moe or distribution Channel they've identified in order to be able to tackle this problem and I think even more importantly is how closely they're willing to listen and adapt to the customer base whom they may not even know at the onset and be able to build build uh you know a program or a product that it uh that it suits and is one day monetizable so sounds easy very tricky yeah I mean just listen you seem to like that word genius Jack right you you sort of attached yourself to it but it it we are a lot more Discerning now yeah listen we all got ahead of ourselves we got ahead of ourselves but just to build on what Courtney said we have time and we now have more time and with that time you're able to get to know the founder and build a good dialogue with the founder and you would expect that that founder is also willing to invest time to get to know you with the investor and if that founder is not willing or she's not willing to invest that time then at least you know very quick that that's not the founder or the company you want to invest the next 10 to 15 years with and we've learned in the past three years that great companies take time take takes 10 to 15 years to build a great company it's no longer 12 to 18 months so the bar is much much higher today than it's ever been and I just want to add to Jenny's kind of you know Jenny sort of map three forces that are sh or three trends that are shaping how she looks at her investments in Asia and I just want to make this one statement because it also adds to a lot of the forces that are shaping you know since the start of the Venture Capital industry in the 90 in 70s or 60s in Silicon Valley um well some could argue Boston or some could argue Silicon Valley but Sovereign wealth funds have never been in a stronger position and in a better position to shape capture and drive Innovation and value creation this is the time for Sovereign wealth funds why because number one uh the ground has shifted Capital we used to hear capital is a commodity no it's not a commodity cap Capal is very scarce to find and good Capital supporting Founders is very very so Founders and investors have reset we've reset I know Jenny's reset because we work very closely with them number two is the emergence of the GCC we've been hearing about this all day and it's in the economists and everybody's writing about it the GCC has been investing in tech for some time but for the first time as Courtney said there's a focus on investing in Founders in the regulatory environment and making sure we have all the different elements to shape technology technology is very critical to the future of these societies it's no longer just an asset class that we allocate to and last but not least is as we've been hearing about and learning is what AI is doing today to the world of technology to our society at large and this is not just a technology shift it's a real true economic shift before a lot of people here in this room when they wanted legal advice you would call up a lawyer youd you know pay $500 an hour and you get an answer in 24 hours now you can get an answer in 1 second and it'll cost you 001 cent of inference in cost to get the same exact answer that's a real economic shift so just imagine what these societies over the next 10 10 years are going to benefit from this massive technology and economic shift it's why I'm saying and why we believe that Sovereign wealth funds can really play a pivotal role in that shift and if I could just add something quickly just a point here that I think is often miss about the development of silicon Valley uh in Massachusetts as well we may not have had uh Sovereign wealth funds in the us but we did have DARPA and DARPA was pouring billions of dollars into the Innovation ecosystem through the universities and directly into the technologies that would go on to create the platform layer of the internet as we know it today so I don't think there's actually that much of of uh you know a there shouldn't be as much of a surprise around Sovereign wealth funds being able to get involved and move things forward worldwide I think it is the right ingredients that we saw play out in uh you know economies around the world and even better they have a long time they have a long time Horizon for which they're willing to continue strategies and they're willing to judge their return finding ways to work together I we can't do what Courtney does or what Jenny does and they can't do what we do it's just how do we support each other and augment each other to help the founder through a very long-term Journey so the final point I'll make Jack is genius the genius has to also figure out how he or she can work with our three respective firms in the way which we add value yeah I think I picked that up quite clearly we've got one minute left and actually I'm going to give Jenny you're going to have the last word here um you know I think what's very clear is that these Founders don't work alone they work very much in partnership with you and how they run their business and how you shape the technology or whatever product and Service uh they is have you got um kind of anything you want to add to that um uh Jenny it it seems to me how you work um with Founders most closely for kind of the mutual benefit of both your investment and their uh yeah so I I I think U maybe two perspective as well in addition um you know we talk about genius I think the new Genius of the Next Generation needs to not just respect capital and the different types of capital where whether it's long-term capital whether it's Sovereign wealth capital or the right smart Capital that can help them I think ultimately Geniuses also has to respect unit economics and their ability to drive real value from their startups real company creation and value creation right and I I think we are back to that world from kind of a genius perspective I just want to throw in that and then I think secondly from um you know how how can the ecosystem this startups EOS system the venture capitalist the long-term capital public private so what I really um want to emphasize is that this world is going to get more connected whether it's government Sovereign wealth venture capital and entrepreneurs because as I mentioned right as we get into more of a v vcation of technology or technology you know being kept in small yard high fences in different countries it's even more more important that these three stakeholders work together to ensure that whether it's the creation of new policy for example encouraging more EV startups to move to the Middle East encouraging more of the climate change ecosystem players to diversify the supply chain away from China into the rest of the world this means that you know the governments the policies has actually to work in tendon with attract setting up the right framework to attract the right entrepreneurs the right Geniuses and then with the combination of capital and Market creates the next generation of of leaders so it's a tougher job for all of us going forward uh next 10 20 years but hopefully the outcome will be worth it I'm sure it will Jenny thank you very much Courtney Ibraham I think we better draw a close there thank you very much thank you so much very ni thank you