Growth capital firm Playbook Partners intends to invest $20 million (around ₹175 crore) each in about 12-15 companies over the next two years, a top company official said.
The firm’s investment portfolio includes companies like Myntra, PolicyBazaar, InMobi, Nazara Technologies, Rapido, and Renee, among others. While primarily investing in India, it has also backed global companies like SpaceX and Stripe.
“With planned investments up to $20 million each in 12-15 companies, we are targeting high-potential ventures across SaaS, E-commerce, Healthtech, ClimateTech, B2B & B2C,” Playbook Partners Founder and Managing Partner Vikas Choudhury said.
“Our focus is on companies that have crossed ₹100 crores in turnover, where our capital and expertise can accelerate their journey to the next level of growth,” Choudhury told PTI.
Commitments to three companies are in the final stages of closing and will be announced over the next quarter, he added.
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The former Jio president said he has invested in 75-80 companies and 10 of them became unicorns. Choudhury said he expects another 10 to follow suit, in the likes of Cure Foods, Capillary, UltraHuman, GoQuick, FarMart, Jupiter, and JAR.
Choudhury shared that his firm’s investment approach favours growth capital over traditional venture capital, focusing on companies that demonstrate the potential to become market leaders with cash-based outcomes within 3-5 years.
‘Sticky revenues’
He differentiated Playbook Partners from other venture capital firms and said while VCs bet early on an idea/product and typically have a 10-12 year minimum hold period, his firm likes to step in when a company has established a product, a market, and customers. He called it reinvesting for growth.
Outlining his checklist while selecting start-ups to invest in, he said the size of the total addressable market, the quality of the P&L (profit and loss), technological tailwinds, enablement businesses, and the leadership potential are some things he looks for.
“The first thing that we look for is the ability to get to scale. The second thing that we look for is the quality of the P&L–both on the revenue side as well as on the cost side. What we like to see are revenues that are sticky, repeatable, and have annuities built into them. That doesn’t have concentration risks. And on the cost side, we like to look at high gross margins,” Choudhury said.
“The third thing we look for is a tailwind in technology, change, adoption curves, and where the market is growing,” he explained. India is at the start of a digital explosion life cycle, Choudhury added.
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Given the growth rate of India, the changes in consumer behaviour, and the proliferation of new micro businesses, he said there is a huge opportunity for new-age goods, products and services to be built using the start-up ecosystem that did not exist before, at far more affordable costs and prices.
These products and services that are being built in India will then effectively become exportable to the rest of the world, he said.
Vikas also outlined Playbook Partners’ long-term plans, aiming to deploy over a billion dollars into the Indian tech growth ecosystem in the coming years. He emphasised their focus on companies that understand the nuances of the Indian market, build profitable businesses, and prioritise operational excellence.