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Private Equity

Empowering investors through our strong on ground research capabilities and industry knowledge helping them in deal assessment and value creation.

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What We Do

Customer segmentation
Sector scan
Target assessment
Macro trends research
Portfolio performance diagnostics
Adjacency evaluation
Voice of customers
Competitor benchmarking
Sector tracking
Brand health assessment
Market potential assessment
Unit economics benchmarking
Commercial due diligence
Leadership assessment

Customer segmentation

What are the different customer segments / personas?
How do the demographics and functional and emotional needs vary by different customer segments?
What segment does the Target cater to?
What is Target’s value proposition to different customer segments?
How do key purchase criteria differ by customer segments?
How can Target improve its offerings to cater better to needs of different customer segments?

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Sector scan

What are the different investment areas in the sector?
What are the ‘rising tides’ or trends of the future in the sector?
What has been the level of funding activity in different sub-sectors?
What sub-sectors have been gaining traction and are expected to grow?
How does the underlying TAM and scalability vary by different sub-sectors?
What investment trends / themes are marquee investors investing in?
What are some of the potential investment targets?

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Target assessment

What is Target’s addressable market size? How is it expected to grow?
What are the key drivers of growth of the addressable market?
Who does Target compete with? Where does Target win vs its competitors?
What is Target’s value proposition to customers? How differentiated is it?
When and why do customers buy from Target – key purchase criteria, key functional attributes, key emotional attributes? How does Target rate on them?
What is Target’s NPS vs its competitors? Drivers of promotion and detraction?
How is the Target driving stickiness and repeat purchase?

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Macro trends research

What is the macroeconomic outlook in the region?
How have key economic indicators like GDP, foreign trade, inflation, currency depreciation, population growth, urbanization, etc. moved over the past 5 years?
What implications do the prevailing economic conditions have for investors? What are some of the potential risks?
What are the fundamental drivers of growth? What key trends are they giving rise to?
What spaces are attractive for investment given the macro trends?
What is the deal value and volume? How does it differ by different sectors?
Where is a strong pipeline getting created for potential investments?

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Portfolio performance diagnostics

How has the overall portfolio been performing? What has been the achievement vs plan?
What are the different key metrics to assess the return potential of different companies in the portfolio?
What should be the cadence to track, update and report these metrics?
What are some of the portfolio companies that require immediate attention? What should be some of the action items?
What are the drivers of value creation? Critical growth or cost initiatives?
How can these businesses be managed for exit? Exit thesis creation?

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Adjacency evaluation

What existing products / services can be sold to existing customers?
What are some other untapped / white spaces that can be explored?
What is the estimated market potential and growth rates for the identified adjacencies? How large is the customer revenue pool?
How attractive are the economics? Are the margins large and protected? Can the costs be reduced with operating efficiencies?
How easily are the capabilities required to tap into opportunities available or can be acquired? Does the business make strategic sense (same customers, extension of capabilities, fit with vision and values, etc.)?
How is the competitive intensity in the market? Are there large competitors in the segment already? How strong are the existing or evolving competitors?

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Voice of customers

Which companies (Target and its competitors) are customers most satisfied with across product categories and why?
How has their experience been with different offerings across different product categories?
What are the reasons for preference of a particular company over others?
How do customers rate the sales and service experience?
What are the improvement areas across product categories?
What is the level of stickiness across product categories?
What are the triggers that would make customers shift to other businesses?
What are the key elements essential to provide a comprehensive user experience?

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Competitor benchmarking

What does the competitive landscape look like in each product category?
What are the differentiating factors of products/ services from the competition (product offerings, product prices, SKUs, etc.)?
How do the existing offerings of Target compare to those of the competition?
In which customer segments, is the Target strong vis-à-vis competition?
Where does the Target win against competitors? Where does it lag?
What is the potential value upside in the Target market?

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Sector tracking

What are the emerging trends in the sector? How is the sector performing in comparison with other geographies?
What is the competitive intensity in the sector? Are there any large players getting created in the market? How has competitiveness evolved in the past few years?
What are the growth drivers and risks associated with the sector? How can potential risks be mitigated?
What are the investments trends in the sector? Who are the key investors in the sector?
How is the value chain being disrupted by business models in the sector?
What are the different headwinds and tailwinds in the sector?
What are some of the key government policies and regulations? How are they affecting the businesses?

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Brand health assessment

How do customers perceive the brand? What is its positioning? What does the brand stand for?
What is the likelihood of customers recalling the brand for their offerings? Do they recommend the brand to their friends, family, relatives?
What do other stakeholders in the supply / value chain think of the brand vs competitors? Where do they rank the brand vs competitors on the key selection criteria?
What is the impact of advertising? Are the marketing and advertising campaigns able to generate desired results and target the right customer segments?
How aligned are these campaigns with the brand positioning? How impactful are these in registering the desired image in the minds of customer?
How is the brand maintaining visibility across different channels – offline, traditional media, online?

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Market potential assessment

How attractive is the market? What is TAM, SAM for the market?
What is the customer penetration for the different product categories in the market? How will it evolve in coming years?
What product / services are driving growth in the market?
What are the key drivers of growth in the market? What are some of the possible headwinds?
How attractive are the margins in the industry? How does the margins vary across the value chain?
Is the shift happening from unorganized to organized? What advantages do branded players have?
What are the needs of the customers in the market? How are they satisfied by the players in the market?
What are the untapped opportunities in the market?

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Unit economics benchmarking

What are the different revenue streams per customer? What are the drivers of revenue?
How much does it cost in time and money to service/acquire a customer?
What fixed and variable cost components are associated with servicing a customer?
What are the drivers of fixed and variable cost?
How has CAC trended over the past few years? LTV / CAC?
What is the break-even scale and time taken to reach breakeven?
How do the unit economics vary across customer segments / product offerings?

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Commercial due diligence

How big is the addressable market in India – target market across product categories and geos? What are the growth drivers and risks?
What is Target’s customer value proposition? How much does Target’s value proposition resonate?
How competitive is the market? Who are the key players in the market? How is Target’s competitive position expected to evolve?
How is target generating operational efficiency? Evolution of unit economics?
How has Target performed historically? What are the different product categories / services Target is gaining / losing momentum in?
What is Target’s future revenue potential? What are the new markets / product or service categories Target is looking to enter?

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Leadership assessment

How bold and clear is the current vision of the founders and how much of it has been on track?
How experienced are the founders and what do other stakeholders think about their operational capabilities in the sector?
How different is the founder’s behavior during success or failure? Does the founder transmit or absorb stress?
How realistic are the founder's expectations from employees? Do the employees feel connected to his idea and vision?
How are the founders perceived by peers, employees, customers, suppliers?
How inclusive is the decision making process and work environment?
How involved is the leader with various teams? How does he keep them motivated?

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Connect with our Private Equity Experts

Madhur Singhal

Mentor

Aryaman Tandon

Mentor

Hitesh Gossain

CEO, Network

Amar Choudhary

CEO, Intelligence & Insights

Aditya Thakur

Growth Leader, Operations

Related Case Studies

Healthcare investment opportunity sector scan

Objective

A healthcare focused PE investor wanted to find attractive sub segments within healthcare ecosystem and companies in the target region

Methodology

Studied the global & regional performance benchmarks for investors along with competitive landscape for PE / VC investments in the region
Identified the key growth drivers and trends for healthcare services consumption in the target region
Mapped the healthcare universe to create long list of sub-segments
Identified attractive segments based on past returns generated, market potential and growth rate
Identified the opportunities in the attractive segments & shortlisted key target companies meeting the fund strategy of the client

Impact / Outcome

Listed ~200+ investment opportunities across 9 shortlisted geographies meeting the investment strategy of the client

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Leadership assessment for a leading EdTech company

Objective

A global PE firm wanted to understand the strengths, weakness, and skills of a leading EdTech founder and asses the leadership qualities

Methodology

Conducted in-depth interviews (N = 20) with current and former employees of the start-up who have worked with the leadership directly
Conducted in-depth interviews (N = 10) with former subordinates, supervisors and peer who have worked closely with the founder during previous career stints
Discussions with vendors and suppliers of previous and current firms who have closely interacted with the founder
Detailed review of online material like Social Media posts, press articles, Glassdoor & LinkedIn

Impact / Outcome

The client was given a detailed list of the founder’s strengths, weaknesses and other skills and qualities impacting the founder as a leader

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Customer segmentation and behavior study for an online cosmetics brand

Objective

A PE firm was interested in investing in an online cosmetics and skin care product platform and wanted to understand the customer archetypes and map their behavior with respect to personal care category

Methodology

Conducted a customer survey (N = 1,200) and in-depth customer interviews (N = 50) across 25 cities (mix of metro, tier 1 and tier 2 cities) for different customer archetypes (based on age group, employment status, household income levels and online cosmetic purchase in past 6 months)
Mapped customer personas and customer journey based on their usage frequency, purchase frequency, platform preferences, brand preference, etc.
Mapped customer journey of a cosmetics customer to discover right platform-product-brand mix
Understand the customer engagement with different platforms and usage behavior of each customer archetype

Impact / Outcome

Successfully provide the PE client the different customer segmentation for online cosmetics platform and the comprehensive understanding of their behavior and usage for each customer segment

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Leadership assessment for an international online trading company

Objective

A VC firm wanted to understand the founder’s career journey, clarity in vision, skills and asses the leadership qualities

Methodology

Conducted in-depth interviews (N = 10) with ex-colleagues of the founder to understand the operational excellence capabilities, milestone achieved, emotional intelligence of the founder and their overall journey
Conducted in-depth interviews (N = 20) with current and former employees of the start-up who have worked with the leadership directly to understand the aspirations and the clarity in vision of the leadership
Discussion with the current & ex-customer, vendors, and business partners of the leader to understand the functional and content knowledge and shortcomings of the leader

Impact / Outcome

The client was given a detailed version of the leadership career journey, their industry experience and reputation, clarity of vision and mission

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Market potential of 2W rental services

Objective

A PE firm was interested in evaluating an investment in one of the shared mobility service providers and wanted to understand the market potential (TAM, SAM, growth, etc.) for the same

Methodology

Secondary research to understand the increase in penetration of 2W rental services as a % of total motorized trips
Triangulation using market potential for similar models in international geographies
Conducted primary conversations with customers (N = 1000) to understand their needs, requirements, selection criteria, stickiness for the service provider across 15+ cities
Conducted competitor interviews (N = 20) to understand Target’s positioning and growth across different types of cities
Carried out trade interviews (N = 10) for supply validation i.e. availability of infrastructure, parking norms in cities, docking station charges, etc.