1.
The Data Fund
The Case to Invest in Data Driven Companies in
Emerging Markets
1@prasannalaldas

2.
• All views personal
• Idea still under development; use with caution
Disclaimers!
2@prasannalaldas

3.
• The data ‘sector’ and the economic opportunity
• The ecosystem approach
• The role of DFIs
In this presentation
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4.
The Brave New Data World
4 I 3
Data Yesterday Data Today
Centralized
Structured
Static
23056 34
02011103
76023
Decreasing
costs
New techniques,
technology,
and solutions
UNTAPPED
DEVELOPMENT
OPPORTUNITY
2200
459700
76900
240,000,000
34,567,900
Real-
Time
Distributed
8000,000,000
Structured
and Unstructured
(mixed)
Data
ATA
Limitless Data
@prasannalaldas

5.
The ‘Sector’ called Data
Open Data Big Data Internet of Things Digitization
$3 trillion $7 trillion $15 trillion$12 trillion
The data space combines several trends – each with significant commercial potential
The data space is transforming all major sectors of the economy
Government Health Energy Education Transport Agriculture Finance Tourism
Rather than a narrow niche, data is a new way of looking at the world with major economic and development potential
Google Library Mobile Phone
Data entrepreneurs want to work with people/investors that understand data
Data IT
Water
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6.
Data Driven Companies – Data as a Strategic Asset
USA Emerging Economies
From Our Pipeline Analysis
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7.
Some Data Business Models
Suppliers Aggregators Developers Enrichers Enablers
The Data Fund
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8.
• Developed Countries
• Climate Corporation – acquired by Monsanto for about $970 million
• Nest Labs – acquired by Google for $3.2 billion
• iTriage – acquired by Aetna for an undisclosed sum
• Desire2Learn – raised $80 million in Series A funding
• Developing countries
• YourBus – Indian start-up acquired for $100 million
• MuSigma – Indian firm with VC investments of $133 million
• SkyMet – Indian company raised $4.5 million
• FrontalRain – Indian company raised $8 million
• Junar – Chilean firm raised $1.2 million
• Solapa – Argentine company raised $1 million
• Scanntech – Uruguayan company raised $10 million
• UrbanIndo – Indonesian firm raised $2 million
Illustrative Deals
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9.
How do you take the benefits of
data driven development to
emerging economies at scale
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10.
The challenge
10
Locked data
Restrictive
policy
Skills gap
Data
illiteracy
Poor ICT
infrastructure
Incubation/
Innovation
Financing
gap
Especially for
early stage
companies that
require small
investments.
Traditional VC
activity sparse
and ad hoc
@prasannalaldas

11.
An ecosystem approach
Data Policy Capacity Innovation
The enabling environment
(governments and partners)
Private sector investment (VCs and
partners)
Gov
Financing
Pvt Sector
Financing
The Data
Fund
11
Early stage
investments ($1-5
million) – systematic
development of the
data sector
(supported by
government
activities)@prasannalaldas

12.
The Opportunity for DFI Investors
• The Data Fund is an opportunity to catalyze a brand new sector that has tremendous development
potential in emerging economies
• Retail, one-off investments do not offer the same transformative potential
• This is a true early mover opportunity – 60% of data will soon come from emerging economies;
early investment opportunities for investors in new businesses built upon this data
• The Data Fund differs from traditional VC investments in data driven companies in several ways –
• It targets companies at an earlier stage than typical VC investments
• The Fund will target companies with higher risk but the returns will be on a portfolio basis
• It will make smaller investments than VCs typically do ($1-5 million; which isn’t viable in the
standard VC model)
• The Data Fund will benefit from the enabling environment work done by governments in key target
countries
• More data, the right policies, data literacy, and incubation
• The market it too risky for investors who cannot affect the enabling environment
• The Data Fund can be a pipeline for larger scale VC investments in more mature companies down the
line
• Most suitable for investment managers with experience tying Silicon Valley expertise to emerging markets
(plus access to talent and technical expertise)
12@prasannalaldas

13.
Data Fund
Investors
Investment Manager
Custodian &
Administrative Agent
Legal adviser
Investees
Custodian &
Admin. Agent Agreement
Mandate
Investment Management
Agreement
Commitment Agreement(s)
Financing Agreements
Founders Coordinating Unit
Founding partner(s)
- Joint fundraising
- Knowledge and learning
- New business development
- Pipeline development
A Potential Model
@prasannalaldas

14.
• A pipeline study of data driven companies in emerging markets
• McKinsey paper on the economic potential of liquid data
• Open Data 500
• EMC paper on the Internet of Things
• WEF paper on big data
References
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15.
Thank You!
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