Investment Criteria

We are seeking to invest in growth and development stage companies with committed and ambitious management teams. However, we do have some strict criteria that help us quickly determine whether or not an investment will work for Azini:

Secondary acquisition: There must be an opportunity for us to acquire a meaningful shareholding or interest in the business from a historical investor or existing shareholder.

Only having completed a secondary purchase are we then able to invest fresh capital into the business.

We normally look to build a 15% or greater shareholding through the combination of acquiring existing shares (the secondary acquisition) and investing fresh capital into the business (primary investment).

Typically we hold a minority interest in a business but there is nothing stopping us from holding a greater than 50% interest.

Technology / technology enabled: We define “technology” quite broadly and have experience of investing and working in numerous sectors. However technology is a diverse, fast moving and innovative industry and we are comfortable to learn our way into new sectors.

Late stage venture capital / growth stage (development stage) companies. We look to work with businesses that have a defined and deliverable product / service offering and a proven business model that has been implemented and validated by multiple paying customers. We often talk about a minimum of $10 million of revenue but this measure will ultimately depend on the type of company and the products / services that it is offering.

We like businesses that are cashflow generative but that is not a prerequisite. We recognise that fast growing companies need to reinvest and often require additional working capital to help accelerate their growth and development. We have invested fresh capital into significantly more than half of our portfolio companies.

We like companies which have sustainable competitive advantage. This might be in the form of intellectual property and/or domain expertise.

We like businesses which have international or global potential.

We love working with great management.

What we don’t do:

Primary investing (without a secondary component): Azini does not, at this time, fulfil the role of a traditional venture capital fund in providing solely an injection of fresh capital. We must always initially acquire an interest in the company from a historical investor or existing shareholder. However once we have acquired an interest in a business we regularly provide additional growth capital to help the company reach the next level.

Early stage venture capital: As explained above our focus is on working with late stage venture and growth stage (development stage) companies.

Life sciences: As a firm we focus on technology and technology enabled companies, however, we do not invest biotech and life-sciences companies.