5 Reasons Why Digitised Data in your CDD is a Necessity

The world being increasingly digital requires no debate, but an important extension is that most areas of life are more digitised than ever before. The exponential availability of live and historic data concerning both on- and offline behaviours and commercials presents clear opportunities to evaluate businesses beyond digital pure plays. While there are challenges in […]
Female Founders in Venture Capital and Private Equity

Female founders used to be few and far between. That is evolving, but there is still work to do. The proportion of female-founded companies has doubled over ten years. In 2009, 9.5% of startups had at least one female founder, but by 2014, that figure had doubled to 18%. Additionally, in 2021, 20% of startups […]
Is Fast Food Becoming a Healthy Sector for Investors?

Over the last few years, a swathe of new fast food brands have popped up. These new brands aim to cater to changing attitudes towards healthy eating and dietary choices. The traditional players in the fast food space, those widely perceived to offer ‘unhealthy’ meals, are beginning to alter their menus, too. Healthy choices seem […]
Fintech and value creation

Technology is becoming central to the delivery of financial services. The potential benefits of Fintech are well documented, with more than a third of financial services firms having already seen a 2-5% increase in revenue from automation, with major contributing factors being quicker time-to-market and better cross-selling. While private equity is typically painted as being […]
Private Equity 2018 in review

It’s been a tumultuous year, particularly as no Brexit deal has (at time of writing) been reached yet. Still, the private equity 2018 scene overall was very positive, with a large number of deals and impressive exits to mark the year. Over the first 3 quarters in the European private equity markets, deal-making activity has […]
Digital banks and the future of personal finance

Digital banks are revolutionising the way people manage money. In today’s age of the smartphone, more and more customers are joining banks which are fully online, entirely relying on apps for all transactions. It seems banking customers no longer place as much importance on their bank having a local high street branch, which reflects a […]
Does Norway’s snub spell the end for Sovereign Wealth Funds investing in Private Equity?

Last week, Norway’s government made headlines by prohibiting the nation’s $1 trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund from investing in private equity – the first nation to do so. The Norwegian government cited lack of transparency and high fees as reasons for this unprecedented decision – with the finance ministry arguing that Private Equity is “unsuitable” as […]
Fake news and the finance industry

After the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica scandal, now it seems Twitter might come under fire. While the famous microblog hasn’t had any big privacy issues yet, “fake news” on the site has begun to affect investment sectors. An article published by The Telegraph revealed that thousands of robots running automated accounts have been spreading misinformation […]
Women and Private Equity: we are only at the beginning

Women’s rights have been high on the agenda in the past 12 months, and this week, with International Women’s Day, we highlight both the achievements and celebrate how far we have come, as well as recognising how far we have yet to go. The world of finance has been a slow proponent to women’s equality […]
What investment opportunities does 2017 hold?

In light of the Political events of 2016, what does 2017 hold for the Retail, Technology and Finance Sectors? At the start of 2016, the idea of a Trump presidency or Britain voting to leave the EU was unthinkable. However, only a few weeks before the end of 2016 we are facing a different […]