Fizza Nadeem Siddiqui, FMVA®’s Post

The Gulf's economic stability, backed by substantial sovereign wealth funds and a commitment to infrastructural and social development, plays a crucial role in bolstering investor confidence. Furthermore, the region's strategic location as a global business hub enhances its attractiveness to investors looking for high-growth potential. Having closely followed the Parkin Co. IPO, I have compiled insights on its monumental success and what it means for the Gulf's investment landscape.

South Africa Legal Team has nailed down what really matters Live: South Africa’s ICJ genocide case against Israel over Gaza war https://lnkd.in/eC4w2DSd

Congratulations Dr. Nahal Bano on your first publication. Here's to many more such papers! 🥂

It might just get uglier after Import LCs that are being finalized at Rs. 241 for USD transactions but hang in there for as they say, there is a rise after every fall.

While the global financial crisis was a recession that originated within and severely impacted the financial services sector, the current environment portends a recession related to inflation and rising interest rates. I believe financial services are more insulated from the impact of the current climate because banks and other financial institutions have shored up balance sheets over the last few years. The current fintech boom is a byproduct of the last recession in which many innovative companies have created significant value to consumers and businesses through more convenient services, higher approvals, decreased fraud rates, and lower fees. With the threat of a recession, however, I believe there will be a bifurcation of the market: Consumer and small and mid-sized (SMB) fintech companies will be negatively impacted while enterprise and infrastructure fintech companies might remain at strength. During an economic downturn, consumers and SMBs tend to spend less money, which might affect fintech companies that are serving this space. Companies such as alternative lenders, buy-now-pay-later platforms that underwrite customers might see their pricing and risk management models challenged for the first time. These companies might be pressured to adjust their underwriting models in real time if delinquencies and defaults start to creep up. However, in a rising interest rate environment, a small group of bank-chartered fintech companies can earn net interest income and use their deposits to lend more cheaply, giving them an advantage relative to non-bank lenders that rely on asset-backed security funding, high-cost warehouse facilities, and/or origination fees. At the same time, trading and investment apps will also be severely impacted as consumers pull back on purchasing stocks, options, and crypto.

Valuations of VC-backed companies endured a quick shift to a difficult market in the first three months of 2022. While the numbers do not yet depict the immediate impact of the ongoing volatility, PitchBook analysts say that investor sentiment has changed over the last quarter. Their US VC Valuations Report explores how startup valuations across the venture lifecycle are reacting in the face of market headwinds—which include rising interest rates, high inflation and geopolitical tension due to the war in Ukraine. Key takeaways include: - Early-stage deal sizes and pre-money valuations hit record highs in Q1. At the outset, the numbers suggest that early-stage startups are a bit more insulated from turbulence in the public markets than those at later stages. - As tech stocks took the brunt of the market volatility over the past few months, the average late-stage pre-money valuation decreased from the highs of 2021, along with the top-decile figure. - The average public listing valuation fell to $993.1 million in Q1. While the figure is still elevated on a historical scale, it represents roughly one-third of 2021's $2.8 billion. I have attached detailed report extracted for deeper understanding of the traits.

How inflation will affect a portfolio of any VC or PE depends on many factors. We’ve learned from history that inflation is bad, though many of us have not experienced rampant inflation during our professional lives. There are some scenarios, however, where some private market funds may benefit. It is not to advocate for market timing with a private market allocation, as once due diligence has been performed, a commitment date has been scheduled, and the commitments begin to be called down, the signal that led to the commitment will likely have reversed. But existing portfolios, depending on a number of factors, will have different reactions to inflation. For those with something to sell, such as oil & gas or other natural resource portfolios, they will likely be able to command a higher price than was originally modeled, which is why many seek out real asset portfolios for inflation protection. Also able to benefit are PE leveraged buyouts (LBOs) with fixed rate debt that can benefit from increased revenues because of rising prices, but their debt obligation will remain the same, thus leading to improved cash margins. There will be those who suffer, however. Newly purchased companies in a portfolio may no longer have the prospects that were modeled before inflation hit -particularly those with heavy expenditures contemplated as part of the value-add proposition of the GP. In addition, companies making physical goods will find their input costs rising with inflation, and they may be unable to fully pass along these increases. In some cases, the degree to which a private market fund is positively or negatively affected by inflation will depend on how far into the investment cycle the fund is. If a value-add real estate fund is in the early years of its lifecycle, it may still have major capital improvements to make on its properties, which will mean costs beyond those originally planned, thereby squeezing margins and returns. But a fund that made its upgrades before the inflation hit might be able to benefit from rapidly rising rents without many accompanying increases in costs.

Owing to the ban on imported items, can we see such improvisation in Pakistan? Where we have an abundance of natural resources and great talent.

D2C is an interesting space to explore and have become quite competitive lately. This post might come handy for those who are venturing out in the space to shoot their shot.