We are investing in THE NEXT 4 BILLION CONSUMERS.

Africa is generating fastest volume growth of beer in the world. Today, the average African consumes 10 liters per capita of beer which implies there is a 4.5x and 7x upside to their global and developed market peers. The key driver to increasing this consumption is affordability where the time taken to work for a beer in Africa is 4 hours vs. 8 minutes in developed markets. In the coming decade, most of Africa will cross the “2 hour sweet spot” line which is when consumption of mainstream beer explodes in typical “S”-curve fashion. We are invested in monopoly breweries in Africa that will capture this multi-decade compounding opportunity.

Indian subcontinent is adding more Internet users than any part of the world. Although the region already has the second highest number of Internet users, online penetrate rate is still just 20%. The advent of low-cost smartphones and cheaper data have empowered consumers to come online. Moreover, the region is quickly urbanizing and today already has some of the densest populated cities. We see combination of ‘mobile first’ consumer and high density as a new opportunity to create hyper-local consumer Internet platforms. We are invested in leading consumer Internet companies at the forefront of this region.

Global gaming continues to generate robust double digit growth with mobile gaming being the brightest spot. Today there are 2.2 billion gamers who on average play 6 hours per week, we expect users to double and engagement to more than triple in the coming decade. We see mobile gaming will be the key driver to this as smartphones have lowered the barriers to entry for new gamers and content becomes more social. The gaming industry is in early days of its evolution towards long-life games that focus on higher retention and engagement. We are invested in the leading game publishers who are creating global game franchises.

“I have always felt it is my destiny to build a machine that would allow man to fly.” -Leonardo da Vinci

Skycatcher is symbolic of da Vinci’s prodigious vision to build a flying machine. Aviation was perhaps his favorite field of study: “When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return”, he said. Da Vinci almost invented all modern forms of air transport, unfortunately it was several centuries before the technology was ready. It was his bold ideas at the time and ability to see patterns and process in the microcosm as being similar to those in the macrocosm that we admire. For example, he was fascinated by the flight of bats and birds and by studying their interlinking physiology he designed levers and gears in his flying machine. This exceptional ability to interconnect observations and ideas from different disciplines is the model to our investment research methodology. Even though da Vinci never realized a functional machine, it is a shining example of da Vinci’s thirst for knowledge and desire to understand everything at a fundamental level. Skycatcher continues da Vinci’s motivations in hopes to applying his extraordinary combination of passionate intellectual curiosity with systematic thinking ingenuity to investing in the next 4 billion consumers.