Our 2024 Annual Report is now available, highlighting a year of renewed growth, strategic exits, and strengthened financial positioning. Below, CEO Dave Nangle shares a brief summary of the key takeaways from the report’s management letter.
A year of profitable growth, exits and financial strength
Three key themes stood out in 2024, shaping the trajectory of our portfolio and positioning VEF for the future. To start with, we are very encouraged by the performance of our portfolio companies through 2024. The 2022–23 process of driving our portfolio companies to break-even was broadly achieved at the start of 2024, with 90%+ of our portfolio value now attaining that key milestone. 2024 was a window to reignite growth, especially at some of our largest companies. Creditas and Konfío, based on 2H24 data points have accelerated growth. This is aside from Juspay, where growth never abated and continues to compound profitably, at a growth clip of north of 50%.
At a global level, benchmark fintech names like Stripe and Revolut both closed size funding rounds during the year, which set the tone for growing flows in higher growth/risk markets of the emerging world. VEF’s portfolio specifically benefited from funds raised by Konfío and Solfácil. Of more importance, exit markets also awoke in 2024, with M&A and secondary sales gaining real traction while the IPO market began to show signs of life. Specific to VEF, we announced our first exit of this cycle with the IPO of BlackBuck in India in 4Q24, followed swiftly by the sale of Gringo in Brazil to Corpay.
With a strengthened balance sheet, we have a healthy array of capital deployment options to reduce risk (pay down our debt) and increase reward (buy back our equity). Strengthening our balance sheet and reducing our traded discount are strategic priorities we intend to carry over from 2024 into 2025. Our goal is to lower our traded discount to NAV and get back on the front foot investing.
Progress and opportunity across our markets in 2024
The narrative that unfolded in our focus on high growth and high opportunity markets in 2024, was very similar to what we have experienced over the past decade – progress despite volatility. We are content to play in an (emerging) world that has lower financial penetration and larger younger populations that are adapting digital disruption at a faster rate than more established developed peers. These positive long-term tailwinds, at times, are overlaid with erratic/noisy politics and economic imbalances, which can take centre stage while progress continues unabated at ground level. Understanding and embracing this ideology is key to winning the long game in emerging market and financial technology investing.
Looking ahead: Strengthening our position through strategic exits
In 2024 we set ourselves the goal of opportunistically realizing exits close to our NAV marks with the dual objective of being able to strengthen our balance sheet and increase the market’s confidence in our NAV. We knew this would be no mean feat as companies are bought, not sold, realizations in the private markets are complex, legally intensive and the detail can take time to work through. To succeed it was necessary to collaborate closely with the portfolio companies for the best possible results. Our first exit of this cycle was BlackBuck, which carried out a successful IPO in November 2024 on the National Stock Exchange of India. We are excited about the business that Rajesh and team have built and the achievement of taking it public (VEF’s first India IPO/exit). This was swiftly followed by the sale of Gringo to Corpay, which felt bittersweet, similar to many of our exits in the past.
For a full read of Dave Nangle’s management letter, with key insights from each of our markets, please find our full report here: Annual Report 2024