What We Believe

We believe that uncovering extraordinary opportunities requires a disciplined approach.

We believe that focus yields results.

We concentrate our research on large profit pools that can grow significantly in the coming decades. We concentrate our capital into a small number of businesses, primarily in our Emerging Internet and Niche Financials investment clusters.

We believe in primary research.

We built our organization from the ground up to independently diligence businesses and generate insights across our markets.

We believe in patience and partnership.

We invest capital alongside entrepreneurial teams that are building businesses for the long term.

What We Look For

Businesses ideally suited for our portfolio typically operate in growing niches, offer superior products and services, sustain competitive advantages over time, and generate significant free cash flow as they scale.

We want to spend our time building meaningful relationships with quality people.

We back teams that we believe demonstrate high integrity, strong operating histories, and strategic visions that align with our values as shareholders. This matters practically because, over time, the capital allocation choices of our portfolio company management teams will outweigh the consequences of our initial investment decision.

We back franchise businesses.

We seek to invest in companies with dominant positions addressing large end markets in which they can continue to gain share for many years. In emerging markets today, we believe some of the most valuable franchises of the coming decades are being built in internet and financial services.

We look for value.

Value is a combination of the purchase price of a business and its ability to sustainably grow while judiciously investing its free cash flow. Attractive returns on incremental invested capital and strong free cash flow generation are the most important financial metrics we evaluate to determine the strength of a franchise and its suitability for our portfolio.

How We Work

We question persistently, research locally, and maintain a global perspective.

Our 20+ person team has a diversity of perspectives but a unity of purpose. We reason from first principles and leave no question unanswered. We have built an on-the-ground infrastructure to conduct local, primary source research in regions where we see significant investment opportunity.

We operate with a partnership mentality across the firm and seek alignment of incentives in everything we do:

• We engage in meaningful conversations with company management teams and invest with them for the long term.

• We partner with sophisticated investors who provide thoughtful feedback and constitute a durable capital base for the firm.

• We invest in our team and empower them to do the right thing.

Where We Work

Research Footprint

Our global infrastructure generates independent insight through primary research.

We believe that controlling our own work – we design, execute, and analyze our investment research ourselves – aligns interests and leads to clearer insights. Today, 20+ team members across five countries are dedicated to executing Kora’s research mission – they verify facts, uncover the unknown, and challenge conventional wisdom.

Our efforts are ambitious but purposeful.

We put down roots in places where we see large opportunities for research and investment, planting acorns where oaks can grow. Our research teams are based in five cities today: New York, São Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Tokyo. This footprint provides global coverage.