Q&A with Alokik Advani, managing partner, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures (FISV)
Grant Speirs, chief financial officer of US-headquartered investment and financial services group Fidelity International, said of Fidelity International Strategic Ventures (FISV): “The organisations the strategic ventures team partner with and invest in have capabilities that are highly tangential to us as an organisation and enable us to take capabilities and offerings to the market faster than what we would be able to deliver ourselves.
“Sitting alongside these entrepreneurial companies, innovators, founders helps to embed some of that culture of innovation, agility and flexibility into the wider organisation and we can certainly learn from that as we try to be more adaptable as an organisation going forward. It is fantastic working with the team and I am really looking forward to continuing this close association.”
Regarding Advani, Laura Atterwill, talent and operations partner for FISV, said: “Alokik has a leadership style that genuinely empowers and facilitates the growth of his team. He looks for opportunities to put others forward and to share exposure blending an expectation for high performance with humility, integrity, transparency and impact.”
Michael Sim, a principal at FISV, added: “Alokik has created a mission for FISV to demonstrate top-tier VC returns while accelerating genuine strategic change at Fidelity International. This vision, combined with his infectious energy and an open communication style resonates strongly with entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and the team he works with on a day-to-day basis.”
James Devlin, an investor at FISV, also said: “Alokik couples deep investment know-how and financial services understanding allowing him to excel in and out of the boardroom. Although early, the FISV portfolio has a number of clear investment winners that have close strategic synergies with Fidelity. This is testament to his judgement and ability to navigate the corporate landscape to realise value.”
Erik Mostenicky, another investor at FISV, noted: “Alokik is a real pleasure to work with and an inspiration to his team. He has created an environment that founders, VC and other partners want to be part of. He is transparent and brings people along the journey with him – this approach empowers people to operate at a much higher level than other organisations and managers would allow them to.”
1. How many collaborations with startups has your fund done in the last 12 months?
Our team has made six new investments in the past 12 months, four of those in 2021. We have also completed follow on investments in Steel Eye, Stashaway and Moneybox. Beyond investments, we have made introductions and facilitated knowledge sharing between FIL and emerging fintech companies.
2. Your top three direct investments from the past three years.
Moneybox – “Alokik intuitively understands our challenges and opportunities and invariably provides actionable insight. He provides support throughout and challenges when necessary. I would recommend working with him to any ambitious founder,” said Ben Stanway, founder and CEO, Moneybox.
SteelEye – “I feel very lucky to have someone so experienced, engaged and thoughtful on my journey,” commented Matt Smith, co-founder and CEO, SteelEye.
Moonfare – “Since inception, we have been connecting our clients, some of the most sophisticated investors in the world, with top private markets funds. Fidelity’s clients and team will fit perfectly into this group going forward,” according to Steffen Pauls, Founder & CEO, Moonfare.
3. Number of collaboration engagements with your portfolio companies.
We have 35 ongoing projects connecting our portfolio companies with Fidelity International and work to support our portfolio companies with weekly interactions on topics across product, talent, business development, sales and human resources operations.
4. Any contribution to the CVC or VC ecosystem you would like to highlight.
Regular panellist at fintech events, member of Innovate Finance and panellist at UK Fintech Week, spoke at BVCA forum on “Redefining Consumer Finance”, panellist at Hong Kong Fintech Week, speaker at Singapore Fintech Festival, interviewed by FintechOrama, spoke to LBS students on building careers in fintech and VC.
5. Team expansion and recent promotions
In 2021, we hired an analyst, an associate and a legal counsel. Since inception, the size of the team doubled to 13 today.
6. Plans for the year ahead
One of the biggest criticisms of CVCs is that the investment teams have limited influence on the manifestation of strategic synergies, and so one of our key pillars is to ensure we can make those promises a reality. Besides making new investments related to or key themes for the year and supporting our existing portfolio companies, I am focused on realising the commercial partnerships and strategic synergies for each of our portfolio companies with Fidelity International.
7. Pain points and opportunities you have encountered in corporate venturing
Pain points and opportunities break down into three main areas: 1) Lengthy decision making and prioritisation, 2) conflicts of interest across business and venture teams, and 3) keeping a narrow focus tied to your strategic domain expertise.
8. What do you think all corporations or CVCs could do better to make it a stronger industry?
Be honest with your ability to help startups – do not overpromise and underdeliver and acknowledge that these are young companies with limited funds and runway, and doing the 15th meeting with your senior management to demo the product is taking time away from other important activities.
9. For colour, what did you do prior to your venture role or in your spare time?
I grew up in Mumbai before going to University in the US. I started my career as an analyst in the FIG (Financial Institutions Group) team at Merrill Lynch in New York and have been investing on behalf of large financial institutions with a strategic lens since 2002. I completed an MBA at Insead in France in 2005, returning to Merrill Lynch in their Principal Investments team in London.
In 2008, I joined the Principal Strategic Investments team at Goldman Sachs in London and after two years moved to London to help build out their Asia business in 2010. I managed that team from 2012 until 2018, when I joined Fidelity International to build out a strategic investments team in fintech first under the Eight Roads umbrella, and then in our current avatar as FISV.
