Investment strategy

One forest. Completely known.

We invest in companies that become harder to beat the larger they get—from growth-stage private companies to listed market leaders. The same investment lens governs both.

Two strategies. One conviction: India's internet and digital technology sector is where the most durable alpha is being built.

People collaborating around a table in a modern workspace — One disciplined lens **Public and private, read together.**

Public Equity

Eleven years of existence. Consistent alpha.

Hornbill Capital runs a concentrated, long-only public equity fund focused on the internet-enabled businesses and digital technology sector in India.

Rows of network infrastructure in a modern data centre — Structural growth **Built into the system, not the cycle.**

01 · The strategy

Investing where the growth is.

India's listed equity market is expensive by global standards. Most active managers struggle to justify their fees. We believe there is one way to earn the right to exist in this market: invest in sectors where the growth is structural, durable, and large enough to outrun valuations. That pocket of the market is internet enabled and digital technology businesses.

We run a concentrated portfolio of 10 to 15 stocks because we believe concentration, when paired with deep conviction and process-driven risk management, is where alpha lives. Every position we hold has been through rigorous due diligence—management meetings, competitor checks, channel partner conversations—and is continuously monitored post-investment.

Risk management

More important, not less.

We run a concentrated portfolio. That makes risk management more important, not less.

Concentrated portfolios generate alpha but they also concentrate risk. Our quantitative risk framework ensures that position sizing is always a function of both expected return and categorized risk.

Liquidity risk

Volatility risk

Regulatory risk

Business risk

03 · Our edge

Most investors see separate markets. We never have.

Most investors see public and private as separate markets. We have never seen them that way.

India's internet and digital technology sector is one of the most dynamic sectors in the economy. It is a set of competitive battles playing out simultaneously across listed businesses and the private companies trying to displace them. Most public equity investors can only see one side of each battle. We see both. And after a decade of looking at both simultaneously, we are convinced it is one of the most durable advantages in Indian public equity investing.

04 · Private → public

What private markets give us in public equity

We know the competitive landscape of our listed holdings before it appears in the earnings line.

When a company goes public in India, the information available becomes more standardised. These tell you what has happened, but not what's changing beneath the surface or who might disrupt the business next.

Our work in private markets gives us a clear view of how each category is evolving. We track emerging competitors, their unit economics, and where they are gaining or losing ground. This perspective comes from staying close to the ecosystem.

05 · Public → private

What public equity expertise gives us in private markets

The companies we back privately are eventually going to approach the most consequential period of their life: going public.

The transition from a growth-stage private company to a listed business is hard. Scrutiny increases, communication expectations change, and the investor base thinks differently.

Having invested in listed Indian companies since 2015, we know what public market investors look for.

Many of the companies we track in private markets today are likely to list over the next three to five years. We already know their businesses, management teams, and competitive positioning. When they list, we're not starting from scratch.

The result

A view of India's internet and digital economy that is both wide and deep.

A long time of investing across both markets has compounded into something that is genuinely difficult to replicate from scratch: a view of India's internet and digital economy that is both wide and deep in private markets, rigorous in public ones, and sharpened by the interaction between the two.

Portfolio flavour

Companies we have backed.

These examples illustrate the type of businesses we invest in and why they fit our preferred business models.

NSEExchange monopolyPublic

NazaraGaming network effectsPublic

Public Equity

Want to know more about this strategy?

We are happy to share our latest factsheet, walk through current portfolio positioning, or discuss how this fits into an India allocation.

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Private Equity

We back India's next generation of digital leaders.

Hornbill Capital invests in growth and late-stage private companies in India's internet and digital technology ecosystem.

01 · The strategy

We are not here to back ideas. We are here to back businesses.

We invest at the growth and late stage. By the time we come in, the product-market fit question has been answered, the business is growing, the unit economics are working, and the primary question is how big the opportunity actually is.

Through our partnership with Orchid Asia, which has invested in internet and technology companies across Asia for over three decades, we bring sector pattern recognition that very few India-focused managers have access to.

02 · Our edge

Public market experience changes how we evaluate, and what we can offer.

Most growth-stage investors come from private markets, with limited experience in public equities. We bring over a decade of experience investing in listed internet and technology companies in India, and that shapes how we approach private investments.

It changes both what we can offer companies and how we evaluate them. We have a clear sense of what public market investors will value over time and which businesses are being built to last.

03 · Growth stage → public markets

What we bring to growth-stage companies

We have been on the other side of the table as a public market investor. Since 2015.

As a company approaches listing, the questions change. What do public market investors focus on? How should unit economics be communicated to a shareholder with a much shorter time horizon? What does good disclosure look like in a sector where the metrics are still evolving?

Having invested in listed internet and digital technology companies in India since 2015, we have a clear view of this. We understand how results are read, how governance issues are priced, and what differentiates strong communication from weak.

We bring this perspective into our work with growth-stage companies as they prepare for public markets.

04 · Private → public

What private markets give us in public equity

We know the competitors of our listed holdings, including the ones that have not listed yet.

India's internet and digital technology sector is highly competitive. For most listed companies, there are multiple private players solving the same problem in different ways. Most public market investors don't see this. We do.

Across private deals in fintech, edtech, e-commerce, healthtech, and enterprise software, we track how each category is evolving. We see which competitors are gaining traction, which have weak unit economics, and which are targeting a different customer segment altogether.

This context changes how we read results, how we size positions, and when we're willing to hold through negative sentiment.

How this compounds

Every market makes us more useful in the other.

Every private investment sharpens our view of the listed market. Every listed investment makes us a more useful partner at the growth stage. After ten years of this, the interaction between the two has become the most durable part of what we do—and the hardest for anyone starting today to replicate.

Portfolio

Where we are looking.

Examples of the businesses we invest in.

PhysicsWallahEdtech category brandPrivate

DhanCapital markets fintechPrivate

KreditBeeEmbedded credit distributionPrivate

Start a conversation

If the way we invest resonates, let's talk.

We welcome conversations with institutional investors, family offices, and founders building in the internet and technology space.

hello@hornbillcapital.com