LAVAN Investments · What we look for and bring
Ownership is a responsibility before it is a return.
How LAVAN thinks about owning a share of a business: what we look for, what we bring, and what we walk away from.
What we look for
Five tests.
We ask them in this order. A business that fails an early one rarely recovers on a later one.
- Business quality
- A real product or service, real customers, and a reason to keep winning them.
- Financial evidence
- Records that can be examined and reconciled, not only presented.
- Management
- A team with integrity and capability, and the will to keep building.
- Economics
- Unit economics and cash conversion that support growth without constant new capital.
- Governance
- Clear ownership, and a willingness to operate transparently with a partner.
What we bring
More than capital.
- 01
Patient ownership
We think in years, not quarters, and structure partnerships to match.
- 02
Operating support
Strategy, operating model and systems work alongside management.
- 03
Institutional readiness
The evidence and governance standards behind LAVAN Credibility, applied to the business.
- 04
Cross-border reach
Partnerships and market understanding between the U.S. and Africa.
Where we focus
Sectors we understand.
We prefer established businesses with demonstrated demand, in sectors where operating experience gives us a basis for judgment.
Connectivity
The networks other businesses depend on.
Industrial services
Businesses that keep physical operations running.
B2B intelligence
Information and verification that other firms decide with.
Infrastructure-adjacent services
Services built around essential physical systems.
Value-creation model
Five stages, each tied to a decision.
- 01
Identify
Which businesses to approach, and why they fit.
Decision: target selection
- 02
Evaluate
Business quality, financial evidence, management and economics.
Decision: whether, and at what value
- 03
Partner
Terms and structure agreed openly with owners and any co-investors.
Decision: investment terms
- 04
Build
Governance, accountability and operating support where it adds value.
Decision: where to commit effort
- 05
Compound
Reinvestment in what is working, over a long holding period.
Decision: reinvest or return capital
Discipline
What we pass on.
Records we cannot reconcile
If the numbers cannot be traced, the rest of the analysis has nothing to stand on.
Terms we could not explain
If we would be uncomfortable explaining the terms to the other side, we do not propose them.
Unmanaged conflicts
Where our advisory role would compromise an investment decision, one of the two gives way.
LAVAN Investments is not a fund and is not accepting subscriptions. Nothing on this page is an offer to invest or investment advice.