Profile
NBD Ventures is an executive management team that specializes in investing in, advising on and executing strategic growth initiatives in the technology, payments, telecommunication, media and entertainment industries. We operate multi million dollar businesses, monetize content, execute to plan and resolve organizational pain points. We take a flexible approach to investing in high growth, cash flow positive companies with talented and ethical founders.
Our people drive scale in business models and we apply our extensive business experience, network and capabilities to achieve superior shareholder value. Our team has collective experience advising on and completing over USD 70 billion of capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and exits including successfully investing assets under management exceeding USD 10 billion. NBD Ventures funds management business focuses on deploying capital at scale to facilitate payment liquidity needs for entire industries with global significance.
Profile
NBD Ventures is an executive management team that specializes in investing in, advising on and executing strategic growth initiatives in the technology, payments, telecommunication, media and entertainment industries. We operate multi million dollar businesses, monetize content, execute to plan and resolve organizational pain points. We take a flexible approach to investing in high growth, cash flow positive companies with talented and ethical founders.
Our people drive scale in business models and we apply our extensive business experience, network and capabilities to achieve superior shareholder value. Our team has collective experience advising on and completing over USD 70 billion of capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and exits including successfully investing assets under management exceeding USD 10 billion. NBD Ventures funds management business focuses on deploying capital at scale to facilitate payment liquidity needs for entire industries with global significance.
Proven capabilities
Our capabilities have been proven to achieve top line revenue growth, margin expansion and enhancements to corporate valuation and shareholder value.
Expertise
We are expert business operators and professional advisers who analyze and resolve organizational pain points.
We have a deep understanding of and extensive experience in operating multi million dollar businesses in the Asia Pacific region.
Network effect
We have strong networks across traditional and startup companies in Asia giving us access to a broad base for partnerships and opportunities.
We are globally attuned working with MNC clients across APAC to deliver strategic and operational transformations.
Our Business
Our business lines
Our Business
Our business lines
Funds management
NBD Ventures funds management business focuses on deploying capital at scale to facilitate payment liquidity needs for entire industries with global significance.
NBD lead businesses
Business opportunities pursued in partnership with established entrepreneurs.
Strategic investments
We target minority strategic investments into innovation companies with strong cash flow generation capability, mature, ethical, and driven founders that typically have 10+ years of industry experience.
Advisory engagements
Strategic advisory engagements with NBD Ventures can take three forms (1) retainer based, (2) sweat for equity, and (3) executive seconding.
Proprietary trading
Our trading desk invests in liquid assets targeting key global themes across economic cycles that demonstrate low correlation to the market.
Charitable causes
We contribute to causes that focus on economic empowerment, science and technology innovation.
Investments
We believe that ethical and moral behavior combined with persistent hard work and uncommon-sense application of knowledge, lead to extraordinary opportunities not generally made available to others.
Investments
We believe that ethical and moral behavior combined with persistent hard work and uncommon-sense application of knowledge, lead to extraordinary opportunities not generally made available to others.
NBD Ventures T&T Opportunity Fund
NBD Ventures T&T Opportunity Fund (the “Fund”) has structured an industry first sector wide cash flow solution for airlines which programmatically accelerates up to 90% of payments within two days, across 160 countries in 120 currencies. NBD Ventures Management (the “GP”) is a registered Alternative Investment Fund Manager with the Luxembourg CSSF.
BANCSTAC
Bancstac is a core technology partner and payment innovation company to banks and their corporate clients. Bancstac enables seamless adoption of digital payment and acceptance capabilities from closed-loop payment networks, real-time settlement systems and global card schemes.
Through our advanced payment technology orchestration platform, we foster trust between businesses and people and help economies evolve from cash payments to a digital payments future. We make it easy and low-cost for businesses, governments and communities to participate in the world economy.
Bancstac is PCI DSS level 1 certified and a PCI 3DS compliant payment processor, payment gateway, payment facilitator, payment aggregator and payment orchestration platform.
Jamax d.o.o. Sarajevo
In December 2019 NBD Ventures completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Jamax d.o.o. Sarajevo (“Jamax”). Jamax will join the NBD Ventures corporate group and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bancstac.
Based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jamax is a software solution development company that has successfully developed software solutions for numerous Fortune 500 companies in the technology, banking, real estate and airline sectors.
Numo labs pty ltd
In December 2019 NBD Ventures completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Numo Labs Pty Ltd. Numo Labs will join the NBD Ventures corporate group and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bancstac.
Based in Australia, Numo Labs is a mobile telecommunications software solutions and services provider to tier-1 telecommunication clients.
Paycorp international (private) limited
In October 2019, NBD Ventures entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Paycorp International (Private) Limited (“Paycorp International”). Paycorp will join the NBD Ventures corporate group and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bancstac.
Based in Sri Lanka, Paycorp International is a payment gateway for systemically important banks with a long track record of successfully launching digital payment innovations in the market.
Rêv Worldwide, INC
In May 2018 NBD Ventures completed our investment into Rêv Worldwide alongside Omidyar Network, Inter-Atlantic Ventures, and MPOWER Ventures.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA, Rêv issues co-branded card programs to consumers in a device-agnostic, PCI-compliant, mobile digital wallet that enables consumer to: (i) pay using their existing smartphones via NFC, (ii) exchange and transfer multi-currency funds in real-time, (iii) earn and redeem loyalty points, (iv) claim partner merchant promotions, and (v) instantly transfer funds peer-to-peer.
Rêv is delivering a technologically scalable cloud-based solution whilst running a vertically integrated, profitable business against the backdrop of a globally complex, tightly-regulated and compliance-driven sector.
Rêv has processed over US$10 billion in transaction volumes and its products have been adopted by over 5 million customers worldwide. Rêv has established a global footprint and secured long-term exclusive agreements with banks, international airline carriers, and card associations. Rêv’s bank partners span transcontinental from Australia including Westpac, St. George, Bank of Melbourne, to Europe include ING and Moorwand, to the middle east, ADIB and Brazil including Rodobens. It’s airline partners transport over 50 million passengers across 50 countries which include Virgin Australia, Etihad Airways, and Scandinavian Airlines. Partnerships with card associations include MasterCard, Visa and China Union Pay.
Rêv’s management team is led by CEO, Roy Sosa, and President, Bertrand Sosa. They have in-depth knowledge, expertise and proven experience as the early pioneers who developed and launched prepaid debit cards in America through NetSpend. The Sosa brothers founded NetSpend in 1999 with an investment of $750 and grew the business to a USD 1.3 billion IPO exit. Their energy is now focused on opening the travel and tourism sector to prepaid travel cards and coalition loyalty programs.
Team
Our experience. Your competitive edge.
Team
Our experience. Your competitive edge.
Nina, Co-FOUNDER
Nina is an international executive in digital and broadcast media with over 25 years experience in corporate strategy, business development, and product management. Nina was Director of Business Development for Turner International (now Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.) covering Asia Pacific. She was the sales and marketing manager for British Sky Broadcasting in the UK. Prior to broadcast media, Nina was an advisor to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy on business development projects across Asia Pacific. She also held roles as financial controller at Royal Mail managing a marketing and advertising budget of £40m and was a consultant at data analytics company Acxiom and Westpac Banking Corporation. Nina holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Western Sydney University and post graduate Diploma of Management from the University of Technology, Sydney. Nina is the co-founder and Chair of NBD Ventures and a board member of Bancstac, Jamax, Numo Labs and Paycorp.
Evan, CO-FOUNDER
Evan has over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience and was previously an investment banker with Citibank and HSBC covering the Asia Pacific Region for 10 years. He has advised listed companies and MNCs on over USD 20 billion of corporate finance initiatives including strategic mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, initial public offerings, secondary listings, reverse takeovers, convertibles, debt issuance, limited partnership funds, investment trusts and other capital raising methods. He is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, having established, operated and sold multiple businesses in computing, manufacturing, professional services, payments, and F&B industries. Evan holds an MBA in finance from the Australian National University (he is distinguished as the youngest MBA graduate in the world at 21) and holds a BSc in mathematics, physics, computer science and chemistry from the University of Guelph, Canada. Evan is the co-founder of NBD Ventures, Bancstac and NBD Ventures T&T Opportunity Fund.
KELVIN
Kelvin has over 20 years of experience in investments, fund management, corporate finance, business transformation and restructuring. Previously, Kelvin was a Chief Investment Principal of one of Asia’s largest single-family offices and managed over USD 6 billion of investments across Asia Pacific, Middle East, America and Europe. He has achieved returns exceeding 2.5x on principal capital invested over a 5 year investment horizon. Kelvin has led numerous corporate financing initiatives including issuance of corporate debt securities exceeding USD 1 billion. He was also responsible for invoice financing, factoring and reverse factoring with global technology companies including T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange and others while at TCL / Alcatel, a global consumer electronics company. Kelvin led the implementation of the new Société Générale factoring system at TCL / Alcatel. Kelvin graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Commerce and earned an EMBA from The Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of New South Wales. He is also an Australian Certified Practicing Accountant. Kelvin is the managing partner of NBD Ventures T&T Opportunity Fund.
Leon
Leon has over 20 years of legal experience practicing in London with law firms Latham & Watkins, Skadden Arps, Cadwalader and Paul Hastings in addition to acting as in-house legal counsel at GE Capital. He has advised on over USD 30 billion of debt capital market issuances and cross-border financings across Europe and the United States and has represented institutional clients, focusing on banking, debt and equity capital markets, real estate finance, structured finance and cross-border M&A transactions. He was part of the team that established a multi-billion Euro regulated fund in Luxembourg with exposures across multiple asset classes, sectors and industries. Leon holds a Master’s of Law (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School and a Juris Doctor, cum laude from the University of Turin. Leon is a qualified lawyer in England and Wales (solicitor), New York State, U.S.A. (attorney-at-law) and Italy (avvocato). Leon is an advisor to the Board of one of Europe’s largest single-family offices and a board member of NBD Ventures Management SARL.
John
John is one of Australia’s early pioneers in digital payments. When the internet was commercially available to the world in the early 90’s John identified the technology gap between electronic commerce and traditional merchant payment methods. He was involved in developing electronic payment systems for Australian banks to handle and manage large numbers of digital merchants and their transactions for internet payments when the term “e-commerce” was initially coined in our lexicon. His experiences and investment culminated in a company group known as Paycorp. In 2017, John sold the Australia and New Zealand Paycorp operations to ASX listed MYOB for AUD 48 million, which was subsequently acquired by US private equity firm KKR for AUD 2.2 billion in 2019.
John holds a B.Ed Degree from the University of Canberra. He represented Australia between 1985 - 1992, as an international athlete in the 110m Hurdles, notably qualifying for the Seoul and Barcelona Olympic games as well as running at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Japan, and 1989 IAAF World Cup in Barcelona. Between training and competitions, John was a High School teacher and an entrepreneur. In 2019 John invited NBD Ventures to invest into the Paycorp international operations to support existing bank partners and lead the next chapter of international growth. Bancstac was born and John has been appointed its Chair.
AMIR
Amir has over 20 years of deep technical experience in telecommunications systems, microprocessor engineering, as well as intelligent algorithms and design. He was a systems engineer at BH Telecom for 10 years. He designed single-chip microprocessors using a dynamically reconfigurable logic array at Tohoku University in Japan. Amir also lectured at the International University of Sarajevo on various IT subjects. He is a published author in both the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the International Journal of the Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy. Amir founded Jamax in 2013, a leading software solution development agency based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was instrumental in successfully developing software solutions for numerous Fortune 500 companies in the technology, banking and airline sectors. Amir has been appointed the Chief Technology Officer at Bancstac to lead our innovation and superior technical talent for the group. Amir is a native Bosnian and speaks English, Turkish and Japanese fluently.
STANLEY
Stanley has over 20 years of strategy and architecture experience in the areas of enterprise architecture, digital transformation, integration and security. He has extensive and proven expertise in establishing and implementing large programs of technology enablement for Australian Federal and State Government departments and agencies. Stanley currently holds a level one Australian federal security clearance (NV1). Stanley began his technology career in banking with Westpac where he delivered strategic technology projects for the bank. He then entered IT consulting through leading Australian firms such as UXC and Oakton Consulting where he is recognised for helping lead many large corporates and government departments in their enterprise architecture, digital transformation and IT architecture roadmaps as well as leading their technology strategy with the nbn, Endeavour Energy, the Australian Trade Commission and Department of Communities and Justice where he was pivotal in implementing PCI-DSS compliant solutions in which Westpac was the banking and payments provider. Stanley has been appointed the Chief Information and Security Officer with focus on ensuring Bancstac delivers well architected, secure and compliant products to our bank and strategic partners.
Experience
NBD Ventures drives scale in business models and applies extensive business experience, network and capabilities to achieve superior shareholder value. Our people have collective experience advising on and completing over USD 70 billion of capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and exits including successfully investing assets under management exceeding USD 10 billion.
Experience
NBD Ventures drives scale in business models and applies extensive business experience, network and capabilities to achieve superior shareholder value. Our people have collective experience advising on and completing over USD 70 billion of capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and exits including successfully investing assets under management exceeding USD 10 billion.
Our Experience
Media joint ventures and alliances
Cartoon Network (Korea) | CNN (Indonesia) | Boomerang (Thailand) | Qtv (Korea) | TurnOut Ventures (Hong Kong)
Media acquisitions
USD 2b acquisition of South Korea’s No. 2 cable TV operator C&M by MBK Partners and Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) | NDTV Imagine (India) | Mondo and Tabi Channels (Japan)
Media product launches
CNNGo/CNN Travel
Buy side advisory
USD 25b reorganization, merger and spin-off of Cheung Kong (1.HK), Hutchison Whampoa (13.HK) and Cheung Kong Property (1113.HK) | USD 2.4b acquisition of CSL New World Mobility by HKT (6823.HK) | USD 2.3b privatization of Alibaba.com (1688.HK) by Alibaba Group | USD 2.1b acquisition of ING Asian insurance (Hong Kong, Thailand and Macau) by Pacific Century | USD 1.65b acquisition of Langham Place Hong Kong by Champion REIT (2778.HK) IFR Asia’s Hong Kong Capital Markets Deal of the Year 2008 | RMB 1.5b acquisition of Sheraton Shenyang Lido by Hui Xian REIT (87001.HK) | USD 1b purchase of land assets by China Resources Land (1109.HK) from China Resources Holdings | USD 888m privatization of Wheelock Properties (49.HK) by Wheelock and Company (20.HK) | USD 640m investment in Aditya Birla Telecom by Providence Equity | USD 333m mandatory general offer by Swire Pacific (19.HK) for Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (44.HK) | USD 257m purchase of 9 gas projects by China Resources Gas (1193.HK) from China Resources Holdings | USD 190m investment into SG listed China Fishery Group (BOZ.SG) by the Carlyle Group
Sell side advisory
USD 50m pre-IPO investment into Super 8 Hotels by Aetos Capital | Spin-off by introduction of Global Brands Group (787.HK) from Li & Fung (494.HK) | Spin-off by introduction of Swire Properties (1972.HK) by Swire Pacific (19.HK and 87.HK)
Equity capital raising
USD 3.1b spin-off of HK Electric (2638.HK) from Power Assets (6.HK) | USD 1.25b IPO of Samsonite (1910.HK) | USD 1.2b common share offering by Canadian listed Husky Energy (HSE.TSX) | USD 1.2b spin-off of HKT (6823.HK) by PCCW (8.HK) | USD 1.0b rights issue by HKT (6823.HK) | USD 1.0b share placement by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (388.HK) | USD 1.0b block trade by Sun Hung Kai Properties (16.HK) | USD 647m and USD 630m share placement of Swire Properties (1972.HK) by John Swire & Sons | USD 549m spin-off of Langham Hospitality (1270.HK) from Great Eagle (41.HK) | USD 530m top-up placement by Kerry Properties (683.HK) | USD 500m rights issue by First Pacific Company Limited (142.HK) | USD 400m GDR by Korean listed Doosan Infracore (042670.KR) | USD 282m chain rights issue by Dah Sing Banking Group (2356.HK) and Dah Sing Financial Holdings | USD 150m IPO of Meadville Holdings (3313.HK) | USD 150m block trade in Sino-Ocean Land (3377.HK) | USD 141m sell-down by FWD Life Insurance in HKT (6823.HK) | USD 90m Rights issue by Global Bio-chem Technology Group (809.HK)
Debt capital raising
USD 600m convertible bond by Champion REIT (2778.HK) | USD 500m convertible bond by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (388.HK) | USD 500m exchangeable bond into China Overseas Land (688.HK) | USD 200m senior notes offering by Powerlong Real Estate (1238.HK) | USD 150m RMB settled bond by SG listed Pacific Andes Resource Development (P11.SG) | USD 13m convertible bond buy-back by Far East Consortium (35.HK)
Our investments
Bancstac | Rêv Worldwide | NBD Ventures T&T Opportunity Fund
Our acquisitions
Paycorp International | Jamax | Numo Labs
Our strategic partnerships
Sampath Bank | DFCC Bank | Hatton National Bank | Nations Trust Bank | Commercial Bank of Ceylon
China UnionPay | American Express
Our exits
Champion Sample Cards | Champion Commercial Printing | Champion Graphics | Champion Computers | Naxius Technologies | Ming’s Restaurants | VirtualChow | Marshmallow Nannies