Overlooked.
Underappreciated.
Undervalued.
​We invest in brilliant businesses operating in sectors that are so critical to the economy - representing $80T of the world’s $100T annual GDP - that we refer to them as Backbone Sectors. They are literally the foundational pillars of the economy.
Backbone
Sectors
Why Backbone Sectors?
These physical, legacy sectors are real, critical, and immense. Yet, for entrepreneurs building businesses in these sectors, it’s not unusual for them to feel overlooked, underappreciated, and undervalued.
Despite their massive addressable markets and economic significance, Backbone Businesses are massively underfunded as a proportion of the global investment total.
While those leading these companies are not revered tech entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos or Sam Altman, who have Venture Capitalists swarming around them, they do have the opportunity to be:
​
-
Tech enabled - streamlining operations with tech to make them best in class.
​
-
Customer first - creating the best customer experience, whether consumer or B2B.
​
-
Brilliant Brands - going beyond brand identity to build something unique in the sector.
-
Culture Leaders - attracting and retaining the best talent to create a peerless team.
-
Finance and Governance Champions - utilising data as a superpower.
Which sectors are Backbone?
Backbone Sectors are fundamental to the functioning and stability of the economy. They provide essential goods and services, support other industries, and contribute significantly to economic growth and development.
Sectors such as:
-
Construction and Engineering.
-
Healthcare Infrastructure.
-
Energy Transition and Sustainability.
-
Agriculture.
-
Downstream Automotive.
In addition to these, we would also consider specialist manufacturing, engineering, logistics and supply chain businesses, as well as those providing services or products to these sectors.
We’ve listed some examples below which are not intended to be exhaustive.
Construction
-
Construction and Building Solutions: Businesses specialising in sustainable construction practices and materials (e.g. energy-efficient building design, use of recycled materials, pre-fab construction).
-
Building performance optimisation: Businesses providing technology and services to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings (e.g. building automation systems, energy monitoring solutions).
​
-
Manufacturers of high-performance materials: Producers of innovative materials that offer superior qualities to traditional counterparts, including strength, durability, insulation, weight and ease of use.
-
Manufacturers of sustainable or novel materials: new, innovative, smart, and/or sustainable materials that will make builds more energy-efficient, more sustainable, cheaper, easier and with higher performance (e.g. net-zero emission concrete).
Healthcare Infrastructure
Including but not limited to:
​
-
Private Healthcare Providers: Hospitals and clinics.
-
Mobility services: Companies providing equipment and services for individuals with mobility limitations, including home adaptations, assistive technologies, and transportation assistance.
-
Preventative medicine and wellness: Providers of health assessments, preventative care services, wellness programmes, and nutritional guidance.
-
Mental health services: Established private practices and institutions offering counselling, therapy, and other mental health support services.
Energy Transition and Sustainability
Businesses that are helping consumers and businesses by accelerating the transition to a more sustainable future by adopting clean and renewable energy, sustainable resource management and cutting-edge technologies.
-
Renewable Energy: Technologies associated with Solar power, Wind energy / Hydroelectric power / Geothermal energy /Biomass energy.
-
Energy Storage: Battery technology / Pumped hydro storage / Thermal energy storage.
-
Clean Transportation: Companies associated with the proliferation of Electric vehicles (EVs) / Charging infrastructure.
-
Energy Efficiency: Building energy management systems / Efficient HVAC / Smart meters and grid optimisation / Industrial process optimisation.
-
Sustainable Infrastructure: Companies associated with smart cities and urban planning / Green building materials and technologies / Water and wastewater management/ Sustainable agriculture and food systems.
-
Carbon Capture and Utilisation: Direct air capture / Carbon utilisation technologies / Carbon capture and storage / Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
-
Circular Economy and Waste to Energy: Recycling and waste management / Sustainable packaging / Product lifecycle management / Resource recovery and upcycling.
-
Climate Adaptation and Resilience: Climate risk assessment / Infrastructure resilience planning / Disaster preparedness and response.
Agriculture
Businesses that are helping agriculture businesses develop and implement new technology to make this profoundly important sector more efficient.
-
Agricultural equipment manufacturers and dealerships.
-
Farm management and consulting services.
-
Agricultural transportation and logistics companies.
-
Agricultural technology (AgTech) companies providing solutions for precision farming, irrigation, and crop monitoring.
-
Food processing and packaging companies specialising in agricultural products.
-
Agricultural waste management and recycling companies.
Downstream Automotive
Last but not least, a sector that is close to our hearts!
It may be a vehicle marketplace, a business that specialises in adapting new vehicles, a vehicle aftercare business or even possibly the next Vanarama! However, it’s much more likely to be in the field of helping businesses and consumers make the transition Alternative Fuel Vehicles such as:
-
Electric Vehicle charging station providers.
-
Charging network operators.
-
EV infrastructure developers.
-
Companies supplying EV charging hardware and software solutions.
​
If you think you are operating in a Backbone Sector that we haven’t mentioned, please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
