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Episode 07 The Investor Series
Prashant Agrawal on why Be Pacific puts economics over emotion
Prashant Agrawal of Be Pacific, a Vancouver based private capital family office group, on acquiring mature, post revenue companies and hard assets with tickets from US$10M, a diligence that puts people first and economics over emotion, why creative accounting ends deals, and why founders should match the format of capital to their stage.
The mandate
Mature companies and hard assets, bought outright
Prashant is based in Vancouver. Be Pacific calls itself a non traditional investment firm: not a VC and not a private equity firm, but a private capital family office group that invests for wealthy families and private investors, directly and through its syndicates, leading, co leading and acquiring. Its primary focus is acquisition. Right now that means hard and large assets, with three deals in parallel: gold mines and precious metal ores in Europe, natural minerals and metals in Africa, and a real estate fund it is raising capital for, investing in and acquiring assets for. Outside crypto and tokenized models, Be Pacific is sector and location agnostic.
in parallel
ticket
prime targets for sale
every acquisition
I can appreciate creative writing, but you cannot bank on creative writing.Prashant Agrawal, Be Pacific
Key takeaways
How Be Pacific decides
What it buys, how it weighs people against numbers, and what Prashant tells founders about capital.
Mature companies, close to exit
Be Pacific sits at the far end of the spectrum from startups. Its targets are post revenue and mature, have been in business for several years with an established revenue and customer base, and are already planning or thinking about an exit. It does not write Series A or Series B cheques. The starting goal is always to buy the whole company; when more investors join, a deal can end as a part stake or a multi party acquisition.
People first, then the numbers
Every acquisition is judged on two things. First the people: how solid, knowledgeable, experienced, passionate and gritty the founders or owners are. Then the economics, looked at objectively and kept separate from emotion. When the math does not add up, Be Pacific steps back, and the numbers have to work in practice, not just on paper.
Creative accounting ends deals
Prashant sees more creative cap tables and creative financials than ever. Be Pacific has walked away close to issuing an LOI when preliminary diligence showed revenue and cost data built on future contracts, purchase orders and orders, extrapolated to inflate the valuation.
Money is the last problem
Prashant also advises founders and emerging managers on their raises. His view: a solid business with assets and tangible revenue will find capital. Building has never been cheaper, so raise to expand what you have built, not to build it, and choose the format and stage of capital that fits your business instead of treating a venture round as proof of success.
Prashant's closing advice to founders: there are many formats and stages of capital, and raising venture capital does not on its own mean you have built a successful business. Be deliberate about the kind of capital you take at each stage. All of his links, from LinkedIn to his company pages, are at prashant.cc.
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