Abhay Agarwal
Domestic Sales IIFL AMC
Abhay is the Founder and Fund Manager of Piper Serica Advisors (www.piperserica.com) with 28 years of investing experience. Piper Serica was founded in 2004. It is a SEBI registered PMS manager and advisor to Piper Serica India Numero Uno Fund, a FPI based in Mauritius. Both these entities invest in stocks listed in India.
Piper Serica also manages Piper Serica Angel Fund, a SEBI Cat 1 AIF that invests in Indian start-ups.
Piper Serica uses a top-down investment strategy. It identifies sectors that will grow rapidly for next 10-15 years and then invests in the most competitive company in the sector. It uses Michael Porter 5 Forces Competitive Edge Model to test the competitiveness of each portfolio company. Its research team scores each company on 35 parameters to assess its competitiveness after interacting with the management, suppliers, distributors, competitors, bankers etc. of the company. This rating is updated on a quarterly basis. The result is a portfolio that is made up of the best companies and portfolio returns are steady and non-volatile.
Its portfolio consists of multi baggers like Dixon Technologies, APL Apollo, Apollo Hospital, Titan, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Jubilant Foodworks, Affle, CDSL, CAMS, Divis, LTI, CMS Infosystems and Angel One.
For its Start-up Fund, Piper Serica has created an AI/ML based tool called yoda.ai to screen start-ups. This tool takes into account 17 variables to predict the probability of success of the start-up. This tool has led to successful investments in start-ups like Khatabook, Junio, Anaxee, Apxor, ASQI, Fleetx.ai, Nuvepro, Mynvax, Alt Mobility, Crediwatch and Insorce.
Prior to founding Piper Serica, Abhay worked as a Director with the Private Equity group of JP Morgan in India, HK and Singapore (1997-2004). He invested in companies in India, Korea, Australia, Singapore, China and the US. His investments include HDFC Bank, Piramal Glass, Jubilant Foodworks, Nicholas Piramal (acquired by Abbott), Bharat Forge, MTR Foods (acquired by Orkla), Mando Machinery Korea, Marico and HDFC Securities.
Abhay worked with Citibank India from 1993-1997. He managed a direct investment program for the bank that made some very successful investments.
Abhay has done B.com from Sydenham College, Mumbai (1991) and MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management (1993).
Abhay is an active martial artist. He is a second-degree black belt in Judo and a certified international Judo coach. He is also a black belt in Shotokan Karate. He trains under-privileged children and supports budding Judokas and martial artists.
