Across investment and advisory, the same question governs our decisions: can this opportunity be financed, governed and scaled — or does it merely present well?
01 Principal Investment & Fund Sponsorship
Investing with our own capital
Sterling invests across private and public markets, with a growing concentration in AI and frontier technology.
Private-market activities
Direct and SPV investments. Pre-seed through Series B, across the United States, Eastern Europe, India and Africa.
Select strategic sectors. Investments in financial services, infrastructure and other strategic sectors.
Fund positions. Venture funds and funds of funds, assessed for manager quality, portfolio construction, alignment and net return potential.
Fund sponsorship. The development and sponsorship of a dedicated Africa AI venture fund.
What we underwrite
Diligence focuses on commercial demand, revenue quality, defensible advantages, unit economics and the path from an initial use case to repeatable growth.
Technical novelty may open the door; evidence of real demand determines whether an opportunity can be underwritten.
Direct venture investments are underwritten for credible 10× potential, while fund positions are assessed for manager quality, portfolio construction, alignment and net return potential.
Public marketsSPVsPre-seedSeedSeries ASeries BFund sponsorship
02 Merchant Banking & Strategic Advisory
Structuring consequential transactions
Sterling advises governments, development institutions, corporations and investors on complex, high-value transactions across emerging markets.
Our mandates encompass capital raising, project finance, public-private partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, strategic partnerships and market expansion. Where interests align, Sterling may also invest alongside its partners.
Sectors include telecommunications, airports and aviation, power generation and renewable energy, mining, oil and gas, roads and bridges, agriculture and agro-industry, water and sanitation, healthcare and private higher education.
Geographies are principally African, and also Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.
Capital raisingProject financePPPM&ARestructuringStrategic partnerships
Method
How the two platforms meet
Method photograph images/method-mandate.jpg
Underwriting
We back capability, not enthusiasm
Whether evaluating an infrastructure project or a pre-seed AI company, we begin with the same fundamentals: credible demand, capable execution, a defensible position and economics that remain resilient under adverse conditions.
That discipline enables Sterling to identify and structure opportunities where complexity can obscure underlying value.
