Blue Ocean Global Technology Interviews Adi Divgi | Founder of Divino Global Holdings

• Adi Divgi is a seasoned financial services professional with over a two decade career across sales, trading, and asset management.
• Adi transitioned to the allocation side in 2011 to build institutional investment platforms in private markets across customized accounts and commingled funds.
• He invested his own capital alongside these entities, and also in emerging funds and companies.
• Adi launched Divino Global Holdings in 2023 to focus primarily on his family’s mission to empower emerging investment and operating talent.
• Adi is passionate about conscious capitalism and impact investing, with a focus on profitability and sustainability.
• Adi prioritizes physical and mental health, and enjoys playing basketball, traveling, networking, and instilling gratitude in himself and his son.

Blue Ocean: Please tell us about yourself and your professional life.

Adi Divgi: I have over a two decade career in financial services, starting in sales and trading in 2002 after graduating from The Wharton School. Over the next nine years, I held various positions in sales trading and asset management, primarily dealing in publicly-traded credit. In 2011, I transitioned to the allocation side and spent the next 13 years building out investment platforms at three institutional investors: three years at one of the five largest US public pension funds by AUM, seven years at a reinsurance company, and nearly two years with an independent wealth manager.

Last April, I launched my investment management and advisory business called Divino Global Holdings.

The purpose of my business is to source and empower emerging investment on the fund management side and skilled operators on the early-stage company side. This mission drives my passion for building my business.

Blue Ocean: Why did you choose to work in the private wealth management sector?

Adi Divgi : I transitioned from working in publicly traded markets to the allocation side in 2011, focusing on private markets. I believed there was more growth potential in private markets compared to public ones, especially for discovering investment and operating talent. While larger companies dominate public markets, I found working with smaller companies and emerging funds more interesting and potentially more profitable for my family, clients, and partners.

In 2021, I moved from the institutional side to private wealth management, seeing greater growth potential in and less allocation to private markets among family offices, high net worth investors, and wealth managers. This shift allowed me to provide my expertise and replicate the successful platforms I had created on the institutional side.

Blue Ocean: What is one trend in your industry that excites you?

Adi Divgi: As private markets continue to evolve, I have found a noticeable shift towards “transition investing,” or what I prefer to call “conscious capitalism.” This approach involves investing in companies and funds that generate profit alongside impact. Transition investing arises in response to the prevalence of anti-ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) platforms, especially in regions where climate change denial persists and also is in direct response to legitimate concerns of ‘greenwashing’ or ESG-based investing without a primary focus on profit.

Seeing more companies and funds embracing profitability as a fundamental aspect of sustainability generation helps ensure the long-term viability of ventures from a business perspective.

Blue Ocean: How have you differentiated yourself from the competition and what underpins your success?

Adi Divgi: My current focus refines the path I embarked on in 2011 when I transitioned from public to private market strategies. At the New York City pension funds, I was limited to working with large managers due to the size of the commitments I made, from $250mm to $600mm each in aggregate across the 4 participating funds.

I gained more flexibility in manager and asset selection after moving to a private insurance company in 2014 to develop its Alternative Investments platform. I found that smaller funds and companies frequently offered more compelling risk-adjusted returns, as larger managers faced pressure to deploy larger amounts of capital within limited timeframes. The additional focus on capacity-constrained opportunities allowed me to broaden my skill set and identify the emerging talent in earlier-stage funds and companies, in addition to investing with established players.

In 2021, I transitioned from the insurance company to wealth management to focus primarily on investing with founders that were ‘under the radar,’ rather than established players. After close to two years advising Legacy Wealth Management on strategy, I set up Divino Global Holdings in April 2023 to provide investment management and advisory services to institutional, family office, and wealth management clients. I incorporate the best practices I learned across my 12 years of institutional and private wealth experiences to execute my mandate of providing access to lesser-known institutional fund and operating company investment opportunities for my clients and partners.

I attribute part of my success to maintaining genuine relationships built on mutual respect, regardless of the size of the checks I wrote. Moving from a large allocator (NYC pension funds) to a smaller one (Catalina) allowed me to supplement my large institutional relationships with smaller established and emerging firms. Part of my contract with Catalina allowed me to invest our capital alongside the firm, aligning our interests further and providing my family access to best-in-class institutional opportunities.

Blue Ocean: What is something unique you offer to your clients?

Adi Divgi: I specialize in providing access primarily to under-the-radar institutional private market opportunities, primarily in funds and occasionally in early-stage companies. My focus on managers and companies with compelling value propositions but limited traction in capital raising and network awareness is what helps set me apart.

I take pride in identifying and then investing our capital in these opportunities, putting my credibility on the line before presenting them to my network. I view my network as partners investing alongside our family. This alignment, coupled with my ability to source compelling under-the-radar institutional opportunities, further differentiates my value proposition.

Blue Ocean: How did your experiences as a business leader shape who you are today?

Adi Divgi: Across my more than two decade career, I have transitioned from roles with solely monetary rewards to empowering individuals to succeed in their pursuits, leveraging both my capital and robust network.

For instance, in 2017, I identified an Emerging Manager in the health and wellness space with two Latino co-founders. Although I did not initially approach it from an impact perspective, I chose to invest personally in their Fund after my company declined. Within a year, the fund sold to Clorox at a 4x revenue multiple, generating close to a 2x net return on our capital.

This experience, among others, reaffirms my conviction that our continuously improving mousetrap to identify and invest in opportunities that are less visible to the broader investment community could provide my network with a consistent source of compelling returns. Witnessing successful full-cycle private investments in these ‘under-the-radar’ opportunities has been incredibly rewarding professionally, especially in recent years.

Blue Ocean: What does your typical day look like?

Adi Divgi: In my current role, especially post-COVID, maintaining both physical and mental health is crucial to me. After dropping my son off at school, I start each day with a workout. Most of my time post-workout is spent in virtual and in-person meetings, either at my office or with managers and early-stage companies that we are evaluating for potential investments. I also dedicate time to speaking with other active private market investors to share intelligence and explore potential co-investment opportunities. Many evenings during the week are spent networking over investor or manager dinners. There are also group networking events in New York after work, particularly during the summer.

Blue Ocean: What passions and interests do you pursue outside of work?

Adi Divgi: Outside of work, I enjoy playing and watching basketball. I am grateful that my son Arjun shares these interests with me. We also love traveling, especially internationally; exploring new places and meeting new people excite both of us. Watching movies is one of the ways I unwind; I also enjoy organizing in-person and virtual networking events where I can connect with other investors and emerging talent in the industry. Building relationships is a passion of mine, even though only a few may lead to actual investments.

Blue Ocean: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Adi Divgi: Having gratitude is critical in our daily lives, especially in the current polarized global political climate. So much animosity and division exist, making it difficult for people to speak constructively with each other. After being born in India, I emigrated to New York with my family at 5 years old. I witnessed poverty first hand during my summer visits to India, made more acute by growing up in the most wealthy country in the world.

Now more than ever, I realize how fortunate I am to be in the top 1%, simply due to my parents’ respective good fortune and their efforts to improve my opportunity set. I make a conscious effort every day to show gratitude and reflect it in my interactions with others.

Blue Ocean: What are you most grateful for?

Adi Divgi: Seeing my son Arjun succeed is what I live for each and every day. He represents our family’s legacy, and I strive to instill the right values in him and encourage him to have gratitude in his life. As he enters his teenage years, I want him to navigate the changes ahead with an awareness of how fortunate he is and the importance of giving back to his community. Unlike me, Arjun has had the privilege of being born here. Although grateful to provide him with a better starting point than I had, my ultimate goal is for him not only to improve his own situation but also contribute positively to humanity overall; I therefore involve him in our philanthropic activities.

Blue Ocean: What is your favorite quote?

Adi Divgi: One quote that has resonated with me since childhood is Francis Bacon’s “Knowledge is Power, as it helps remind me of the importance of harnessing information effectively. This quote holds even more significance today as knowledge is readily accessible everywhere across the public and – to a lesser extent, private – markets. As a result, the challenge lies in efficiently processing this wealth of information to empower decision-making and drive success.

Conclusion:

Adi Divgi’s story highlights a commitment to empowering talent, embracing conscious capitalism, and fostering gratitude. Through genuine relationships, unique opportunities, and a balanced life approach, success is not only achieved but also enriched. This journey underscores the importance of making a positive impact, both professionally and personally, in shaping a fulfilling life.