
Fairfax Financial Holdings
95 Wellington Street West, Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2N7, Canada
Overview
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and investment management. Fairfax’s corporate objective is to achieve a high rate of return on invested capital and build long-term shareholder value. Fairfax seeks to differentiate itself by combining disciplined underwriting with the investment of its assets on a total return basis, which Fairfax believes provides above-average returns over the long-term. Fairfax was founded in 1985 by the present Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, V. Prem Watsa. The company has been under present management since 1985 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Its common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FFH and in U.S. dollars under the symbol FFH.U. Fairfax’s insurance and reinsurance companies operate on a decentralized basis, with autonomous management teams applying a focused underwriting strategy to their markets. Fairfax subsidiaries provide a full range of property and casualty products, maintaining a diversified portfolio of risks across all classes of business, geographic regions, and types of insureds. Since 1985, investments have been centrally managed for all of the Fairfax group companies by Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. (www.hwic.ca), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairfax. Hamblin Watsa emphasizes a conservative value investment philosophy, seeking to invest assets on a total return basis, which includes realized and unrealized gains over the long-term.
- Total investments
- 2
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 9
Sector focus
- Finance
- Financial Services
- Venture Capital
Investment portfolio
- Digit Insurance
Participated · Equity · Jan 2021
Go Digit General Insurance Limited (Digit Insurance) is an Indian digital general insurance subsidiary of Fairfax’s 49%-owned Go Digit Infoworks Services Private Limited focused on selling general insurance products digitally. The company agreed to raise approximately $200 million through new equity issuances, valuing Digit Insurance at about $3.5 billion. The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval and were expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. The fundraise and regulatory changes around foreign ownership are material to Fairfax’s accounting treatment of its investment in Digit. Fairfax disclosed that, since Digit’s 2017 founding, it has invested about $154 million and currently carries the investment at $532 million on its balance sheet. Upon closing of the new equity issuances and receipt of required approvals, Fairfax projects the Digit investment’s aggregate market value to be approximately $2.3 billion, producing substantial unrealized gains on its holdings. Go Digit General Insurance Limited is a general insurance company. On January 15, 2021 the company raised INR 1,350,000,000 in an equity funding round. The transaction included participation from returning investors A91 Partners LLP, Faering Capital, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (TSX:FFH), and TVS Capital Funds Limited. The round produced a post-money valuation of $1.9 billion (INR 139,002,100,000). The article does not disclose operating metrics such as revenues or user counts nor specific future plans. Digit is a new-age general insurance company founded by Kamesh Goyal and backed by Canada-based Fairfax Group. The company offers general insurance products to retail customers. Within two years of operation Digit says it serves more than 5 million customers and has achieved close to $300 million of annualised premium. In January Digit announced IRDAI approval to raise $84 million from growth-equity investors A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital. That $84 million round follows two prior funding rounds amounting to $140 million. The company declined to comment on celebrity investments disclosed in filings.
- TeamSnap
Participated · Equity · Jan 2017
TeamSnap builds sport management technology used by coaches, administrators, players and parents to sign up, schedule, communicate, collect payments and coordinate teams and leagues. The platform supports over 22 million users, 3 million unique teams and 19,000 clubs across more than 100 sports and activities. TeamSnap emphasizes ease of use and customer loyalty, which the company says is a testament to ongoing investment in its technology and customer experience. The company positioned the product to help organizations manage registration, scheduling and payments as sports activities resume. Management says the recent financing gives TeamSnap liquidity and flexibility to further support its network of teams, sports organizations and brand partners. Founded in 2009, TeamSnap continues to focus on taking the work out of play for youth sports and group activities. TeamSnap provides a platform to simplify communication and coordination for coaches, administrators, players and families across teams, clubs and leagues. The company serves nearly 15 million customers across 196 countries and counts more than 3 million users in Canada, including nearly 5,000 TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues customers. Active users interact with the product an average of more than 40 times per month, and the native iOS app holds a 4.7 rating and regularly ranks among the App Store’s Top 10 Free Sports Apps. TeamSnap says it will use the new funding to redouble focus on TeamSnap for Clubs & Leagues and to expand its marketing, sales and product teams to accelerate platform advancements. The company is also recognized for its strong corporate culture, having been ranked No. 6 in Outside Magazine’s 2016 Best Places to Work. TeamSnap is based in Boulder, Colorado. TeamSnap provides web and mobile apps that organize and communicate schedules, practices, equipment and volunteer coordination for sports teams. The product emphasizes mobile engagement — its iOS app is rated 4.7 and ranks among the App Store’s Top 10 Free Sports Apps — and users interact with the platform an average of 40 times per month. The company nearly doubled its customer base over the past year and now reports 9 million users across 196 countries. TeamSnap says it plans to build on its market position to become a unifying sports team platform and a marketplace for sports-related products and services. Founded in 2009 and based in Boulder, the company has a team of more than 60 people working remotely around the U.S. Its leadership frames the recent financing as a way to accelerate delivery of innovative sports management solutions. TeamSnap offers a mobile and web service for managing sports teams, activities and organizations. Its top-rated mobile app lets users schedule games, view player availability, track statistics, process mobile payments and more. The company says more than 5 million people use TeamSnap worldwide, and over 60 percent of customers use the mobile app. TeamSnap is described as an award-winning service and its app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Based in Boulder, Colo., the company plans to accelerate growth and continue innovating its product following the new financing. TeamSnap offers an online web application, native mobile apps, text messaging and interactive email to manage recreational and competitive sports teams, social groups and other organizations. Two million parents, participants and coaches use TeamSnap’s platform. The company has experienced high triple-digit growth for the last two years and leadership describes the market as largely untapped, with sports representing a particularly large opportunity. TeamSnap closed a $2.75 million funding round, exceeding its original $1.5 million target, to accelerate market penetration. Management said the new capital and investors will help speed customer adoption, especially in Canada where the company is already seeing good growth. New and existing investor relationships are expected to support expansion and product engagement.
Team
Alan Horn
President & CEO
LinkedInPrem Watsa
Chairman, Founder & CEO
David Bonham
VP & CFO
Robert J. Gunn
Business consultant and corporate director