Building with the Best
A Note on Apollo’s Strategy
At Apollo, we’ve never believed in doing everything. We believe in doing the right things—deeply, patiently, and with the best people.
This note is about our playbook. Not the buzzwords or the headlines, but the actual building blocks we’re focused on—quietly, deliberately—so Apollo becomes the most intelligent lender in the Indian fintech ecosystem.
Phase 1: Establish Distribution
Our first priority is distribution. Not just any distribution, but thoughtful, high-quality scale through term loan partnerships with some of the best NBFCs in the country.
These institutions are easier to underwrite, better aligned with RBI guidelines, and are usually built with reliable compliance and governance frameworks. And this isn’t just about deploying capital. It gives us:
A top-down view of credit demand across different pricing layers
First-hand insight from lenders through on-ground diligence
A front-row seat to future collaborations with India’s best lending teams
The scale matters—but only if the unit economics hold up. So we’re clear: we work with NBFCs that don’t just grow fast, but grow profitably. Healthy lending margins, strong recoveries, and efficient operations are non-negotiable.
This is how we solve the first big challenge—how to distribute capital intelligently, sustainably, and at scale.
In a world chasing complexity, we’ve chosen clarity. As Warren Buffett says, “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” We apply the same filter to our partnerships. If we don’t deeply understand the lending model, we don’t back it.
Phase 2: Go Deeper Post Distribution
Once our distribution rails are live, we go deeper—through co-lending and BC partnerships with the top 10 digital lenders in the country. Some of these are NBFCs, some are simply LSP’s. What they have in common is simple: they’re the best.
In most industries, the gap between average and excellent isn’t that wide. But in lending—especially digital lending—the best players don’t outperform by 30%. They outperform by 10x.
That’s why we’re not interested in working with everyone. We’re building with the A players.
To do this, we raise capital at different rates and deploy it across our partner network. That ensures we stay profitable while managing risk at a portfolio level. Every new digital lending app we partner with becomes a satellite branch—adding reach without the cost of infrastructure.
Apollo becomes a branchless lender, with distribution embedded in every smartphone.
The Industry Dashboard: Real-Time Learning
While the front-end is scaling, the back-end is evolving too. We’re building a real-time dashboard on Sonic—our proprietary system—powered by two data streams:
Data from our own loan book
Data from our partner ecosystem
This gives us an edge. We can see how credit is performing across loan sizes, categories, geographies, and partners—live. And because it’s wired into our underwriting engine, we can adapt policies dynamically. No lag, no bureaucracy.
Live Benchmarking
Our edge? Context.
We don’t evaluate partners in isolation. We benchmark everyone—against the rest of the ecosystem.
This allows us to:
Spot macro shifts early
Know who’s outperforming—and why
Dynamically rebalance capital to where it performs best
Each loan we issue sharpens our radar. Every decision is made with a margin of safety. And when the signal changes, we act swiftly.
We don’t just measure numbers. We study incentives. As Munger said: “Show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcome.” If alignment is broken, the numbers can’t save you.
The Compounding Flywheel
Our moat is compounding in motion.
Every rupee we lend sharpens our decisions. Every partner we add teaches us more. Over time, it becomes a self-reinforcing flywheel:
Better data → Better partners → Better returns → More capital → Better data
This is how moats are built—not overnight, but brick by brick.
We’re not here to follow trends. We’re here to build something timeless—an intelligent lending engine for India’s digital future.
We’re just getting started.