Venture Capital

Top Venture Capital Firms In Africa

Venture capital is a fast-growing asset class in Africa, with over 20 new, mostly late-stage VC funds launching and a 74% growth in equity investments into African tech start-ups in 2019 (Partech Africa). Venture capital is a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential. It generally comes from well-off investors, investment banks, and any other financial institutions. following is the list of top Venture Capital Firms in Africa:

Vantage Capital

Vantage Capital
Vantage Capital

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2001

Based in Cape town, Colin Rezek incorporated Vantage Capital in 2001. In addition to Vantage Capital, he was also a part of the founding group of Rezek Motor Group. Furthermore, he also established MMR Equity Capital, a private equity management company that following a merger in 2001, is now known as Vantage Capital Group. Since 2006, it’s Mezzanine division has made 27 investments across that includes equity invest, Rosslyn Riveria, New GX Capital, etc. While Vantage Capital’s GreenX division has made 14 debt investments into South African solar and wind energy projects. It has raised over US$ 1.1 B for African companies. Also, it mainly focuses on Commercial Services, Forestry, Other Business Products and Services, Other Financial Services, Software. And, its preferred geographical location for investments is in the Southern African Region.

IDF Capital

Polo Leteka - IDF Founder
Polo Leteka – IDF Founder

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2008

Based in Gauteng, South Africa, Polo Leteka incorporated IDF Capital in 2008. In addition to IDF capital, Polo Leteka has diverse experience in both the public and private sectors of South Africa, including investment banking, corporate finance, accounting and auditing, Venture capital, private equity, etc. It mainly invests in Small and Medium Enterprises with potential growth. In addition to this, in 2015, IDF Capital jointly established a Sub-Saharan Africa SME PE Fund called Alitheia IDF in collaboration with Alitheia Capital of Lagos, Nigeria.

Convergence Partners

Andile Ngcaba - Convergencce Partner Founder
Andile Ngcaba – Convergence Partner Founder

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2006

Based in Johannesburg, Andile Ngcaba founded this Firm in 2006. In addition to this, Mr. Ngcaba has also served on the board and high-level panel responsible for outcomes of the Netmundial multi-stakeholder conference on Internet governance, and he also serves on the council of The National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI). Convergence Partners is a pan-African tech-focused private equity player. Its main focus is on initiatives that increase the availability of communications, broadband services, and new technology offerings to the people of Africa. In other words, they focus on investment in the Technology, Media, and Telecom sector. Few of its portfolio companies include Bloodhound, Britehouse, DFA, Comsol, Inala Broadcast, and LifeQ. Thus it is one of the top Venture Capital Firms In Africa

Business Partners Limited

Business Partner Limited
Business Partner Limited

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 1981

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Business Partners Limited was incorporated in the year 1981. It is one of South Africa’s leading risk financiers for small and medium-sized businesses. The company offers services like risk finance using equity, royalty and debt finance, or a hybrid, and also non-monetary support in the form of mentorship. In addition to this, they also provide property investment and management for entrepreneurs in South Africa and selected African countries. It provides loans ranging from US$ 30,000 to nearly US$ 3,000,000.

Adlevo Capital

Yemi Lalude - Adlevo Capital
Yemi Lalude – Adlevo Capital

Founded in 2007

Yemi Lalude, a Mauritius based-private equity fund manager founded Adlevo Capital in 2007. In addition to this, Yemi Lalude is a part of the board in Interswitch, Rancard Solutions, and Paga. Furthermore, Mr. Lalude also has experience of working at GGV Capital. It is a private equity firm focused on investing in technological-enabled companies across sub-Saharan Africa. Few of its portfolio companies include Interswitch Limited, Rancard Solutions Holdings Limited, Pagatech Holdings Limited, and Solo Phone Holdings Limited.

Capital Eye Investments Limited

Capital Eye Investment
Capital Eye Investment

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2011

John Bright and Duncan Coles founded Capital Eye Investments Limited in 2011. Currently, Duncan Coles serves as a non-Executive Chairman at Capital Eye Investments which is one of the top Venture Capital Firms in Africa. Additionally, Mr. Coles also has experience as a Director of the Board for the UCS group. It is a private equity and venture capital company investing in technology and Tech-based companies. Additionally, mainly prefers to invest in IT Services, Software. Its portfolio companies include Argility and Crossfin. Thus, it is one of the top Venture Capital firms in Africa.

Knife Capital

Knife Capital
Knife Capital

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2010

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Eben van Heerden, and Keet van Zyl incorporated Knifecap in 2010. In addition to this, Keet van Zy he also co-founded AngelHub, Grindstone Accelerator, and KNF Ventures. Knife Capital is the incarnation of the SA venture capital division of ‘Here Be Dragons’ – a privately owned emerging market investment group founded by internet entrepreneur and cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth. Knife Capital invests via a consortium of funds under management, including SARS section 12J Venture Capital Company: KNF Ventures and UK-based Draper-Gain Investments. Knifecap mainly prefers to invest in Business Products and Services (B2B), Communications and Networking, Services (Non-Financial), Software. In addition to this, its preferred geographical location for investments in Southern Africa and the United Kingdom.

Enygma Ventures

Enygma Ventures
Enygma Ventures

Home Country –  South Africa
Founded in 2019

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Sarah Dusek, and Jacob Dusek incorporated Enygma Ventures in 2019. In addition to this, they both are also the co-founders of Under Canvas. Enygma Ventures is an R100 million (5,953,500.00 US$) venture capital fund that focuses on female entrepreneurs in Southern Africa. Its main preferred geographical location for investment in Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They have 11 entrepreneurs in their 2020 cohort who are currently going through our investor-ready program. As a result, it is one of the top venture capital in Africa. Especially for female entrepreneurs.

MBO Capital Management

MBO Management Capital
MBO Management Capital

Home Country – Nigeria
Founded in 2012

Based in Lagos, Nigeria,  MBO capital Management is a Nigerian Private Equity Firm. It mainly invests into Small and Medium Size Companies. In addition to this, its main area of investment is Nigeria and Anglophone. Furthermore, it aims to provide expansion funds to early-stage ventures/companies. Additionally, MBO Capital Management is keen on raising a US$ 100 M fund. This fund will be focused especially on firms operating in Sierra Leone. Further, this fund will be a sector-agnostic fund. In other words, it’ll be sector-specific, which includes FMCG, non-bank financial institutions including microfinance, agro-processing, and entertainment. In fact, this is one of the top Venture Capital firms all over Africa. Lastly, their current investments include Sterling Realties, Sterling Virtual Office, Inkblot Productions ltd, and NFC Agroprocessing Ltd.

4Di Capital

4Di Capital
4Di Capital Team

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2009

Based in Cape Town, 4Di Capital is a Venture capital firm that focuses on high-growth technology venture opportunities. It has 4 partners. Namely, Justin Stanford, Laurie Oliver, Erik Van Vlaanderen, and Anton van Vlaanderen. It’s one of the best venture capital firms in Africa. Furthermore, it has three funds namely, 4Di Capital Fund III, 4Di Capital Fund I, and 4Di Exponential Tech Fund. 4Di Capital Fund I is 4Di Capital’s first fund and opened in 2011 for a general early-stage technology venture capital. Furthermore, The 4Di Exponential Tech Fund I is 4Di Capital’s second fund and opened in 2016 for scalable technology opportunities. The 4Di Capital Fund III is the firm’s third fund, which launched in 2019 with the SA SME Fund as anchor LP. Lastly, a few of its portfolio companies are Aerobotics, LifeQ, InvestSure, Flare, and Bloodhound.

Newtown Partners

Newtown Partners
Newtown Partners

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2014

Based in Cape Town, Vinny Lingham and Llew Claasen incorporated Newton Partners in 2014.  It is an early-stage venture capital firm. Furthermore, Llew is also the former Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, the original, the oldest and the largest Bitcoin advocacy organization globally, headquartered in San Francisco, U.S.A. In addition to this, Vinny Lingham is a South African Internet entrepreneur who is currently the co-founder & CEO of Civic Technologies, Newton Partners is actively investing in emerging, disruptive technology startup businesses. It’s one of the top Venture capital firms in Africa. Lastly, a few of its portfolio companies are Field Intelligence, Civil, BitGo, and String Labs

Kalon Venture Partners

Clive Butkow - Kalon Venture Partner
Clive Butkow – Kalon Venture Partner

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2015

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Clive Butkow founded Kalon Venture Partners in August 2015. Kalon Venture Partners invests in and builds a portfolio of high growth technology companies, with innovative business models, geared to existing and emerging institutions and their customers. Further, it prefers to invest its growth capital in the form of equity. In addition to this, their target potential returns are IRR 30% or more. In other words. It aims to achieve an investment return of five times the risk of capital invested within 6 years. Few of its portfolio companies include Mobiz, Sendmarc, Flow, FinChatBox, and Ozow.

Secha Capital

Secha Capital Team
Secha Capital Team

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2016

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Secha Capital is a private equity firm that invests in African Small and Medium-scale Enterprises. Rushil Vallabh incorporated Secha capital in 2016. In addition to this, focus primarily on FMCG and Agri-business industries. It is one of the best venture-capital firms in Africa.  Compared to other venture capital firms Secha capital plans on investing for the longer-term.

Invenfin

InvenFin
InvenFin

Home Country – South Africa
Based in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Invenfin is a venture capital firm owned and backed by Remgro group. Their principal focus is equity funding of businesses that have evolved well beyond the seed or start-up stage. They invest in multiple sectors. Moreover, food and Beverages is one of their key focus areas. Its portfolio comprises eight ventures which include Ad Dynamo, ArcAqua, Bos Brands, ChessCube, LifeQ, Orso, and Wyzetalk.

22 On Sloane Capital

22 On Sloane Capital
22 On Sloane Capital – Campus

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2014

Based in Sandton, Gauteng, 22 ON SLOANE is the largest startup campus in Africa. In addition to this, through its partners and network globally provides Angel Funding and Venture Capital for promising young companies in our key priority sectors. Furthermore, it also offers an incubation program and  Accelerator program. It is one of the top Venture capitalists all over Africa. Furthermore, it has over 100 startups based at the campus operating in Agro-processing, Connectivity, E-commerce, EdTech, FinTech, Green Energy, HealthTech, Manufacturing, Mobile Gaming, and Mobility.

Action Hero Ventures

Action Hero Ventures
Action Hero Ventures

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2013

Based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Action Hero Ventures, is a private investment firm that makes early-stage investments. Ernst Hertzog incorporated Action Hero Ventures in 2013. Furthermore, they prefer scalable businesses in various industries that require relatively small amounts of capital to grow. In addition to this, they prefer to invest alongside other investors and for a minority stake. Few of their current investments include Benefit Counselor, Picsa, My fan Park and MzansiGo. In addition to this, it has also made an exit in a few of its other investments that include Wumdrop, Thula Baba Box, The Good tree, and Domestly.

African Rainbow Capital Investments 

African Rainbow Capital
African Rainbow Capital

Arc or African Rainbow Capital is a registered investment holding company. While making an investment Arc looks for mainly 4 things. Firstly, Significant minority stakes with strong minority protections. Secondly, subscription for primary capital into each new investment. Thirdly, synergies, and cross-selling opportunities within existing investments and, lastly, early-stage businesses with significant capital growth potential. Furthermore, it holds a diversified portfolio of investments valued at R4.5 billion( US$ 27,01,95,750).

AngelHub Ventures

Angel Hub Ventures
Angel Hub Ventures

Home Country – South Africa
Founded in 2011

Starting out in 2011, AngelHub Ventures is the First Angel group in South Africa.  Operating out of Stellenbosch in South Africa and backed by two family offices we are passionate about early-stage investments in South Africa. Furthermore, their first-round investments range from 1 to 10 million Rand. Although, all investments are milestone-based and we have the ability to provide follow on funding. Few of its portfolio companies include Gometro, Snapplify, GoDoChurch, and Opennetworks.

 

Anza Capital

Anza Capital

Home Country – South Africa
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Anza capital is one of the top Venture Capital firms in Africa. The firm seeks to invest in the information technology sector. In addition to this, a female-led fund that focuses on female-led businesses or startups.

Acquipharma

Home Country – South Africa

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Acquipharma is a Venture capital firm headed by Oppel Greeff. Greeff is a medical professional. In addition to this, he is a former executive with publicly traded Quintiles Transnational Corp. Further, Acquipharma invests in the biotechnology, medical device, and technology sectors. One of its major investments was in Bugworks Research.

Venfin

Venfin Limited
Venfin Limited

Home Country – South Africa

Based in Stellenbosch, South Africa, Venfin is an active investment firm. Furthermore, its main sector of investments is Communications and Networking, and Software. While geographically, it mainly invests in Africa, Asia, Canada, Eastern Europe, Middle East, United States, Western Europe.

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This research article has been produced by Investocracy, a company focused on connecting startups from emerging markets with Japanese investors.

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