South African venture capital firm Knife Capital announced the growth metrics of its fourth Grindstone Accelerator programme. The year-long programme takes ten South African SMEs with proven traction through an intensive review of their strategies and provides them with the necessary support to build a foundation for growth in becoming more investable, sustainable and exit-ready.
Some…
It’s any merchandiser’s dream: Warehouses packed to the rafters with products ready to be shipped and a solid pipeline with more deals on their way. But what happens when you outgrow your warehouse systems and processes, and your growth starts costing you money?
Granite WMS is an easy to use barcode-based warehouse management system (WMS) developed…
Knife Capital has joined forces with the SA SME Fund and Deloitte to launch the next iteration of their Grindstone Accelerator programme in Johannesburg. Aimed at entrepreneurs who are ready to take their businesses to the next level, the programme promises to spotlight the contribution that high-growth entrepreneurs make in enabling Gauteng to be the…
In the small and mid-cap sector on the JSE, financial services group Ecsponent remains one of the most contentiously debated shares.
In its previous life, the share was known as John Daniel Holdings which was positioning itself as a private equity player.
After renaming to Ecsponent, the company has been watched with curiosity due to its issuing…
The South African venture capital sector has seen an explosion of new funding and offerings in the last year, primarily as a result of the arrival of Section12J funds.
Our internal position is that the Section12J funds are likely to come under increased scrutiny in 2019 as funds fail to find investments and move out of…
The numerous South African SME ecosystem reports that have been published so far in 2018 paint a picture of a rising tide in local entrepreneurship: an increasing number of incubators with a diverse range of focus areas, entrepreneurship as an acceptable viable career path, and more funding available to back early-stage entrepreneurs than ever before.…
There is a sense of renewed energy in the South African Venture Capital (VC) and early-stage technology investment sector with the introduction of Section12J funds and the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) vehicles arriving on the JSE.
While this is good news for driving innovation and investment, one of the key parts to the South African…
When it comes to the education sector on the JSE, South African investors have a very limited investment pool with Curro and AdvTech being the main investment opportunities in the sector. You can also indirectly participate through the RECM & Calibre preference share which has an 88% holding in College SA.
For those with a greater risk…
In South Africa, it is easier to be a pessimist than an optimist.
We could argue rightly so: Politicians are driving us nuts with their infighting, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are falling apart, unemployment is stubbornly high and the pace of transformation in industries is without a doubt still too slow.
While a change in leadership of…
In a recent post, I touched on a concern that there was a flood of money going into “Section12J” and “Venture Capital” funds in South Africa and there may be a situation where there is too much capital chasing too few deals.
An announcement on the JSE Stock Exchange News Service (SENS) yesterday from Capital Appreciation,…
On Friday morning I had the opportunity to attend the Kalon Venture Partners event in Melrose Arch, here is some feedback on the session and some high-level thoughts on Section12J.
As some background, Kalon is a Venture Capital Company established with a Section12J fund. The fund aims to invest in high-growth technology businesses – primarily in…