Top 10 Venture Capital Firms in South Africa [2023]

With a total of $832 million raised in 2021 alone, South Africa is the continent’s 2nd country in terms of venture capital investment, close behind Nigeria. No wonder South Africa has many of Africa’s best venture capital firms.

In addition to funding, South Africa’s venture capital firms often also offer founders valuable support for hiring, product development, sales and marketing.

In this article we have listed our top picks for the best venture capital firms in South Africa. So, if you haven’t yet started to reach out, here is a good place to start learning about them.

Note: this article is part of a series where we present you the top Venture Capital firms across the world. Have a look at the complete list here.

Top 10 Venture Capital Firms In South Africa

Here’s a summary of our top 10 picks for South Africa’s best venture capital firms for startups (in alphabetical order):

NameSector focusRoundInvestment sizeInvestments
4DiTechnologySeed, Series A$1M-$5M22
CRE Venture CapitalTechnologySeed, Series A$500K – $2M43
Goodwell InvestmentsFintech, Financial InclusionSeed$500K – $2M27
Kalon Venture PartnersTechnologySeed, Series AUndisclosed11
Kgatelopele Venture CapitalTechnologySeed, Series A, A+$500K – $5M3
Kingson CapitalTechnologySeed, Series AUndisclosed5
Knife CapitalTechnologySeed$50K – $1M22
NaspersTechnologySeries A, A+Undisclosed40
Newtown PartnersTechnologySeed, Series A$500K – $5M15
Vumela FundTechnologySeed, Series A$50K – $1M13

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4Di

4Di is a venture builder firm led by former entrepreneurs and founders. The early-stage technology venture capital firm is based in Cape Town, South Africa, and a team of experienced entrepreneurs leads it with a personal interest in building companies. The Vc firm backs bold entrepreneurs and helps them build a global business. 

CRE Venture Capital

CRE Venture Capital invests in and partners with visionary entrepreneurs helping them to build technology-enabled startups. Headquartered in New York, the VC firm has offices in South Africa where they seek to invest in the seed stage and Series A companies.

Their principal mission is to look for visionary founders to build leading global companies specializing in defining technological solutions.

Goodwell Investments

Goodwell Investments is a pioneering investment firm focusing on financial inclusion, fintech, and inclusive growth in sectors that provide goods and services to the underserved. The VC firm adopts a collaborative approach in its venture-building efforts. They represent an integration of professional investment management and local presence in ensuring excellent financial and social results.

The VC firm believes that investments in an inclusive economy solve social and environmental issues while generating financial returns. Therefore, they seek to support the growth of an inclusive economy in housing, health, education, water, and food.

Kalon Venture Partners

Kalon Venture Partners invests in technology-focused companies led by the most dynamic and well-experienced teams within the South African market. 

The VC firm invests in post-revenue companies led by entrepreneurs who commit to solving the African problems with the potential for scaling into global markets.

Kalon Venture Partners aims to provide innovative capital while delivering returns to investors. The VC firm offers highly experienced teams to conduct detailed due diligence of potential investments and help reduce the business risk. They look for early-stage entrepreneurs with revenue but are not yet profitable. 

Kgatelopele

Kgatelopele Venture Capital is a black-owned VC firm that seeks to invest in various businesses. The VC firm focuses primarily on the private equity and venture capital asset classes owned by black under-developed companies with the potential for business growth.  

Kgatelopele Venture Capital looks for businesses whose credentials and track record of founders are impressive. They seek to invest in startups whose products or services have good market potential and scalability.

Apart from financial investment, the VC firm works with startups through the concept development and evaluation phases. They provide entrepreneurs with business advice and help founders in defining governance structures. 

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Kingson Capital

Kingson Capital is a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in startups that have the potential to scale through Africa and into the US market. 

The VC firm looks for entrepreneurs with a unique and scalable business concept. They look for entrepreneurs providing the products and services that will change the landscape and disrupt the existing business models. 

Typically, they search for AI-powered services and products and data analytics or machine learning products.

Kingson Capital remains actively engaged in the management of each investee company. They assist the companies in developing the right strategy and ensuring business growth. 

Knife Capital

Knife Capital is a venture capital firm that seeks to accelerate the international expansion of African innovation-driven businesses by leveraging knowledge, networks, and funding. Therefore, the VC firm targets entrepreneurs that show potential and are interested in global success. They look for companies with deep technological competence and a well-defined product that generates recurring revenue.

To qualify for funding, founders must show proof of an impressive management team and have a transparent governance process. The VC firm targets companies that seek to address a high gross margin. 

Naspers

Naspers is a capital investment firm targeting founders with the ambition of achieving business growth. The VC firm invests in and runs leading companies, helping them add value at all stages of business growth. 

Typically, the VC firm aims to invest in early-stage companies and grow them quickly to scale. The VC firm seeks to support food delivery, payments, fintech, retail, travel, edtech, and social platforms. 

Newtown Partners

Newton Partners is an early-stage VC firm that invests in emerging and disruptive technology startups. Founded and operated by internationally successful entrepreneurs, the VC firm has a strong track record of investing in successful technology startups at the forefront of innovation. 

Since its inception, the VC firm has successfully invested in and nurtured several early-stage companies from the ideation stage to the market-leading businesses. 

Today, Newtown Partners honestly drives sustainable value and growth. They seek to provide honest and impartial advice grounded on real-world experience. 

Vumela Fund

Vumela is a VC firm focusing on creating an innovative model to develop a sustainable and financially operational business. The VC firm invests in high-growth small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises with an excellent economic and impact return.

The VC firm’s primary goals are to invest in and develop entrepreneurial companies to alleviate poverty by creating jobs. 

They provide investee companies with many prominent South African companies access to the ready market through a supplier development relationship. Besides, investee companies access a network of like-minded entrepreneurs and business experts. 

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