Knife Capital has closed its $50 million Series B fund to invest in the enlargement of South African startups primarily, with consideration for startups in the remainder of the continent as nicely.
South African enterprise capital agency Knife Capital has introduced the shut of its $50m Series B enlargement fund, Knife Fund III. The fund will present follow-on funding and invest in the enlargement of African innovation-driven firms.
“The focus is on high-growth scalable South African B2B technology companies that have impact potential and show strong returns through exit optionality. The fund will also back entrepreneurs in other African countries who fit this investment profile in collaboration with experienced local partners,” the agency mentioned in an announcement.
Some of the buyers in the fund embrace the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), the SA SME Fund in addition to its new Venture Capital Fund of Funds, Standard Bank, AfricaDevelop (a German Fund of Funds backed by DEG, KfW and AllianzGI), Skybound Capital, Fireball Capital and the Draper-Gain household workplace in partnership with Rand Merchant Bank.
“We are delighted to bring together such a credible investor base with a reason to care about the growth of venture capital investments in Africa,” mentioned Keet van Zyl, co-founder of Knife Capital. “Most of our investors are co-investment partners who share deal flow openly and can augment the investments with alternative funding instruments and follow-on funding for enhanced growth. Raising a venture capital fund in Africa is a long and challenging journey, but we could not have scripted the outcome any better,” he added.
The Knife Fund III comes at a time when growth-stage capital has been arduous to come by for South African startups. Some specialists in the ecosystem have even pointed to the scarcity as the explanation why the nation’s startups have a tendency to exit too early.
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