SA mobile shopping app MySideKick announces R4m staged investment

South African mobile shopping app startup MySideKick has announced it received R4-million from EM Software & Systems‘ tech fund and accelerator Alchemy-A in a staged investment, meaning the entire amount is not invested upfront.

Based in the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab, MySidekick seeks to give users easy access to specials, promotions, sales, products and coupons of some of the country’s major retailers based on your location.

Founder and CEO of MySidekick, Leonard Brewer, says “We are very pleased with the investment agreement. It has given us additional resources required for growth and expansion.”

Alchemy-A provides seed funding to startups and invest in post-revenue ventures that are ready to scale.

“We believe that retailers will spend money on the targeted advertising the application offers, especially once high consumer numbers have been reached,” adds co-founder Frans Meyer in a recent release. Alchemy-A would play an active role in strategy and product development.

Read more: From lab to launch: the quest to build startup success in SA’s innovation capital

Philip Marais, CEO of the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab, explained that this round is very significant to the local ecosystem:

In a small or under-developed entrepreneurial ecosystem, access to funding and investment facilitation support is limited. Actively playing a role in mobilising the venture investment relationship is just one way that reflects how active we are in supporting investment-ready startups with high growth potential.

LaunchLab is a network of university campus-based business incubators by Stellenbosch University’s technology transfer office Innovus.