Applications for Grindstone Accelerator programme now open  

Applications for Grindstone’s accelerator programme, an initiative tailored towards scaling up high-growth and innovation-driven SMEs in South Africa, are now open. 

Applications close at the end of April 2021

Ketso Gordhan, CEO of SA SME Fund comments on the launch of the next cohort of the accelerator. 

 “The SA SME Fund aims to play a leading role in developing the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our investment in Grindstone is an example of this. Grindstone has done an excellent job in helping to grow a pipeline of entrepreneurs that have managed to raise funding for their startups – a good early measure of success. We are excited by the disruptive and innovative businesses we are seeing coming through in the cohorts and encouraged by the diversity showcased.”

Grindstone Accelerator programme

As an equity-free structured entrepreneurship development programme it is carried out over a year and participants will be provided market access opportunities, funding readiness, gap analysis, and value-adding interventions. 

Will Green, programme director at Grindstone explains the overall aim of the accelerator. 

“Grindstone engineers entrepreneurial Growth. This has been our core purpose from when the programme started back in 2014. We continue to build and improve on this model to deliver measurable impact to all our founders and the broader startup ecosystem that includes alumni, advisors, angels & partners. Engineering success is multi-faceted and we have the frontline experience to support founders in their growth journey.”

The accelerator programme aims to provide training and support to assist selected SMEs to become sustainable and fundable. 

This is the eighth Cape Town cohort and ninth Johannesburg cohort for the renowned programme. As a principal funder in the SA SME Fund, Grindstone’s primary partners include Knife Capital, Thinkroom, Deloitte Digital, and Google for Startups. 

Grindstone claims that previous participating SMEs experienced an overall revenue increase of 52%, an increase in business efficiency across 30% of a business’s functional areas, and raising follow-on funding. 

Requirements

Grindstone has outlined the following requirements for interested applicants: 

• Must be a South African registered company 
• Indicate post-revenue with customer traction and at least R500k revenue per annum 
• A dynamic team 
• Display innovation with a clear competitive differentiator 
• Showcase a scalable business model. 

Applications close at the end of April 2021 and must be completed online. 

Grindstone Ventures

Not only will participating SMEs take part in the accelerator but according to Grindstone participating entrepreneurs will become early-stage investors. 

This is due to the contribution of a female-led VC that has launched a seed equity fund for Grindstone Accelerator companies. 

Catherine Young, Partner of Grindstone and Managing Partner of Grindstone Ventures provides insight into the implementation of Grindstone Ventures.

 “Our aim with Grindstone Ventures is to close the much needed pre-Series A, post-seed gap, a currently underfunded stage in South Africa’s startup funding journey. Our secret sauce lies in the relationship we build with Grindstone cohorts from early on in our engagement that enables us to address qualifying funding gaps early. The innovative investment structure helps our founders to think differently about their business models and creates a vested interest in fellow cohort companies.”

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Featured image: heylagostechie via Unsplash