SA SME Fund

Cape Town’s Akro announces names of eight startups selected for its first cohort

Cape Town based venture builder Akro today revealed the names of the eight startups selected for its new 20-week acceleration programme funded by the SA SME Fund. The…

Andza competition to offer SA startups chance at nettting up to R10m in funding, acceleration

The SA Innovation Summit and the SA SME Fund have launched the Andza competition which aims to give startups a chance at netting up…

SA SME Fund backed Akro opens call in new Cape based accelerator

Cape Town based venture builder Akro has opened a call to entrepreneurs for a new 20-week acceleration programme which is funded by the SA…

Here are the eight funds that the SA SME Fund will invest in

The R1.4-billion SA SME Fund — which was officially launched yesterday in Johannesburg by President Cyril Ramaphosa but which has already begun disbursing investments…

Grindstone Accelerator launches call to startups for first Gauteng cohort [Updated]

Venture capital (VC) company Knife Capital has joined forces with the SA SME Fund and Deloitte to launch the next iteration of its Grindstone…

Spartan SME Finance secures R100m from SA SME Fund for R600m fund

SA small business financier Spartan SME Finance has secured a R100-million investment from The SA SME Fund to anchor its R600-million debt financing fund,…

SA SME Fund commits R110m to hardware tech incubator Savant

Gordhan said at least half of the R110-million will be invested in black African-owned businesses.

Four Savant backed startups secure TIA seed grants totalling over R2.5m

Four startups incubated at Cape Town based hardware tech incubator Savant have secured seed grants totalling over R2.5-million from the incubator’s seed fund partner…

It’s official: Cape Town healthtech startup is SA SME Fund’s first investment

Ventureburn can today confirm that a venture capital deal concluded by Cape Town based KNF Ventures earlier this month in SA healthtech firm 5nines Technologies has made…

SA SME Fund in new mandate to invest over R1bn in black small firms, startups

SA’s long awaited SA SME Fund will invest just over R1-billion or 75% of its R1.4-billion in funds in black-owned small and medium-sized enterprises, including tech startups —…

BREAKING: Former PPC Cement head announced as new SA SME Fund CEO [Updated]

Former PPC Cement head Ketso Gordhan was today announced as the new CEO of the SA SME Fund. The announcement that Gordhan will take the helm…

EXCLUSIVE: SA SME Fund CEO’s stepping down was ‘amicable’ says fund official

The head of the SA SME Fund Quinton Dicks has parted ways “amicably” with the fund, a right-hand official of Discovery CEO Adrian Gore who initiated…

PIC won’t reveal how much it invested in black-owned insurtech Yalu

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) says it won’t reveal the amount that it has invested in black-owned startup Yalu — after the insurtech firm announced earlier this week that…

Over a year on, when will big companies’ SA SME Fund get going? [Opinion]

South Africa’s private sector loves to lament how poor the government’s support has been for small business — but it seems, business owners shouldn’t expect much either…

SA SME Fund is not aimed at venture capital sector, says CEO

South Africa’s R1.5-billion SA SME Fund is not aimed at boosting the country’s nascent venture capital (VC) sector, but rather at helping already profitable mid-sized companies to…

SA SME Fund will commence with due diligence in July says CEO

The R1.5-billion SA SME Fund will commence with initial fund screening due diligence from next month (July 2017), the fund’s CEO Quinton Dicks said…

SA downgrade ‘nearly irrelevant’ to startups – Michael Jordaan

South Africa’s downgrade to junk status earlier this month by two rating agencies may have depressed Michael Jordaan, one of the country’s most respected venture…

Exclusive: ‘Government won’t match private sector in R1.5bn SME fund’

The SA government has no immediate plans to match the R1.5-billion that 48 large companies have committed to the SA SME Fund, National Treasury…

Avengers: Endgame passed R100m mark in SA Box Office this weekend

Google’s new AR Beauty Try-On will let you try lipsticks on YouTube

Facebook to launch digital wallet for Libra cryptocurrency in 2020

Silvertree exits CompareGuru in sale to SA’s SureStart

Egypt’s Eksab secures ‘six-figure’ investment from 500 Startups

‘Not easy to classify whether a startup is African because of globalisation’

Samsung to release 27-inch CRG5 curved gaming monitor later this year

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will officially launch this Friday

HMD Global’s Nokia 3.2 is coming to South Africa after all

Audi’s new cars in Germany will count you down, pace you to green lights

Two Ford Focus trim levels also found to have lock issues

South Africa’s govt ministers really love German cars and big Toyotas report reveals