Knife Capital is an independent third party fund manager focusing on high growth, high impact technology-enabled businesses from South Africa and other frontier economies across Sub-Saharan Africa.
KnifeCap manages HBD Venture Capital's South African portfolio of investments. HBD VC is a South African Venture Capital Fund founded by Mark Shuttleworth in 2000. HBD (an acronym for "Here Be Dragons" - a term used in ancient times to mark unchartered territories on maps) offered growth capital to a range of early stage businesses. The fund is now fully invested and its current focus is on growing its investments to achieve successful exits.
KnifeCap is currently in the process of raising a Growth Equity Fund with first closing of between R100m and R150m. The investment targets in need of expansion capital will have existing revenue flow and a verifiable customer base, matched by significant market potential. Investment size will range between R10m and R30m per first round investment. For more information on participating as a Limited Partner contact us.
KnifeCap provides consulting, training and business acceleration services to high-growth early-stage ventures in Southern Africa. We are committed to creating African success stories and filling critical gaps in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. The team is deeply involved in skills-, technology- and knowledge transfer initiatives to groom skilled entrepreneurs as the future leadership class of Africa – a new generation of role models.
KnifeCap partnered with the UCT Graduate School of Business to present an Executive Education Programme:
Find - Make - Grow - Realise: Investing in early-stage growth companies. This participative, case-study-driven course is designed to provide investors and entrepreneurs with a deep understanding of the high-growth investment process and is presented periodically in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The Grindstone Accelerator is a new structured acceleration initiative that will assist 50 high-growth technology-enabled companies to become sustainable and fundable. This will be done via a range of services designed to build a foundation for growth, create relevant business networks and enable these companies to take advantage of market access opportunities.
More information on how to apply soon!
KnifeCap co-founded AngelHub: a manager-led Business Angel Investment Group that pools funding, expertise and networks from a diverse range of early-stage Angel Investors for investments ranging between R1m and R10m in high-growth South African ventures to accelerate growth and create value. AngelHub aims to unlock new funding resources for startups, support South African entrepreneurship innovation, and generate jobs and economic value.
Eben is the co-founder and CEO of KnifeCap. Working for Ernst & Young launched his successful career as director and advisor to various high growth businesses as well as his passion for business building. He has been instrumental in various regional and international M&A transactions, the raising of the R150m Mark Shuttleworth HBD Fund2 in South Africa and has a track record of high return regional and international exit transactions. Outside of his career, Eben, who is an ardent follower of the teachings of Carl Jung, enjoys spending his time learning to play the piano, collecting and watching celebrated films, playing tennis and spoiling his Dalmatian and Beagle.
Keet is a dynamic investment expert with extensive growth equity investment and banking experience. He has worked in specialized finance at industry-leading international companies such as Procter & Gamble and Investec Bank. He was instrumental in setting up various Private Equity funds in the Southern African region before joining HBD Venture Capital. In 2010 he co-founded KnifeCap to continue the active management of HBD's South African portfolio of investments and build the high-growth investment industry in South Africa. Keet is fascinated by the bubbles in Champagne as he celebrates life with his wife and two young daughters. He has a passion for water-skiing and in 2005 he became the first "Extreme Accounting" world champion by injecting the adrenaline rush of accounting into the everyday routine of extreme sports. @KeetvZ
Andrea has a successful track record in the corporate sector, as entrepreneur as well as investor. She headed up Corporate Strategy for Siemens Southern Africa followed by managing a software sales team for Dimension Data. Starting her own businesses led her into the investment space where she raised the R350m Hass Plattner Ventures Africa Fund. Passionate about developing the ecosystem she is involved in numerous business incubation initiatives, evangelizing Global Companies such as Google and IBM to get more involved in Africa. Andrea’s life is a juggling act and she is currently working on the five-ball juggle: Her husband, two children, KnifeCap, Sundays on the beach with the Strand Lifesaving Club and life between two continents. @AndreaBoehmert
Brett is the CEO of AngelHub – a manager-led Angel Investment Group that KnifeCap co-founded to house early-stage investments. He is a merchant banker turned VC; was the founder-CEO of Invenfin (Remgro's VC arm) and has worked in SA, the Middle East and Europe. He is deeply involved in entrepreneurship education and mentorship having founded several businesses, and is a member of Enablis Investment Committee. Passionate about Angel Investment Brett initiated AngelHub as an important deal source and even more important contribution to the South African funding ecosystem. When Brett is not working, he's either attempting to surf, punishing his mountain bike or taking on former Olympic medalists on the SA Masters Swimming circuit to the cheers of his three favorite people - his wife and two daughters. @BrettCommaille
Wesley Lynch is the Entrepreneur in Residence – providing functional expertise to investments. He is a serial technology entrepreneur and Founding CEO of Realmdigital, an iCMG Global Enterprise & IT Architecture Excellence award-winning technology company. Motivated by a strong belief that collaboration is essential for business and industry success, Wesley is regularly involved in giving advice to tech start-ups looking for funding, as well as to venture capitalists and angel investors looking to invest. In 2011 Wesley was named under the Top 10 South African IT Personalities in the country. In his spare time he enjoys travelling with his chef wife, Sam and two kids. He enjoys playing games and watching the Discovery channel. @wesleylynch