Rural focused

Acorn provides a platform for high-net-worth individuals, institutions and funding partners to participate directly in private equity, which is currently done through an investment holding company, Acorn Agri & Food. Prior to Acorn Agri & Food, the Acorn General Fund One was a limited liability partnership that might be replicated in future investment vehicles.

Entrepreneurs who are considering reaching out to can read the below for an understanding of the aspects we pay close attention to when considering investments.

Qualitative Considerations

• Competent and honest management teams with

4Di Capital is a venture capital fund manager focused on high-growth technology venture opportunities in the Southern and Eastern Africa region.

4Di Capital is an independent venture capital fund manager based in South Africa’s “Silicon Cape”, specialising in high-growth technology venture opportunities, at the seed, early-and growth-funding stages. The fund manager has offices in Cape Town, South Africa and Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. and funds are managed by the GP partnership team of Anton van Vlaanderen, Erik van Vlaanderen, Justin Stanford and Laurie Olivier.

Mobile Agri Skills Development and Training (MASDT) was established in 2005 as a training service provider in the agricultural sector in Mpumalanga, South Africa, but it changed to a non-profit company (NPC), in 2007.

During its business journey it has diversified from being solely a training provider institution to becoming a one-stop centre for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agricultural sector.

MASDT offerings

Seda-funded incubator (plant and animal production incubation)

Main focus areas:

• Facilitating the agriculture incubation concept in different provinces.
• Incorporat

Innovus is a division of Stellenbosch University that is responsible for technology transfer, entrepreneurial support and development, and innovation.

The technology transfer office manages the university’s innovation and intellectual property portfolio and seeks protection for the portfolio, such as patenting, trademark, and design.

The team is also responsible for the management of the portfolio and the commercialisation of innovation through licensing and the formation of spin-out companies.

BioPark Business Incubator provides business development support to start-ups in the health sector in areas such as biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, indigenous knowledge-based nutraceuticals, and cosmeceuticals.

It does the same for start-ups in the agricultural sector in areas such as agro-food processing, bioprocessing, and smart agriculture as well as in the industrial biotechnology sector. 

• Advisory and skills development
• Markets
• Networking opportunities
• Infrastructure
• Funding opportunities

AlphaCode Club is a club for financial services entrepreneurs, which is supported by a physical workspace and a virtual platform.

Launched by Rand Merchant Investments in 2015, AlphaCode identifies partners and grows next-generation financial services entrepreneurs, through incubation, acceleration, collaboration and investment.