Endeavor South Africa: Quarter 4 Newsletter 2023
Dear Friends of Endeavor,
‘When the going gets tough, the tough get laser-focussed’
One might have pinned this as the winning mantra for the now-victorious Springboks. Values are vital: they set direction, fuel a passion, and protect from distractions, providing laser-sharp focus. It might sound trite but it holds true that value is most clearly defined in adverse conditions. Honing in on what is valuable and diligently working on this, leads to success. The past year has been tough — sticky inflation, higher rates for longer, and in VC much talk of how to survive the funding winter. It has been a value-defining year, and equally fertile ground for future success.
Local Endeavor Events & Network News
Food and Climate are ever-growing topics, especially in Africa. Following on from a successful program in 2022/2023, we are happy to share that we repeating our African Agritech Scale Up with FMO (Dutch development bank) & AfricaGrow (DEG Impact) with a new cohort of 10 early-stage agritech ventures, Read more here
Our Q4 Endeavor Connect session in Johannesburg, featured Barry Swartzberg, Endeavor Board member and co-founder of Discovery, who shared Discovery’s international growth story, offering invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs. Discovery is one of those incredible founder-led stories where passionate entrepreneurs got together, dared to dream a new way of doing health insurance, and were backed by investors looking to build with them. This is a story that has to be told and Barry and Adrian are fine examples of the South African entrepreneurial passion and give-back that is infectious.
Local Scale Up: 5 New Joiners
Entrepreneur News
BREAKING NEWS! Entersekt a a global leader in digital payment founded in South Africa recently announced the acquisition of US fintech Modirum 3-D Secure Payment Solutions to accelerate their global growth. They now secure +2.5bn transactions a year. Congrats to Schalk Nolte & team! See here.
ANKA, collaborated with the African Development Bank on a white paper showcasing the global growth of African businesses in the e-commerce space. ANKA’s platform significantly contributes to job creation and empowers female entrepreneurship. This is a must-read here.
AURA, is making great strides in the UK and were selected as a finalist at the Security & Fire Excellence Awards in the UK. See here.
Capital Raising News
Pineapple closed a remarkable $22M Series B round led by Futuregrowth, Talent10 Holdings, and Mineworkers Investment Company. This is the largest African Insuretech raise to date. Read more here.
JOBJACK Closed its Pre-Series A round led by NEXT176, including the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Their platform has helped close to 2 million job-seekers in South Africa alone. Read more here.
Inclusivity Solutions closed a $1.5M extension round with Goodwell Investments, to expand and have presence in +12 African markets by the end of 2024. Read more here.
Harvest Fund III: Paying it forward
Endeavor South Africa is raising a R500 million Harvest Fund III, building on the success of Harvest Fund II. The fund will invest in Endeavor’s high-growth tech and tech-enabled ventures in South Africa and other key African markets. With a commitment to reinvesting 100 percent of the GP carry back into the ecosystem, the fund is poised to make a significant impact in the local ecosystem. See here.
Our Harvest Fund would not have been possible without support from USAID. This quarter, we welcomed the visit of Paloma Adams-Allen, Deputy Administrator at the USAID, where Endeavor showcased the amplifying impact of USAID’s support in South Africa’s VC sector. See here.
Global Endeavor Events & Entrepreneur News
After 10+ years investing in emerging markets, our global Catalyst Fund marked its 300th investment in Noon, The Social Learning Platform. This means we’ve invested in ~12% of our Endeavor selected companies. Our Catalyst Fund is a co-investment venture vehicle, investing 100% of GP Carry back into global entrep ecosystem and the key to our future of self-sustainability. Read more here
Global Capital Raises — the latest roundup!
- Tamara, a BNPL platform from Saudi Arabia with 400+ employees, 9M+ customers, and 25k+ partner merchants, has secured new debt financing of US$250M led by Goldman Sachs and Shorooq Partners. Read here.
- Tabby, from Saudi Arabia, is the first licensed FinTech to provide BNPL across the GCC, announced a US$200M Series D, which places their valuation at US$1.5B 🦄. The round was led by Wellington Management. Read here
- Endeavor Entrepreneur & Egypt Board Member, Mounir Nakhla, founder and CEO of MNT-Halan, announced a US$130M capital raise via an oversubscribed bond offering. MNT-Halan became Egypt’s first unicorn 🦄 and is the largest lender to the unbanked. Read here
- Universal Diagnostics S.A., just announced a US$70M Series B. Founded out of Seville, Spain in 2012 Universal Diagnostics S.A. is creating a cancer detection platform consisting of minimally invasive, blood-based solutions. Read here.
- Planet Farms, the largest vertical farm in Europe, on the outskirts of Milan, growing basil, baby leaf salads, pesto, and lettuce sold in 2M+ supermarkets and online retailers across Italy, announced a US$40M funding round Read here.
Ecosystem updates
High Net Purpose Podcast: The Endeavor Effect. What sets Endeavor Entrepreneurs apart? In this episode, Joseph McCarthy & Endeavor Catalyst’s Allen Taylor delve into the resilience & impact of high-impact entrepreneurship. Listen here
AI and the art of the possible. “The future is both sooner and stranger than you think” — Listen to the full conversation here in Reid Hoffman’s fireside chat with Alice Bentinck at the CogX Festival in London.
Closing the Year
Tymebank founders flying the South African flag high at our Annual Gala with the Endeavor SA team
At the end of the quarter, we came together with our Board (who donate their time, advice, and money) to strategically review our mission — the leading network of by and for founders to dream big, scale up, and pay it forward. We reaffirmed our greatest asset — our growing network of mission-driven changemakers — founders, mentors, board members, partners, investors, and staff both locally and globally.
We ended the quarter with our SA network awards and Annual Gala at The Glasshouse in New York, acknowledging the enormous contributions made by our mentors and network, thank you once again!
It is in this vein that we look to 2024 and beyond with a heightened focus on our network, united in a common goal — to create a sustainable offering to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and to uplift economies by doing so. With the imminent first close of our co-investment Fund Harvest III and Endeavor Catalyst’s 300th investment, we’re one step closer to a self-sustained future across the network.
Wishing you and your family a memorable and safe festive season!
Alison Collier
Managing Director, Endeavor South Africa
