South Africa: Second close for HAVAÍC's African Innovation Fund 3
Investors include Sanlam, Fireball Capital and the SA SME Fund.
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Cape Town-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm HAVAÍC has announced the second close of its $50 million African Innovation Fund 3. Supported by financial services group Sanlam Multi-Manager and with follow-on investments from Fireball Capital and the SA SME Fund, the fund has secured $25 million in commitments.
Launched in August 2024, The African Innovation Fund 3 is earmarking 15 investments in early-stage, high-growth, and post-revenue investments born in Africa with regional and global growth potential.
Ian Lessem, managing partner at HAVAÍC, said, “Welcoming Sanlam Multi-Manager into our Fund 3, along with added commitments from the SA SME Fund and Fireball Capital, is a testament to our track record for not only delivering leading returns by supporting African-born businesses, but also creating meaningful social and economic change through our investments. Together, we can continue supporting our continent’s dynamic tech entrepreneurs and grow African VC to new heights.”
Sanan Pillay, head of private markets at Sanlam Multi-Manager, commented: “Our due diligence showed that HAVAÍC has an extensive track record of successfully investing in the local tech space. They are also very capable of supporting businesses to scale and internationalise their operations – this is key to succeeding in the tech sector.”
Claudia Manning, principal at the SA SME Fund, added: “HAVAÍC has leveraged its deep industry expertise, extensive network, and disciplined investment strategy to build a standout portfolio of high-potential start-ups. Their professional approach to fund management and attentiveness to investors offers reassurance that our needs will be met.”
The second close coincides with the fund’s latest investments into SAPay, which is digitising payments in the South Africa taxi industry, and a follow-on investment into Sportable, a sports data collection and analytics platform.
Acting as a lead investor in the fintech’s first external funding round, HAVAÍC backed SAPay with a $1 million investment in July as part of a larger funding round. HAVAÍC also concluded a second $1 million follow-on investment in Sportable, acting as the lead investor in its bridge to series B funding round during July.
This follows Q1 investments in Pan-African payments platform NjiaPay and fast-growing livestock trading platform SwiftVEE.
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