Kgatelopele Private Equity and Venture Capital

Kgatelopele Venture Capital and Private Equity Pty (Ltd) is a 100% black owned firm that seeks to invest in a variety of businesses. The name Kgatelopele is derived from a seTswana phrase meaning “taking a step forward to realise success.

The firm focuses primarily on private equity and venture capital asset classes. The firm targets mostly black under-developed businesses that have a potential for growth if supported. The firm seeks out companies with potential for growth and with the main aim to raise capital, put in talent and strategy needed to permanently strengthen the company and raise its value. Kgatelopele aims to start, develop and manage businesses from short to long term. 

Kgatelopele  is geared to providing early stage or start-up capital for  enterprises and were typically used to fund companies, who have strong business cases but need the essential start-up capital. In SA the business case for some of the start-ups is different and where venture capital is required there are additional pre-requisites to make it attractive for venture capital institutions to get involved. Looked at globally, VC investments in an enterprise are usually between $500,000 and $5 million, and the investor is likely to expect an annual return of 20% to 50%, whilst in SA there is a demand for even smaller amounts of start-up capital Private Equity forms a larger component of the funding in SA, and a range of institutions are providing to this sector to assist with expansion capital as well as to provide BEE companies with managed and leveraged buy outs. 

Funding Approach:

• Equity investment
• Substantial minority/equity stake
• No “Takeover Management Mentality,” but rather has a “Company First Philosophy”
• Board Position – desired but not mandatory (Passive vs. Active Investor)
• Exit is very important (within 3 – 5 years)
• Early Stage, Expansion Stage, Later Stage