How funding really
works here
Most startup funding advice is written for a market with a hundred times more capital and an entirely different set of habits. These guides are about raising money in South Africa specifically: what the options are, which ones suit which businesses, and where founders reliably burn months for nothing.
How to raise pre-seed funding in South Africa
What counts as pre-seed here, who really writes first cheques, what to have in place before you start, and the timeline to plan for rather than pray for.
Read the guide → Investor TypesAngel investors vs VC in South Africa
They behave differently, want different things and suit different moments. Take an angel-shaped business to a VC and you will waste two months proving it.
Read the guide → Capital StructureEquity vs debt for early-stage SA businesses
Equity is the priciest money on the shelf if your business could have been funded another way. When debt, revenue-based finance or grants make more sense.
Read the guide →Why we write these
A surprising share of the founders who come to us are not blocked by anything about their business. They are blocked because nobody ever explained the mechanics. What a term sheet actually commits you to. Why a fund that loved the product still passed. What "we're not leading" means in practice.
That knowledge circulates by word of mouth among people who already have investors in their contacts. If you don't, you are expected to absorb it by osmosis while being judged on it. Writing it down is the cheapest way we can flatten that out.
For what this looks like applied to real situations, the case studies walk through three founders and what was actually blocking each of them.
These guides are general information about how funding processes typically work in South Africa. They are not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice, and they are not a recommendation to pursue any particular transaction or instrument. Your circumstances matter and the rules change, so take professional advice from a licensed advisor before making funding decisions.
Read enough. Need an introduction
A guide can explain the landscape. It cannot make the phone call. That part we do ourselves.