WHAT DOES THE TEAM DO?
The Venture Capital (VC) team is a sub-team of the broader investment team at Futuregrowth (born out of the Development Equity team), but with a very specialised, higher risk/return focus. The venture capital focus means investing in companies that are in the early stage of their business growth cycle.
Early-stage businesses require an active approach to investing. This includes regular engagements with the management team of the investee company and effectively supporting them execute their strategy.
The VC team consists of the Head of Unlisted Equity, and four Investment Analysts. The team describe themselves as “sector agnostic” and their roles encompass pre-screening attractive new deal opportunities, doing detailed analyses, negotiating appropriate terms, reviewing legal documents, and preparing investment reports. The team members see the deals through from origination to post-investment monitoring and, ultimately, to realising the investment.
As earlier-stage investments will often have a trajectory that does not pan out neatly according to plan, the VC team's involvement in the investments goes beyond the normal monitoring and care, and requires a high level of commitment, which aligns with Futuregrowth's culture of taking a hands on investment approach.
In their own words….
WHY VC AND WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS FUND?
- "By investing in venture capital, we are supporting South African founders who are building innovative companies and, in so doing, we can help solve South Africa's unemployment crisis and grow the economy.”
- "Although entrepreneurs who have founded new businesses that have the potential to improve many of the issues that South African society experiences, they still struggle to raise funding to sustainably grow their businesses. This limits the potential positive impact they can make.”
- "Knowledge is not only power, but access. A significant proportion of our youth still has limited access to the resources they need to advance themselves.”
- "Individuals in the country should have a desire to start businesses and believe that there are resources available to them to support their dreams, which will allow jobs to be created and improve the country as a whole.”
WHAT MAKES YOUR JOB UNIQUE AND WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST?
- "We are the 'dreamers' in the house who try to imagine what the future will look like.”
- "I love seeing South African entrepreneurs solve South African problems. On a daily basis I learn something new and get a different perspective from the entrepreneurs I speak to.”
- "Because of the high-risk nature of the businesses we invest in, we naturally have to be a lot more optimistic compared to the more conventional debt provider.”
- "I really enjoy the continuous learning that is involved in the job as we look for opportunities across all industries. You are involved in trying to grow the companies and take an active role in the strategic decisions of the business. This is a fast-paced environment where you need to be flexible as new challenges arise on a daily basis, which requires you to think quickly and be able to deliver good output in short turnaround times.”
OUTSIDE OF WORK
It is no surprise that in this team, we have a poet, an art lover, a sneaker head, a karaoke rocker, a psychology and science enthusiast, a philosopher and a health guru - go figure!
