The Venture Fund was born out of the experiences of the Incubator – where we saw many promising hardware startups that battled to raise funding. Until the establishment of the Savant Venture Fund, there was no dedicated early stage investor for hardware startups.
What Savant Does
Savant fills a critical gap in the early stage funding space. We provide a supportive, founder friendly environment for very early- stage hardware technology innovators and founders. We use our 20 years of experience to support startup companies. We typically write the first commercial funding cheques that go into these businesses and greatly enhance the probability of success of our investments.
Why Savant?
Savant is the only dedicated hardware technology Incubator and investor on the African continent. We bring unprecedented experience and a track record of finding, supporting and commercialising hardware technology startups in the South African environment. We help our startups refine their focus and optimise their offerings locally before commercialising internationally. The combination of the Incubator and Venture Fund provides a supportive environment as well as the funding these companies require to go to market and scale.
Unique Positioning
Savant’s team comprises professionals with postgraduate business qualifications. Most of the team have from science and engineering-based technology backgrounds. The combination of acumen and domain knowledge allows us to pick protectable, high-technology opportunities with a competitive edge.
The incubator and the fund is a unique combination that allows us to help entrepreneurs build fundable businesses from a very early stage. Once ready, we are able to deploy capital to accelerate the time to market and facilitate growth.
As the first commercial investors, we are vested partners with an aligned long term vision for growth. With skin in the game, our portfolio of companies are able to leverage our network and tailored in-house incubation expertise to overcome common challenges that founders face.
We help companies enter the market, build a domestic footprint and use our networks to help facilitate international scaling. Our goal is to take innovative IP from South Africa and use it to introduce African deep technology to the rest of the world.
We see early-stage hardware investments in Africa as an untapped opportunity with very little competition – giving us a unique perspective in a global VC context.S
Savant’s Vision
Savant’s aim is to introduce unique African-developed tech to the world. We help African innovators provide global solutions that are also applicable to other African markets. Our founders are solving local problems with solutions that have global appeal.
These solutions are tangible products and services that improve human experience while helping businesses remain competitive. Our impact is derived from a portfolio of sustainable, successful companies that offer scalable solutions while generating value, creating jobs, improving the domestic tax base and creating more productive economies.
Investment Partners
