Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) today announced the launch of the second window of applications for investment through their R150 million Venture Capital initiative, MIC Khulisani Ventures. High growth potential, innovative, Black-owned businesses with ambitions of bringing innovative products or services to a bigger market are encouraged to apply.
“Since inception, the initiative has allocated over R45 million in investment, to Black-owned businesses that are disrupting the Edu-tech and consumer tech industries. While the criteria for application does not significantly change this year, we are deliberate in targeting Black female-owned or led businesses” says Mary Bomela, CEO of Mineworkers Investment Company.
MIC Khulisani Ventures addresses the significant gap in post-seed investment for businesses that are not plugged into the dominant streams of venture capital networks. Many of these investment-ready ventures tend to be Black-owned, with ideas that can shift industries and society, but do not take off due to a lack of institutional support.
MIC is casting the net wider with this window and looking to target businesses that are looking for expansion capital, even if relatively young. “We quickly learned that the field is slightly less developed than what we had initially envisaged in terms of where the demand for that kind of investment was, versus our ambitions. Incidentally, this still gives us opportunity to diversify and reach as many businesses as possible especially those that are disruptors of market and show immense potential for scalability” adds Bomela.
The initiative supports businesses with access to capital and enables access to business advisory services offered by partner entities such as I Am An Entrepreneur, Cadena Growth Partners, and Grindstone XL.
MIC Khulisani Ventures is projected to offer venture capital investment of up to R30 million per successful applicant. All sectors are included in the investment criteria save for primary agriculture and primary extractive industries. The focus will be directed to innovative, or technology enabled products or services that disrupt traditional markets, improve efficiencies, or respond creatively to existing problems in South Africa. The ability to scale rapidly is equally an important consideration, which should be an inherent feature of any high-growth potential entity looking for expansion capital.
Businesses that meet the criteria can apply by visiting khulisani.mic.co.za. Applications are open from 12th July 2022 and close on 23rd August 2022
