Skyrove, potentially the industry leaders in Wi-Fi distribution, have recently raked in a 7 figure round of funding. I am not 100% sure as to what the exact amount is, but 7 figures sounds good all the same.
Skyrove definitely deserves this, and I am sure it will propel them to the next level.
If only there were more investors that share the same perceptions as those of Lingham Capital (a personal VC initiative by Vinny Lingham, CEO of incuBeta), there would be a huge burst in the South African technology space. There is so much talent in this country, especially regarding the web & technology.
I know for a fact, that if there was a more easily accessible funding organization for new innovative web startups, the effect on the local economy would be evident. I know most of you are saying; “the .com boom is over”, but the point is that the internet is ‘achangin and these startups should not be regarded as .com startups, but rather innovative technology startups.
I too, have a new innovative technology startup and I can tell you that investments have not even crossed my mind due to the difficulty of explaining these technologies to ‘oldskool’ investors. (which most of them are). Also, we aren’t really prepared to go the equity-share route just yet 
I spoke to Henk Kleynhans, the founder of Skyrove today and it was made clear to me that so many entrepreneurs are being constrained by the conservative investing patterns of local VC’s. Now, I am not a boff when it comes to VC in South Africa, but it is quite obvious. I am glad that Lingham Capital are being trend setters and showing off what the South African web-tech can do for ROI. Henk & Vinny, please prove me right on this one.
I am almost sure that in the event of major success (which I am quite optimistic about) the above ‘partnership’ would be a prime success story for future investment decisions.
Besides, who wouldn’t want to invest in a company with revenue growth of 30% monthly?
More on this topic: here and here
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Comments ( 1 Comment )
I wouldn’t write of VC in South Africa just yet. There are some people in this industry who understand technology start-ups and the more success stories the better. The IDC launched a new VC fund last week focusing on seed and early stage technology businesses including software development, E-Commerce and new ICT technologies. I have just attended a presentation from the IDC today and I am curious to see if they are going to live up to their mandate. In addition there are increasingly more people like Vinny who are starting to see the gap and putting their personal money in. So, if you have a great business concept, don’t give up. Skyrove also never did and its paying off big time.
Andrea added these pithy words on
Jun 04 07 at
10:59 pm
