Grindstone Ventures launches R500m fund to bridge South
Africa’s startup funding gap

Female-led empowered venture fund, backed by Knife Capital and Thinkroom, targets the Seed-to-Series A funding gap Johannesburg, South Africa, 9 September 2026: Grindstone Ventures has announced the launch
of a R500 million venture fund to invest in high-growth, technology-enabled African businesses from Seed through Series A, targeting the transition from early commercial validation to
institutional scale.

Led by Thandiwe Maqetuka, Grindstone Ventures combines her venture leadership with the experience and networks of Knife Capital and Thinkroom, which have partnered with Maqetuka to build and back the female-led fund with a black empowered fund manager. This fund follows the successful deployment of Grindstone Ventures Fund I which invested in seven portfolion companies, and catalysed further seed investment with local South African funders to enable future funding, including Locstat, Welo and AgriLogiQ which went on to raise further equity funding from international funders. The Fund is also finalising a lucrative exit that will return meaningful
capital to investors, adding credibility and momentum into the harvesting phase.

“The evolution from Seed to Series A remains one of the clearest gaps in the African venture ecosystem,” said Keet van Zyl, Co-Founder of Knife Capital. “The lessons from Grindstone Ventures Fund I have shown us exactly where that gap bites, and this fund gives us the opportunity to close it.”

The partnership leverages Thinkroom’s experience in entrepreneur development and acceleration and Knife Capital’s track record in venture investment, scaling technology businesses and strategic exits. Together with the Grindstone Ventures investment team, this creates a platform for sourcing and supporting high-growth African companies.

The fund is targeting a first close of R150 million and intends to build a portfolio of 15 to 20 businesses, primarily in South Africa and selectively elsewhere on the continent. The launch comes as African venture capital shows renewed momentum, but capital remains unevenly distributed. While overall technology funding strengthened in 2025, Seed funding declined for a third consecutive year, leaving many promising businesses undercapitalised at the point where they need to scale.

“Some of Africa’s most promising businesses are getting caught in the space between proving that something works and having the scale required to attract larger pools of institutional capital,”
says Thandiwe Maqetuka, Managing Partner of Grindstone Ventures.

“That is Africa’s missing middle. Our opportunity is not simply to provide more capital, but to identify exceptional businesses earlier, invest at a point where capital remains scarce, take meaningful ownership positions and work actively with founders to build companies capable of scaling, attracting institutional capital and ultimately delivering realisable returns.”
Grindstone Ventures will invest from Seed through Series A, with capacity to provide follow-on capital to its strongest-performing companies. Its strategy combines meaningful minority
ownership with active portfolio engagement and concentrating additional capital behind the strongest performers. Portfolio companies benefit from key relationships Grindstone Ventures has
with VC industry players that can co-invest beyond Series A to fuel growth.

“We have deliberately designed the portfolio around the realities of venture investing,” says Maqetuka. “We diversify at entry, allow performance to emerge and then concentrate capital
behind the strongest performers. Importantly, we are building for liquidity from the outset. Paper valuations don’t return capital to investors, exits do. That focus on realisable returns draws directly on the experience supporting Grindstone Ventures.

Knife Capital has spent nearly two decades investing in and scaling African innovation-driven businesses, with portfolio exits to global strategic acquirers, while Thinkroom and the broader Grindstone platform have extensive experience executing on GTM and sales initiatives to identify and develop high-growth entrepreneurs. More than 1,000 businesses are screened annually through Grindstone, with around 50
participating in accelerator programmes each year. “What sets Grindstone Ventures apart is that the pipeline came before the fund,” says Catherine Young, Investment Committee Member and co-founder on Grindstone Ventures Fund I. “Through the Grindstone ecosystem, we have been working with and observing high-growth businesses long before they reach an institutional investment process. That gives us an information
advantage and the ability to invest with greater conviction.”

Beyond capital, Grindstone Ventures will work with portfolio companies across strategy, governance, commercial growth, market access, follow-on funding and exit readiness, drawing
on Grindstone Ventures, Thinkroom and Knife Capital. While firmly returns-led, the fund also intends to broaden participation in Africa’s venture ecosystem. It aspires for at least 50% of portfolio companies to be black-owned, while ensuring a gender-balanced approach in the representation of female founders and women in leadership.

“We don’t believe investors should have to choose between financial performance and building a more inclusive investment ecosystem,” says Maqetuka. “Our responsibility is first and foremost to be disciplined stewards of investor capital. But if we can generate attractive commercial returns while directing more institutional capital towards exceptional black and female entrepreneurs who have historically had less access to that capital, we can begin changing both sides of the market.”

“Africa does not have a shortage of entrepreneurial talent,” Maqetuka adds. “What remains scarce is the combination of capital, patient ownership, active support and institutional discipline requiredto take businesses from early commercial validation to meaningful scale. That is the gap Grindstone Ventures intends to fill.”

ENDS

About Grindstone Ventures
Grindstone Ventures is a female-led African venture capital fund investing in high-growth, technology-enabled businesses from Seed through Series A. Grindstone Ventures combines investment capital with active portfolio support across strategy, governance, commercial growth, market access, capital strategy and exit readiness, leveraging capabilities and networks across the broader Grindstone, Thinkroom and Knife Capital ecosystem.
Grindstone Ventures targets meaningful minority ownership positions in scalable African businesses and follows a concentrated portfolio strategy designed to generate attractive risk adjusted returns while broadening access to institutional venture capital for underrepresented founders.

Media Enquiries
Thandiwe Maqetuka
Managing Partner
Grindstone Ventures
thandiwe@gsventures.africa