Grindstone - Afrikan Heroes

Grindstone and Anglo American Foundation Unveil First Cohort of Green Tech Startups in South Africa

November 16, 2023

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Grindstone has unveiled its selection of 15 green technology start-ups for participation in its accelerator program. The collaborative effort between Cape Town-based accelerator Grindstone and the Anglo American Foundation (AAF) marks the initiation of the Grindstone South Africa program, with a specific aim to empower entrepreneurs in the green sector.

The chosen start-ups include VEZ Technology, Ground 2 Tap, I-N-TECH, Boombadotmobi, First Drop Hydration, Tsehla Holdings, GreenMovement, MKGreen Solutions, The Green Cab, Imperative Energy Group, Lily Loompa Upcycled Homeware, RE: HEAT Africa, Isphepho Group, PWK Waste Management and Recycling, and Umlilo Energy South Africa.

In a joint statement, the organizations express the program’s objective of assisting 15 technology and technology-enabled start-ups in the green sector by providing them access to secure funding and valuable market opportunities.

Maike von Heymann, Head of the AAF, emphasizes, “From solar power to waste management, to water filtration systems, this cohort of 15 start-ups are driving positive change in their communities across South Africa. At the Anglo American Foundation, we are proud to partner with Grindstone; together, we champion entrepreneurship that not only creates quality jobs, with a focus on youth, but also paves the way for a greener, more sustainable world.”

The program is scheduled to span over six months, commencing this month, and is tailored for post-seed to Series A start-ups operating within the green sector. Grindstone highlights that the winning company will be rewarded with a cash incentive at the program’s conclusion.

Start-ups involved in the program will gain access to knowledge through plenary workgroups covering strategy, branding, marketing, sales, technology, legal and intellectual property, valuation, finance, mentoring hours, secure funding access, and valuable market opportunities for networking, social media, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessments.

Furthermore, these companies will benefit from mentorship provided by Grindstone alumni and established ecosystem network partners, including Green Cape and Savant.

Earlier in the year, Grindstone collaborated with Naspers Labs to launch the GrindstoneX female entrepreneur program, which selected ten local female-founded start-ups for participation.

Recognizing the expanding technology landscape, Grindstone emphasizes the potential of the green economy to create meaningful job opportunities in South Africa while simultaneously supporting environmental sustainability.

Catherine Young, Managing Partner at Grindstone, acknowledges the rapid growth of the green sector and underscores the need for a corresponding surge in impact investing and a focus on youth job creation in the primary and secondary markets related to the green economy.

Young states, “By supporting innovation in the green sector, including clean energy, decarbonization, sustainable food production, climate tech, and more, we can improve millions of lives, as well as drive sustainable economic growth and job creation in vulnerable communities. Our partnership with the Anglo American Foundation will help South African entrepreneurs at the forefront of building a more sustainable future. It ties in perfectly with our own ESG focus, which is strengthened through partnerships like this.”

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard

South Africa’s Startup Accelerator Grindstone Raises $1.5m To Support Startups

March 18, 2020

South African startups may start applying to the 2020 edition of the Grindstone Accelerator programme. This is because the country’s Grindstone Accelerator has secured a R25 million ($1.5m) investment from the SA SME Fund and concluded partnership agreements with Google for Start-ups and Deloitte to extend its reach.

“We had earmarked 2021 for the virtual launch; however, in light of the current COVID-19 crisis, we are bringing these plans forward and will roll it out with the 2020 cohorts,” says Grindstone’s new programme director, Will Green.

Here Is All You Need To Know

With the new funding, Grindstone accelerator will be looking to increase its activities by doubling intake numbers into the accelerator programme, digitising learning content and running annual programmes in both Cape Town and Johannesburg to add six cohorts of 10 scale-up companies each over the next three years.
According to the accelerator, the on-boarding of Will Green is coming at the right time. Green is an emerging market entrepreneur and advisor who brings over 19 years of business experience, networks and first-hand entrepreneurial knowledge to Grindstone and companies in the cohorts.
Green has worked with many startups, scale-ups and corporates across different industries within South Africa and abroad.

“I was fortunate to take part in the inaugural Grindstone programme and have been involved as an active alumni and mentor over the past four years. I’m extremely excited to be joining the Grindstone team and work with some of the region’s brightest people to advance the local entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Green.

“With the support of our value-adding partners, it is time to further accelerate the funding, making and growing of innovative South African scale-up companies. I would love to help discover and capitalise the next Discovery Health, Nando’s or Capitec, ” he further adds.

Grindstone also confirmed Google for Startups as a technology partner in South Africa, where it will provide Google for Startups programmes to future Grindstone cohorts.
Deloitte Digital, on its own, is extending its commitment to the Grindstone programme after a successful 2019 cohort, adding its experience to the scale-ups and the programme overall.

Read also: Coronavirus: Nigeria ’s Central Bank Cuts Interests Rate For Startups And Businesses, Launches $136m Fund

Why The Investors Invested

The lead investor SA SME Fund was established by members of the CEO Initiative — a collaboration between government, labour and business to address some of the most pressing challenges to the country’s economic growth — as an avenue of support for the SME sector.

According to Ketso Gordhan, CEO of the SA SME Fund:

“The SA SME Fund is committed to developing world-class local entrepreneurs and Grindstone is a good fit as it has shown consistent results in supporting and growing successful South African high-growth SMEs.”

The SA SME Fund supported the current Grindstone Five Johannesburg cohort, and confirmed another three-year partnership with its investment. The SA SME Fund is providing funding support to the next 60 Grindstone companies to enable them to close the initial growth gaps identified.

On its part, Knife Capital in a statement declared that:

“The accelerator programme was created by compressing the VC firm’s venture capital engagement model of aggressively growing a company for three to five years into an intense year-long programme.

“The programme helps entrepreneurs who are navigating their way through the treacherous business scale-up phase by identifying the pitfalls and success metrics of their business strategies while closing growth gaps to execute those strategies.”

A Look At What Grindstone Accelerator Does

Grindstone is a structured entrepreneurship development programme, jointly owned by venture capital firm Knife Capital and African ecosystem player Thinkroom Consulting, which assists high-growth innovation-driven SMEs to become sustainable and fundable.
Grindstone supplies each cohort in a year-long programme with knowledge, networks and funding readiness through growth measurement, gap analysis and interventions designed to build a foundation for growth, transfer skills, create relevant business networks and enable these companies to take advantage of market access opportunities.
Successful businesses that have completed the Grindstone programme include iKubu (subsequently acquired by Garmin), Payfast (acquired by DPO Group), SeaMonster Animation, Electrum Payments, Iono fm, Quicket (funded by Knife Capital), PICSA Finance, WhereIsMyTransport (recently raised a $7.5 million round from Google and Toyota), Locstat, Granite WMS (funded by Knife Capital) and OneCart.
Grindstone says over the past two years, it has digitised many elements of the programme using video tutorials combined with virtual conference, coaching and community engagement software in order to scale the programme learnings and reach more scale-ups.

How South African Startups Can Apply To The Accelerator

For more information on the programme or on how to apply, click here. Applications are now open and will close on 24 April, 2020.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com