Knife Capital

Knife Capital is a Cape Town-based venture capital firm co-founded by Keet van Zyl and Eben van Heerden, with a track record stretching back to 2010. The firm closed Fund III at $50 million in August 2023, targeting Series A and B investments in innovation-driven South African companies with strong international expansion potential. The fund is backed by the IFC, Standard Bank, Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), SA SME Fund, AfricaGrow, Skybound Capital, Fireball Capital, and the Draper-Gain family office.

What makes Knife Capital fundamentally different from most Africa-focused VCs is the "exit backward" investment model. Before investing, the team identifies the most likely acquirers and works backward to structure the company for that exit. This is not a theoretical exercise: the firm has delivered eight exits, including Fundamo to Visa, CSense to General Electric, orderTalk to Uber Eats, iKubu to Garmin, FlightScope via MBO, WizzPass to FM:Systems, ProGlove to Nordic Capital, and most recently Quicket to Ticketmaster in 2024. That exit track record is arguably the strongest of any Africa-focused VC, and it is the primary reason to engage with Knife Capital.

The firm focuses on B2B technology companies and B2B2C models, deliberately avoiding capital-intensive B2C consumer plays. Keet van Zyl has publicly stated that "the main successful exit route is still a trade sale to a strategic partner," which shapes everything about how the firm evaluates and supports companies. If you are building a company that could be acquired by a global tech or industrial corporation, Knife Capital is built for you.