Top 20 Biotechnology VC Funds & Investors in South Africa (September 2026)

Portfolio highlights

• Jem — We give employers the ability to send company-wide communications, deliver payslips, manage leave & give employees access to their earnings, via WhatsApp.
• Immobazyme — Immobazyme provides pioneering the biotechnology industry. Using innovative technologies, along with an environmentally responsible outlook.the company aims to develop an analytical laboratory platform as well as serve the industrial sector through the production of high-value products by organic synthesis and environmental remediationtechnologies.
• Happy Pay — Happy Pay is a credit scoring system developing company. The company integrates an autonomous artificial intelligence technology system with the merchant's platform to increase their average basket size and customer conversion metrics, providing users with buy now, and pay later services.

Portfolio highlights

• Novel Farms — Novel Farms uses microbial fermentation to develop cruelty-free, inexpensive and tunable bioscaffolds for the production of cell-based meat products. Novel Farms mission is to craft the taste and texture of the gourmet meats and transform cell-based meat consumption into a sought-after culinary experience for the next generation of consciouseaters.
• Minus — A sustainable coffee alternative, combining the taste, look, and smell of coffee with a smaller footprint to ensure a brighter future for coffee and the planet.
• Unicorn Biotechnologies — Unicorn Biotechnologies has built the turing machine for biology that read and writes scientific endeavour in iterative loops automatically by combining state of the art hardware, software and machine learning approaches.

Portfolio highlights

• ConnectMed — Download the Chicken Road App in Kenya to play instantly! Experience smooth gameplay, fast deposits, and unlock rewards available on the app.
• MariHealth Solutions (RF) (PTY) LTD — Proteomics-powered analytics for aquaculture. We quantify 3,000+ proteins per sample to deliver deep biological insights for fish health, nutrition, and farming.

Portfolio highlights

• MAOLAC — MAOLAC is a producer of nutrition products. Their functional milk proteins offer humans and animals immune protection that includes sports nutrition, healthy aging, leaky gut, gut health, relief of joint pain, and reduction of skin infections.
• De Novo Foodlabs — Producing non-animal dairy proteins using precision fermentation

Portfolio highlights

• Yebo Fresh — Yebofresh is a new online shopping service, delivering popular groceries straight into areas that are generally unserved by most formal retailers. Our unique business model and partnerships with manufacturers allow us to deliver top quality products and A-brands at extremely competitive prices. Yebofresh serves Imizamo Yethu, Langa, Khayelitsha,Mfuleni and Gugulethu and following recent seed funding, is rapidly expanding across the greater Cape Town area.
• Cape Doctors — CA Cape Doctors is a trusted private medical practice in Cape Town dedicated to providing high-quality primary healthcare services for individuals and families. With modern facilities located in Rondebosch and Claremont, the practice offers convenient access to professional medical care in a welcoming and patient-focused environment. Theexperienced team of doctors and healthcare professionals are committed to delivering safe, reliable, and comprehensive treatment for a wide range of medical needs.The practice provides a full spectrum of general practitioner services, including routine medical consultations, health screenings, chronic disease management, and treatment for acute illnesses. Patients can also access services such as blood tests, pathology, X-rays, minor procedures, and medical examinations for travel or visa requirements. CA Cape Doctors focuses on preventative healthcare, early diagnosis, and personalised treatment plans to help patients maintain long-term health and wellbeing.With flexible appointment scheduling, online booking options, and availability on weekends and public holidays, CA Cape Doctors aims to make quality healthcare accessible and convenient. The practice combines modern medical technology with compassionate care, ensuring that every patient receives professional attention and support tailored to their individual health needs.
• NewForm Foods — We are leveraging a continent-spanning R&D network to help food producers develop and scale cultivated animal products, fast & affordably.

Portfolio highlights

• Hive Health — Hive Health is a digital platform that provides access to easy-to-use, affordable, and quality HMO plans for SMEs in the Philippines.
• Netbank — Netbank provides various banking solutions like alternative lenders, payment solutions, neobanks, and wallets.
• Kraver's Canteen — Kraver's Canteen is an online F&B brand builder, operating the fastest growing cloud kitchen network in the Philippines. Can't agree what to order for the family? Satisfy every craving with the best delivery brands in the Manila, with just one delivery fee!

Portfolio highlights

• Immobazyme — Immobazyme provides pioneering the biotechnology industry. Using innovative technologies, along with an environmentally responsible outlook.the company aims to develop an analytical laboratory platform as well as serve the industrial sector through the production of high-value products by organic synthesis and environmental remediationtechnologies.
• Custos Media Technologies — Custos uses imperceptible watermarking technology and the blockchain to protect digital media files from online piracy. Our SaaS solution, Screenercopy.com, helps filmmakers and distributors to securely distribute their content. To date, over 120 000 movies have been distributed and protected with the technology, all without a single leak. Custosis already protecting ebooks too and is partnering with key market players to expand into music and sensitive document protection.

Portfolio highlights

• Maia Farms — Maia Farms creates sustainable mushroom and mycelium ingredients for food makers. Clean-label, high-performance, and built to scale.
• Nakitora AI LLC — NAKITORA’s mission is to accelerate food & beverage (F&B) innovation by harnessing real-time AI insights, helping brands create the right products for the right consumers, faster than ever. Their core product, TasteGPT™, is a generative intelligence platform that ingests 10M+ daily data points (menus, reviews, social, e-retail), using adomain-tuned LLM and real-time vector search to instantly surface emerging trends and unmet needs. They serve global F&B brands, CPGs, and innovators who need rapid, data-driven product development. Compared to batch analytics or generic tools, NAKITORA offers real-time, domain-specific ideation and zero-survey prediction.
• De Novo Foodlabs — Producing non-animal dairy proteins using precision fermentation

Portfolio highlights

• Matta — Creating AGI to manufacture the impossible.
• Willo — Willo is advancing and scaling true wireless power for humanity, technology, and industry. Discover the company powering the next era of energy delivery.
• Tangible — Tangible empowers hardware companies with sustainable asset-based lending solutions. Our platform streamlines debt funding, compliance automation, and financial product design, enabling efficient capital mobilization and comprehensive reporting for a greener future. Scale your business with Twist.

Portfolio highlights

• Opalia — Opalia is introducing a new era of dairy: functional, delicious, and sustainable dairy made from mammary cells.
• Hooked Foods — Hooked Foods is working on a plant-based tuna substitute. By serving delicious plant-based seafood for everyone to enjoy, the company is leading the transition to a healthier seafood ecosystem. The company was established in 2019 and is headquartered in Sweden.
• Cultimate Foods — At Cultimate, we are transforming the flavor and aroma industry with natural innovative ingredients.

Portfolio highlights

• PatientPartner — Discover PatientPartner, the leading patient engagement software transforming pharma and med-tech with scalable, data-driven solutions that drive better health outcomes.
• Lipidio Pharmaceuticals — A Unique Approach to Treating Obesity Precision Targeting of the Skin Exploiting the skin as an endocrine organ Historically regarded as a protective barrier organ, the skin is now recognized as an active endocrine organ capable of synthesizing, and secreting diverse hormones and signaling
• SEngine Precision Medicine — The Search Engine For Identifying Personalized Cancer Treatments.

Portfolio highlights

• BioCertica — BioCertica combines advanced genomics technology to interpret your DNA and provide recommendations to unlock a healthy lifestyle.
• Circulaire — Pricing API, valuation certificates and auction software on one platform. Backed by real market data.
• Transparent — Transparent offers speakers with a modular design that can be repaired and upgraded over time. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Portfolio highlights

• Plasmaleap — Plasmaleap is a plasma technology company that manufactures and sells zero-emissions chemical reactors designed for industrial and energy applications. The company develops reactor systems that use plasma processes to enable chemical production and transformation without relying on conventional combustion methods. Its technology supports sectorssuch as clean fuels, chemical manufacturing, and materials processing by offering electrified reactor solutions that can be integrated into existing industrial workflows. Plasmaleap designs modular systems that allow operators to deploy plasma reactors for on-site production and conversion of feedstocks using electricity as the primary energy input. The company also provides engineering support and technical integration services to help customers incorporate its reactor technology into commercial operations. Through its plasma-based approach, Plasmaleap focuses on enabling chemical processes that align with decarbonization and emissions reduction objectives across multiple industries.
• Hachiko — Hachiko is a software building platform that aims to help the battery portfolio owners, also the firm is for energy trading.
• Forge Industries — Giving landfill bound trash a second life as disruptive bio-fuel to power heavy industry

Portfolio highlights

• SettleKit — Free, personalized step-by-step guidance for immigrants: SSN, bank account, driver's license, health insurance, credit card, and more.
• De Novo Foodlabs — Producing non-animal dairy proteins using precision fermentation
• Smart Separations — Smart Separations is a limited company based in London UK that has patented an innovative microfiltration technology to produce ceramic filters with self-assembled controllable pores of uniform size in the range between <1 and 50µm. This tight pore size control and range availability will revolutionise the field of MF with a cost-effectiveproduct.It aims to be the world’s leader in MF and particle separations technology – filling the void gap that exists in the market nowadays.

Portfolio highlights

• Hsabati — Une vision à 360° de votre entreprise
• Chari — Chari is an e-commerce and fintech app for traditional retailers in French-Speaking Africa allowing them to order any consumer goods they sell and get delivered for free in less than 24 hours. Chari is also a financial services provider for these retailers, offering them microloans
• WafR — WafR is a reward-based loyalty startup that allows users to earn phone recharges while shopping at retail shops.

Portfolio highlights

• CubeSpace — Industry-leading modular attitude determination and control (ADCS) products and solutions. Laser-focused on our customers' success. Your global ADCS partner.
• Jem — We give employers the ability to send company-wide communications, deliver payslips, manage leave & give employees access to their earnings, via WhatsApp.
• Happy Pay — Happy Pay is a credit scoring system developing company. The company integrates an autonomous artificial intelligence technology system with the merchant's platform to increase their average basket size and customer conversion metrics, providing users with buy now, and pay later services.

Portfolio highlights

• Living Models — Plant genomic foundation models built for biological discovery.
• Foodiefame — Controlo de horas, custos, documentos e visibilidade para clientes
• Ergo Bioscience — We are a biotech startup focused on the development of complex animal proteins by plant cell precision fermentation

Portfolio highlights

• Propel Foods — Startup that creates plant-based and hybrid protein through technology.
• Peruvian Veef — Peruvian Veef is an offline and online store that offers real burgers, grilled seitan, crispy cravings, and vegan nugget products.
• Atlantic Fish Company — Atlantic Fish Co is a cultivated seafood company using cellular agriculture to bring the world sustainable delicious seafood.

Portfolio highlights

• NjiaPay — Payments-as-a-Service platform that will streamline your operations and elevate your online payments across the African continent.
• SwiftVee — SwiftVEE is a livestock trading mobile app. They support live webcast livestock auctions and silent auctions. Their platform facilitates the discovery and viewing of livestock auctions.They provide webcast advertising, online auctions, and online livestock insurance services and data products for financial institutions.
• Tanda — As a Tanda Agent, you can sell Kenya's favorite digital products, and grow your duka while you're at it

Portfolio highlights

• Kuunda — Kuunda provides consulting, liquidity management, data insight tools enabling users to fulfill financial needs through a digital platform.
• Jem — We give employers the ability to send company-wide communications, deliver payslips, manage leave & give employees access to their earnings, via WhatsApp.
• Ridge — Ridge structures natural assets into regulated, ISIN-listed financial products accessible through existing banking infrastructure.