Top 15 Food and Beverage Startup Investors in South Africa (June 2026)

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 is developing a fully automated manufacturing platform to enable cellular agriculture producers to seamlessly scale products from the lab bench to supermarket shelves. Our full stack platform combines hardware, software and analytics to completely automate cellular agriculture manufacturing, reducing costs and increasingproduct quality. By providing a clear path to scale cellular agriculture from grams to tons, we will improve human and planetary health and drive the transition to animal free agriculture.

Portfolio highlights

• VPBank — As one of the earliest-established Joint-stock Commercial banks in Vietnam, VPBank has achieved steady development throughout its history. Especially since 2010, VPBank has grown dramatically with the development and implementation of the strategic transformation program diligently with support from one of the world’s leading consulting companies.
• ACWA Power — ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation, renewable energy and desalinated water production plants.
• Evren — Evren is a platform for generating power from renewable sources.

Portfolio highlights

• POW! Foods — Puta en gandia
• Veggie Victory — VeggieVictory is Nigeria’s first plant-based food tech company bringing people a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle through plant-based meats and meals.
• High Time Foods — High Time Foods provides shelf-stable and moldable plant-based meat alternatives to foodservice operators. Their first product is a plant-based chicken alternative that does not require refrigeration. The product is moldable and can be used in any cuisine as a substitute for chicken.

Portfolio highlights

• BriefCo — BriefCo is South Africa's first and only legal cost consultancy leveraging technology. We utilize our own secure online platform to allow for the digital delivery and storage of all documents, thereby reducing the significant costs associated with printing, delivery, and file preparation. ​
• Vocalysd.ai — Vocalysd is a customer-centric, AI-powered insights tool. Vocalysd unlocks usable, easy-to-digest insights from your conversational data. These insights are key to optimising client interactions and enhancing your customers' experience.
• Sizanani — Collaboration is at the centre of everything we do. We partner with like-minded organisations to help our users find the best financial products in the market. We are the first WhatsApp-first stokvel solution because we believe that technology is fundamentally meant to create value, not apps.

Portfolio highlights

• Planet42 — Having your own car has never been easier. Planet42 is a vehicle rental company offering rent-to-buy car service for private clients.
• LifeCheq — LifeCheq partners with insurers and advisory firms to deliver AI-enabled distribution, boost adviser productivity, and transform how financial advice is delivered.
• SweepSouth — Book a home cleaning online from your mobile, tablet or computer. SweepSouth connects you with a cleaner in minutes. Cleaners are experienced, reliable, efficient and insured.

Portfolio highlights

• Rentoza — We champion giving you access, affordability and flexibility to explore tech on your own terms
• Mia Healthcare —
• ProfitShare Partners — Business funding solutions with ProfitShare Partners. We specialise in Short Term Asset Finance to help empower SMEs.

Portfolio highlights

• Livestock Wealth — Livestock Wealth is a crowdfarmingTM company that allows people to invest in livestock and earn from sale of the offspring.Their unique CrowdFarmingTM concept allows individuals to share the facilities of a commercial livestock farm while our experts look after their cows on a day to day basis.Cows have been a source of pride and a store ofwealth in Africa for centuries. The wealth in cows is based on something real – beef. The company enables anyone to be an organic beef farmer.

Portfolio highlights

• VALR — Buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum & more | Pay anyone for free with VALR Pay
• Snapplify — Snapplify is at the forefront of edtech solutions in Africa, and specialises in enabling digital learning for individuals and institutions via the largest digital educational marketplace in Africa. As a global edtech company, Snapplify strives for radical inclusion to level the playing field and equip individuals across emerging markets with theworld-class tools they need to collaborate, innovate and thrive. Snapplify’s technology is used in other educational products to facilitate collaboration throughout the educational community.Snapplify for Education’s award-winning platform is already a top choice for institutions integrating digital education into their classrooms. From software to support, Snapplify provides institutions with everything they need to create a secure, collaborative e-learning environment for students. Snapplify’s robust 24-hour-access digital-library solution offers thousands of free ebooks and widely applicable, curriculum-approved educational content supplied by partner publishers from across the globe. Snapplify’s diversity of device integration allows schools to use its products on the devices that they already have access to, without having to invest in costly digital infrastructure upgrades. Snapplify’s solutions are industry celebrated and globally recognised for their innovation in technology.In order to achieve its educational goals, Snapplify has built strong relationships with diverse partners around the growth of its ebook, e-textbook, and device catalogue, and partnered with international publishers and other key stakeholders to meet the demand for widely relevant, curriculum-compliant digital educational content. As a socially minded company, Snapplify is committed to supporting others and creating sustainable change through collaboration and innovation. Snapplify empowers, inspires, and uplifts teachers via Teacha! (a media hub, resource marketplace, and careers portal for educators); is the digital content partner on a project that delivers technology and e-learning to public schools in South Africa’s Gauteng province, and runs impact programmes through the Snapplify Foundation.Snapplify originated in South Africa, focusing initially on the South African education and digital content industries. Since its establishment in 2012, the company has grown and expanded into new markets in Africa and the United States, with offices across South Africa, as well as in Nairobi, London, Amsterdam and New Jersey. Snapplify is backed by AngelHub Ventures, a venture capital company backed by former First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan and the Harris family, as well as international investors. In 2019, Snapplify secured $2 million expansion capital from venture capital firm Knife Capital, and empowered African investment manager Hlayisani Capital’s Hlayisani Growth Fund.Snapplify for Education’s award-winning platform is already a top choice for institutions integrating digital education into their classrooms. From software to support, Snapplify provides institutions with everything they need to create a secure, collaborative e-learning environment for students. Through Snapplify’s e-learning and digital library solution, Engage, educators can share teacher-created, multimedia resource materials with students; administrators can manage the access and permissions for multiple student and staff accounts; schools can host their own 24-hour access digital content library (which comes with over 50 000 free resources including study guides, e-textbooks, past exam papers for multiple curricula, children’s books in African languages and more); and students and parents can purchase prescribed e-textbooks. Snapplify’s diversity of device integration allows schools to use its products on the devices that they already have access to, without having to invest in costly digital infrastructure upgrades. Snapplify’s solutions are industry celebrated and globally recognised for their innovation in technology.
• Real Time Wine — Share your wine moments. Real Time Wine is the social wine discovery app for everyone who enjoys wine, not just those who understand it. [In App Stores NOW!]

Portfolio highlights

• Enmovil — Enmovil delivers a Business Intelligence Platform driven by a connected asset ecosystem that enables organizations to maximise their operational efficiency. Enmovil's platform, which is a combination of front-end software running analytical and machine learning algorithms, combined with its indigenous hardware "satellites"​ deployedin the field, deliver the intelligence to the management that enables them to understand the utilisation model of their resources.
• Lana — Lana offers a fintech platform designed to help companies secure funding for projects that reduce carbon emissions. It connects businesses with financial capital to support decarbonization efforts through loan underwriting and capital structuring. The platform supports both small and large enterprises by simplifying the process of financingsustainable energy initiatives. It also helps reduce the time and cost associated with corporate decarbonization.
• Plasmaleap —

Portfolio highlights

• 3X4Genetics — Scientifically-robust nutrigenomics (personalised nutrition guided by your own genetic stack). Practitioner education & genomic reporting
• 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

• MPost — MPost means Mobile Post office.It enables any mobile phone user to have his or her phone act like a mobile post office. It allows you to make your mobile number be a formal postal address. With it, you get access to Postal Services through your mobile phone.
• RecoMed — Find the best doctors and dentists. Search by location or by speciality, and find the right doctor for you.
• AURA — A South African cloud-based security and safety startup .

Portfolio highlights

• De Novo Foodlabs — Producing non-animal dairy proteins using precision fermentation

Portfolio highlights

• Opalia — Opalia is introducing a new era of dairy: functional, delicious, and sustainable dairy made from mammary cells.
• Hooked Foods — Leading the transition to a harmless seafood system by serving healthy vegan seafood for everybody to truly enjoy.
• Cultimate Foods — At Cultimate, we are transforming the flavor and aroma industry with natural innovative ingredients.

Portfolio highlights

• GALY — GALY biocrafts premium cocoa and cotton with quality, traceability, and scalable supply for modern brands.
• Buupass — BuuPass is Kenya's market leader for online bus booking. We enable travelers to reserve seats and make payments in a convenient and timely way. Try BuuPass today!
• Vivoo — Get personalized wellness insights with Vivoo's innovative, science-backed products. Understand your body's needs and take control of your body. Shop now!

Portfolio highlights

• The Index — The Index is a platform of cutting-edge technology used by clients in the fashion and retail industry to grow their companies and enhance their digital footprints
• 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.