# Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town

> Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town is a VC fund backing Financial Services. See 11 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Cape Town, South Africa
- Total investments: 11
- Last investment: May 2017
- Lead investor: 18%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- Website: https://www.techstars.com/content/accelerators/announcing-barclays-accelerator-powered-techstars-cape-town-class-2017/

Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town is a VC fund in Cape Town focused on Financial Services and FinTech. Barclays Accelerator is an accelerator program that provides an opportunity to work together with Barclays Africa Group.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Financial Services | 7 | 64% |
| FinTech | 4 | 36% |
| Payments | 3 | 27% |
| Software | 3 | 27% |
| Banking | 2 | 18% |

27 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 9 | 82% |
| Pre-Seed | 2 | 18% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| South Africa | 3 | 27% |
| Ghana | 2 | 18% |
| Kenya | 1 | 9% |
| Israel | 1 | 9% |
| Uganda | 1 | 9% |

8 countries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| KapitalWise | Our mission at Kapitalwise is to seamlessly connect client data through engagement automation. We deliver these capabilities through a "no-code" client engagement platform, which is capable of linking client information, external data, and financial wellness content to client engagement. Kapitalwise also delivers Deep Learning and AIcapability; measuring and assessing behavior delta to optimize engagement strategy. We help financial institutions to service clients faster and more holistically through our platform. | $120K | Seed | May 09, 2017 |  |
| Byte Money | Byte Money services the South African funeral parlor market by providing cash receipting and auditing services. It specializes in the receipting and allocation of funeral policies using a mobile POS terminal and a scalable PYP platform. Driven by its service level agreement, it operates with diligence in respect of allocating premiums and more.Byte Money also provides quality German thermal-paper, suited to the rural environment.Byte Money makes use of the PYP platform, which is already integrated with multiple policy administration systems. In terms of the industry, the platform can be extended, with ease, to any system of its users choosing. It provides its users with continuous updates, improvements, and refinements to all its systems.Byte Money was launched in 2008 by Craig Peacock and is based in Gauteng, N.A. | $120K | Seed | May 09, 2017 |  |
| LayUp Technologies | LayUp Technologies is a payment solution company. | $120K | Pre-Seed | May 09, 2017 |  |
| Avenews | Avenews is a fintech company connecting two of the largest and most important industries in the world: the financial industry and the agricultural industry. This is done through the Avenews platform that creates a digital infrastructure for trade, business, and financial interactions. | $20K | Pre-Seed | May 09, 2017 |  |
| FomoTravel | FOMO Travel is an online lay-buy platform where one can pay a small deposit towards a travel goal and along the way, pay instalments. It helps individuals, families and groups to avoid all interest and debt whilst simultaneously allowing friends and family to contribute towards the traveler's goal. FOMO has formed an operational partnershipwith the Singer Group as well as a direct partnership with SA Tourism. FOMO has also signed and is in the process of finalising a POC/Campaign with Absa. FOMO has also been in various media articles (City Press, Fin24 etc.) as well as radio stations (SAFM, Cape Talk etc.) | $120K | Seed | Apr 21, 2017 |  |
| BenBen | BenBen is a team of motivated engineers and innovators dedicated to improving Government Technology in Ghana.With their current focus on Land & Property Management , They aim to create a secured land title registration system and citizen payment portal that will bring Ghana to the forefront of land investment and govtech innovation and serveas a model for the rest of the world. | $120K | Seed | Apr 05, 2016 |  |
| Asoriba | Asoriba's vision is to ultimately win more souls by using technology as a tool. They empower you with technological tools to effectively engage with your congregation, increase member size and seamlessly manage your church. | $120K | Seed | Apr 05, 2016 |  |
| iNuka Pap | iNuka Pap provides instant emergency Financial Services to MFI and SACCO members through the iNuka Pap proprietary platform. | $120K | Seed | Apr 05, 2016 |  |
| Jamii Africa | Jamii Africa is mobile micro-health insurance for the informal sector. They built a mobile policy management platform that performs 99% of insurance administration activities and formed strategic partnerships with an Insurer/ Jubilee Insurance and a Telecom/ Vodacom Tanzania to enable a cashless facility and utilise the mobile moneyplatforms for premium collection and benefit payouts. Their platform manages the benefit ledger and is integrated to mobile money and insurer systems.Enabling us to cut down administration costs by 99% which results to cheaper premiums affordable to their target market. | $120K | Seed | Apr 05, 2016 |  |
| Beyonic | Beyonic offers businesses a suite of cutting-edge digital payment services. The Beyonic platform is a simple and universal two-way payment management solution; it gives its customers access to 26 mobile payment networks and more than 20 banks in nine different countries, all centrally. For the past seven years, Beyonic has specialized in providingdematerialized payment solutions for managing personal projects and corporate budgets, such as payroll, change, communication credit, debt collection. payment and disbursement of corporate funds of any size or type. | $120K | Seed | Apr 05, 2016 |  |

10 of 11 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Techstars](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/techstars) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [Techstars](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/barclays-accelerator) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town invest in?

Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town invests primarily in Financial Services, FinTech and Payments startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 11 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in South Africa. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Barclays Accelerator Powered by Techstars - Cape Town closed in May 2017. Shizune tracks 11 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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