# Ian Lessem

> Ian Lessem is a seed investor at HAVAÍC (Cape Town) backing Software and E-Commerce. See 10 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [HAVAÍC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/havaic-sa)
- Location: Cape Town, South Africa
- Total investments: 10
- Last investment: Sep 2024
- Lead investor: 90%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-lessem-11876621/

Ian Lessem is a seed investor at HAVAÍC in Cape Town focused on Software and E-Commerce. Ian Lessem - CEO @ HAVAÍC

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 2 | 20% |
| E-Commerce | 2 | 20% |
| CRM | 1 | 10% |
| FinTech | 1 | 10% |
| Medical | 1 | 10% |

20 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 2 | 20% |
| Pre-Seed | 2 | 20% |
| Funding Round | 2 | 20% |
| Series A | 1 | 10% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| South Africa | 4 | 40% |
| Nigeria | 1 | 10% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 10% |
| The Netherlands | 1 | 10% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Talk360 | Talk360 is an easy-to-use calling app that helps people make affordable international calls to any mobile and landline number. They believe that reliable communication and digital services must be affordable and accessible to everyone, regardless of someone's background. Especially people in emerging countries in Africa, who often need theseservices the most, do not always have the necessary banking possibilities. To bridge this distance, Talk360 will launch the world's first single checkout platform for Africa. This platform will combine all locally available payment methods and currencies across Africa, together with over 1.25 million cash points of sales, and will eventually be available to other companies as well. This means that 500 million Africans will be able to purchase digital services they never had access to before. | $1.4M | Seed | Sep 12, 2024 |  |
| Sportable | Sportable is a sports data company that changes the game for teams and audiences. With Rugby being their primary focus, they are working with a number of teams and manufacturers to create and develop hardware and wearable devices that enable sport specific data to be collated in real time. Their technology gives the viewer, the team, and thebroadcaster unprecedented insight into the decision making of players.Sportable was founded in 2015 and is based in London, England. | $15M | Series A | Dec 07, 2023 |  |
| Talk360 | Talk360 is an easy-to-use calling app that helps people make affordable international calls to any mobile and landline number. They believe that reliable communication and digital services must be affordable and accessible to everyone, regardless of someone's background. Especially people in emerging countries in Africa, who often need theseservices the most, do not always have the necessary banking possibilities. To bridge this distance, Talk360 will launch the world's first single checkout platform for Africa. This platform will combine all locally available payment methods and currencies across Africa, together with over 1.25 million cash points of sales, and will eventually be available to other companies as well. This means that 500 million Africans will be able to purchase digital services they never had access to before. | $3M | Seed | Oct 03, 2022 |  |
| Talk360 | Talk360 is an easy-to-use calling app that helps people make affordable international calls to any mobile and landline number. They believe that reliable communication and digital services must be affordable and accessible to everyone, regardless of someone's background. Especially people in emerging countries in Africa, who often need theseservices the most, do not always have the necessary banking possibilities. To bridge this distance, Talk360 will launch the world's first single checkout platform for Africa. This platform will combine all locally available payment methods and currencies across Africa, together with over 1.25 million cash points of sales, and will eventually be available to other companies as well. This means that 500 million Africans will be able to purchase digital services they never had access to before. | $4M | Seed | Jun 01, 2022 |  |
| ShopEX | ShopEX is the teleshopping startup offers a different shopping experience from existing eCommerce players. | $400K | Pre-Seed | Jun 01, 2022 |  |
| RecoMed | RecoMed is South Africa’s largest and fastest growing online healthcare booking platform and marketplace. The company’s online booking platform and the marketplace is its core product, and it has developed white-labelled solutions for, among others, Discovery, Medicross (owned by Netcare) and Clicks.RecoMed’s mobile-friendly platform helpspatients quickly find and make appointments with a range of healthcare providers, 24/7, without any phone calls or paperwork. RecoMed seamlessly connects doctors and patients in real-time and is a strong consumer and B2B platform business that reaches stakeholders across the healthcare, life insurance and corporate wellness ecosystem. | $256K |  | Nov 16, 2017 |  |
| Digital Cabinet | Digital Cabinet is an online document management and business intelligence product, which lets you file your documents the same way you would in person. It mimics the unique way your organization does business, so you can maintain the same structures and processes you’ve always had; the difference being now it’ll all be online.Digital Cabinetis a web-based platform which provides full audit trails and data analytics while allowing you to view and upload documents remotely. Login via our website using your PC, tablet, or smartphone. Once logged in, you’ll find your company’s document storage system at your finger tips.No software installation is required, we’ve designed this flexible platform with ease-of-use in mind. We provide full training and support every step of the way. | $285K |  | Oct 31, 2017 |  |
| AURA | A South African cloud-based security and safety startup . | $342K | Seed |  |  |
| NjiaPay | NjiaPay is a Payments-as-a-Service provider that simplifies payment management for African businesses. The company aims to solve the pain points that African businesses face when dealing with the continent's diverse and complex payment ecosystem. | $1M | Pre-Seed |  |  |
| Digital Cabinet | Digital Cabinet is an online document management and business intelligence product, which lets you file your documents the same way you would in person. It mimics the unique way your organization does business, so you can maintain the same structures and processes you’ve always had; the difference being now it’ll all be online.Digital Cabinetis a web-based platform which provides full audit trails and data analytics while allowing you to view and upload documents remotely. Login via our website using your PC, tablet, or smartphone. Once logged in, you’ll find your company’s document storage system at your finger tips.No software installation is required, we’ve designed this flexible platform with ease-of-use in mind. We provide full training and support every step of the way. |  |  |  |  |

10 of 10 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Growth Grid Venture Capital Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/growth-grid-venture-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [4Di Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/4di-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [ASISA Enterprise Development Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/asisa-enterprise-development-fund) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Brooklyn Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/brooklyn-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [DotExe Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dotexe-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [E2 Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/e2-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About HAVAÍC

VC Fund · Cape Town, South Africa

HAVAÍC is an investment and advisory firm that specialises in early-stage, high-growth African businesses with proven concepts and global prospects, offering investment opportunities to sophisticated investors and international venture capital companies with an interest in Africa. As a complementary offering, HAVAÍC provides corporate advisory andcapital raising services to emerging, internationally scalable businesses.

3 contacts available at HAVAÍC.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ian Lessem | CEO | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ian-lessem |
| Grant Rock | Executive director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/grant-rock |
| Rob Heath | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/rob-heath |

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- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
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- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Ian Lessem invest in?

Ian Lessem invests primarily in Software, E-Commerce and CRM startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 10 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 Ian Lessem last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Ian Lessem closed in Sep 2024. Shizune tracks 10 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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