Keet van Zyl
Co-Founder and Partner @ Knife Capital
Cape Town, South Africa
Keet van Zyl is a Series A investor at Knife Capital in Cape Town focused on Software and Information Technology. Keet is a dynamic investment expert with extensive growth equity investment and banking experience. He has worked in specialized finance at industry-leading international companies such as Procter & Gamble and Investec Bank. He was instrumental in setting up various Private Equity funds in the Southern African region before joining HBD VentureCapital. In 2010 he co-founded KnifeCap to continue the active management of HBD's South African portfolio of investments and build the high-growth investment industry in South Africa. Keet is fascinated by the bubbles in Champagne as he celebrates life with his wife and two young daughters. He has a passion for water-skiing and in 2005 he became the first "Extreme Accounting" world champion by injecting the adrenaline rush of accounting into the everyday routine of extreme sports.
- Total investments:
- 19
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 79%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Keet van Zyl invests in
Stages Keet van Zyl invests in
Countries Keet van Zyl invests in
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
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| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
| Personal phone | ||
| Socials |
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 6 (32%)
- Information Technology 4 (21%)
- Retail 2 (11%)
- Education 2 (11%)
- Health Care 2 (11%)
Stage
- Series A 12 (63%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 3 (16%)
- Seed 2 (11%)
- Series B 1 (5%)
- Funding Round 1 (5%)
Country
- South Africa 12 (63%)
- United Kingdom 2 (11%)
- Kenya 1 (5%)
- Belgium 1 (5%)
- United States 1 (5%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cue is one customer service platform for live chat, chatbots and broadcasts across WhatsApp, Messenger, web chat, email and many other digital channels. | $5M / Series A / Jul 14, 2026 | ||
| Wamly is the recruitment software, It has given us time back to focus on transformational work. | $3M / Series A / Jul 13, 2026 | ||
| Sticitt is a cashless payment platform. Sticitt services schools, lifestyle and golf estates, as well as events and is assisting one utility company to get clients to pay for water bills using its cashless payments system. | Series A / Jul 03, 2025 | ||
| Simera Sense develops camera control electronics for optical payload and Cubesat imager solutions. | $14.8M / Series A / Mar 12, 2024 | ||
| Simera Sense develops camera control electronics for optical payload and Cubesat imager solutions. | $14.8M / Mar 11, 2024 | ||
| Outsized is a digital platform that offers project and contract roles for freelancers posted by clients from consulting firms. | Series A / Oct 18, 2023 | ||
| Kasha is an innovative e-commerce platform based in East Africa, built for women's health, personal care, and beauty products accessibility within urban and rural areas. Kasha offers a comprehensive integrated basket of products that promotes health at all stages of life, including newborn child health, maternal health, menstrual hygiene,family planning, sexual and reproductive health, non-communicable diseases (e.g., hypertension and diabetes), and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. | $21M / Series B / Jul 20, 2023 | ||
| Octiv is a well-known platform for gym management software. | Series A / Sep 01, 2022 | ||
| DataProphet is a developer of machine learning and AI technology to serve the manufacturing industry. The company specializes in optimizing the complex manufacturing processes of key industrial verticals with state-of-the-art machine learning. Its AI-driven solutions leverage the existing data streams from the plant’s production line equipment toidentify process efficiencies. | $10M / Series A / Aug 09, 2022 | ||
| Wamly is the recruitment software, It has given us time back to focus on transformational work. | Seed / Jan 25, 2022 | ||
| See all 19 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Knife Capital
Knife Capital is an independent growth equity investment firm focusing on innovation-driven ventures with proven traction. By leveraging knowledge, networks & funding, Knife accelerates the international expansion of entrepreneurial businesses that achieved a product/market fit in a beachhead market. Knife have offices in Cape Town andLondon.Knife invests via a consortium of funding partnerships, including SARS section 12J Venture Capital Company KNF Ventures and select family offices. Knife facilitated lucrative exits of local technology companies to the likes of General Electric, Visa, Garmin and Uber.
Knife Capital Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Catherine Young
Partner
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Davey Gant
Partner
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Eben van Heerden
Co-Founder and CEO
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Johnathan Smit
Investment Manager
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Keet van Zyl
Co-Founder and Partner
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FAQ
What does Keet van Zyl invest in?
Keet van Zyl invests primarily in Software, Information Technology and Retail startups, most often at Series A and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 19 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in South Africa. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Keet van Zyl?
Public channels for Keet van Zyl include LinkedIn and X (Twitter). For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Keet van Zyl last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Keet van Zyl closed in Jul 2026. Shizune tracks 19 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 Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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