Llew Claasen
Managing Partner @ Newtown Partners
Cape Town, South Africa
Llew Claasen is a seed investor at Newtown Partners in Cape Town focused on Logistics and Transportation. Llew is the Managing Partner of Newtown Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm that actively invests in emerging, disruptive technology startup businesses. Founded and run by internationally successful entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham and Llew Claasen, Newtown Partners has an entrepreneurial focus that goes beyond investment. The team operatesout of offices in Cape Town, South Africa and Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley).Llew is a go-to-market strategist with almost two decades of senior management experience in cryptoassets (since 2012), digital product management and digital marketing.He co-founded Clicks2customers (rebranded to www.nmpidigital.com) with Vinny Lingham, now a global digital marketing agency with annual billings in excess of $100 million and Synthasite (rebranded to www.yola.com).Llew is also the former Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, the original, the oldest and the largest Bitcoin advocacy organization globally, headquartered in San Francisco, U.S.Llew has a Masters degree in the Management of Technology & Innovation and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
- Total investments:
- 10
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 60%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Llew Claasen invests in
Stages Llew Claasen invests in
Countries Llew Claasen invests in
Round sizes
Round size
- Seed
- $2.3M–$5.5M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Logistics 5 (50%)
- Transportation 3 (30%)
- Retail 2 (20%)
- Shipping 2 (20%)
- Software 2 (20%)
Stage
- Seed 5 (50%)
- Series A 1 (10%)
- Corporate Round 1 (10%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 1 (10%)
Country
- Egypt 1 (10%)
- Kenya 1 (10%)
- Nigeria 1 (10%)
- Hong Kong 1 (10%)
- South Africa 1 (10%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
MDaaS Global
|
MDaaS Global operates tech-enabled diagnostic centers in clinically-underserved communities. MDaaS Global connects low-income and middle-income patients with modern, convenient, and affordable diagnostic services, helping patients to identify health issues earlier, gain access to medical specialists and treatment options, and ultimately, livehealthier, happier lives. | $3M / Seed / Mar 06, 2024 | |
Chefaa
|
Chefaa is a GPS-enabled pharmacy benefits platform connecting patients & pharmacies nation-wide to help patients manage all their pharmacy needs. Chefaa uses big data, data ming & machine learning | $5.3M / Seed / Dec 17, 2023 | |
Fulfillment Bridge
|
Fulfillment Bridge is a leading global logistics and order fulfillment solutions provider. We offer comprehensive, fast, and affordable supply chain management solutions to facilitate your e-commerce business. From packing and picking to the management of inventory and final delivery, our simple yet powerful order fulfillment solutions give youre-commerce business an edge over your competitors. As we have developed a global warehousing and logistics network across more than fourteen countries, you can easily connect your multiple shops even at different marketplaces, like Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Prestashop and others by using our logistics software. Our client-centered solution provides a complete logistics solution from warehousing to last-mile shipping of products to end-users.We are also the first 3PL to enable payment on delivery in Morocco and to facilitate market expansion in the region. By partnering with key stakeholders Cronodiali & Cashplus in Morocco, our custom-made solution announces the beginning of a new era in the African leading country in terms of customer demand. Additionally, our MEA Bridge solution fosters selling across the region mainly in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait & Egypt by offering non-biding marketplace listing, so e-commerce sellers can start selling on Amazon or Noon without having an obligation to open a local bank account or legal entity! Multiple Sales Channels: Integrate your sales channels hassle-free, import your orders, and start selling worldwide. IOR & Custom Clearance: We take care of IOR & customer clearance, including handling VAT, Tax obligations, and compliance! Warehousing Network: Leverage the power of a global network with more than 15 strategically-located fulfillment centers. Order Management System: Sync and manage orders across multiple channels seamlessly from one central portal. Inventory Management: Streamline, monitor, and automate most of the tedious time-consuming inventory tasks. Shipping: Save time and money, earn better margins, and expand your business with comprehensive global shipping options. Fulfillment By Merchant: Save time, cut shipping costs, and speed up your Amazon deliveries with Fulfillment Bridge Amazon FBM service. Returns Management: Handle returns with ease. Inspect, evaluate, and repurpose sellable items to active inventory. Shopify Fulfillment: Integrate your Shopify store to Fulfillment Bridge. Get all the tools you need to ship out your goods swiftly and efficiently. Prestashop Order Fulfillment: Reduce operational complexity and sell to international customers effortlessly with Fulfillment Bridge Prestashop fulfillment. | Seed / Nov 10, 2022 | |
|
Chefaa
|
Chefaa is a GPS-enabled pharmacy benefits platform connecting patients & pharmacies nation-wide to help patients manage all their pharmacy needs. Chefaa uses big data, data ming & machine learning | $2.5M / Venture - Series Unknown / Mar 06, 2022 | |
Clockwork Logistics Systems
|
Clockwork Logistics Systems automates and process flow instrumentation that effectively digitizes the delivery of products across the global supply chain. The platform includes Enterprise data integration with the existing operational system, cloud-based administrative interface, and a fully branded (white-labeled) and highly configurable 5-Stardriver or receiver App. | $5.5M / Seed / Sep 13, 2021 | |
|
MDaaS Global
|
MDaaS Global operates tech-enabled diagnostic centers in clinically-underserved communities. MDaaS Global connects low-income and middle-income patients with modern, convenient, and affordable diagnostic services, helping patients to identify health issues earlier, gain access to medical specialists and treatment options, and ultimately, livehealthier, happier lives. | $2.3M / Seed / Jun 30, 2021 | |
Shypple
|
Shypple is a digital forwarder for moving freight globally that manages and analyzes supply chains in real-time. Shypple exists of a team of highly motivated “disruptors”, with a background in logistics, international trade, and forwarding. Joint experiences led to a mutual realization: booking, managing, and tracking freight shipments shouldbecome faster, easier, and more transparent!Their team’s expertise is strengthened through the data-driven choices that they make. The digital dashboard serves as a central source of information that benefits both Shypple's and the client's logistics team. Without losing the service or personal touch of a good forwarder they ease the logistics of international trade. | $30.3M / Series A / Apr 09, 2021 | |
Lori Systems
|
Lori is a venture-backed start-up building cutting-edge logistics infrastructure for trucking in Africa. The start-up is tackling a massive issue - $180 billion is spent annually on haulage across Africa, which means that up to 75% of a product’s cost is due to logistics (compared to 6% in the US).Lori’s tech-enabled and operations-drivenmarketplace efficiently connects transport to cargo. The supply chain management system brings transparency and has pushed for significantly improved flexibility, reliability, and cost savings (savings of upwards of 18%).The company has experienced 30% month-over-month compounded growth since its product launch in May 2017. The market demand for Lori’s platform is increasing exponentially. To continue this pace of growth, Lori recently closed a landmark raise from globally leading institutional and strategic investors. The company won Techcrunch Battlefield Africa. | Corporate Round / Nov 12, 2020 | |
SweepSouth
|
Online home services platform that connects homeowners with trusted service professionals. SweepSouth aims to modernize home services and to be the African pioneers in bringing technology to the industry. With over seven thousand service provider and thousands of satisfied customers being served monthly across 4 countries, company is barely scratchthe surface when it comes to the addressable market. The mission is to create happy homes by providing dignified, flexible work at decent pay to their service providers. | Seed / May 06, 2015 | |
|
SweepSouth
|
Online home services platform that connects homeowners with trusted service professionals. SweepSouth aims to modernize home services and to be the African pioneers in bringing technology to the industry. With over seven thousand service provider and thousands of satisfied customers being served monthly across 4 countries, company is barely scratchthe surface when it comes to the addressable market. The mission is to create happy homes by providing dignified, flexible work at decent pay to their service providers. | Seed / May 06, 2015 |
Co-Investors
About Newtown Partners
Newtown Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm that actively invests in emerging, disruptive technology startup businesses. Founded and run by internationally successful entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham and Llew Claasen, Newtown Partners has an entrepreneurial focus that goes beyond investment. The team operates out of offices in Cape Town,South Africa and Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley).The firm has a strong track record of investing in successful technology startups at the forefront of innovation and has successfully invested in and nurtured a number of early-stage companies from ideation to market-leading businesses.Newtown Partners has a strong executive team with a proven track record in technology entrepreneurship. The team has successfully launched, grown and sold technology startup businesses as entrepreneurs themselves and know what is required to succeed locally and internationally.
Newtown Partners Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Llew Claasen
Managing Partner
|
|||
Vinny Lingham
Co-Founder and General Partner
|
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3 more contacts available
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FAQ
What does Llew Claasen invest in?
Llew Claasen invests primarily in Logistics, Transportation and Retail startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 10 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Egypt. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Llew Claasen's check size?
Llew Claasen typically joins rounds of $2.3M–$5.5M at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Llew Claasen participates in.
When did Llew Claasen last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Llew Claasen closed in Mar 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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