# Technology Innovation Agency

> Technology Innovation Agency is a VC fund backing Information Technology. See 18 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Pretoria, South Africa
- Total investments: 18
- Last investment: Aug 2025
- Lead investor: 78%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- Website: http://www.tia.org.za
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tiaorgza

Technology Innovation Agency is a VC fund in Pretoria focused on Information Technology and Software. TIA is an initiative of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) in South Africa, to enable and support technological innovation.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Technology Innovation Agency. Shizune tracks 3 team members at Technology Innovation Agency. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/technology-innovation-agency?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $46k–$1.3M |
| Grant | $22k–$1M |
| Pre-Seed | $50k–$188k |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Information Technology | 6 | 33% |
| Software | 3 | 17% |
| Electronics | 2 | 11% |
| Health Care | 2 | 11% |
| Renewable Energy | 2 | 11% |

40 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Grant | 9 | 50% |
| Seed | 4 | 22% |
| Pre-Seed | 2 | 11% |
| Debt Financing | 2 | 11% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Annette Kramer | Chairperson | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/annette-kramer |
| Barlow Manilal | Chief Executive | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/barlow-manilal |
| Vuyisile Phehane | Executive: Bio-Economy | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/vuyisile-phehane |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ann-Connect | Ann-Connect is an EdTech SaaS for learning, teaching, exams and assessments rolled into an all-in-one education platform.Founded in 2021 by Bonginkosi Mabaso, Nexa was born from a real problem: students missing exams and learning opportunities because of unreliable internet. Our mission is simple: make online education accessible to everystudent, regardless of connectivity or background. Today, Nexa is trusted by universities, training institutions, and professional bodies across South Africa, with partnerships that give access to more than 450,000 learners. One workspace. All your education tools: - Nexa ExamCore: Offline exam tool where students can access, write, and submit online exams even without internet. - Nexa Invigilator: Invigilation tool designed to monitor for online exams. - Nexa Invigilator Venue-based – Proctoring for physical/venue-based exams for schools, corporates & teams. - Nexa Room – Low-bandwidth video conferencing just like MS Teams but designed for teaching and learning, with AI-driven student engagement tracking. - Integrations – Seamless connection with Learning Management Systems (LMS), plagiarism checkers, and other education tools — all in one place. Recognised with awards from TIA, ABSA, and the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), Nexa is shaping the future of global education by making it inclusive, resilient, and accessible everywhere. Ready to experience THE platform for inclusive learning? Visit ann-connect.com and join us in building education without limits. | $50K | Pre-Seed | Aug 28, 2025 |  |
| All Weather Roads Engineering | All Weather Roads Engineering is a building material manufacturing firm also offering supply of construction material. |  | Grant | Oct 18, 2022 |  |
| Aviro Health | Aviro Health enables healthcare workers to engage in more complex situations by offering technology-enabled services that automate workflows, improve access to medical information, and offer digitally enabled counseling services. |  | Seed | Sep 08, 2021 |  |
| Jobox | Jobox is a student recruitment platform, built to connect employers, students and graduate career offices. Our focus is to improve graduate employability by ensuring all students have the skills they need to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work.Jobox’s ecosystem provides employers with access to the best diverse & youthfultalent, students with more employment opportunities and universities with data-driven insights aimed at driving graduate employability forward. | $24K | Debt Financing | May 13, 2021 |  |
| RIOT Network | RIOT Network (Pty) Ltd develops, manufactures and sells wireless network devices branded CROWDNet Nodes to enable households to contribute equipment for building internet infrastructure in their neighbourhoods. | $398.7K | Debt Financing | Feb 28, 2021 |  |
| KTO Digital | J-Cred is a solution developed by KTO Digital to help organisations make informed decisions driven by digital access to data and aiding in business risk management. The solution is a data aggregation platform that is applicable to multiple business units such as; procurement, HR, finance, forensic auditing, governance and compliance. | $1.3M | Seed | Jan 31, 2021 |  |
| Ownedby Technologies | Ownedby is an interactive asset management solution for business and household assets, focused on appliances and devices, giving these unique identity that is traceable online, yet linked to and controlled by owners. | $46K | Seed | Aug 01, 2020 |  |
| Jobox | Jobox is a student recruitment platform, built to connect employers, students and graduate career offices. Our focus is to improve graduate employability by ensuring all students have the skills they need to enter, stay in, and progress in the world of work.Jobox’s ecosystem provides employers with access to the best diverse & youthfultalent, students with more employment opportunities and universities with data-driven insights aimed at driving graduate employability forward. | $188.2K | Pre-Seed | Mar 10, 2020 |  |
| Opencharge | We bring secure and convenient wireless power as a service to people in all kinds of places where they eat, drink, play, work or sleep. | $51.6K | Grant | Feb 21, 2020 |  |
| Vekta Innovations | Vekta Innovations is a business focused on leading edge technological development based in Cape Town, South Africa.Vekta Innovations develop ground-breaking technology solutions though advanced manufacturing and product-oriented research. | $44K | Grant | Dec 01, 2019 |  |

10 of 18 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [TuksNovation](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tuksnovation) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Absa group (Bank)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/absa-bank) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Bonbillo LLC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bonbillo-llc) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Edge Growth](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/edge-growth) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [HiiL Justice Accelerator](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hiil-innovating-justice) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [IDF CAPITAL](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/idf-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## FAQ

### What does Technology Innovation Agency invest in?

Technology Innovation Agency invests primarily in Information Technology, Software and Electronics startups, most often at Grant and Seed stage. Most of the 18 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in South Africa. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Technology Innovation Agency's check size?

Technology Innovation Agency typically joins rounds of $46k–$1.3M at Seed, $22k–$1M at Grant and $50k–$188k at Pre-Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Technology Innovation Agency participates in.

### How do I contact Technology Innovation Agency?

Public channels for Technology Innovation Agency include the website linked on this profile and Facebook. 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.

### Who are the partners at Technology Innovation Agency?

The team at Technology Innovation Agency includes Annette Kramer (Chairperson), Barlow Manilal (Chief Executive) and Vuyisile Phehane (Executive: Bio-Economy). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### 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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