2022年10月7日

上周，位於開普敦的按需家庭清潔和服務初創公司SweepSouth宣布在最新一輪融資中籌集了1100萬美元。2019年，SweepSouth是第一家獲得Naspers Foundry投資的公司，Naspers是非洲市值最大的公司Naspers的14億蘭特(約7700萬美元)風險投資基金。SweepSouth由Aisha Pandor聯合創立，她也是首席執行官，這將是Naspers Foundry基金對創始團隊中有有色人種女性的公司的第一筆也是最後一筆投資。三年後，23名創始人獲得了7億蘭特(約3900萬美元)的資金，隻有13%的受資助創始人是有色人種(3名創始人)，隻有8%的創始人是女性(2名創始人)。今年7月，南非競爭委員會發布了一份報告，譴責在線中介平台將曆史上處於不利地位的人(HDPs)排除在南非的互聯網經濟之外。該報告指責Naspers Foundry沒有授權支持包括有色人種在內的HDPs。在Naspers的網站上，有一篇署名為“為什麼投資女性是聰明的經濟學”的專欄文章，作者是Naspers南非首席執行官Phuthi mahanyel - dabengwa，他也是Naspers鑄造廠的第一任首席執行官。她在文章中指出，Naspers親身看到了女性在幫助建設更包容的未來經濟和企業方麵發揮的關鍵作用。Mahanyele-Dabengwa寫道:“當然，鼓勵更多女性創業，卻不為她們提供足夠的增長資金，就像把有才華的登山者送上乞力馬紮羅山，卻不穿靴子。”她接著指出，Naspers正在通過“通過Naspers Foundry支持女性創始人”來幫助緩解這種情況，她指的是，在一個女性擁有企業的比例從2020年的21.1%上升到2021年的21.9%的國家，Naspers在三年內隻資助了兩名女性創始人。 Naspers Foundry can do more to diversify its fund beneficiaries. Naspers Labs, the company’s youth development program, claims to have women as 65% of the total number of beneficiaries. If Naspers can diversify that program, surely it can do the same with the Naspers Foundry fund to make it more inclusive for two of the most marginalized groups in the venture capital ecosystem: people of colour and women. According to data from Ventureburn’s Tech Startup Survey , in South Africa, where the total white populace is 8% of the overall population, 24% of white-founder-led startups reported raising R1 million (approximately $58,000) or more to fund their businesses, compared to just 2.5% of black African founders. More data from Partech also shows that companies founded or co-founded by African women — many with international alliances, networks and operations — drew 16% of the total $5.2 billion raised on the continent last year. A situation a VC fund as big as the Naspers Foundry could be helping to alleviate in South Africa. The success stories of Naspers Foundry’s graduating companies like SweepSouth, The Student Hub and Life Cheq show the potential that persons of colour and women-led startups have if given the requisite access to capital. With only half of the fund so far deployed, the ecosystem will be hoping that Naspers will do a better job of diversifying the founders who will get funded by the other R700 million (~$39 million) from South Africa’s largest venture fund. Share this article