Top 10 Food and Beverage Startup Investors in South Africa (May 2026)

Portfolio highlights

• Novel Farms — Novel Farms uses microbial fermentation to develop cruelty-free, inexpensive and tunable bioscaffolds for the production of cell-based meat products. Novel Farms mission is to craft the taste and texture of the gourmet meats and transform cell-based meat consumption into a sought-after culinary experience for the next generation of consciouseaters.
• Minus — A sustainable coffee alternative, combining the taste, look, and smell of coffee with a smaller footprint to ensure a brighter future for coffee and the planet.
• Unicorn Biotechnologies — Unicorn Biotechnologies is developing a fully automated manufacturing platform to enable cellular agriculture producers to seamlessly scale products from the lab bench to supermarket shelves. Our full stack platform combines hardware, software and analytics to completely automate cellular agriculture manufacturing, reducing costs and increasingproduct quality. By providing a clear path to scale cellular agriculture from grams to tons, we will improve human and planetary health and drive the transition to animal free agriculture.

Portfolio highlights

• Farmless — A farmless fermentation platform has the potential to create an entirely new food repertoire, producing proteins, carbohydrates, beneficial fats, vitamins, and minerals from the ground up," explained Oner. "We are creating a new interface between food and electricity by domesticating microbes chosen for their food properties and abilityto grow on renewable energy-based feedstocks.
• Daisy Lab — Daisy Lab pioneers precision fermentation technology in New Zealand
• Atlantic Fish Co — Developing sustainable, cultivated seafood using cellular agriculture

Portfolio highlights

• Netomnia — Netomnia are investing in and building a new full-fibre network right across the UK. Future-proofing homes and businesses with a reliable, high-quality, and high-speed internet connection.
• AdaniConneX — AdaniConneX is the largest Hyperscale Data Center provider. Avail the maximum uptime, highest energy efficiency, full scalability and security to your business and customers.
• Reliance Industries — Reliance Industries is engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas in India and internationally. Reliance Industries is the second-largest publicly traded company in India by market capitalization and is the second-largest company in India by revenue after the state-run Indian Oil Corporation.

Portfolio highlights

• Inoxico — Inoxico is a provider of business-to-business credit risk solutions. We combine quality data and cutting edge technology to deliver predictive analytics.
• Kombo King — Kombo King Ventless Fryer Tech removes the need for plumes of steam & the constant eye of an inconsistent employee to Revolutionize & solve the frying industry!
• Kusini Water — Kusini Water builds water treatment systems from nanotechnology and macadamia nut shells.

Portfolio highlights

• EtherMail — EtherMail is the Web 3.0 Email Solution setting the standard for anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication.
• Arkam Intelligence — See intelligence on the addresses, entities, individuals, and assets most important to you.
• SignalRank Corporation — SignalRank Corporation is a FinTech company in the Venture space. It focuses on the seed stage asset class and uses data analytics to allocate capital to the best seed fund managers for their top performing companies. GPRank and CompanyRank are two proprietary algorithms it leverages to automate capital allocation. The company invests from balancesheet. Its customers are seed stage investors with outstanding companies in their portfolio.

Portfolio highlights

• 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.
• FinAccess — FinAccess is a banking software for microfinance organisations.
• Right Now Response — Your go-to for expert breakdown assistance. Our dedicated team ensures you're back on the road swiftly and safely. Contact us for reliable support today!

Portfolio highlights

• VALR — Buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum & more | Pay anyone for free with VALR Pay
• Snapplify — Snapplify is at the forefront of edtech solutions in Africa, and specialises in enabling digital learning for individuals and institutions via the largest digital educational marketplace in Africa. As a global edtech company, Snapplify strives for radical inclusion to level the playing field and equip individuals across emerging markets with theworld-class tools they need to collaborate, innovate and thrive. Snapplify’s technology is used in other educational products to facilitate collaboration throughout the educational community.Snapplify for Education’s award-winning platform is already a top choice for institutions integrating digital education into their classrooms. From software to support, Snapplify provides institutions with everything they need to create a secure, collaborative e-learning environment for students. Snapplify’s robust 24-hour-access digital-library solution offers thousands of free ebooks and widely applicable, curriculum-approved educational content supplied by partner publishers from across the globe. Snapplify’s diversity of device integration allows schools to use its products on the devices that they already have access to, without having to invest in costly digital infrastructure upgrades. Snapplify’s solutions are industry celebrated and globally recognised for their innovation in technology.In order to achieve its educational goals, Snapplify has built strong relationships with diverse partners around the growth of its ebook, e-textbook, and device catalogue, and partnered with international publishers and other key stakeholders to meet the demand for widely relevant, curriculum-compliant digital educational content. As a socially minded company, Snapplify is committed to supporting others and creating sustainable change through collaboration and innovation. Snapplify empowers, inspires, and uplifts teachers via Teacha! (a media hub, resource marketplace, and careers portal for educators); is the digital content partner on a project that delivers technology and e-learning to public schools in South Africa’s Gauteng province, and runs impact programmes through the Snapplify Foundation.Snapplify originated in South Africa, focusing initially on the South African education and digital content industries. Since its establishment in 2012, the company has grown and expanded into new markets in Africa and the United States, with offices across South Africa, as well as in Nairobi, London, Amsterdam and New Jersey. Snapplify is backed by AngelHub Ventures, a venture capital company backed by former First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan and the Harris family, as well as international investors. In 2019, Snapplify secured $2 million expansion capital from venture capital firm Knife Capital, and empowered African investment manager Hlayisani Capital’s Hlayisani Growth Fund.Snapplify for Education’s award-winning platform is already a top choice for institutions integrating digital education into their classrooms. From software to support, Snapplify provides institutions with everything they need to create a secure, collaborative e-learning environment for students. Through Snapplify’s e-learning and digital library solution, Engage, educators can share teacher-created, multimedia resource materials with students; administrators can manage the access and permissions for multiple student and staff accounts; schools can host their own 24-hour access digital content library (which comes with over 50 000 free resources including study guides, e-textbooks, past exam papers for multiple curricula, children’s books in African languages and more); and students and parents can purchase prescribed e-textbooks. Snapplify’s diversity of device integration allows schools to use its products on the devices that they already have access to, without having to invest in costly digital infrastructure upgrades. Snapplify’s solutions are industry celebrated and globally recognised for their innovation in technology.
• Real Time Wine — Share your wine moments. Real Time Wine is the social wine discovery app for everyone who enjoys wine, not just those who understand it. [In App Stores NOW!]

Portfolio highlights

• 3X4Genetics — The future of healthcare is personalized. Build a more successful practice and transform more lives using the power of DNA-driven health recommendations, through DNA & Genetic Testing!
• Lipidio Pharmaceuticals — Lipidio Pharmaceuticals is a healthcare company that focuses on advancing a molecule to treat diseases associated with excess body fat. It includes non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, Prader-Willi syndrome, and antipsychotic drug-induced weight gain. The company was founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Diego, California.
• SEngine Precision Medicine — The Search Engine For Identifying Personalized Cancer Treatments.

Portfolio highlights

• Loki Foods — We're producing sustainable, plant-based foods from the Arctic. Iceland’s first plant-based cod and seafood!
• THE PACK — Nutritionally complete vegan dog food. Grain-free & developed with food scientists & animal nutritionists, try our delicious vegan dog food now.
• Swedish Temptations — Swedish Temptations, founded in 2019 by CEO Pia Qvarnström, built a brand named Bärta for producing organic, vegan and fermented food. The ingredients include Swedish split peas.

Portfolio highlights

• The Index — The Index is a platform of cutting-edge technology used by clients in the fashion and retail industry to grow their companies and enhance their digital footprints
• De Novo Foodlabs — De Novo FoodlabsThe future of nutrients
• Smart Separations — Smart Separations is a limited company based in London UK that has patented an innovative microfiltration technology to produce ceramic filters with self-assembled controllable pores of uniform size in the range between <1 and 50µm. This tight pore size control and range availability will revolutionise the field of MF with a cost-effectiveproduct.It aims to be the world’s leader in MF and particle separations technology – filling the void gap that exists in the market nowadays.