Three innovative tech start-ups have received R3 million funding from the SAB Foundation’s Social Innovation Accelerator & Fund (SIF).
The fund, managed by Impact Amplifier, provides investment readiness and funding support to innovative social enterprises in South Africa.
Impact Amplifier recently pitched three businesses to the SAB Foundation Investment Committee for funding and successfully secured over R3 million for three businesses: Respo, Syked and Word of Mouth.
Respo’s app provides an affordable private ambulance service to low-income South Africans, says SIF. It explains that by using a low-cost, affordable insurance model, Respo offers ambulance services in less than 30 minutes, compared to wait times that can reach eight hours in the public system.
SIF notes this emergency service addresses a critical issue in the public healthcare delivery system, which can have lifesaving consequences for marginalised communities.
Syked is an online wellness platform that provides virtual counselling sessions to clients over a secure video platform, offering patients access to a database of social workers, registered counsellors, psychologists and other wellness resources.
Beyond providing critical mental health support to an underserved South African market, it also supports early career practitioners to monetise their services, boosting the mental health workforce.
Word of Mouth (WOM) is an end-to-end e-commerce platform that stimulates trade in the informal economy, by unlocking the potential of informal entrepreneurs.
According to SIF, WOM achieves this by removing barriers that youth face when starting and running an e-commerce store, by providing access to capital, inventory, delivery services, payment solutions and skills development opportunities.
It notes that WOM has supported over 200 entrepreneurs, 70% of which are women, to earn a new source of income and improve their livelihoods.
Impact Amplifier and the SAB Foundation are in the final stages of selecting the eighth cohort of the SIF in the coming weeks.
These businesses will participate in Impact Amplifier’s Investment Readiness Programme, before being guided through the process of seeking investment support from the SAB Foundation and other investors.
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