The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) has disbursed around R170 million of its Industry Matching Fund (IMF) to fund manager partners over the last five years.
The TIA, an entity of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, offers various funding instruments to support the development of technologies and innovations. These are differentiated based on the amount of funding required for technology development and the stage of technology development.
In 2019, the organisation launched the IMF as a fund-of-funds model to help support tech-focused businesses that have created unique innovations.
According to the TIA, since the launch of the IMF, the fund has attracted partnerships from venture capital firms, angel investors, development finance institutions and corporates.
One of the recently launched instruments to help accelerate the IMF is the Innovation Fund, which is meant to further enhance the TIA’s vision to provide long-term sustainable funding of innovation across SA.
“The IMF fund has disbursed to the north of R170 million, including financial contribution from the Innovation Fund, to nine IMF partners since 2019, leveraging to the north of R1 billion at fund stage and portfolio company level,” Tandokazi Nquma-Moyo, TIA GM of strategic partnerships and stakeholder relations, tells ITWeb.
“The portfolio has approximately 75 underlying investments across nine IMF partners. Among the fund managers that the IMF has disbursed to include the University Technology Fund; the OneBio, a biotech fund; and the Savant Venture Fund, a deep tech fund.
“The Innovation Fund has further created a R300 million High Impact Seed Fund of Funds, launched at the end of 2024 in partnership with the SA SME Fund and E Squared Investments.”
Under the Innovation Fund, the TIA has made two systematic calls, designed to provide critical funding support to emerging and high-impact innovators, notes Nquma-Moyo.
The first call, the High-Impact Seed Fund of Funds, seeks 51% black venture capital fund managers, including a focus on women fund managers.
This initiative, which has attracted 34 respondents, will provide early-stage capital to start-ups, focusing on technology-driven businesses and aiming to support at least five fund managers. Recipients are expected to be announced soon.
In February 2025, the TIA issued a second call, the Innovation Fund: First-Time and Emerging Fund Managers, inviting funding applications from new and emerging fund managers.
According to Nquma-Moyo, the agency received applications from more than 90 respondents and will soon be making announcements on the next phase.
The positive market response to the recent calls by the TIA demonstrates that South Africa has a wealth of black and female fund managers ready to invest in the country’s potential, he adds.
“What we require is a diversified network of private sector and industry partners to invest in innovation, that can also widen investment opportunities for the TIA to tap into.
“As a key funding agency of innovation, our success will be demonstrated in being sustainable and thus creating a more enabling environment for investment and innovation. The responses we have had from our recent calls bring TIA closer to fulfilling an aggregator role of innovation funding,” adds Nquma-Moyo.
The TIA is also driving the growth of clean technology entrepreneurship in South Africa through its support of the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme.
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