The man who went from selling picture frames at flea markets in South Africa to funding big tech in the United States
South African commercial internet pioneer David Frankel, the co-founder and CEO of Internet Solutions, is now a venture capitalist living in the United States.
Commerce was woven into his childhood, as his great-grandfather, Jacob Frankel, founded the Tiger Oatery, which later evolved into Tiger Brands, led by his grandfather, Rudolph Frankel.
Packaged goods company Tiger Brands became a popular South African favourite, behind iconic brands such as Jungle Oats, All Gold and Mrs Ball’s Chutney.
Frankel was born in Johannesburg and attended King David High School, where he became friends with his future business partner, Alon Apteker.
Frankel and Apteker started selling CDs and photo frames at Johannesburg flea markets as teenagers, honing their entrepreneurial skills from a young age.
He went on to study a BSC in Electrical Engineering, graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1992.
In 1993, Apteker’s brother, Ronnie, along with university friends Thomas McWalter and Philip Green, launched The Internet Solution, which was later rebranded as Internet Solutions.
According to Apteker, his brother quickly bankrupted the company and asked him to invest some of his savings into the business.
Frankel also invested in the business in 1994. He left his role at technology company Altech to become CEO at Internet Solutions.
Initially struggling, the business recovered quickly and achieved success. In 1995, Dimension Data acquired a 25% stake in Internet Solutions.
Two years later, it purchased the remaining 75% for R400 million. Following this acquisition, Frankel took on the role of e-commerce executive director at Dimension Data and later joined the company’s board of directors.
In June 1996, Internet Solutions played a crucial role in establishing the Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA), with Frankel serving as co-chair.
ISPA was founded to address the challenges posed by Telkom’s entry into the Internet service provider (ISP) market, as Telkom was the sole provider of public switched telephony infrastructure in South Africa.
When the state-owned utility Telkom attempted to monopolise internet protocol in South Africa, Frankel co-founded and co-chaired ISPA.
By pooling resources with other competitors, they hired top legal counsel and successfully countered Telkom’s cease-and-desist threats.
According to MyBroadband, independent ISPs claimed that Telkom was abusing its position as South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure monopoly to undermine their pricing.
In 1997, the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) ruled in ISPA’s favour, finding that Telkom’s monopoly over fixed-line telecommunications did not extend to Internet Protocol.
From bankrupt to building empires
In 2003, Frankel earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.
After finishing his business school studies, Frankel joined a consortium that collaborated with Intelsat to launch a satellite specifically for Africa. He even travelled to French Guiana to witness the rocket launch in person.
Following the completion of his MBA, he invested in eight companies founded by his classmates, including Brontes, which was co-founded by Eric Paley and Micah Rosenbloom.
“I thought I’d do another startup after business school, but I got involved with enough really amazing entrepreneurs,” Frankel said in an interview for a Harvard Business School profile.
In 2008, Frankel partnered with Paley and other entrepreneurs to establish Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund with offices in New York City and Cambridge.
Under Frankel’s leadership, Founder Collective invested in numerous successful companies, including Uber, The Trade Desk, SeatGeek, and BuzzFeed.
He has received several awards for his achievements in business and investing, including the title of IT Executive of the Year from the Computer Society of South Africa.
Frankel has been named to the Midas List six times. In 2024, he ranked fifteenth on the Midas List of the world’s top venture capital investors.
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