Joburg venture capital company, Grotech has rebranded as Kalon Venture Partners as the group closes in on three new deals in the digital technology space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kalon board decided to rebrand to better reflect the vision of being the pre-eminent digital technology venture capital company in Africa by investing in and growing entrepreneurs who solve African and global problems,” said Clive Butkow, CEO of Kalon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe revised Kalon mission is to create as much non-financial as financial value, by investing smart capital, supported by smart interventions resulting in enhanced returns for both investors and entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The board includes Butkow, a former COO of Accenture South Africa, Gil Oved, a Dragon in the launch series of Dragons Den, a shark on Shark Tank and co-founder of advertising agency, The Creative Counsel, Nic Liebmann who co-founded Caleo, a private equity and wealth management group, and former Vodacom executive, Romeo Kumalo.<\/p>\n
The first of the three deals is in the in’fluencer marketing software’ space – to provide and supply a transactional exchange for sponsored content.<\/p>\n
The second company is a digital marketplace that enables anyone to purchase and lease solar panels to commercial scale solar energy projects in emerging economies, while the third investment is in a cashback coupon app that gives shoppers cash back on selected products, wherever they shop, just by snapping a photo of their till slip.<\/p>\n
Kalon Venture Partners said it is targeting returns of more than 30% per annum and a minimum of five times the money invested over five to seven-years.<\/p>\n