Viridian

Have you gotten your ticket to this year's AfriLabs Annual Gathering yet?🚀 Viridian's CPO, Michelle Matthews, will be hosting an exciting masterclass on how to build relationships with local women angel investors, and we promise you don't want to miss out on this! Learn more about Michelle's experience in supporting women-led ventures in the post below, and check out our website to learn more about the work we do at Viridian to support women angels and entrepreneurs.⭐💪🏾 https://lnkd.in/dB_FRZMf Get your AfriLabs ticket now through the link in the post below. ⬇️

The UK South Africa Tech Hub in Collaboration with Viridian and Jozi Angels hosted the annual African Early-Stage Investment Summit Gauteng Investors Evening, to bring together early-stage investors ahead of the summit in November this year. The team used the opportunity to share the capacity building programmes that are geared towards supporting investors and aiding them in raising funds.

📢 We are proud to sponsor this year’s #AESIS2024 Investor Meetup in Cape Town! Every year, in the lead-up to the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, AESIS organizes meetups hosted by investors across the globe. These events encourage regional connections and help build in-person relationships with local stakeholders, investors, and key ecosystem builders. We invite you to join us for an evening of collaboration and shared insights. 📆 Date: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 🕛 Time: 17h30 to 20h00 (SAST) 📍 Venue details will be provided upon RSVP confirmation. Hosts: Viridian and Ventures 54 Sponsors: African Angel Academy|UK South Africa Tech Hub| Von Seidels|Dommisse Attorneys Inc 🎫 Reserve your spot at this year's Cape Town investor meetup: https://lnkd.in/d3aa6K3p Africa Early Stage Investor Summit |ABAN| VC4A.

📢 We are proud to announce that we will be hosting this year’s #AESIS2024 investor meetup in Cape Town, alongside Ventures 54!🎉 Every year, in the build up to the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit, AESIS organises meetups hosted by investors globally, to encourage connection regionally and build in-person relationships with local stakeholders, investors and key ecosystem builders. We'll be hosting the Cape Town meetup in 2 weeks time, and would love to see you there! 📆 Date: Wednesday, 30 October 2024 🕛 Time: 17h30 to 20h00 (SAST) 📍 Venue details will be provided upon RSVP confirmation. Hosts: Viridian, Ventures 54 Sponsors: African Angel Academy, UK South Africa Tech Hub, Von Seidels, Dommisse Attorneys Inc 🎫 Reserve your spot at this year's Cape Town investor meetup: https://lnkd.in/d3aa6K3p *RSVP before Sunday, 27 October to secure your spot.* Africa Early Stage Investor Summit ABAN VC4A

Why do we refer to *finance-ready* entrepreneurs as one of Viridian's three ecosystem pillars? Well, when you say investment-ready people immediately think of equity; typically VC-style deals. And the truth is, many solid, high-potential, impactful African businesses aren't attractive to VCs. But they still need money to grow. In a round-table room led by Standard Bank Group Foundation at the Anglo American Impact Financing Network event yesterday, colleagues from organisations like Edge Growth and Impact Amplifier -- who also have years in the trenches -- were saying the same thing. We need to support entrepreneurs to understand the full financing landscape: yes, equity, but also grants, debt and innovative hybrids. Local early-stage capital providers (another of Viridian's ecosystem pillars) agree -- African angels are increasingly interested in high-growth non-tech deals, exploring revenue-sharing, debt and other non-equity instruments to invest (watch African Angel Academy for more on this soon...). Sustainable prosperity is created when entrepreneurs are empowered to choose the financing that is right for them and their business at each point of their growth trajectory. This is why Viridian has created products like Let's Talk Financing and Raise Ready. Let's unlock the next stage of African economic growth by helping entrepreneurs access the right money at the right time! [Illustration generated by Microsoft Image Creator.]

A great mix of passionate people at the AngloAmerican Impact Finance Network event -- collaboration between us could result in even greater things being achieved (Unlocking Impact indeed!), so it was really helpful that most sessions were small round-tables. (I was too immersed in those to get a photo, but here's one from Gobuddy 's pitch👍)

We are proud to announce that Viridian's Director, Michelle Matthews, will be speaking at this year’s Africa Early Stage Investor Summit in November.👏🏾 She will be sharing insights from AEEI's* report on the barriers an enablers for women angel investors in Africa.💡 We are also hosting this year's Cape Town investor meetup on October 30th. We will be sharing more details this week!🚀 *AEEI is Viridian's non-profit arm.

✈️ Last week, Viridian's Programme Manager, John Anyetei, had the opportunity to visit the Orange Corners Design team at their offices in Johannesburg. 💡John connected with Khanya Mpuang and mohau memeza to learn more about their programme implemented by The Craft + Design Institute (CDI) in South Africa to empower visionary entrepreneurs dedicated to driving positive change in under-resourced communities. 🚀 It was great meeting the CDI team in person, and we're excited for our upcoming collaboration with them later this year!

Looking back at the incredible moments from the AESIS 2023 Investor Meetup in Cape Town, South Africa, we are reminded of the impactful experiences shaping the future of early-stage investing in Africa. Thanks to the meetup hosts (Viridian, African Angel Academy and UVU Africa) for making this event a success! Let’s carry that momentum into this year! Exciting news! Cape Town will also host an Investor Meetup this year! Visit http://bit.ly/4cWfQ7f to find out when and discover other meetups happening near you ahead of #AESIS2024! ABAN VC4A Quona Capital Launch Africa Ventures Knife Capital GrindstoneXL UK South Africa Tech Hub

🧡 We’re reminiscing about the Africa Prize Cycle 10 final event, where innovators from across Africa showcased their impactful and scalable engineering solutions to local challenges. 💪🏾 The event also marked the 10th anniversary of the Africa Prize, celebrating a decade of empowering African innovators and sharing the importance of engineering in improving quality of life and economic development. ⭐ As the training partner of this incredible programme, we’ve witnessed the remarkable impact these talented engineers and entrepreneurs are making. From the training sessions to the final pitches, their passion and creativity never cease to inspire. If you missed it, check out the highlight video below!👇🏾 Royal Academy of Engineering