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Why it’s a good time for South African investors to address concentration risk

7Feb

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Why it’s a good time for South African investors to address concentration risk

With the US dollar having pulled back from the highs seen in the second half of 2022, this is an opportune time for South African investors to address domestic concentration risk if they have been overly exposed to local assets, according to investment advisory and wealth management firm GraySwan. Aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, and a decline in risk appetite, pushed the US Dollar Index to a 20-year high during October 2022. The rand, which tends to bear the brunt of market shocks and a strong Dollar, subsequently slid to lows of around R18.40/$. More recently, however, data releases have stoked optimism that interest rate increases may soon be a thing of the past. Together with China’s reopening, this has reduced pessimism in global financial markets, and the rand...

HAVAÍC expects bumper year for African tech startups

As one of South Africa’s most active Venture Capital investors, HAVAÍC says 2020 saw the commercial adoption of technology increase at unprecedented rates, as illustrated by the performance of HAVAÍC and its portfolio companies. 2020 saw HAVAÍC’s portfolio companies grow their revenue by a staggering 93%, and in the coming months, Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, believes the economic, social and commercial prospects for investing in the African technology sector looks promising, especially as the acceleration of technology adoption continues. According to the recent African Tech Startups Funding Report 2020, published by Disrupt Africa, the year produced a record for funding activity in the African tech startup ecosystem, owing to the increased number of active investors on the con...

High-Impact Entrepreneurs Raise 4x Capital Year-On-Year

Endeavor empowers entrepreneurs for business growth Despite prolonged global market uncertainty, Endeavor South Africa has reported significant growth in their portfolio of disruptive tech businesses. The local chapter of the global non-profit organisation, which supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets, reported collective raises of R2bn in 2020 alone amongst the portfolio of 29 businesses, compared to R1.3bn combined during 2018-2019. A number of these businesses delivered strong results, one of which achieved a 300% uptick in volume. Capital Markets Lead Antonia Bothner attributes this acceleration in capital raising due to the growth stage nature of these businesses and the strong underlying performance of the businesses in the tech or tech-enabled space. The portfolio is...