Uprise Africa

About

When Uprise Africa launched in 2017, it was the country’s first equity crowdfunding platform. Their goal is to enable everyone to invest in startups, not just professional investors.

Equity crowdfunding allows private individuals to invest in early-stage businesses in exchange for equity.

The platform also serves as a space for small business owners to receive feedback from investors, get help reaching their target market, and to test the viability of their offering.

The maximum funding goal on the platform is R50 million. 

See also: A Guide to Crowdfunding in South Africa

Features

Type of funding – Uprise Africa works on an equity-based model which allows backers to invest in exchange of equity in the business. 

Qualification criteria –All businesses can apply, however, all applications must be approved by the Uprise Africa team. 

Application process – To start, users create a profile on uprise.africa and complete the application form. Applicants must also have FICA documentation. 

If your application is approved you can start to build your pitch and set a funding goal between R500,000 and R50 000 000. 

After onboarding, Uprise will conduct a legal and financial due diligence on the business seeking funding, with the support of specialist analysts.

According to Uprise Africa, entrepreneurs should be prepared to be occupied for three to four months during the crowdfunding process and will need to be available every day to answer questions from investors and select media appearances.

Pricing

Uprise Africa charges the following for approved campaigns. 

Cost of capital raise – 8% excluding VAT is deducted on successful capital raises. This is split accordingly:

• 1% (one percent)(this amount will not accrue VAT as it is part of the subscription raise) of the proceeds raised from this public offering will be retained by Uprise Fund I to cover the running costs of Uprise Fund
• 2% Uprise Management company fee – to ensure legal compliance and judiciary oversight post raise for the first year (after year one the company will need to take on their own post-campaign reporting cost)
• 5% Uprise.Africa platform- capital raise fee.

Transaction fees are charged on investments. EFT fee, R10.00; instant EFT 1.5%; credit/debit card 2.5%; Paypal 5.5%.

They advise that entrepreneurs set aside a marketing budget for R30,000 – R80 000 to cover extensive PR, digital and social media marketing. 

Pros

The crowdfunding process not only helps businesses to attract investors, but also acquire customers and raise their brand awareness.

Cons

Requires a lot of financial and time investment to market campaigns. 

Contact

Contact the team via telephone or email.