PayFast Launches New Merchant Funding Feature
Online payment gateway, PayFast has launched a new merchant-financing service in partnership with local fintech lender, Retail Capital, called Easy Advance. The service is designed to help merchants leverage short-term working capital to grow their business, without compromising their cash flow.
“Small businesses are generally more agile and quick to adopt creative strategies. Throughout 2020, many found new ways to earn revenue, promote their offerings and acquire new customers – despite the pandemic. We want to encourage our merchants to continue growing their businesses, without the limitations of traditional financing,” says Jonathan Smit, Managing Director and founder of PayFast.
Taking daily online transactions into account, Easy Advance offers flexible, pre-approved funding to merchants based on their real-time trading data on the PayFast engine. The amount of the cash advance is determined against a percentage of future sales to ensure that merchants can still meet their monthly expenses while growing their business.
“As more small businesses move online, we need to advance their access to funding through digital channels and collaborations like Easy Advance. By partnering with PayFast we can pre-authorise merchants based on their track record and trading data, not their collateral,” says Miguel Da Silva, Managing Director of Retail Capital.
Merchants can access their funding within 24 hours following the acceptance of the initial finance offer. The advance can help businesses purchase equipment, add more stock, pay their suppliers upfront or adjust their cash flow if necessary.
Fund for Side Hustlers Launched
Serial entrepreneur and author, Nic Haralambous, has launched the Slow Fund to help other entrepreneurs launch a side hustle.
The fund will offer one person R1,000 everyday, a 30-minute coaching call and a Yoco Go device.
Haralambous is the founder of Slow-Hustle revolution, which according to the website helps “other people, entrepreneurs, founders, side-hustlers and business owners realise that you can build things of value slowly, patiently and consistently”.
Mineworkers Investment Company Commits USD10 Million to Knife Capital’s African Series B Expansion Fund
Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC) has committed USD10 million to venture capital firm Knife Capital’s new African Series B expansion fund, Knife Fund III. The Fund aims to invest in the aggressive expansion of African innovation-driven companies and fill a critical follow-on funding gap.
The commitment positions MIC as an anchor investor to the Fund alongside other local and international investors. Speaking on the announcement, Nchaupe Khaole, Chief Investment Officer at MIC explained, “The move to change the way local institutional investors approach venture capital investment has been in the pipeline at MIC for several years now.
“Our venturing into the earlier-stage alternative asset class space makes sense given the slow economic growth in the last three years. We believe that the impact of investment in small to medium-scale enterprises on innovation, job creation and economic growth is crucial, and therefore urgent to unlock, especially right now. Our commitment brings to the table the investment, along with many of our strengths as an experienced player. One of which is our ability to influence the companies within our portfolio to partner with us and effect real, tangible change to the South African economy. We are delighted to be a key catalyst in the success of this funding round.”
New Section J Investment Fund for Cannabis Industry
SilverLeaf Investments is a Section 12J investment fund and aims to provide an entry point into investment opportunities within the cannabis industry.
The fund offers a 100% tax deduction in the year the investment is made. Its targeted internal rate of return is between 20% and 30% over five to seven years.
SilverLeaf Investments has partnered with Jeff Miller and Malcolm Segal’s Grovest, a boutique investment firm which is South Africa’s first and largest Section 12J fund administrator.
The fund is now open for investment in its fundraising season with opportunities to invest from R50,000.
