More Venture Capital Funding Available for South African Start-ups

Great news for South African business start-ups came recently with the American venture capital firm DFJ further strengthening their focus on investing heavily into new businesses in South Africa. This will come as a further boost to South African firms who has recently seen a dramatic increase in business start-up funding being made available to entrepreneurs in this country. As company looking for funding, this once again emphasises the importance of a well written business plan.

Over the past half-century, venture capitalists and start-ups in Silicon Valley have revolutionized much of the U.S. economy by launching new technologies in the electronics, computer, software and Internet industries.

A big hitter in the global venture capital arena, DFJ has in recent years cashed in on two well-known start-ups: Skype, the well known Internet phone firm bought by eBay for $2.5 billion in 2005, and Baidu.com, China's largest search engine company, which went public on Nasdaq three years ago and enjoys $9 billion in stock market value.

The firm has so far invested in more than 90 start-ups in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones Venture One. They believe that the economies and markets for IPOs and acquisitions in countries like South Africa are expected to grow at a faster pace than in the USA and are hence keen to be part of that predicted growth.

The DFJ Athena fund has invested $100 million in international start-ups, ranging from technology to service based industries and are optimistic that they will attract a high level of potentially profitable business plans in South Africa.

Good quality, well-researched, business plans are key to Venture capital firms with entrepreneurs needing to present the right picture from the outset. Due to the shear volume of South African business plans being presented to firms such as these, as the entrepreneur you often get only one chance to make a good impression. Make sure you present your business plan, feasibility study and business plan presentation in such a way that it will make a lasting impression.