Cape Town, April 2017 – Impact Amplifier, an accelerator and capital advisory firm for impact ventures in Africa, helped secure a ZAR16m Series A equity investment from the Vumela Fund, managed by FNB and Edge Growth, for Mobenzi.

Mobenzi has developed a suite of flexible mobile applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, which can be rapidly configured and applied to a broad range of sectors. At their core, the platforms are targeted at frontline workers and enable Android based mobile interactions (e.g. data collection and case management) supported by flexible back-end workflow and reporting. Some of the platforms are completely self-service in nature (e.g. mobile survey and data collection), whilst others provide building blocks for flexible turnkey solutions, such as Community Health Worker service deployed in the Western Cape and North West.

Mobenzi was founded in 2009, by Andi Friedman (CEO), and Pete Fowles (CTO). Commenting on the investment, Andi Friedman noted: “We are excited to have the Vumela Team on board. We are at a critical stage of our growth, and having a long term partner, which can help us scale and is aligned with our social mission, is imperative”. Mobenzi is headquartered in Cape Town, and has been self-funded to date.

Richard Rose, Fund Head at Edge Growth: “Mobenzi is an exciting addition to our investment portfolio. Their software solutions will be a powerful enabler for job creation, and be globally competitive with the best out there.”

Max Pichulik, Partner at Impact Amplifier explains: “Serving the base of the pyramid (BOP) with critical products and services is imperative in developing countries. Mobenzi’s scalable tech replaces pen and paper systems, and empowers frontline workers in key underserved sectors like health, education and agriculture throughout the developing world. Their commercial scalability, strong impact focus and talented team attracted us to helping them at this critical stage of their growth.”

Impact Amplifier’s role in the deal was to provide Mobenzi with strategic support, business acceleration services, lead their capital raising efforts, and secure an institutional equity investor.