Business
Where are all the black founders?
Black founders face a “trust deficit”, meaning they often have to work harder to convince everyone from investors, clients and potential employees to take a chance on them.
01 October 2025
For years, many in the tech sector have trumpeted the success of local startups, which have raised billions of rands in venture capital (VC). But behind closed doors, there have long been grumblings about how few black founders score any deals. Could that be changing?
In the first half of the year, a string of startups run by black African, Indian and Coloured founders – including Faro, Taco, Khula, Stitch, DigiSquad and Impulse Medical – landed a share of the $344mn that Africa: The Big Deal, a blog covering the sector, reported startups had raised over the period. They add to a number of other bigname startups with black founders that have secured VC deals in recent years – such as Droppa, VALR, Pineapple, HyperionDev, Livestock Wealth and RecoMed.
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