South African venture capital firm Mamor Capital Ventures has secured R300 million in the first close of its inaugural fund, giving the black women-owned and managed investor fresh capital to back technology businesses that have moved beyond the early stages of development. The firm is targeting R550 million for the fund and will continue fundraising while it begins deploying capital.
The first close follows more than three years of fundraising and is anchored by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), South Africa’s state-owned asset manager. Other institutional commitments come from the SA SME Fund’s High Impact Seed Fund of Funds, the Technology Innovation Agency and the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency. The PIC also helped attract additional institutional capital to the fund.
Mamor Capital’s strategy is focused on post-revenue technology businesses rather than startups that are still searching for product-market fit. The firm wants companies that have demonstrated genuine commercial demand and have the potential to scale sustainably.
Its investment mandate includes businesses using technology to expand access to financial and digital services, strengthen digital infrastructure and address barriers to broader economic participation. That focus places Mamor in an important part of South Africa’s startup funding ecosystem, where companies can face difficulty securing growth capital after proving that their products work but before reaching the scale required by larger investors.
For Mamor founder and CEO Mamokete Ramathe, the first close represents a transition from fundraising to deployment. After spending years building institutional support for the strategy, the firm can now begin evaluating investment opportunities while continuing to work towards its final R550 million target.
The fund also carries a broader transformation objective. Mamor is applying a gender lens to its investment approach and aims to increase access to growth capital for founders who have historically been underserved by traditional investment structures. Its leadership team brings experience across investment banking, venture capital, telecommunications, technology and entrepreneurship.
The participation of institutional investors is equally significant. The PIC has highlighted the role long-term institutional capital can play in developing South Africa’s venture capital market, while the SA SME Fund said its investment is intended to strengthen the pool of specialist local fund managers supporting technology companies.
Mamor’s challenge now shifts from raising money to deploying it effectively. The firm says investment decisions will consider the strength of each business, the quality of its management team and whether its capital and expertise can help create sustainable scale.
With R300 million secured, Mamor Capital enters that next phase with both capital and a clear mandate: back South African technology businesses with proven demand, while helping build a more inclusive and sustainable venture capital ecosystem.
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