Applications are now being accepted for Savant’s venture fund, a hardware incubator in South Africa that offers funding and other forms of assistance to projects.
Nick Allen founded Savant, a hardware technology incubator, in 2005. It offers entrepreneurs and inventors who have created products and technologies based on science and engineering commercial support.
After raising ZAR110 million (US$7.8 million) from the SA SME Fund, it established a venture fund in 2019 and has since made investments in several businesses.
Its pre-seed fund, run in collaboration with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), focuses on projects that are in the early phases of technology development, including market research, prototype development, and proof of concept studies.
Its goal is to guarantee that innovators who are working on technologies or innovations that are currently in the TRL3 or TRL4 stages achieve technical viability. Each application may receive up to ZAR800,000 (US$44,000), and the maximum period is 12–18 months.
Applicants who have already finished a pre-seed funding project and are looking for follow-on funding for their technology or innovation to produce a minimum viable product that is prepared for piloting and market testing with a clear regulatory pathway and route to market are eligible to apply for the seed fund.
Innovations or technologies falling under TRL5 and TRL6 are eligible for this grant. For a maximum period of 12 to 24 months, each application may submit a maximum of ZAR1.2 million (US$65,000).
