“Shadow” or ex-officio director roles are often  established between institutional investors and their investee companies, whether intentional or unintentional,  with these roles having the same fiduciary responsibilities as actual directors.  We explain how these roles are sometimes establis...

In a world of spiralling government deficits, stubbornly high inflation, bank failures, fractured politics and gruesome wars wreaking economic as well as humanitarian havoc, it is little surprise that investors of all types have been seeking refuge in gold. The gold price has risen 19% in the last y...

We foresee a world of blockchain-enabled next-generation payment platforms outside of the SWIFT network, with businesses being able to move money globally, trading in both fiat and digital currencies, accepting payments in digital currencies and integrating digital currencies into products and servi...

Over the last decade, the subscription model has become a prominent feature across industries from streaming services, weekly meal kits, mobility services, to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) – projected to be worth almost $1 trillion globally by 2028. As the subscription economy extends into new ...

Mezzanine finance is a hybrid debt equity instrument that is being increasingly used by technopreneurs around the globe, in different forms and use cases, as it is largely non-dilutative of their equity, usually does not require their personal surety and can be easier to acquire than either bank deb...

Credit: This article by Itay Sagie was published in Crunchbase News on April 16, 2024. In the world of early-stage fundraising, the allure of the Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or  SAFE, often seems like a no-brainer choice for entrepreneurs. Designed as a founder-friendly vessel to sail the c...

In my view, the global trend of  “startups acquiring startups” is almost entirely VC-driven, most commonly on the sell-side but also on the acquirer/buy-side. More than 80% of acquired VC-backed startups sold to another startup since the beginning of 2023, equating to 766 companies globally, ac...

Credit: Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton Capital as published on sifted It is 10pm on Wednesday, Feb 21. You are a founder raising funding. You have got to know VCs over the last few years and had increasingly intense conversations with them over the past few weeks. They have asked you lots of due d...

2024 is building up to be an interesting year given the conflicting indicators, particularly in VC capital supply and deployment, whilst exits for founders and VC’s rely on steady and strong stock markets and M&A activity. Starting on the capital supply side of the equation; VC fundraising in ...

The unfortunate reality on a global basis  is that it is harder to raise capital and scale a startup in smaller markets. This is even more true in heterogeneous Africa where it is often harder to scale across regions and countries. The “big 4” countries in Africa accounted for 94% of Fintech fi...