COMPANIES
Shuttleworth firm launches fund
Posted Wed, 30 Aug 2006
Mark Shuttleworth’s venture capital company, HBD, has launched its second fund which offers finance to young local businesses that have developed products with global potential.
HBD Fund2, with funds available to the tune of R150-million, will offer the finance over the next two years and is expected to fill a pressing need in South Africa for finance which accelerates the growth of early stage businesses.
Julia Long, CEO of HBD Venture Capital, an independent commercial division of the Shuttleworth Group, said that all too often, even though companies have found a market for their products, lack of capital prevents them from becoming commercially successful.
“Our aim is to address this by investing between R10-milion and R20-million in each of our HBD Fund2 investments over a three to five year period and then profitably exit from them,” she said.
Long noted that one of HBD's key challenges was to identify the ideal companies in which to invest.
“Our
preference is for companies with an existing client, in other words companies that have made some revenue but are not yet profitable.
"We have already made one HBD Fund2 investment, in EDH, a company which develops products and services for the sport, defence and industrial inspection markets. EDH already has local and global interest and a very bright future — it is exactly the sort of company we are looking for.”
“Mark Shuttleworth originally started HBD because he wanted to give other entrepreneurs in SA the chance to grow and succeed in the way he had.
"This remains our mission but at the same time, we are a commercial company which strives to make profits and reinvest in a bid to encourage entrepreneurial success in this country,” said Long.
HBD’s name is short for ‘Here Be Dragons’ — a term used in ancient times to mark unchartered territories on maps
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