About Knife Capital
Knife Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2010. It is primarily based out of Cape Town, South Africa. As of Jul 2026, Knife Capital is an active investor, having invested in 32 companies, with 1 new investment in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in South Africa based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and HealthTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Cue Overall, Knife Capital portfolio has seen 8 acquisitions including key companies like ProGlove, VoxCroft and Kandua. A lot of funds co-invest with Knife Capital, with names like Future Shape sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Knife Capital has team of 17 people including 7 partners.Key Metrics
Knife Capital's List of Top Investments
Knife Capital has a portfolio of 32 companies. Their most notable investments are in Kandua and Quicket.Their portfolio spans across South Africa, United States, United Kingdom and 4 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, HealthTech and 19 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 2 more. Here is the list of top investments by Knife Capital:1. Airtime
App-based live social video calling platform. Airtime uses Facebook information to connect users based on the information in a profile and the selection criteria. Airtime, with 10 employees, is preparing to relaunch its product one more time, in an effort to get users on board and chat with one another after the original product failed.
Key facts about Airtime
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: New York City (United States)
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $159M
- Employee Count: 98 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Goldman Sachs, Apple and 58 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Jul 07, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Kasha
Online retailer offering multi-category beauty and healthcare products for women. The product catalog includes handwashes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, moisturizers, sanitary pads, hand sanitizers, hair oils, shampoo, hair conditioners, and more. The company also offers baby care products. It offers offline-to-online service of providing essential care products for women on-demand. The company creates a social impact by working on empowering women in urban and rural areas.
Key facts about Kasha
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Nairobi (Kenya)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $29.5M
- Employee Count: 188 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Sanofi, Mastercard and 25 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Dec 10, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Coachbetter
Online digital assistant for coaches. The platform enables coaches to plan training sessions, and manage teams. It offers a video analysis solution, which enables coaches to upload videos of athletes and drills. The company also offers all the features on a monthly subscription-based plan. The company has partnered with Wylab, PixelPlus, and Embry-Riddle among others.
Key facts about Coachbetter
- Founded Year: 2002
- Location: Wallisellen (Switzerland)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $16.6M
- Employee Count: 43 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: TheVentureCity, Swiss Founders Fund and 10 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, May 25, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. ProGlove
Provider of wearable barcode scanners and software for workflow optimization. The company offers devices and software designed to improve scanning accuracy and worker guidance. Solutions include wearable scanners, mobile device management tools, and process optimization software. These products aim to enhance employee satisfaction and streamline operations within logistics, manufacturing, and retail environments.
Key facts about ProGlove
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Munich (Germany)
- Annual Revenue: €10M - €50M as on Dec 31, 2023
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $49.1M
- Employee Count: 246 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Intel, Summit Partners and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Sep 09, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
5. DataProphet
Provider of AI-based solutions for quality management. It enables manufacturers to step towards autonomous manufacturing, and it also prescribes changes to plant control plans to optimize production without human analysis. It provides machine learning-based inspection solutions to detect manufacturing defects.
Key facts about DataProphet
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Cape Town (South Africa)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $16M
- Employee Count: 32 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: IDC, Microsoft Accelerator and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Aug 10, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Knife Capital's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Knife Capital has invested in 32 companies over the last 15 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 2 investments, while as of Jul 2026, it has made 1 investment in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Cue and most recent follow-on round was in DataProphet.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2025 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2023 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2022 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2021 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2020 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2018 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
2017 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Knife Capital's Investments by Stage
Knife Capital has made 12 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $6.83M, 6 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $4.31M, 2 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $21M and 1 investment in Unattributed stage.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 12 |
Seed | 6 |
Series B | 2 |
Unattributed | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Knife Capital's Investments by Sector
Knife Capital has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Vertical SaaS, Consumer, HealthTech and Business Services. Notably, it has invested in 23 Tech companies, 18 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 16 Software companies and at least 14 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 11 |
Vertical SaaS | 5 |
Consumer | 4 |
HealthTech | 3 |
Business Services | 2 |
Others | 16 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Knife Capital's Investments by Geography
Knife Capital has made most investments in South Africa (13), followed by United States where it has made 5 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
South Africa | 13 |
United States | 5 |
Kenya | 1 |
Switzerland | 1 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Knife Capital's recent investments
Knife Capital has made 1 investments in 2026 so far - Cue.Here are the most recent investments by Knife Capital:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 14, 2026 | South Africa | Series A | 7019 | ||
Jul 03, 2025 | South Africa | Series A | 1843 | - | |
Jul 03, 2025 | South Africa | Series A | 8825 | - | |
Mar 12, 2024 | South Africa | Series A | 1893 | ||
Dec 08, 2023 | Switzerland | Seed | 3621 |
Acquired companies in Knife Capital's Portfolio
8 companies from Knife Capital's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was VoxCroft in Jun 2026 by Redpoint Advisors for $*****.Here are Knife Capital's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 03, 2026 | Nov 18, 2021 | Series A | 1907 | |
Jul 24, 2024 | Mar 29, 2017 | Series A | 2188 | |
May 27, 2024 | Jul 19, 2021 | Seed | 1657 | |
May 04, 2022 | - | - | 6927 | |
Sep 27, 2021 | - | - | 7036 |
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Team profile of Knife Capital
Knife Capital has a team of 17 members including 7 Partners and 1 Venture Partner located in South Africa, United Kingdom and 1 more location. Knife Capital's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in Knife Capital:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | London | - | ||
Partner | Cape Town | - | ||
Partner | London | - | ||
Partner | Cape Town | - | - | |
Partner | Cape Town | - | ||
Partner | Jersey | - | ||
Partner | Johannesburg | - | - | |
Venture Partner | Cape Town | - | - |
Co-investors of Knife Capital
Over the past 15 years, 95 investors have co-invested in Knife Capital's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Knife Capital: Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and 45 others have invested in rounds before Knife Capital. There is 1 company where Andreessen Horowitz has invested before Knife Capital and 1 company where Accel has invested before Knife Capital.
- Top Co-investors of Knife Capital: 43 investors entered a company along with Knife Capital. These include investors like Future Shape (1 company).
- Invested after Knife Capital: A total of 5 investors have invested in Knife Capital's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include SoftBank Vision Fund (1 company), World Innovation Lab (1 company) and Sanofi (1 company).
Recent News related to Knife Capital
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Customer service AI firm Cue raises $5 million to fund international expansion and product developmentTechCentral•Jul 15, 2026•Knife Capital, Cue, FAM, CUE
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Redpoint Advisors Acquires VoxCroft Analytics to Enhance AI Capabilities and Global IntelligencePR Newswire•Jun 03, 2026•VoxCroft, Knife Capital
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Knife Capital invests in Sticitt and Optique with Series A investmentsInnovation-village•Jul 03, 2025•Sticitt, Knife Capital
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Simera Sense Raises €13.5 Million to Support its Earth Observation Optical Imaging SolutionsSpaceQuip•Apr 30, 2024•Simera Sense, NewSpace Capital, Knife Capital
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Simera Sense Raises €13.5m In Growth Investment RoundStartUp Mag South Africa•Mar 20, 2024•Simera Sense, NewSpace Capital, Knife Capital
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The South African startup Simera Sense rises $ 14.8 millionAITN - AfriqueITNews•Mar 13, 2024•Simera Sense, Knife Capital, NewSpace Capital, AAC Clyde Space and 4 others
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Coachbetter extends seed round to €4 millionStartupticker•Dec 08, 2023•Coachbetter, Knife Capital, Bogen & Partner Wealth Managers
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VC Knife Capital closes $50 million African Series B fundInnovation-village•Aug 19, 2023•Knife Capital
