Welcome to Africa's leading entrepreneurial
development platform
We are transforming Africa's biggest challenges into its greatest opportunities by serving as a confident, commercial co-builder for world-shaping startups
We create the outcomes that
matter most to startups
200+
businesses incubated
540
direct jobs created
R200m+
capital raised
R300m+
combined annual turnover
What we build
Entrepreneurial
Mindset
World-Shaping
Startups
We create and foster an entrepreneurial environment in a safe, empathetic manner focused on co-working, events & business support. Our aim is for our community members to learn something new, meet someone interesting and have fun in the process.
We help teach a new problem solving method and the mentality that goes along with it to universities, corporate partners and anyone interested in viewing the world in a new way. This effort is made possible through various bootcamps, pitch competitions, experiential learning workshops and teaching support.
We transform startups from across Africa into high impact, sustainable organisations through standardised content, bespoke support and access to a deep network of mentors, experts and investors.
We focus on building both from as well as with Africa's leading universities.
Our business building programs
We help Stellenbosch University's leading student, alumni and technology transfer startups gain the proper foundations for growth through curriculum, cohort sessions and 1:1 business building support.
Teams can utilise professional templates and request additional mentoring. They also gain access to value added services such as AWS credits and discounted legal, marketing and fundraising.
The 4-week program provides standardised content around business building techniques, sales, fundraising and pitching. It then supercharges those learnings with bespoke support.
Startups may gain access to up to $20,000 of capital at the discretion of SU LaunchLab. They can also hire the team to execute fundraising and executive hiring for a fee.
We help experienced, growth stage university startups achieve product-market-fit-- or raise the capital to keep searching for it-- through a bespoke, expert led program focused on tackling and solving critical issues.
Teams are paired with an expert advisor selected specifically based on their needs. This expert works alongside the SU LaunchLab Business Builder team to highlight and execute key business needs. Startups also gain access to curriculum, templates and value add services including AWS credits.
The 4-month program allows technical founders to do what they do best - create - while ensuring their deep tech business has the commercial foundation necessary for long-term success.
We use Design Thinking & Lean Startup techniques to help Pan-African startups grow their sales and raise the necessary capital to accelerate their scale, impact and success.
Teams focus on the testing and learning based on the most important 'How Might We' statement facing their business at that moment in time. This format serves all startups ranging from pre-revenue all the way through to raising Series A.
The 8-week program provides a standardised learning journey, prescribe templates, cohort sessions, 1:1 mentoring and bespoke office hours to achieve results. Teams also gain access to value added services such as AWS credits and discounted legal, marketing and fundraising.
Startups may gain up to $25,000 of investment from SU LaunchLab directly or access external funds through a trusted network of angel and institutional investors.
We build a highway to Series A for Pan-African climate tech startups working at the intersection of climate impact and financial scalability.
SU LaunchLab Business Builders do the heavy lifting that world shaping startups require by investing both human as well as financial capital. Utilising internal skills as well as external expertise allows each startup to execute up to 3 critical deliverables throughout the bespoke program.
The 12-month program invests $25,000 USD of financial capital to extend runway. It then contributes $25,000 USD of in-kind advisory to provide commercial, financial and human resource expertise. It also works with a defined Circle of Partners to access the next round of funding in order to maximise impact and speed to market.
