Infinite Partners raises $169.3 million to back South African growth businesses
Infinite Partners, a South African mid-market private equity investment firm, has raised R2.8 billion ($169.3 million) to back established businesses, including those using technology to expand markets and scale.
The firm closed its Core Equity Fund II above its R2.5 billion ($151.1 million) target, backed entirely by South African institutional investors, including pension funds, insurers, asset managers and banks. The fund targets established mid-market businesses, with individual investments ranging from R100 million ($6 million) to R500 million ($30.2 million).
The raise comes as private equity looks beyond traditional technology companies to businesses where technology can unlock growth, improve efficiency and expand access to essential services. Infinite Partners is taking a generalist approach, backing established companies with strong growth potential, including those using technology to solve practical problems in sectors such as financial services and digital infrastructure.
“Our Infinite Deal investment philosophy has remained the same from day one. We focus on backing quality businesses with identifiable tailwinds, and potential to create sustainable value over time,” Edward Pitsi, co-founder and CEO of Infinite Partners, told TechCabal in an interview on Friday.
Infinite Partners is a generalist private equity investor, not a dedicated technology fund. Its strategy centres on established businesses with strong fundamentals and clear growth opportunities.
“We are a generalist South African mid-market investor, and we have certain restrictions on committing too much capital to any particular sector,” Pitsi said.
He stated that the firm looks for businesses with significant structural growth drivers, strong management, healthy margins and cash conversion, high barriers to entry, and a credible exit strategy.
The firm’s first two investments are in enterprise software company e4 and digital infrastructure business CYNK. e4, an enterprise software business, serves the banking and property sectors, digitising workflows involved in mortgage origination and property transactions.
According to Pitsi, e4’s technology has reduced the home-buying process from 96 days to around 40 days. Since inception, its platform has processed R2.8 trillion ($169.3 billion) in mortgages.
“Leveraged correctly, technology can have a multiplier effect,” he said. “We have seen this firsthand through our investments in e4, where technology has vastly improved and quickened the home buying process by a factor of more than 50%. This has also underpinned economic activity by providing the technology rails required to facilitate these transactions.”
Pitsi also disclosed that the business is also pursuing international expansion through a nascent United Kingdom (UK) operation, extending the potential market for its South African-developed technology.
CYNK addresses a different challenge: access to digital infrastructure. The company develops and owns fibre assets, with a network reaching more than 667,000 South African households, particularly in underserved communities and townships.
“From a CYNK perspective, we are seeing technology bridge the digital divide and provide much-needed access to connectivity for the lower LSM,” Pitsi said. He added that the infrastructure has created opportunities for small businesses in underserved areas and helped improve the affordability of internet access.
Infinite Partners says it assesses whether a business can turn its market opportunity into sustainable growth, generate cash and deliver a credible return for investors.
The fund provides both growth and replacement capital to established mid-market companies. Beyond its existing investments, Infinite Partners is exploring opportunities in business services, education, alternative lending and software-as-a-service (SaaS), Pitsi said.
“We are generalist investors,” he stated, adding that international expansion would form part of the firm’s strategy for portfolio companies where appropriate.
Investor confidence was also critical to the fund’s close. Pitsi said some of the firm’s earliest backers increased their commitments after seeing its investment strategy take shape.
“As we invested in our first two deals, they saw our investment strategy being borne out, and this gave them sufficient confidence in us to increase their commitments in subsequent closings,” he said.
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