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South African mobile shopping application startup MySidekick has secured a ZAR4 million (US$280,000) staged investment from Stellenbosch-based technology funder and developer Alchemy-A.

Based at the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab business incubator, MySidekick has developed an application that provides users with relevant shopping deals.

Alchemy-A is part of the EMSS Technology Group and provides seed funding to startups, investing in post-revenue ventures that are ready to scale.

MySidekick founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Leonard Brewer said Alchemy-A would play an active role in strategy and product development going forward.

“We are very pleased with the investment agreement. It has given us additional resources required for growth and expansion,” he said.

Alchemy-A co-founder Frans Meyer said he had been impressed with the startup’s pitch and business model.

“We believe that retailers will spend money on the targeted advertising the application offers, especially once high consumer numbers have been reached,” said Meyer.

He added that further developments will focus on the end user, and that he was confident about the potential of the application.   

Philip Marais, CEO of the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab, said securing venture capital funding is one of the key challenges faced by South African startups.

“In a small or under-developed entrepreneurial ecosystem, access to funding and investment facilitation support is limited. Actively playing a role in mobilising the venture investment relationship is just one way that reflects how active we are in supporting investment-ready start-ups with high growth potential,” he said.

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