How One Fund’s Quiet Strategy Birthed South Africa’s Biggest Tech Exits

It’s not often that a South African startup makes headlines in Silicon Valley circles, especially for something as 'unsexy' as emergency response software. But earlier this year, Cape Town-born RapidDeploy was snapped up by U.S. tech giant Motorola Solutions.

When the deal was announced in February, there wasn’t the usual social media fanfare one might expect from major startup exits. No “unicorn” labels. No founders on magazine covers. Just a few sentences confirming what insiders already suspected: one of the most significant tech exits in South African history had just taken place.

For HAVAÍC, the South African early-stage venture capital (VC) firm that backed RapidDeploy in 2022, it was a vindication of its strategy: invest in startups born in Africa but designed to scale globally.

But beyond the press releases and milestone moments, the deal (terms undisclosed) raises deeper questions about where African VC is headed, who it’s really working for, and how many startups ca...