Financing Options: Convertible Debt. MBA Mondays are back after a one week hiatus. Today we are going to talk about convertible debt. Convertible debt can also be called convertible loans or convertible notes. For the purposes of this post, these three terms will be interchangeable. Convertible debt is when a company borrows money from an investor or a group of investors and the intention of both the investors and the company is to convert the debt to equity at some later date. There are a number of reasons why the investors and/or the company would prefer to issue debt instead of equity and convert the debt to equity at a later date. For investors, the preference for debt vs equity is less clear. Friends and family rounds, which we discussed earlier in this series, are often done via convertible debt. The typical forms of compensation for making a convertible loan are warrants or a discount.
Warrants are another form of an option. A discount is simpler to understand but often more complicated to execute. Unwrapping the mysteries of SA’s venture metrics landscape [Infographic] With additional reporting by Mich Atagana South Africa’s startup landscape is an industry wrapped in mysteries and enigmas. It’s a world of near facts and almost could be truths, especially when it comes to funding. The average entrepreneur is not a 21-year-old University dropout. Also not all of them are men, yes women start companies too. In a survey conducted by Knife Capital, around 337 entrepreneurs shed some light on this cloak and dagger industry and provided some interesting insights about venture seeking entrepreneurs and what they think their business is worth, how the founders met as well their risk assessment. We have extrapolated the information from the survey and created an easily digestible infographic with the data. Company Profile While these ventures span across many different sectors, not surprisingly the Technology, Media & Telecommunications sector comes out top with 41% representation.
Financial Position Funding and Valuation The Golidlocks moment. Tech hubs across Africa: Which will be the legacy-makers? | Information and Communications for Development. One of the key features of the African digital renaissance is that it is increasingly home grown. In other sectors of the African economy, such as mining or agribusiness, much of the know-how is imported and the wealth extracted. But Africa’s 700 million or so mobile subscribers use services that are provided locally, and they are also downloading more applications that are developed locally.
One of the main sources of locally developed applications is the technology hubs that are springing up across Africa. In a recent project carried out for the Botswana Innovation Hub, we worked with two of the longer established labs, the research arm of *iHub_in Kenya and BongoHive in Zambia, to create a map of tech hubs. KOUDETAT: Hacking 2-sided Marketplaces. AfriLabs. Africa Hubs Web Gatherings | Africa's Technology & Innovation Hubs. The Founder Institute: Helping Founders to Build Great Companies.