HAVAÍC, a venture capital firm, has agreed to participate in the equity funding of the SMS marketing platform known as Mobiz. The startup recently attracted funding from Kalon Venture Partners which previously participated in a US$2-million equity raise.  Mobiz uses its bespoke technologies to help bring brands closer to customers and tell the right story at the right time. Mobiz helps businesses across a range of industries to create meaningful engagements with their customers through SMS. The company was established in 2014 and has since enabled brands to access over 20 million customers.

HAVAÍC is a venture capital firm that specialises in early-stage, high-growth post-revenue African businesses with proven concepts and global prospects. As a complementary offering, HAVAÍC provides corporate advisory and capital raising services to emerging, internationally scalable businesses. The firm is managed by Ian Lessem, Grant Rock  and Rob Heath and has invested in RecoMed, Vula, BigTeam, InstantProperty, MPost and Tanda among many others. The stake acquired or the amount invested in Mobiz was undisclosed.

Kalon Venture Partners invests in and builds a portfolio of high growth technology companies with innovative business models. Kalon Venture Partners invests growth capital in the form of equity to assist established, high-risk ventures in expanding activity such as creating additional traction in South Africa, launching into African and foreign markets. The company has invested in companies such as Sendmarc, Flow, FinChatBot, Ozow and SnapnSave amongst others.