The gallery
Five rooms, and the argument in each.
- I · The Thesis
The Missing Middle
There are approximately 5,000 businesses in South Africa earning between R10 million and R40 million EBITDA. Below that band a business is too small for institutional capital; above it, competition compresses returns. Between them sits a set of profitable, owner-run South African companies that no fund is built to serve.
- 5,000businesses in the band
- R10–40mEBITDA, the market
- R20–40mEBITDA, our mandate
- South Africawhere we buy
- II · The Economics
Why traditional PE can't invest where we do
At best, a typical PE fund needs five people to source, manage, and exit deals — roughly R20m a year in salaries and overhead. A 2% management fee on that cost base implies around R1bn under management. That team can run at most ten investments. Assuming 50% leverage, that requires R100m of equity per deal, an enterprise value above R200m, and an EBITDA above R40m. Below that line, the fund economics fail. Above it, competition compresses returns.
- R1bnAUM the fee implies
- 10investments a team can run
- R100mequity per deal
- R40mthe EBITDA floor it forces
- III · The Model
Fifty
We buy 50% of your business at a fair price. Not the whole business, not a controlling stake, not a minority stub. The reason is psychology, not control: 80% turns us into an acquirer, 30% is too little leverage to be a useful partner, and 51% reads as extractive. 50% is symmetry, and symmetry is the point.
- 50%Teiken
- 50%the owner
- 1set of rules
- The ownerpulls the trigger
- IV · The Fund
Our fund is currently open.
Get access to predictable, growing cash-flow businesses. As a team we have closed five transactions with a cumulative value of over R5 billion, domestically and internationally. We built a way to make the R20–40 million space profitable: we combine the best of technology and people.
- 5transactions closed
- R5 billioncumulative value, over
- Openwith limited spots
- SA + intldeal experience
- V · The People
You're in experienced hands.
Fred leads deals, capital and investor relationships. Leo builds the machine that makes the model work. Between them: corporate finance and private equity, banks architected, products shipped. You deal with a founder, start to finish.
- 2founders
- Directno intermediaries
- Personalstart to finish
- Cape Townwhere we are
Get access to predictable, growing cash-flow businesses.
There are approximately 5,000 businesses in South Africa earning between R10 million and R40 million EBITDA.
Traditional private equity can't play in this space — the fund economics don't make sense.
Whoever finds a way to access these businesses faces no competition, and can optimise the three main return drivers — cash yield, growth, and risk.
We built a way to make the R20–40 million space profitable. We combine the best of technology and people.
At best, a typical PE fund needs five people to source, manage, and exit deals — roughly R20m a year in salaries and overhead. A 2% management fee on that cost base implies around R1bn under management. That team can run at most ten investments. Assuming 50% leverage, that requires R100m of equity per deal, an enterprise value above R200m, and an EBITDA above R40m. Below that line, the fund economics fail. Above it, competition compresses returns.
Deal by deal, and paid as it earns.
This is not a fund with a clock on it. There is no pool of your money sitting with us waiting to be spent, no vintage year to be measured against, and no point at which we are forced to sell a good business because a mandate ran out.
You pick the deals
No blind pool. Every business is presented to you individually, with the full diligence behind it, and you decide on that one. Committing to Teiken does not commit you to anything we go on to buy.
One company per deal
Each acquisition sits in its own vehicle that holds the 50% stake, and you subscribe to that vehicle. Nothing is cross-collateralised — one investment cannot be dragged down by another.
Our money is in it
We co-invest alongside you in every deal we bring you. If a business is not one we would put our own capital into, we do not put it in front of you.
Cash comes out on a schedule
The businesses we buy already generate cash. A distribution policy is fixed in writing at signing and pays out quarterly, so your return does not wait on an exit that may never come.
You're in experienced hands.
Transaction experience
As a team we have closed five transactions with a cumulative value of over R5 billion, domestically and internationally.
Execution experience
We have built three banks and two fintech products, across eight years of building startups — the technical machine behind this model.
