About — 3 Capital Ventures

We exist to help close South Africaʼs productivity gap.

We do this by backing exceptional startups building impactful business technology.

Why we Exist?

South Africaʼs biggest constraint is productivity — output per person. In South Africa it has barely moved since 2007, while countries like China (~4x), Vietnam (2.5x), and India and Rwanda (2x) have grown dramatically over the same period. When businesses run better, people thrive — and the country becomes more competitive, more resilient, and more hopeful.

Why 3 Capital Ventures?

How did we start?

Why 3 Capital Ventures?

3 Capital Ventures takes its name from South Africa — the only country with three capital cities. Itʼs a nod to where we come from, where we invest, and how we build. The strongest companies blend three forms of capital: human, intellectual, and financial — in that order.

How did we start?

3CV began inside Allan Gray Proprietary Limited. Today we are operationally independent, while remaining anchored in the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation ecosystem through a values-aligned partnership. That origin shaped our values: long-term thinking, disciplined decision-making, and a bias for clear reasoning over hype.

Why B2B in South Africa?

South Africa has the continentʼs deepest base of large and mid-sized enterprises — the strongest ground for building and selling B2B products in Africa.

But itʼs not only about buyer density. The operating environment has tightened for more than a decade: slow growth, rising costs, and constant pressure on companies to improve performance. At the same time, technology— especially AI — is moving faster than many organisations can adapt. Legacy systems and ways of working make change slow, even when the need is obvious.

That gap creates openings for focused founders. If you can help a business sell more, get paid faster, cut a cost-line, or do the same work with fewer people, youʼre not selling “innovation” — youʼre solving urgent, practical problems. And when work is done more effectively, the benefits spread: companies grow, they stay competitive, opportunity widens, and people shift into higher-value work.

How we Show up

Why B2B in South Africa?

How we Show up

We built 3CV around a simple promise: clarity is a service. We speak plainly. We donʼt run guessing games. And we donʼt hide behind process. When we say yes, we commit. When we say no, we explain exactly why — and what would need to change.

That approach comes from lived experience. Our founding CEO has built and scaled inside high-performance environments — and we bring that standard to early-stage decision-making and board-level partnership. Our job is to help founders sharpen their thinking, choose the few milestones that matter, and raise the quality of decisions over time.

3CV Team

Sizwe Nxumalo

FOUNDER & CEO
Sizwe is the founder and CEO of 3 Capital Ventures. He leads the firm's strategy, investment decisions, and portfolio work. His perspective is shaped by operating experience in high-performance environments — expanding Vitality to 30+ markets with Discovery's co-founder, managing Discovery's multi-billion-rand investment in China, building the business case and go-to-market for launching Uber Eats in South Africa, and advising CEOs at McKinsey & Company on growth, pricing, and strategic resets.
Jürgen Stroebel

CHIEF OF STAFF
Jürgen leads 3CVʼs operating engine — fund operations, finance, legal, and compliance. He runs the firmʼs operating cadence from portfolio tracking to LP engagement to the 3CV board. That keeps performance, risks, and follow-through visible. He also owns the internal systems that turn decisions into execution.
Lucas Johnson-Barker

INVESTMENT MANAGER
Lucas leads 3CVʼs investing engine — from first meeting through diligence, investment committee preparation, and deal execution. He also manages portfolio companies, supporting founders on sharpening priorities, translating strategy into the next set of growth milestones and proof-points. Separately, he runs key parts of 3CVʼs internal finance function, supporting performance tracking and reporting.

Our Investment Committee

Barry Swartzberg

Operator
Co-founder of Discovery and former CEO of Vitality Global, where he scaled Vitalityʼs shared-value model across 30+ countries. He brings deep experience in building category-defining businesses, scaling internationally, and making long-term decisions in complex, regulated markets.
Colin Vallis

Investor
Colin brings two decades of private investing experience across Africa, spanning private equity and venture. He was a partner at Ethos Private Equity and founded its technology and innovation fund, and now serves as CIO at Mohau Equity Partners. Heʼs valued for disciplined judgment on business quality, pricing, and exit management.
Edgar Loxton

Operator & Angel Investor
Edgar spent decades inside Allan Gray Proprietary Limited shaping technology and operations, and mentoring multiple COOs over time. He is the most technologically fluent member of our Investment Committee and an active angel investor
Gladwyn Leeuw

Operator & Inverstor
Gladwyn is CEO of E Squared Investments. He brings a rare mix of investor judgment and operator exposure — from his prior role as an Operating Partner at Kingston Capital, serving as Interim CEO of OneCart, and leading commercial execution as Chief Commercial Officer at CCI Global. Earlier in his career, he worked in Anglo American Zimele, supporting SMEs through funding and business-building support.
Lungile Mdluli

Investor
Lungile is a Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)) with deep experience in private investing, debt raising, and corporate finance, and has been investing since 2005. She is a former Director and Principal at Metier, where she was involved in deal origination and transaction execution. She previously served on the board of the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.
Rob Dower

Operator & Angel Investor
Rob built Allan Gray Proprietary Limitedʼs retail business and later led the firm as COO for close to a decade. He brings operating experience, institutional stewardship, and board-level judgment shaped by building through cycles. Heʼs also an active angel investor and worked at McKinsey & Company before Allan Gray.