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Monday 09:00 - 17:00 Tuesday 09:00 - 17:30 Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00 Thursday 09:00 - 17:00 Friday 09:00 - 17:00 Saturday 09:00 - 17:00 Sunday 09:00 - 05:00

Innovation City Cape Town

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Home of Digital Innovation in the heart of Cape Town for startups, scaleups and corporates.

23/10/2026

Africa’s venture capital story is changing, and the opportunity is bigger than many investors realise. 🌍

Last night we hosted Cocktails & Capital: Backing the Backers, an intimate evening for investors, family offices and capital allocators, with Zachariah George and Janade du Plessis of Launch Africa Ventures .

A few takeaways from the room:

📈 1.5 billion people, a median age of around 17 and rising mobile connectivity make Africa an extraordinary growth market
💼 African VC has grown from roughly $100M a year in 2015 to billions today
🏙️ Innovation ecosystems are built in cities, not countries
🔁 Liquidity matters as much as valuations. A credible exit strategy is everything
🤝 The best investors bring more than money
🌱 Launch Africa’s portfolio has created around 80,000 permanent jobs, proof that returns and impact can coexist

Thank you to Zach and Janade for sharing their insights, to our event partner Finance Isle of Man for supporting the conversation, to Pienaar & Son Distillery for the cocktails, 🍸 and to Monatea | Organic Rooibos Tea for the amazing herbal teas. ☕

Bringing the right people into the same room is often where meaningful opportunities begin. ✨

Read all 8 takeaways on our LinkedIn 🔗

14/10/2026

A stroller that wouldn’t sell turned into Yaga. 🩷

When Aune Aunapuu tried to sell her baby stroller, she noticed something. Buying from a business was easy. Buying from another person meant endless messages, awkward arrangements and uncertainty.

That question became @[yaga handle], a preloved marketplace whose biggest market is now South Africa. Aune joined our CEO Michelle Kleu @[michelle handle] for a candid Founder Story on building a marketplace, earning trust and growing across borders.

Lessons that stood out 👇

🧱 Build around a problem you understand.
People were already trading second-hand. Yaga made the payments, delivery and trust easier.

🇿🇦 Look for behaviour already happening.
SA already had second-hand trading, online payments and delivery. Yaga removed the friction around an existing habit.

🪩 Fill the “empty nightclub”.
Aune listed her own belongings and messaged sellers one by one on Facebook to get the first listings live.

🤔 Keep questioning the model.
Dropping seller fees in favour of buyer protection fees brought more sellers and listings onto the platform.

🤝 Partnerships lend credibility.
An early TFG campaign gave a young Yaga the backing of an established retailer.

⬅️ Know when to pull back.
Stepping back from India was about resources and timing. It didn’t mean the opportunity wasn’t there.

Behind the business story was a personal one: a founder who once felt too nervous to tell her story, learning to lead as Yaga grew.

Thank you, Aune, for sharing your journey, and thanks to everyone who joined us.

💾 Save this for your next big idea.

Next up: Scaling Globally. Managing Locally. Thursday 15 October at Innovation City. Tickets via the link in bio.

06/10/2026

Founder Story: how a 2018 trip to Cape Town became Sell & buy preloved fashion ’s biggest market 🇿🇦

When Aune Aunapuu first visited South Africa, she didn’t know she’d meet her future co-founder here. She also didn’t know the country would outgrow every other market for her preloved fashion marketplace.

Sell & buy preloved fashion started as a pilot in Estonia in 2017. It launched in South Africa in 2020. Today, South Africa is its biggest and fastest-growing market.

On Tuesday 13 October, Aune Aunapuu sits down with Innovation City CEO Michelle Kleu to talk through:
🌍 What made the South African market click
🤝 How Yaga built trust between buyers and sellers
💻 Growing a business while running it largely remotely

This one is for founders weighing a new market, an expansion or a first idea.

📅 Tuesday 13 October 2026
⏰ 13h00 - 14h30
📍 Innovation City, Darter Studios, Gardens, Cape Town
🎟️ R50. Ticket sales close 9 October. Link in bio.

What would you ask Aune? Drop your question below 👇

YAGA Marketplace Michelle Kleu

02/10/2026

Building a business takes more than just technical skill. It takes a clear problem to solve, the confidence to approach people, and persistence when the first answer is “no.” 💡👇
That was the strongest thread running through our "Thrive Under 25" event! The incredible discussion brought together Ben Morton (), Rivar Maharaj (), and Jake Katzen & Henré Houben (Véraison AI), moderated by Kieno Kammies .
Here are our top takeaways from the panel:
💡 Inexperience can be an advantage. Fewer assumptions make it easier to question established practices. Pair that fresh perspective with industry experience, and you have a powerful combination.
🎯 AI is a tool; the problem is the starting point. Just because you can build something doesn't mean there is a business behind it. You must know whose life it improves.
🔍 Get close to the industry. You have to see the field from the inside to understand what truly needs fixing—whether that's paper records, older software, or disconnected systems.
💪 Let rejection refine your approach. An early "no" doesn't mean it's over. Work through the objections, refine your pitch, and try again.
🤝 Building ≠ Selling. Knocking on doors and facing rejection takes initiative. Winning them over requires explaining the value in terms they understand.
💬 Let customers shape the product. Ask them what they’d change and what features they need. Responding quickly to their feedback becomes your competitive appeal.
⏳ Useful AI gives people time back. It removes repetitive tasks so teams can spend more time on creativity, judgement, and client relationships.
🌍 Local knowledge matters. Technology must fit the local conditions and environment in which it operates (especially here in SA).
🌱 Support is everything. Mentors, parents, and early believers help young founders keep moving forward. (A very sweet S/O to Ben's dad for being in the audience! 🫶)
Thank you to everyone who attended, and a special thanks to for partnering with us!
👇 Which of these takeaways resonates most with your own journey? Let us know in the comments!

01/10/2026

This morning we welcomed Consulate of Sweden, Cluj to Innovation City. Co-Founder Kieno Kammies showed them around the space ahead of their workshop today. Want a tour of your own? Send us a DM or book with the link in our bio.

25/09/2026

Cape Town hosted the Brazil-South Africa Technology Mission this week. 🇧🇷🇿🇦

Innovation City welcomed a delegation of Brazilian tech and innovation leaders for a day of exchange, five Brazilian companies presented to the room, and Innovation City founders pitched back to the delegation.

Kieno Kammies and Giselle Sari Botha opened the day with an introduction to Innovation City, before both delegations took the stage.

Thank you to GoVisit , Citeb , IseTool , SoftExpert , , International, ApexBrasil and Softex Nacional for bringing this mission to Cape Town, and to everyone who presented and took part.

15/09/2026

This is what SHIFT looked like. 🔥

The official recap from Digital Divas Summit 2026 — a day built for the women driving Cape Town’s founder and startup ecosystem forward.

If you were there, relive it. If you weren’t, this is your sign for next year.

11/09/2026

Ever wondered what actually happens inside Innovation City?🤔

Our co-founder Kieno Kammies took us on a walk through the space, and it’s more than desks and wifi. It’s startups and corporates in the same building, founders bumping into the right person at the right time, and a space that holds around 250 people when the room fills up for something big.

That’s the part people don’t see from the outside. The connection is the product.

If you’re building something in Cape Town’s tech scene, or looking for a space that can host your next event, this is what it looks like on the inside.👥✨

11/09/2026

The AI model is only 20% of the solution.

That was one of the sharpest lines from AI Uncorked, our masterclass with Oliver Rowe and Jan Hendrik Dreyer of nineteen58 on what AI agents actually do for a business.

A record number of people joined us to hear it. The rest of that 80%? Integration, compliance, data flows and knowing what success looks like before you build anything.

This is the kind of room we build at Innovation City. Founders, operators and people solving real problems, not chasing hype.

Want to be in the next one? Our events calendar is where the ecosystem shows up.

02/09/2026

Our phone footage while we wait for the official recap.📱 If you were there, you know. If you weren’t… next year. 👀

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Coming next year?📍🔥💫

Address

Darter Studios, Longkloof, Darter Road
Cape Town
8001

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:30
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
Friday	09:00 - 17:00
Saturday	09:00 - 17:00
Sunday	09:00 - 05:00

Website

http://www.innovationcity.co.za/

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