South African agritech SwiftVEE has raised R173m ($10.1m) in a Series A funding round as it looks to expand beyond its core marketplace and deeper into financial services.
The round was backed by African venture capital firm HAVAÍC and private equity firm Exeo Capital. They are joined by Iain Williamson, the former CEO of insurance giant Old Mutual, who brings significant weight from the traditional financial services sector.
Existing shareholders — including fund managers Mike Kirsten and Carlo Dickson, and private investment vehicle Zire Africa — also participated.
The raise comes as vertical marketplaces across Africa increasingly look to embedded finance to boost margins and stickiness. SwiftVEE, which began by digitising the traditional handshake-deal world of livestock auctions, now plans to use the fresh capital to layer fintech, insurance and data products on top of its trading platform.
Founded in 2019 by Russel Luck, SwiftVEE launched with a focus on bringing the fragmented livestock value chain online. The platform allows farmers and agents to list cattle, sheep, goats, and game for auction, broadcasting these events to a wider net of buyers than could physically attend a sale.
The company says it now facilitates over $100m (R1.8bn) in gross merchandise value (GMV) annually across “several hundred” auctions. Its operations have expanded beyond South Africa into Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, with buyer syndicates active in markets including the US, Europe, and the UAE.
But the real play for SwiftVEE likely lies in the data and the financial rails. By controlling the transaction, the platform is well-positioned to offer credit and insurance to farmers — a demographic historically underserved by traditional banks due to the difficulty of assessing risk in agricultural assets.
Earlier this year, the startup signalled this direction by announcing a fintech collaboration with major South African lender Nedbank.
The Backers
The investor mix suggests a strategic focus on scaling operations and financial products simultaneously.
- HAVAÍC: A Cape Town-based VC with a track record of backing African startups with international scaling potential (investments include ShopEx and RapidDeploy).
- Exeo Capital: A private equity firm with deep roots in the African food and agribusiness sector, likely providing the industry connections needed for deeper market penetration.
- Iain Williamson: The former Old Mutual boss retired in August 2025. His involvement is a strong signal of SwiftVEE’s insurtech ambitions; few individuals have a better understanding of risk and insurance scaling in the African market.
CEO Russel Luck frames the expansion as a natural evolution of the “vertical” marketplace model.
“SwiftVEE’s livestock trading technology connects fragmented value chains, enabling users to buy online and access complementary services like digital finance, insurance and data solutions,” Luck said in a statement. “Our success connecting the livestock trading value chain empowered us to identify other industries where our technology would be equally effective.”
Shareholder Mike Kirsten noted that the backing of financial leaders demonstrates confidence in the platform’s ability to bridge the gap between agritech and fintech.
SwiftVEE isn’t just a cattle auction site anymore; it is becoming a platform play. The company operates two complementary white-label solutions:
- Auctionapp.IO: A platform for non-agricultural asset auctions.
- PrysWys: An online marketplace for agricultural inputs.
This diversification shields the business from the cyclical nature of livestock markets while creating multiple entry points for its financial products.
The deal highlights a broader trend in African tech: the move from “access” (connecting buyers and sellers) to “value capture” (financing the trade). With $10.1m in the bank and heavy-hitter backers, SwiftVEE is now one of the best-capitalised players attempting to modernise Africa’s agricultural trade.