Infinite Partners, the Johannesburg-based private equity firm spun out of Ethos Private Equity in 2022, said it had raised R2.8bn ($168m) for its Core Equity Fund II, surpassing its R2.5bn target and signalling that South African institutional investors are willing to deepen commitments to domestic private markets despite a challenging fundraising climate.
The fund’s limited partner base is entirely South African, comprising pension funds, insurers, asset managers and banks, along with support from asset consultants.
The raise represents a notable vote of confidence in a firm that has operated independently for just over four years, and comes amid a broader reassessment by South African retirement funds of their allocations to private equity. Regulation 28 permits retirement funds to allocate up to 15 per cent to private equity, yet research from Old Mutual Alternative Investments indicates that actual allocations remain below 2 per cent for many funds, leaving a wide gap between regulatory headroom and deployed capital.
“Our Infinite Deal investment philosophy has remained the same from day one,” said Edward Pitsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Infinite Partners. “We focus on backing quality businesses with identifiable tailwinds, and potential to create sustainable value over time.”
Pitsi, who co-founded the firm alongside Titi Sekhukhune and Tabane Matheolane, received the General Partner Award at the 2025 SAVCA Industry Awards, recognition that has coincided with growing institutional appetite for locally managed mid-market vehicles.
A disciplined mid-market strategy
The Fund’s mandate spans growth and replacement capital, targeting established mid-market companies typically valued between R150mn ($9m) and R2bn ($120m), with individual investments ranging from R100mn ($6m) to R500mn ($30m). The firm describes its approach as partner-controlled and locally grounded, focusing on businesses that are innovating, entering new markets or transforming their sectors.
Infinite Partners frames its investment decisions around what it calls the Infinite Deal, a structured framework built on five elements: market fit, sector tailwinds, strong fundamentals, leadership alignment and an active partnership model at board level. The firm invests as a lead investor, aiming to combine strategic clarity with disciplined governance over a defined holding period.
“We invest in South African mid-market companies with proven traction, meaningful market presence, and a clear runway for growth,” the firm says of its approach.
Early portfolio bets on software and fibre
The Fund has already deployed capital into two businesses, offering a window into the firm’s investment thesis.
The first is e4, a South African enterprise software company whose platforms process mortgage registrations for the country’s major banks, insurers and conveyancers. e4’s technology supports workflow, identity verification and regulatory compliance across the property transaction chain. Since inception, its platform has processed R2.8 trillion in mortgages, digitising processes that were previously paper-heavy. The business has also established a nascent UK operation, with its VERSA platform now connected to UK Finance, the trade body for British lenders, as part of efforts to modernise the UK homebuying process.
The second investment is CYNK, a digital infrastructure group formed through the merger of several fibre network operators and an internet service provider. CYNK’s networks reach more than 667,000 households, with a focus on underserved communities in townships across eight of South Africa’s nine provinces. The group operates through entities including Net Nine Nine, which targets lower-income and emerging middle-class markets with uncapped packages starting at R379 per month, and Evotel, an open-access fibre operator serving suburban areas. The group has established over 160 fibre experience centres, many located in townships and smaller towns.
Together, the two investments illustrate Infinite Partners’ stated focus on businesses with structural tailwinds — e4 benefiting from the digitisation of financial services, and CYNK from the expansion of broadband access into under-served markets.
Fundraising against a shifting backdrop
Infinite Partners’ successful raise comes as several South African private equity firms are actively in the market. Capitalworks launched its fourth flagship fund in June, targeting $350mn (approximately R5.8bn) with backing from institutions including the International Finance Corporation. Hlayisani Capital has raised R500mn toward its second fund, led by the Public Investment Corporation and the SA SME Fund. Secha Capital reached a $30mn second close for its second fund earlier this year.
South Africa’s mid-market private equity segment has historically been less intensively covered than the large-cap buyout space, even as the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises face a financing gap estimated at R350bn, according to OECD data. The appetite for mid-market exposure is growing, but capital remains concentrated among a relatively small number of established managers.
The firm’s investment approach also carries a broader significance for South Africa’s institutional capital pool. South African pension funds collectively manage approximately R5.8 trillion in assets, one of the largest domestic pools of long-term capital on the continent. While Regulation 28 allows retirement funds to allocate up to 15 per cent to private equity and up to 45 per cent to infrastructure, in practice most funds remain heavily concentrated in listed markets. Infinite Partners’ all-domestic LP base suggests that some trustees are beginning to see mid-market private equity as a viable allocation, particularly when returns and impact can be shown to align.
The firm describes itself as 100 per cent founder- and Black-owned, majority Black female-owned and Level 1 B-BBEE certified. Its ownership structure positions it within a segment of the South African asset management industry that has attracted growing institutional attention in recent years, though the question of whether such firms can raise capital at scale — beyond a small circle of sympathetic investors — remains a subject of debate among industry participants.
What comes next
With the final close behind it, Infinite Partners faces the task of deploying R2.8bn across a mid-market segment where quality assets are competitive. The firm says it maintains a robust pipeline and expects to make further investments over the coming months. Its ability to execute on that pipeline — and to demonstrate exits that validate its investment thesis — will determine whether this fund’s institutional backing represents a one-off endorsement or the beginning of a more durable fundraising relationship with South African pension capital.
For now, the oversubscribed close offers evidence that a domestic investor base, often criticised for its conservatism on private markets, is willing to commit meaningful sums to a locally managed mid-market specialist — provided the strategy is clear and the track record credible. Whether that willingness extends to the next generation of independent managers is a question that will shape the South African private equity landscape for years to come.