South African agritech start-up SwiftVEE has raised about R173 million (roughly US $10.1 million) in a Series A funding round, marking a fresh inflection point for the continent’s digital livestock trading industry.
The round was led by Cape Town-based venture capital firm HAVAÍC and private equity firm Exeo Capital, and includes backing from former Old Mutual CEO Iain Williamson, as well as participation from SwiftVEE’s existing shareholders — fund managers and investors such as Mike Kirsten, Carlo Dickson, and Zire Africa.
Founded in 2019, SwiftVEE pioneered online livestock trading in Africa. What began as a platform for digital auctions of cattle, sheep, goats and game has blossomed into what the company calls the continent’s largest independent livestock marketplace. Now, SwiftVEE reports that it facilitates more than USD 100 million in annual livestock and game transactions through hundreds of auctions each year. Its operations already span South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. From these auctions, syndicate buyers from North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australasia also participate.
But the fresh capital signals an ambition far beyond being “just” a trading platform. According to SwiftVEE’s management, the new funding will accelerate not only geographic expansion but also the integration of fintech, insurance, and data-driven solutions across its platforms.
In particular, the firm intends to build on earlier moves this year. Earlier in 2025, SwiftVEE announced a collaboration with major South African lender Nedbank to embed finance into its agricultural-inputs marketplace, known as PrysWys, allowing farmers to purchase essentials such as fertiliser, feed, seed and fuel through digital credit — a step many see as critical for financial inclusion in agriculture.
According to Chief Executive Officer Russel Luck, the company’s livestock-auction technology has successfully bridged fragmented value chains, enabling online buying while also opening the door to complementary services such as digital finance, insurance and data solutions — services previously out of reach for many small- and medium-scale farmers and livestock agents.
This latest raise positions SwiftVEE as among the most well-capitalised agritech players on the African continent, at a time when investor interest in agriculture-tech is rising sharply. Several analysts see the livestock sector as particularly ripe for disruption, given traditionally informal trading patterns, limited access to finance and lack of transparency.
As the firm shifts toward a “full-stack” agricultural services provider — combining marketplaces, finance, insurance and data — the implications could stretch beyond Southern Africa. For many smallholder and commercial livestock producers, this could mean easier access to buyers, more transparent markets, better risk management, and access to financing that has historically been out of reach.
With US $10.1 million now secured and heavyweight backers on board, SwiftVEE may be poised to reshape livestock trading — and agritech more broadly — across several African markets.
