Foundational client experience
The practice is grounded in real external delivery, including more than 300 recorded advisory hours for Grindstone across six active months.
Independent capital advisory for South African growth companies
Investor-grade capital preparation for founder-led businesses.
Built on live work including Grindstone and shaped by institutional analytical experience, we help South African businesses pursuing capital raises of R1 million to R50 million look credible before investors open the model, the deck, or the data room.
Capital strategy, financial modelling, investor materials, diligence preparation, and management support through demanding stakeholder conversations.
Johannesburg
Founder-led
R1m-R50m raise size
Institutional lens
The analytical style is strengthened by Benjamin's work in economic and behavioural analytics at Standard Bank Group.
Current craft
Financial modelling, diligence support, strategic advisory, and founder-facing judgment under pressure.
RaiseReady
Start with a fundability diagnostic before a full mandate.
RaiseReady gives founders a practical read on the questions investors will ask first: financial evidence, legal hygiene, market proof, team credibility, and whether the capital ask holds together.
Selected Work
Real work that shaped the firm's standard
The current offer is built on live client delivery, institutional analytical depth, and work that demanded disciplined preparation rather than generic advisory language.
Foundation
Live work with Grindstone shaped the firm's early operating standard
Historical records in the firm's own model show Grindstone as the anchor early external client. That live engagement helped shape how the firm thinks about founder support, analytical rigour, and commercial clarity.
Work completed
Over 300 billable advisory hours informed the current offer: financial modelling, strategic review, diligence-minded preparation, and founder-facing analytical support.
Why it matters now
The practice is now positioned around the work already proven: clearer numbers, stronger materials, and sharper judgment for serious capital conversations.
Capabilities
What we take responsibility for
The mandate covers the work serious investors expect behind the pitch: the numbers, the narrative, the process, and the judgment under pressure.
Capital strategy
Define the right instrument, valuation framing, and investor universe before momentum gets wasted in the wrong conversations.
- Equity, debt, and blended capital options
- Valuation framing and dilution trade-offs
- Use of funds tied back to the model
Investor-ready preparation
Build a model and investor pack that can stand up under scrutiny rather than collapsing in diligence.
- Three-statement model and scenario analysis
- Memo, deck, and diligence narrative
- Data room structure and Q&A preparation
Process support
Help management stay organised and credible as stakeholder questions, diligence requests, and internal decisions become more demanding.
- Management preparation for investor and lender meetings
- Diligence coordination and response discipline
- Stakeholder communication support during live processes
Leadership
Benjamin Oyebode
Founder · Economist · Investment analyst
You work directly with the founder on the substance of the raise: the financial logic, the capital story, and the decisions that shape credibility, informed by live work with clients such as Grindstone and by institutional analytical experience.
- BCom, BCom Honours, and MCom in Economics (University of Pretoria, all cum laude)
- Chartered Financial Analyst Level II candidate
- Hands-on across models, diligence preparation, and investor communication
Insights
Practical notes for founders raising capital in South Africa
Brief, direct articles on diligence, investor readiness, capital structure, and how funding processes actually unfold.
2 April 2026
The Investor Readiness Checklist
What needs to be in place before approaching investors for a capital raise of R1 million to R50 million.
18 April 2026What Investors Actually Look at During Diligence
A founder’s guide to the workstreams investors scrutinise hardest and how to prepare for them.