Springlab.co an Incubator with a Difference
Somewhere in the suburb of Observatory, one of the many undergoing regeneration on the outskirts of Cape Town’s central business district, is the Springlab office. Unlike most technology companies it felt like walking into a warm and comfortable home. An open loft-styled expanse with a really cosy lounge area, kitchen and awesome views of Devil’s Peak. I personally wouldn’t mind living there myself. On that note, one of the resident company’s founders being nurtured by Springlab actually live there. How cool is that? These office pics on Bandwidth Blog do not do it justice. I would have taken pics too but the conversation with one of the managing partners, Sheraan Amod (founder of Personera), was too interesting to whip out my phone while being shown around the office.
Springlab was founded for one reason: Passion. The managing partners’ passion for entrepreneurship and to provide value to the local ecosystem where they themselves have proven successful in past and still do in the present. Ever hear of Zando? 🙂 It was co-founded by the other Springlab managing partner, Eugen Petersen, while at Rocket Internet.
Springlab is like match.com for companies & not a Tinder.
Unlike most incubator and accelerators who stack ’em high when investing in new companies for fleeting 3 month time periods, Springlab only invests in 2 to 3 companies per year and marries them for up to 2 years. More of a match.com than Tinder for start-ups. The focus is on quality rather than quantity where they seek founders who have the experience, energy and sufficient traction. This is where Springlab steps in with their wealth of experience and global network to take your company to the next level.
2 of the companies currently in residence at Springlab are:
- RecoMed: Founded in 2013 with a mission of improving access to healthcare, RecoMed is a free service that allows patients to find nearby doctors, dentists and other health professionals. Patients can also rate and recommend practitioners that they visit. By improving visibility and transparency RecoMed helps patients to get better and faster care.
- SpringGeist: A production agency for web content including video, stills and animation.
This is not all they do though. If you are a company looking at expanding into the African market Springlab also offer advisory services and joint venture partnerships. With that said I look forward to more ventures being launched by SpringLab in the near future.[schema type=”organization” orgtype=”Corporation” url=”http://www.springlab.co” name=”Springlab” description=”SPRINGLAB IS A VENTURE BUILDER AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PARTNER FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA” street=”Unit 4, Kipling Place, 337 Lower Main Rd,” city=”Cape Town” postalcode=”7925″ country=”ZA” ]