We're building a portfolio of SaaS products solving real problems across South Africa and Africa — and we're opening conversations with aligned investors and partners.
The Thesis
Ex-Books is a Pretoria-based SaaS venture studio. Rather than betting on one product, we build and operate a portfolio — sharing infrastructure, learnings, and go-to-market playbooks across ventures to derisk and accelerate each one.
Founder
Tshepo Mathebula founded Ex-Books after more than 15 years working across private equity, development finance, and M&A — including deal origination on a R1.1bn transaction at AEMFC, M&A advisory at Shanduka Group, and a role at National Treasury. He holds a BCom Honours from the University of Pretoria and is completing an MPhil in Development Finance at Stellenbosch Business School. Ex-Books channels that finance and deal-making background into building practical, revenue-generating software for African markets.
The Portfolio
Why Now
The global SaaS market is on a steady climb toward $1.25 trillion by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate of around 13% — software-as-a-service is now the default way businesses buy technology.
Africa's software and cloud sector is growing at roughly 25% annually, the second-fastest rate of any region globally — yet African software companies often lack the brand trust built over decades by global incumbents, leaving room for locally-built, locally-trusted alternatives.
South Africa is one of just four countries — alongside Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt — that together account for roughly 75-80% of all venture capital deployed across the continent, and investors are increasingly prioritising startups with robust unit economics, capital efficiency, and a credible path to profitability over high-burn growth stories.
A working portfolio of five live SaaS products, each addressing a distinct underserved market — built and shipped on a continuous cycle, with a repeatable distribution playbook centred on organic social acquisition (TikTok, Instagram, community channels).
A founder background spanning private equity, development finance, and M&A — bringing investor-grade financial discipline to early-stage execution, at a moment when investors have diminishing tolerance for weak compliance and financial controls.
Have a look at what we're building, and if it resonates, we'd love to hear from you.
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