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Founder Fridays: LevUp — Our Story on Business Tech Africa

Featured in Business Tech Africa's Founder Fridays series — 10 July 2026 — written by Roy Mulenga. Funding remains one of the biggest challenges facing South African entrepreneurs. Through years of working with startups and later navigating the funding process himself, Khobone Ntsoaole noticed that many founders were spending more time searching for funding than understanding what funders were actually looking for. That realisation led to the creation of LevUp — a platform that helps entrepreneurs identify funding opportunities that suit their businesses while highlighting what they need to address before approaching investors. Finding the Gap Khobone did not set out to build a funding platform. His career began in multimedia before expanding into digital marketing, governance communications, business development and technology. Working with established organisations and later with startups gave him a front-row seat to the challenges many small businesses face. As a digital marketing manager, much of Khobone's work centred on data and helping organisations understand their audiences. Later, as he worked more closely with startup founders, the conversations shifted from marketing to one recurring challenge — finding the funding needed to keep businesses moving. Many believed funding was the missing piece. Khobone started asking a different question: were they ready for it? When he launched his own business, he found himself facing the same uncertainty. He looked at grants, venture capital and other funding options but quickly realised he did not fully understand which ones suited his business or whether he met the requirements. > "I wasn't too sure what to go for. As I spent more time researching different funding instruments, I realised many entrepreneurs were asking exactly the same questions." Khobone believes South Africa does not necessarily have a shortage of funding programmes. The bigger challenge, he says, is helping businesses qualify for them. Too many entrepreneurs submit applications without fully understanding what funders require — some only discover later that they need audited financial statements, tax compliance or a stronger trading history before they can even be considered. That gap is exactly what LevUp was built to address. The platform starts by helping entrepreneurs understand where their businesses stand before pointing them towards funding opportunities that match their level of readiness. For Khobone, securing the right funding starts with understanding the business first. Getting the Basics Right One of the biggest misconceptions among small business owners, Khobone notes, is that compliance only matters once funding becomes available. Many entrepreneurs see tax clearance, financial statements and other legal requirements as complicated processes better suited to larger companies. In reality, he says, these are some of the first things investors and lenders look for. Read the full interview: This article was written by Roy Mulenga for Business Tech Africa's Founder Fridays series, published 10 July 2026.