# Oakvale Invest

> Africa-only, family-backed pre-seed venture firm investing in AI-driven startups led by founders aged 18 to 25. Patient capital, measured in decades.

Oakvale Invest is a R200 million family-backed fund founded by Henrik Persson Ekdahl, based in Franschhoek, South Africa. We write first cheques into pre-seed AI companies built by young African founders. Cheque size and equity are taken case by case - always pre-seed, never later rounds. After we invest we stay close: monthly meetings, a board seat, and an open-door policy. We do not chase follow-on rounds, but we open our network for Series A and B introductions at no cost.

## Facts

- Name: Oakvale Invest
- Fund size: R200 million (≈100 million SEK)
- Stage: Pre-seed only
- Sector: AI-driven companies (AI must be core, not a bolt-on)
- Geography: Africa only — founders building in or from Africa
- Founder age: 18 to 25 at time of investment
- Founded: 2025
- Founder: Henrik Persson Ekdahl
- Investment associates: Herman Ekdahl, Michaela Jayne Stewart (MJ)
- Headquarters: Val de Vie, Paarl, South Africa (working space in Cape Town CBD)
- Cheque size: Case by case, sized to what the company needs
- Equity: Case by case, agreed with founder
- Lead behaviour: Prefers sole investor at pre-seed; co-invests where helpful
- Follow-on: Generally none; introductions to trusted Series A/B network at no cost
- Decision time: ~2 months from first conversation to wire
- Excluded sectors: Fintech, agritech, and any company where AI is not the core
- Application: Through /apply on the site, or via herman@ or mj@ oakvaleinvest.com
- Application requirements: Working MVP or prototype, African founder under 26, AI-core product, clear international market thesis
- Press contact: herman@oakvaleinvest.com
- Applications inbox: invest@oakvaleinvest.com

## Pages

- [Home](/): Who we are, what we believe, and how we invest.
- [Investments](/investments): Our mandate - Africa-only, AI-driven, pre-seed, founders aged 18 to 25.
- [Team](/team): Henrik Persson Ekdahl, Herman Ekdahl, and Michaela Jayne Stewart.
- [Approach](/approach): How we partner with founders after the wire.
- [FAQ](/faq): Cheque size, stage, geography, process, and what we do after we invest.
- [Press](/press): Coverage of Oakvale Invest in Swedish and South African media.
- [Apply](/apply): Submit your company for review (six-step form).
- [Contact](/contact): Direct emails to the team.
- [About (AI summary)](/llm): Structured summary of Oakvale for AI assistants.

## Optional

- [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt): Full prose content of every public page in a single markdown file.
- [data.json](/data.json): Single machine-readable JSON endpoint with Organization, FAQ, team, mandate, and contact facts (Schema.org @graph with stable @ids).