SA Venture Capital musings for 2009

So what's going to be hot in the Venture Capital and Private Equity sector in 2009? Who knows!

2008 really spooked capital markets and a lot of players are quite content to sit on the sidelines and stick their cash into moneymarket accounts while the world continues to tumble around them.

In my humble opinion I think the food and agriculture sector - as boring as it appears - will gather the most interest from venture capital players.

Invariably the private equity guys are already circling around some of the quality JSE companies and looking to delist them. As an investor not involved in the private equity side of things this would frustrate me to no end to see a number of quality companies delisted.

The most interesting current "News" in the private equity (PE) / VC space has to be the speculation that Johann Ruperts Reinet Investments is about to take a stake in some of the merchant banking / PE assets of Lehman Brothers. The market enjoyed seeing Reinet spending its money but more than a few people will be scratching their heads at the decision to blow money on the financial sector at the moment.

I've put a couple of suggestions below of sectors that I see could receive a boost in 2009, but I'd be interested to see hear what our readers make of the current climate:

Waste Management - still a potentially high growth sector in SA
Food - The government will more than likely carry a lot of responsibilty for feeding its population and demand remains high across the world.
Biotech in the food sector: Same as above
Education and E-learning: Already I've noticed a couple of E-learning projects in SA receiving nice funding

Any other thoughts / comments and suggestions?

*** Note author holds shares in Reinet