Investment holding company VenFin has broadened it scope of potential investment opportunities with InVenFin, an early-stage intellectual property venture capital fund.

VenFin is the sole shareholder in InVenFin, and has committed R50-million in seed capital.

"We have established InVenFin to provide specialist funding and support to inventors at an early stage, to develop their intellectual property and eventually succeed in corporatising it," says VenFin CEO Jannie Durand.

He notes that VenFin has several large companies in the group, which means that smaller opportunities may be overlooked - a problem which can now be solved through InVenFin.

InVenFin already has six months of project scouting under its belt, and is yet to make an investment in that exceptional, original South African innovation the fund is seeking to develop.

InVenFin deputy chairperson Joe Kieser says the fund is currently evaluating "four or five potential projects".

He says it is not only individuals approaching InVenFin with their ideas, but also some large corporates.

Kieser is a former chairperson of Enterprise IG. The CEO is Brett Commaille, formerly from Standard Bank. Other board members include John Newbury, former CEO of Nissan, patent and intellectual property attorney Don MacRobert, and design and branding specialist Kees Schilperoort.

"InVenFin is interested in profitable opportunities that can succeed internationally - both the big and small ideas.

"It must be something that can be patented, and something that stands heads and shoulders above the rest," says Commaille.

"We are seeking unique and highly differentiated intellectual property which can be protected, validated, sustained, scaled, and packaged for sale."

Kieser says the company is not only willing to provide funding for a economically viable project, but also the know-how to get a product to market.

"You only need to look at the team we have assembled."

It is also not necessary for the project to be near the end-phase.

"We'll meet inventors anywhere on the development curve," says Kieser.

There is no need for anyone to necessarily reinvent the wheel, InVenFin would also be interested in any invention that is an improvement on an already existing product - such as the bagless vacuum cleaner.

Kieser says the industry average is that one in twenty proposals is selected for due diligence, and of these one in three might justify investment and support.

"It's a bit like identifying good art, or handpicking the diamonds on the sorting table."

Commaille notes that InVenFin's investment spectrum includes the product design, biotech, hitech, process design, IT and telecommunications, and media industries.

"In the end," says Kieser, "we are looking at being able to assist in, and capitalise on a very inventive society."

InVenFin hopes to make a short-term to three-year investment in the right project, exiting before any long-term growth strategy is implemented.

"Where InVenFin leaves, we might then step in," notes Durand.

InVenFin's investment will typically vary between R500 000 to R10-million, says Commaille.