Premium Foods South Africa Company Business Plan — Funding Requirement & Capital Structure

Seed round — sources and uses

Uses (seed)	R m	Sources	R m
Factory leasehold improvements	2.0	Seed equity	18.0
Blending & mixing equipment	3.2
Packaging equipment	2.1
Laboratory & QA equipment	0.9
Delivery vehicles	1.3
Initial inventory	2.4
ERP & IT systems	0.8
Sales & marketing	1.3
Working capital	4.0
Total	18.0	Total	18.0

Figure 21. *Use of funds across the R18m seed round.*

The two-round funding structure

Consistent with the invitation to structure the raise across funding rounds, the plan is capitalised in two stages. The R18 million seed round funds the commercial launch, the Gauteng facility, equipment, initial inventory, systems, market entry and working capital, establishing a profitable base and a proven customer engine. A R15 million Series A in Year 3, raised once Phase-1 traction is demonstrated, funds the national scale-up: regional warehouses in Cape Town and Durban, private-label manufacturing, e-commerce, export and the food-innovation centre. Staging the capital reduces early dilution, matches funding to proven performance, and gives investors natural decision points.

Round	Amount	Timing	Purpose
Seed	R18m	Year 1	Launch: facility, equipment, working capital, market entry
Series A	R15m	Year 3	Scale: regional warehouses, private-label, e-commerce, export, innovation
Total equity	R33m		Full three-phase build to Year 5

Debt capacity — an option for the lender audience

Although the plan is equity-funded, the business develops modest debt capacity as it matures that founders could use to reduce dilution, for example, asset finance on equipment and vehicles or a working-capital facility against inventory and receivables. Sized conservatively against Year-3 cash flow, an illustrative facility of roughly R10 million would be serviced with indicative cover above 1.3×, without threatening the net-cash balance sheet. This is presented as an option, not the base case.

NoteA financeable structure for both audiences

For equity investors, the two-round structure is clean, debt-free and net-cash throughout, with the Series A gated on proven traction. For lenders, the equipment base, inventory and receivables and the growing cash generation support modest asset and working-capital finance with comfortable cover. Either way, the key recommendation is the same: match capital to proven customer acquisition and traction, and preserve the buffer against the execution risk inherent in a start-up scale-up.