South Africa’s richest woman Magda Wierzycka launches AI startup fund 

Magda Wierzycka, South Africa’s richest woman and founder and chief executive of Sygnia, is launching a venture capital fund to invest in homegrown artificial intelligence startups, arguing that the country risks losing its best talent to foreign backers. 

The fund, to be formally announced soon, will focus on entrepreneurs building AI-based systems and software from South Africa. 

“We have the same intellectual capital in South Africa that you find in the U.K. or the U.S., but what we are missing is structured capital behind it,” Wierzycka said in an interview. “Right now, we are allowing founders of AI startups to leave and take their intellectual property with them.” 

Wierzycka recently returned to South Africa after six years in the United Kingdom, where she ran a venture capital business investing in early-stage companies. Her decision to come home, she said, was shaped by more than tax changes in Britain. 

“The world has become deeply polarized — not only because of geopolitics but also because of the race for AI leadership,” she said. “Those shifts force you to think carefully about where you can still make a meaningful difference.” 

She said her time abroad exposed what she sees as a clear gap in South Africa: a venture capital industry with the scale and depth to support young technology companies.

AI risks spur Sygnia Fund

Wierzycka said she left this year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos concerned about how quickly AI systems are reshaping global business. 

“We’re building an economy where AI agents will perform many of the tasks we’re used to doing ourselves,” she said. Without deliberate local support, she warned, South Africa will end up buying those systems from abroad. 

“Unless someone backs our intellectual capital with money, all we are doing is exporting our best software engineers,” she said. “We’ll end up importing the systems that drive our economy.” 

She added that some local founders seek funding from the U.S.-based venture firms, which can leave them with little control. “They put in $500,000 and suddenly they own the company,” she said. 

Sygnia plans to seed the new fund with its own capital and aims to have it operational within six months. Beyond funding, the firm intends to help startups secure licenses, refine their business models and bring products to market. It also plans to host a national competition to identify promising AI ventures. 

Wierzycka has previously called for pension funds to allocate a portion of their assets to venture investments to support innovation.

Wierzycka grows Sygnia to $28.8 billion

Wierzycka founded Sygnia two decades ago. Since then, the firm has grown assets under management from about R2 billion ($125 million) to R461 billion ($28.8 billion). 

In 2025, Sygnia reported profit after tax of R383.2 million ($23.9 million), up 10.4% from a year earlier. The company is valued at roughly R5.22 billion ($326 million), and Wierzycka owns more than half its shares. 

Sygnia listed its first actively managed exchange-traded fund linked to AI, the Sygnia Itrix FANG.AI Actively Managed ETF, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 2023. 

The firm now serves more than 100,000 investors and employs over 300 people across offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gqeberha, Durban and London.

Trained as an actuary, Wierzycka began her career at Southern Life in 1993 and later worked at Alexander Forbes and Coronation Fund Managers. She went on to found IQvest, later selling it before leading a management buyout that laid the foundation for Sygnia. 

Now, she said, her focus is on ensuring that South African innovators can build global AI businesses without leaving home.