Capital with conviction, in markets that reward patience.
APEX Investments is a private investment house. We invest our own capital in businesses and infrastructure across Sub-Saharan Africa, and we advise families, funds and corporates who wish to do the same. Long-term partnerships, built on trust, results and aligned interests.
Open a conversationTwo ways of working. One standard.
Whether we are the investor or the adviser, the test is the same: does the business hold up on the ground, with the people, the regulators and the counterparties it actually has to deal with. We are on the ground.
As investor
Principal investments and co-investments in lower and mid-market businesses, energy and infrastructure projects, and platforms addressing energy access, resource scarcity, education and security. We take meaningful positions, sit close to management and stay for the duration.
As adviser
Investment and corporate advisory for families, institutional investors, sovereign and development capital and corporates entering or expanding in Africa: deal origination, due diligence on the ground, structuring, development funding and stakeholder alignment through to close.
Sectors where local knowledge
is the return.
Utility-scale and distributed solar, battery storage, hybrid and clean baseload generation; the enabling infrastructure around it.
Physical petroleum products, fertiliser, metals and minerals, transacted between qualified counterparties under bank-grade procedure.
Production-grade AI systems, automation and managed technology operations for businesses in energy, security, education and advisory.
Learning and employment platforms, and impact ventures in education, health and social integration, measured on outcomes.
Advisory to governments and corporates on security, intelligence support and telecommunications transactions, including spectrum and operator deals.
Buyouts and growth capital for entrepreneurial teams in the lower and mid-market, where alignment with management matters more than leverage.
The companies behind the capital.
APEX invests in, founded or works alongside the following businesses. Each is independently run, and APEX is central to the operations of every one of them; together they form the operating platform behind our investment and advisory work.
Outpost24
The perimeter Everything an adversary can reach from outsideExposure and vulnerability management: attack surface management, penetration testing as a service, threat intelligence, credential-breach monitoring and identity security. Discover, test, prioritise, fix — continuously.
Visit canarybit.co.zaCanarybit
The vault The data itself, protected in useInfrastructure and AI security: confidential computing, confidential AI, sovereign data residency and production AI implementation — so sensitive workloads stay protected even from the operator running them.
Visit blackcubedefence.co.zaBlack Cube
The information environment What is being said — and who is manufacturing itDSM-SOC: 24×7 graded intelligence on the public information environment around a principal, ministry or national programme; lawful measured counter-narrative response; and, once the evidence justifies it, forecasting, synthetic-media detection and influence-network mapping.
Visit juainvestments.co.zaJua Investments
Independent power producer and owner-operator developing, financing, building and operating energy infrastructure across Africa. 1.4 GW of shovel-ready projects and a further ~1.5 GW in late-stage development.
Visit thirdoption.aiThird Option
Private advisory firm for corporate consultancy, refocusing and crisis management, with an in-house Human Threat Intelligence and Insider Threat Programme (HTI-ITP) capability. Engaged when the first two options have been tried.
Visit cplafrica.netCPL
Complete Project Logistics: commodity trade facilitation, petroleum products first, and multi-party project delivery across Africa and the Middle East. Connect, partner, deliver.
Visit aisoftdev.co.zaAi Software Development
Small, senior engineering firm building production-grade AI systems: autonomous agents, workflow automation, document intelligence and conversational AI, delivered end-to-end with clients owning their code.
Visit maxlearning.co.zaMaxLearning
Click-to-career learning platform: 300+ courses, multilingual, works offline, AI tutoring with live human support, and verifiable credentials. Built for institutions and government programmes, measured on employment outcomes.
VisitStrategy rarely fails. What fails is the ground it has to land on.
Lars Magnusson · Founder
APEX is led by Lars Magnusson: Swedish by origin, South African by choice since 2012, with three decades across trading, investment, infrastructure and security in England, France, the United States, Tanzania and South Africa. From proprietary trading on the NYSE and activist investing, his career has run through oil and gas, mining and infrastructure investment in Africa, advisory to Middle Eastern sovereign investors, and government-adjacent work at the highest level in South Africa.
A short conversation
is where it starts.
Investment opportunities, co-investment, or a mandate that needs someone on the ground in Africa. Write or call; enquiries are answered personally.
Cape Town, South Africa
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