A new deal between the SABLE Accelerator, a global resource network of expat South African consultants, investors and domain experts based in Silicon Valley and New York-based Powerlinx will see SA entrepreneurs get a powerful new way to connect with customers, capital sources and partners globally.
According to Donovan Neale-May, SABLE’s managing partner.“We’ll be empowering South African companies to be more self-directed and effective in global partnering and international market access by enabling them to seamlessly find, connect and act on verified opportunities to grow their businesses globally.”
The deal will see entrepreneurs use Powerlinx, a big data analytics service that intelligently matches them with relevant and compatible growth opportunities from a database of more than 15 million qualified prospect. This will help them to more rapidly commercialize innovation, attract foreign investment, and develop global markets.
South African companies, research centers and institutions will use the tool to quickly identify and engage with strategic growth opportunities domestically and globally.
SABLE’s Powerlinx sign-up process includes a short initial assessment online of the registrant’s strategic objectives looking at areas such as business partnering, distribution development, new market entry, geo-expansion, product diversification, supplier sourcing, capital raising/financing, acquisition or sale, intellectual property licensing, or exit planning. This is done simply and easily online with question prompts.
Powerlinx then algorithmically finds a set of suitable matches from its global database of 15 million profiles and submits them for review by the registrant. Once a SABLE registrant has approved a potential match, Powerlinx facilitates the introduction. Initially, SABLE will offer the service on a free-trial basis for a limited number of members. Once registered, South African companies can continually track the status of their matches for all objectives posted, as well as be introduced to other companies seeking similar connections.
By integrating the Powerlinx global business-to-business matchmaking platform into its website, SABLE (South African Business Link to Experts) is applying disruptive innovation and “radical efficiency” to a business development and alliance building process that is typically complex, costly and time-intensive for businesses and new venture start-ups.
With an experienced team of big data technologists, search specialists and information service experts, Powerlinx is previewed its opportunity sourcing service in a meeting of SABLE Network members at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California today.
“Most companies, including the 230 million that make up the global business market, do not have an effective, trusted online platform to automate business partnering, alliance building and organic and inorganic growth,” notes Doron Cohen, CEO of Powerlinx. “They continue to work within inefficient, tedious and expensive processes for research and outreach, along with hiring of outside bankers and brokers, to fulfill their expansion goals. Powerlinx’s cutting-edge platform completely transforms that process by enabling business owners and leaders to discover growth opportunities on a global scale.”
Initial pilot users of Powerlinx include PHEMI, BusinessOptics, Delta Steam Systems, EcoloBlue, Cavendish Corporation (Kari’s Malva Pudding), DisruptiveVision, MPULL, TimeToReply, CapeRay, Questr, Cognician, Cognisses, Korwe Software, Virtual Mobile Tech, GoMetro, SoftCopy, wiGroup, XMPro and InnovUS.