Ryan Gilbert

Ryan Gilbert is the Managing Partner at Kalon Venture Partners, operating from Cape Town, South Africa. Before launching Kalon in 2023 with a $25 million fund targeting African technology, he co-founded and led Knife Capital from 2011 to 2022, managing institutional venture funds exceeding $50 million in assets under management. Across his venture capital career, Gilbert has executed over 50 investments in early-stage technology companies, highlighted by the successful exit of PayFast to Network International in 2020. The University of the Witwatersrand graduate recently directed Kalon's first-quarter 2025 investment into the South African fintech startup Franc and presented at the Africa Tech Summit Nairobi in early 2026. Leveraging his dual background in law and business, his current focus remains on funding and advising early-stage startups across the African fintech, edtech, healthtech, and enterprise software sectors.