Welcoming Clive Butkow: Fintura’s New Strategic Advisor & Early Investor

We’re thrilled to welcome Clive Butkow to the Fintura team as a Strategic Advisor and Early Investor. Clive brings with him decades of experience in building and backing some of South Africa’s most innovative startups and his belief in what we’re building at Fintura marks an exciting new chapter in our journey.

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As the former COO of Accenture South Africa, Founder of Kalon Venture Partners and most recently a co-founder of Conducive Capital, Clive has become one of the most respected names in tech innovation, venture capital and startup mentorship across the continent.

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Why This Matters

At Fintura, our mission is to simplify and supercharge finance operations for accountants. Clive’s experience scaling B2B SaaS businesses, investing in AI-driven platforms and mentoring high-growth founders makes him an invaluable partner as we scale our vision.

From his early belief in our team to his hands-on support, Clive represents more than capital — he brings strategic alignment and deep domain knowledge at a critical time in our growth.

We caught up with Clive to discuss all things Fintura and Startups...

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Q&A with Clive Butkow

What attracted you to invest in Fintura?
“Fintura stood out because of its strong founder expertise, community-driven growth, and clear traction in a traditionally underserved accounting tech space.”

What excites you about the South African fintech/accounting tech space right now?
"South Africa’s fintech and accounting tech space is buzzing with innovation, largely because businesses and professionals are demanding better, more integrated digital solutions. There’s tremendous potential for disruption as traditional sectors embrace digital transformation, driven by innovative local startups solving real-world challenges.”

What key advice do you often give to early-stage founders?
“My key advice to early-stage founders is to stay laser-focused on delivering genuine value to their customers—understanding their pain points deeply and iterating quickly based on feedback. In addition, founders need to know their unit economics. As Warren Buffett says, ‘Accounting is the language of business'."

What do you think makes a founding team standout?
“A standout founding team is one where each member brings distinct but complementary expertise and respects each other’s strengths. Beyond skills, alignment around a shared vision and mission is critical — it fuels perseverance through inevitable highs and lows. Lastly, an unwavering commitment to execution.”

How do you see AI transforming traditional industries like accounting?
“AI is poised to revolutionise accounting by automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks such as data entry, reconciliations and compliance checks — vastly improving efficiency and reducing errors. More importantly, AI-driven insights enable accountants to shift from purely transactional roles towards strategic advisory services, helping businesses make smarter financial decisions.”

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A Few Words from Our Founder

“Having Clive onboard is a massive win for our team. His belief in solving real problems with AI, paired with decades of insight and support, gives us a strategic edge as we build Fintura.”‍

Bernice Houy | CEO & Co-Founder, Fintura

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What’s Ahead

With Clive’s guidance and experience behind us, we’re excited to continue building momentum as we grow our user base, deepen our AI capabilities and roll out even more features that make life easier for accounting professionals.