Black Coffee's investments stretch from music into African tech
Black Coffee has made his name in music. His business interests now include payments, technology, energy and music rights. The South African DJ and producer, Nkosinathi Maphumulo, invests through FlightMode Digital.
Black Coffee
Black Coffee has made his name in music. His business interests now include payments, technology, energy and music rights. The South African DJ and producer, Nkosinathi Maphumulo, invests through FlightMode Digital. The portfolio has included South African payments company Yoco, home services platform SweepSouth, technology talent company Andela and Nigerian energy company Rensource. He also owns a stake in Gallo Music. That means his business interests now sit across several industries, even though music remains the centre of his career.
FlightMode goes beyond entertainment
FlightMode Digital was set up in 2017. The investment company has backed businesses in different parts of the African economy. There is no single sector connecting them. Yoco works with small businesses on payments and other business tools. SweepSouth operates in home services, while Andela connects software developers with companies looking for technology talent. Rensource has worked in Nigeria's distributed energy market. For Black Coffee, those investments put him in businesses that have very different customers from the audiences he reaches as a DJ. They also give him exposure to sectors that are not dependent on music releases, touring or events.
Yoco brings the SME connection
Yoco is perhaps the most interesting investment when looking at Black Coffee's portfolio from a South African business perspective. The company provides payment and business-management tools to small businesses and independent operators. That includes businesses that need a way to accept card payments and keep track of sales without building their own financial systems. For an investor whose main career is in entertainment, it is a very different market.
It also puts one of Black Coffee's investments close to the day to day challenges faced by South African SMEs. A musician earns from performances and music-related deals. A small business owner may earn from selling food, clothing, services or other products. The businesses are very different, but both depend on customers making payments.
The Gallo investment is closer to home
Black Coffee's investment in Gallo Music is more closely tied to the industry that made him famous. In 2020, FlightMode Digital acquired a 20% stake in Gallo Music Investments. Business Day reported that the deal was worth R15 million. Gallo owns one of the most significant catalogues of African music. Its recordings include work from artists such as Lucky Dube, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dorothy Masuka and Mahotella Queens.
That makes the investment different from backing a young technology company. Gallo's value is tied in part to music that has already been recorded and can continue generating income through licensing and other uses. Black Coffee therefore has an interest in the business behind a catalogue that spans generations of South African music.
The portfolio is not one big Black Coffee business
Celebrity investment stories can sometimes make a collection of investments sound like one large company. That is not what FlightMode Digital is. Yoco, Andela, SweepSouth, Rensource and Gallo operate independently and serve very different markets. Black Coffee's connection to them is through his investment interests. That distinction matters because the value of each business depends on its own operations and market. The portfolio also shows how varied the opportunities around a successful entertainment career can become.
Music is still the main business
None of these investments changes what Black Coffee does for a living. He remains a DJ and producer, with music at the centre of his career. The investments sit alongside that work. His international career has given him access to brands, entrepreneurs and business networks that are difficult for most artists to reach. FlightMode gives him a structure through which he can invest in some of those opportunities. For other African artists, the route will not necessarily be the same. Most musicians will not have the international touring income or business profile that Black Coffee has built over several decades.
But his portfolio does raise a useful question for artists who reach a certain level of success: what do you do with the money and business opportunities that come from the music? Black Coffee has put some of that money into businesses outside entertainment.
From DJ bookings to company stakes
There is a clear difference between being paid to perform and owning part of a company. The first depends on the artist continuing to work and attract audiences. An investment gives the artist an interest in what happens inside another business. Black Coffee's portfolio now includes both sides. His music career remains the public-facing part of his business. Behind it is a collection of investments in companies working in payments, technology, energy, home services and music. That is what makes his business story worth following. It is not simply about how much money a famous DJ has made. It is about where some of that money has gone.
