On paper, Ryan Dingley is the poster child of what venture capital firms are looking for. Dingley has a background as a corporate lawyer, which means he understands funding agreements and business plans. He worked for vehicle tracking company Mix Telematics, giving him experience in emerging technologies. The company he founded, Iono.fm, has built products that are not only cutting-edge in South Africa, but also competitive around the world. On top of all of this, he’s come up with an effective business model for these products.

So it should have been relatively easy for him to get funding from venture capital investment groups that specialise in backing up-and-coming companies. Not so much. “Raising money is hard,” says Dingley.