CVP was founded in 2004 in response to a need for guidance and mentoring services resulting from the efforts of Citi, the Cape IT Initiative, and its subsidiary, the Bandwidth Barn to stimulate entrepreneurship in the high technology industries. Geoff Hainebach, CVP partner was the founding chairman of both Citi and Bandwidth Barn. By 2009, CVP was handling over 500 applications per year for assistance from startups which overwhelmed its capacity and led to a change of business model to one where the partners got involved in their own ventures, described elsewhere on this site.

Cape Venture Partners (CVP) consists of 3 highly experienced partners who, with their associates, understand what it takes for an entrepreneur to achieve commercial success. As such, CVP has an advisory business in strategy, operations, finance and sales & marketing issues, specifically for high growth entrepreneurs. In addition, M&A advice is a key part of the offering, including business valuations, share transactions, capital raising and exits. The CVP partners are also entrepreneurs and investors in their own right, and have started and launched a number of ventures. These include Texforce, which developed utility scale renewable energy projects, and Radio 021, which won the bid for the new Cape radio station licence (now launched as Smile 90.4 FM), in which CVP retains a shareholding. CVP has also been instrumental in assisting in technology transfer from Universities, as IP is commercialized, Azargen and HySA Catalysis are examples of a successful spin outs.