South African entrepreneur Nico Steyn is stepping aside as CEO of IoT.nxt, a company he co-founded with partners Terje Moen and Bertus Jacobs.
IoT.nxt was founded in 2015.
He resigned with immediate effect.
Steyn will remain as a shareholder and will continue to serve on the board, assist in the leadership transition. He will also work with the executive team to drive the growth and innovation strategy of IoT.nxt in a new capacity.
“As a founder making this decision is not easy. However, I know the exceptional executive team that we have assembled over the past 18 months is well-positioned to embrace the next phase of commercialisation and corporatisation that is required for IoT.nxt’s journey of globalisation,” Steyn says.
“IoT.nxt has been my passion and my life for the past six years. My partners and the IoT.nxt board-backed my vision of creating a world-class product and company. IoT.nxt is perfectly positioned for exponential growth and I am looking forward to supporting this in my new role, but also making up for some of the time lost with my family.
“Launching a start-up, especially in the very competitive technology industry, requires sacrifices which I am confident will yield benefits over the coming years. I am both delighted and excited about further contributing to the company to achieve its goal of being a dominant global force in IoT.”
Shane Cooper, who joined IoT.nxt in December 2019, and currently serves as MD of IoT.nxt Africa, will assume the role of acting CEO until such time as the board confirms a permanent appointment.
“Nico has played a critical leadership role, successfully driving the business as co-founder and CEO. On behalf of the board and shareholders, I would like to sincerely thank Nico for his service and look forward to continuing to build IoT.nxt® into the future with him,” IoT.nxt, chairman Wayne Fitzjohn, said.
“Going forward, as we settle into the new managerial structure, we will be reviewing the leadership requirements in critical areas of the business with a view to ensure we continue to deliver on our strategic objectives and global aspirations”.
Also read: Vodacom to Pay R1bn to Buy IoT Innovator IoT.nxt
Vodacom has disclosed on Monday that it could pay as much as R1 billion to acquire Internet of Things (IoT) innovator IoT.nxt.
In May, Vodacom announced plans to buy 51% stake in IoT.nxt for an undisclosed amount to enhance its current IoT offering.
The Vodafone-owned mobile phone firm disclosed on Monday that it bought the 51% stake in IoT.nxt for R1 billion, of which R469 million was settled in cash, with the remainder being contingent on the future performance of the business.
IoT.nxt creates data-connectivity between new data sources and legacy systems which allows for real-time data availability across a wide business segment.
The effective date of the acquisition was 23 August 2019.
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