Author: Gugu Lourie

SA’s medtech startup, VitruvianMD, has secured $1.25 million or R23 million through their Seed Extension II funding round led by 27four’s social impact venture capital (VC) fund, The Nebula Fund. The medtech company has gained significant traction and will use the funding to further accelerate growth by upscaling their team, gaining international regulatory approvals and driving growth into new applications of their technology. VitruvianMD combines biomedical engineering with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise diagnostics accessibility in the medical laboratory sphere. Addressing the acute global challenge of diagnostician shortages, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa where the pathologist-to-population ratio stands at…

Absa announced today that it had 3.5 million digitally active customers in the six months to end-June 2023. The company, which is valued at around R155.9 billion on the JSE, said its digital journey continues to create value across all business lines as the number of digital customers grows in both retail and corporate banking. “Our commitment to quality user experience and continuous enhancement of our digital propositions is evidenced by the increase in continuous engagement on our digital platforms,” Absa told investors on Monday. The banking group said this had resulted in the digital channel’s share of revenue in…

Founders Factory Africa has secured an additional $114 million or R2.17 billion in funding to scale its model to better serve founders across the African tech ecosystem.  The additional support from the Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, an impact fund within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, follows on from previous investments into Founders Factory Africa by Standard Bank, Small Foundation and Netcare. The support will enable Founders Factory Africa to scale its model and better serve technology-led start-ups and founders across the African continent. “We are excited to have new and dynamic funding, which follows on from…

MTN’s first half adjusted headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased by 25% to 749 cents and adjusted return on equity (ROE) expanded by one percentage point to 24.4%. The acompany attributed HEPS – South Africa’s main profit gauge – rise to solid revenue growth and improved efficiencies, These were in line with our medium-term guidance, said MTN. MTN Group’s service revenue grew 15% to almost R108 billion in constant-currency terms. “This was driven by increases in revenue from data services of 24% and from fintech services of 22%. Revenue from voice services increased 6% in the period,” said MTN. At the…

Mastercard has acquired a minority stake in MTN’s FinTech business valued at $5.2 billion or R100 billion. Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator informed investors on Monday that Mastercard signed a memorandum of understanding which provides for a minority investment by Mastercard into its  FinTech. “Following the bespoke process to identify and potentially introduce strategic minority investors into MTN Group FinTech, we executed commercial agreements with Mastercard to support the acceleration and growth of our FinTech business’s payments and remittance services,” said MTN. Mastercard will pay for the minority stake through cash and debt-free basis. “Signing of the definitive investment agreements…

Microsoft has discontinued Cortana digital assistant for Window 11 and a new update, which is now rolling out simply disables it. Cortana struggled to compete with Alexa and Google Assistand leading to its removal from various app stores three years ago. “We’re making some changes to Windows and Microsoft 365 that will impact Cortana users. Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated. Support for Cortana in Teams mobile, Microsoft Teams display, and Microsoft Teams Rooms will end in the fall of 2023,” said Microsoft in its blog. The company added that Cortana in Outlook mobile will continue to be…

Google announced today that in June 2022 it began alpha testing the ability to request and capture eSignatures in Google Docs. The search giant said based on the feedback it received it is ready to move this feature to the next level. eSignature is now available as an open beta for Google Workspace Individual subscribers — no additional sign-up is required to use the feature. eSignature will be available in beta for select Google Workspace customers — see the “Additional details” section below for more information. eSignature in Google Drive   eSignature in Google Docs Who’s impacted Admins and end users…

Kaldi Company Ltd, a pioneer in combining blockchain, Web3, AI, IOT-enabled traceability, and a novel crypto economy to revolutionize the coffee value chain and alleviate poverty amongst millions of smallholder coffee farmers globally, announced today that it has received regulatory approval from the Financial Services Authority in the Isle of Man for Kaldicoin, its new digital currency. This milestone permits Kaldi Company to engage in a range of activities related to convertible virtual currency, including issuing, transmitting, transferring, providing safe custody, administering, managing, and trading the Kaldicoin digital currency under the supervision of the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.…

Liquid Dataport, a business of Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid), a pan-African technology group, is seeing a surge of Internet traffic on its new West coast cable Equiano as a result of multiple subsea cables break this weekend. Liquid’s well-timed investment ensured that its Southern Africa customers did not experience a change in their network performance despite breaks in WACS and SAT–3 undersea cable systems off the coast of DRC. “On Sunday, 6 August, we woke up to multiple reports of a natural rock fall in the Congo Canyon, off the coast of West Africa, causing breaks in multiple subsea cables.…

Spotify announced today that it is introducing AI DJ feature to its South African subscribers. “Starting today, we’re excited to begin rolling out DJ, in Beta, to Premium users in South Africa – taking personalization to the next level and connecting artists and fans in a deeper, more meaningful way,” said Spotify. The music streaming platform added that since launching in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland earlier this year, DJ has become the most discussed Spotify feature on social media, and we’re excited to bring it to South Africa today. Check it out HERE. DJ is a personalized AI guide that knows you and…