Author: Gugu Lourie

Carmaker Hyundai today shared its vision for pioneering the use of robotics in both the real world and metaverse at CES 2022. The concept of the metaverse, essentially a virtual social space, gained traction in 2021. The metaverse is a network of always-on virtual environments in which many people can interact with one another and digital objects while operating virtual representations – or avatars – of themselves. Think of a combination of immersive virtual reality, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and the web. The metaverse is a concept from science fiction that many people in the technology industry envision as the successor to…

Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Teraco, Africa’s leading carrier-neutral colocation provider, from a consortium of investors, including Berkshire Partners and Permira, in a transaction valuing Teraco at $3.5 billion or R55.6 billion. After closing the deal, Digital Realty will own 55% of Teraco, while the remaining 45% will be held by a consortium of existing investors, including management, Berkshire Partners LLC, Permira, van Rooyen Group, Columbia Capital, Stepstone Ventures and the Teraco Connect Trust.…

Reunert would consider acquiring a renewable energy company, the JSE-listed electronics and electrical engineering group disclosed in its latest annual report. “We will actively pursue acquisitions in ICT in the Solutions and Systems Integration cluster to complete our service offering for +OneX,” Reunert said in the annual report. “We may also be interested in other ICT assets that may be wholly Reunert owned. “We would also consider acquisitions in the renewable energy space.” In May 2021, Reunert and A.P. Møller Capital announced a new joint venture, Lumika Renewables. Lumika provides impetus to Reunert’s renewable energy strategy which has traditionally centred around investments…

African tech investor Naspers takes R54 million bet on a car subscription platform, Planet42, that addresses transport inequality. The investment is part of a R91 million ($5.8 million) equity round led by Naspers Foundry, alongside existing investors Change Ventures and Startup Wise Guys. Existing debt investors, such as the impact debt fund Lendable, added a further R380 million ($24 million) of debt. The investment in Planet42 is part of Naspers’s R1.4 billion commitment to grow South Africa’s early-stage tech ecosystem and the eighth investment since the launch of Naspers Foundry in 2019. “At Naspers, we are passionate about building leading companies…

In a surprise move, MTN Group announced the resignation of the CEO of its South African CEO, Godfrey Motsa, who will leave the unit’s employ at the end of this month. “Motsa will be stepping down as the CEO of MTN SA with effect from 1 January 2022; Charles Molapisi (currently Group CTIO) will assume the position of CEO of MTN SA, effective 1 January 2022,” MTN Group informed investors today. MTN Group further announced that Mazen Mroue (currently COO of MTN Nigeria) will assume the role of Group CTIO effective from 1 February 2022, taking over from Charles. Mazen’s…

SA’s Rain 5G network service, which was launched in September 2019, is now covering 5.2 million households nationwide. JSE-listed African Rainbow Capital (ARC), which owns Rain, announced today that the roll-out of this 5G service continues well. “The business experienced strong growth in demand for its products since the National Lockdown in March 2020,” ARC informed investors today. “The business remains ahead of its original business case targets. More 5G products than 4G products are being sold, which is in line with rain’s strategy.” ARC added that in addition to Rain’s strategy to expand coverage in the major metros, it…

Discovery Bank, part of Adrian Gore’s Discovery Group, said on Wednesday that it is signing up 600 clients daily and accelerating growth. At an investor conference presentation, Hylton Kallner, the CEO of Discovery Bank, said the bank has emerged in line with the strategy with solid growth in 2021 across all key metrics He said Discovery Bank had over 400,00 clients in November 2021, of which over 375,000 were primary clients, 31% more than the beginning of the calendar year. “The Bank is adding more than 600 clients per day. More than 50% of these clients are new to Discovery…

SA’s third-biggest private hospital group Netcare announced today that its ordinary shares will be traded on A2X with effect from 15 December 2021. Netcare said it will retain its primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and its issued share capital will be unaffected by the secondary listing on A2X. Its ordinary shares will be available to be traded on the JSE and A2X from the A2X listing date, said Netcare. A2X is a licensed stock exchange authorised to provide a secondary listing venue for companies and is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the Prudential Authority and…

Patrice Motsepe-backed ARC Investments today announced that TymeBank South Africa (TymeBank) and Tyme Global have completed a $70 million or R1.1 billion Series B capital raise. The capital raise was led by China’s Tencent and CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution. The investment makes  Tencent and CDC Group shareholders of both TymeBank and Tyme Global. “The investment will enable Tyme to use its digital infrastructure to accelerate the rollout of financial services to TymeBank’s historic mass-market customer base,” ARC Investment informed shareholders today. “The two investors’ capital and expertise will be used to strengthen Tyme’s ability to manage risk…

South Africa’s FinTech player Crossfin is eyeing acquisition opportunities in the remittance market. The plan is for the company — which is backed by ARC Financial Services, a unit of billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital, and private equity firm Ethos —  to bulk up its remittance capability. Dean Sparrow, Crossfin CEO, has big plans to pursue a remittance acquisition. “What we don’t have is a remittance competence. Remittance will be a complementary additional capability to our base platform. So, we will be looking at our pipeline of opportunities,” he said. The remittance market is huge in the rest of…

SA’s investment holding company Labat Africa, which is expanding into the fast-growing market for medical cannabis, has received a regulatory nod to float the business on the Deutsche Börse. The global market for CBD products is rapidly growing, with Labat saying earlier in 2020 the legal African cannabis market could be worth R104billion by 2023, and SA’s market worth R10.5 billion. Labat Africa said in a statement that the application to list its equity shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE) has been approved by the Deutsche Börse in an official announcement on Friday, 3 December 2021. The JSE-listed company…

Twitter announced Tuesday that it is revising its privacy policy to block the sharing of photos and videos of people without their consent. In a blog post, the company said there are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals. “Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm,” Twitter said in the blog post. “The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate…

The BMW Concept XM provides a first glimpse of the new front-end design for BMW’s forthcoming luxury-class models. It will also introduce its audience to a highly progressive and distinctive take on BMW X model design and an all-new form of luxury and sense of space for the interior. The series-production model – the BMW XM – will be built from the end of 2022 at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg in the USA, the most important sales market for the new high-performance car. BMW M will therefore be introducing its first standalone vehicle since the legendary BMW M1 in the…

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is stepping down as chief executive of the company. The social media giant said he will be replaced by the current chief technical officer, Parag Agrawal. Agrawal is currently the chief technology officer of Twitter. The company said Dorsey would step down immediately but that he would remain on the board until Twitter’s shareholder meeting in 2022. “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has concluded its analysis of applications for provisional assignment of radio frequency spectrum under the new ICT COVID-19 National State of Disaster Regulations, 2021, and resolved to grant licences to six electronic communications network operators. The licences are valid for a period of seven months, commencing from 1 December 2021, and ending on 30 June 2022 – or three months after the termination of the National State of Disaster – whichever comes first. By the closing date on 17 November 2021, the Authority had received 6 applications, from: Rain Networks, Vodacom, Cell…

The MR Price app remains the highest-ranked South African fashion shopping app in the Google Play store. The South African retailer Mr Price says the Mr Price app has 1.1 million users and ranks highest in engagement with the most monthly active users amongst competitors, according to SimilarWeb. “The online channel remains key to the group’s future growth plans and to keep it closely connected to its digitally engaged customer base,” says Mr Price. The JSE-listed retailer also said that online sales continue to increase in retail sales contribution, up to 2.9% (2.7% excluding acquisitions). According to the retailer, online sales growth…

South African retailer Mr Price, which uses cellular handsets and accessories to drive footfall traffic into its stores and online platforms, reported strong growth in sales from its telecoms segment in the 26 weeks ended 2 October 2021. Today, the JSE-listed retailer reported that its Telecoms Business recorded a 22.8% rise in sales to R522 million against solid growth in the base of 18.6%. Mr Price attributed the strong growth in Telecoms Business to the inclusion of Power Fashion’s cellular sales. “Cellular handsets and accessories gained 80bps of market share according to GfK (100bps including acquisitions),” Mr Price informed investors. Telecoms Business sells cellular products and services. Mr…

Today, the South African retailer Mr Price reported that its Financial Services business saw a 2.7% increase in revenues to R337 million in the 26 weeks ended 2 October 2021. The retailer said the Financial Services business debtors’ interest and fees were adversely affected by significantly lower repo rates experienced during the full year 2022 period relative to the staggered impact in the full year 2021. “Collections continue to improve against a weak base and have additionally been aided by the successful introduction of alternate collection methods,” Mr Price informed investors. “The quality of the debtors’ book continues to improve,…

Africa’s tech investor Naspers reported that its e-commerce business saw revenue swelled by 52% $4.6 billion or R72 billion in the six months ending 30 September 2021, outpacing revenue growth at Tencent. The company said this performance was led by 100% growth in Classifieds, 86% growth in Food Delivery, 51% growth in Edtech, and 44% growth in Payments and Fintech. Analyst consensus estimates of the value of the e-commerce portfolio (excluding Tencent and VK/mail.ru) are increasing and is now approaching $50 billion or R786 billion. “This substantial value appreciation translates to a 22% internal rate of return (IRR) on the…

Electric vehicles (EVs) are key to a more sustainable future. In 2020, we saw a rapid acceleration in uptake, with sales of EVs rising by 43%. COP26 earlier this month has similarly reinforced the importance of net-zero and sustainable initiatives, which we expect to lead to further market growth. Yet, while EVs are predicted to represent 48% of all new cars sold in 2030, for this to come to fruition, an unbundling is required in the software and hardware which makes up the vehicle. “We believe that consumers will buy cars on the strength of their software,” Mina Samaan, VC…

MTN Group announced on Thursday it has sold its majority stake in MTN Yemen to an affiliate of its minority shareholder, Zubair Corporation LLC. Effective 17 November 2021, MTN Group transferred our majority shareholding in Yemen operations to Emerald International Investment LCC. Emerald is a subsidiary of Zubair Investment Centre LLC, an affiliate of Zubair Corporation LLC, which is the minority shareholder in MTN Yemen. “The decision to exit Yemen was driven by a need to simplify the portfolio and focus our limited resources on executing a pan-African strategy,” said MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita. “We would like to thank…

Vodacom today announced it has added 6.2 million new customers to reach a total 0f 129.9 million customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, in the six months to end-September 2021. The Vodafone-owned group said its local operation delivered service revenue growth of 3.6% driven by connectivity demand, an additional 1.1 million data customers, incremental wholesale revenue and growth in our new services. “This was an impressive result given the demanding comparative associated with lockdowns in the prior period.” Vodacom added that financial services customers, including Safaricom on a 100% basis, reached 57.3 million in the period. “Looking ahead, we…

Vodacom has increased its capital expenditure for its South Africa network expansion by 11.1% to R5.6 billion in the six months to end September 2021. The Vodafone-owned telco said the capital expenditure was directed at improving the capacity and resilience of the network and increasing the 5G roll-out. “We now have 97.7% (1H21: 96.4%) 4G population coverage and have extended our 5G sites to 521.” The company added that in the current financial year it will invest more than R10.5 billion into its world-class network, in addition to the R47 billion spent over the past five years alone. “This is…

South Africa’s JSE-listed retailer Woolworths is trialling electric delivery vans to deliver goods ordered online to people’s homes. “In line with our vision to be one of the most sustainable retailers in the world, in collaboration with DSV and Everlectric we are trialling electric panel vans into our online shopping delivery fleet, a first in the South African retail space,” Woolworths said in a Twitter post. https://twitter.com/WOOLWORTHS_SA/status/1458014172801818624 Woolworths wrote that to power the vans it sourced electricity from renewable and sustainable sources including rooftop Solar PV installations. “Where onsite generation of renewable energy is not available or practical, we offset…

Econet, which is owned by billionaire and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa, has created Cassava Technologies, a parent company that will house its cloud and cybersecurity, FinTech, digital services and infrastructure activities including broadband networks, data centres, and renewable energy. The pan-African telecoms group said Cassava Technologies aims to empower individuals and businesses in Africa through digital solutions which drive the vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind. The London-headquartered firm, which will be led by CEO Hardy Pemhiwa, will act as the parent company of Econet brands including Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Africa Data Centres, Liquid Cloud, Sasai…