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…