Author: Gugu Lourie
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…