Author: Gugu Lourie
US-based LegalTech startup Lupl, an open industry platform for legal matters, wants to digitise South Africa’s legal sector. The company recently secured $14 million (R210 million) in a recent funding round as it builds momentum for its launch this year. Lupl’s latest funding round is in addition to the more than $10 million (R150 million) raised before its beta launch, taking its overall financing to over $25 million (R375 million) and making it amongst the most well-backed legal technology startups at its stage of development. The platform is currently in beta testing and will have its public release in 2021. The…
Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator in terms of subscribers, continues to make inroads into the insurance space as it attracts more customers. The Vodafone-owned company is pushing into the insurance market by covering life, funeral, device insurance and various short-term insurance services to existing and new customers. The Accenture Disruptability Index 2.0 ranks insurance as the fourth most disrupted sector, the most susceptible to future disruption, and one of the least innovative sectors. Insurance has lagged many other sectors in adopting digital technologies to transform its core, embrace customer-focused experience design, and weave its offering into people’s daily lives and organisations’…
Jeff Bezos announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down as CEO of the e-commerce giant Amazon in the third quarter of 2021. He will retain the title of chairman. The new CEO of the e-commerce giant will be Andy Jassy, currently head of the group’s cloud arm Amazon Web Service (AWS). The company announced the news alongside its financial results with net sales increasing 44% to $125.6 billion (R1.8 trillion) in the fourth quarter of 2020, versus $87.4 billion (R1.2 trillion) in fourth quarter 2019. “I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board…
Uber announced on Tuesday that it is buying alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion (R16.5 billion) in stock and cash. The US-based on-demand alcohol marketplace is available in more than 1,400 cities across US states. Drizly works with thousands of local merchants to provide consumers with an incredible selection of beer, wine, and spirits with competitive, transparent pricing. After the completion of the transaction, Drizly will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber. The marketplace of Drizly will eventually be integrated with the Uber Eats app while maintaining a separate Drizly app. “Drizly has spent the last 8 years building…
Vodacom Financial Services business continues to attract more customers as it experienced strong growth for the period to end 31 December 2020. Shameel Joosub, Vodacom’s CEO, informed investors that the Financial Services business remains a strong performer having increased revenue by 24.3%, as the business continues to scale. “Our partnership with Alipay will add new dimensions to our Financial Services’ proposition and in particular, VodaPay, which will become our single lifestyle super app.” Vodacom plans to create a ‘super app’ in partnership with digital payment provider Alipay, part of China’s Alibaba group, to allow consumers in South Africa to shop…
Vodacom is providing fibre to more than 110 000 home and business customers in South Africa. The Vodafone-owned company said on Tuesday that its fibre customers more than doubled year-on-year to 110 000 homes and businesses connected. “Also, our owned fibre roll-out continued, and we passed 139 000 homes and businesses as at 31 December 2020, up 39.8%,” the company said in a statement. The company also announced strong growth for its business unit. Vodacom Business service revenue grew 6.1% to R3.9 billion in the quarter ended 31 December 2020, with corporate and university data demand moderating from the elevated levels…
Israeli automotive data firm Otonomo announced on Monday it is to list on Nasdaq through a business combination with Software Acquisition Group Inc. II. The deal gives Otonomo a valuation of $1.4 billion. As part of the transaction, Otonomo will fetch $307 million in cash, including a $172.5 million private investment from investors such as Fidelity Management & Research Co and BNP Paribas Asset Management Energy. The company also said strategic investors Dell Technologies Capital and Hearst Ventures, would provide support of $25 million of cash currently on hand. The company said cash proceeds from the transaction would be used to fund…
Yesterday Mybroadband reported that R219 million was paid to three top executives at struggling Cell C. We note with amusement that this is the same story TechFinancials published three years ago. Original story: R219 Million Paid To Three Top Execs At Cell C in 2017 Yesterday’s Mybroadband story did not make any reference to TechFinancials. Here is their story: Cell C execs paid R219 million while the company burned For more read: Cell C CEO Got A Chunk Of R219 Million Payout, No bonus For Workers and Cell C Move To Terminate Franchisees Stores Backfires However, Financial Mail on the 27 September…
The Cortex Group in South Africa says Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven platforms can help transform health and financial wellness for everyone. “There is a magnificent opportunity to create a scalable AI-driven platform for health and financial wellness for our people and the rest of the African continent and beyond,” said Dr Jacques Ludik. The founder of both the Cortex Group (and subsidiary Cortex Logic, which is an AI Engine for Business and developer of the AI-driven platforms) and Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa made the remarks on Sunday. Speaking to TechFinancials via Microsoft Teams, Dr Ludik said his Cortex Group had…
The Progressive Blacks in ICT (PBICT), a lobby group, today took a swipe at the ‘elite privileged black consortium’ for its stance in the debate about the licensing process for Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN). Late last year, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published an invitation to invest in the country’s planned WOAN, a creation of a private sector-led wholesale operator to compete with Vodacom and MTN. The South African government anticipates the WOAN will eventually lead to lower mobile data retail prices. It is envisaged that WOAN will bring much-needed competition into the services layer of…