Author: Staff Writer

South Africa’s payment gateway provider Payfast has undergone a major rebrand. Having joined forces with PayGate and SiD under Network International, the company has created a new home for its consolidated offering. With a renewed focus on enabling growth – for the brand, its merchants, and the broader ecommerce industry – this milestone represents a new era in the payments industry. In 2021, DPO Group, of which Payfast is a subsidiary, was acquired by Network International, a globally renowned enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa. “By combining the capabilities of three of South Africa’s biggest ecommerce…

inDrive, the international IT platform for transport and consumer services, in its mission to fight injustice and aid in the development of urban areas with the help of new technologies, will cover the cost for all mobile data that users consume when using the application. inDrive became the first ride-sharing app in South Africa that made the use of mobile data free for its users, an unprecedented case in the country. Currently, the company operates in 9 cities of South Africa – Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Gqeberha, East London, Pietermaritzburg, Rustenburg, Polokwane. Vincent Lilane, Business Development Representative inDrive said:…

AppsFlyer and Google have launched a new report looking at how mobile apps are transforming finance in Africa. Data reveals a significant increase in finance app installs across the African continent, as people turn to apps and technology as a way of managing finances, navigating economic uncertainty, and moving towards financial freedom. The report analyzed more than 140 million installs, across 3,000 finance apps, and found that installs across the continent grew 25%. Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya & South Africa were the main contributors to this rise in finance app installs, with the former largely bolstering this by a massive 200%;…

Women in Blockchain Talks has announced its biggest event yet on the 13th-15th March in Limassol, Cyprus, to coincide with International Women’s Day. The summit will bring together blockchain enthusiasts, industry experts and special guests to reflect on Women in Blockchain Talk’s monumental rise and look at the past, present and future of blockchain, how we can leverage it and in doing so create a space for all. There will be an array of international speakers and workshops, including Web3 and Metaverse Advisor Dr. Martha Boeckenfeldm, Professor Soulla Louca – the Director of the Institute For The Future at the…

Entersekt, a global leader in customer and payment authentication solutions for financial fraud prevention has announced the appointment of Jon Roskill, former Acumatica CEO and Microsoft executive, to its board of directors as part of its continued expansion within North America. In late 2021, Entersekt received significant funding from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm, to hire key leadership, launch new branding, and accelerate the expansion within this region. Jon Roskill joins Entersekt board of directors A former Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and CEO of Acumatica, Mr. Roskill brings decades of executive and advisory experience to the Entersekt board…

The latter half of 2022 was characterised by significant instabilities in the tech industry. E-retailer and cloud giant Amazon announced that it would cut tens of thousands of jobs, social media behemoths Twitter and Meta laid off significant percentages of their workforce, and even Microsoft saw its slowest revenue growth in five years. “There’s chaos in the industry internationally,” says Andrew Cruise, Managing Director of Routed, a local cloud platform provider and VMware specialist. “The war in Ukraine has kicked off a period of great uncertainty that’s affected global inflation, exchange rates, and general risk appetite. This follows the boom…

SA’s e-commerce platform Shopstar has launched live shopping app in Africa. Flick Live is a dynamic social commerce platform, in which brands and retailers can sell their products, interact with viewers and gain potential customers in real-time live streams. This live shopping platform works by seamlessly integrating with any existing e-commerce store, such as those already run on Shopstar, or by other third parties, such as Shopify, WooCommerce and others. All inventory is automatically synced, and any new orders are created on the source platform. Sellers then host a live show on Flick Live, selling their products via highly personal…

UK department store Marks & Spencer (M&S) and technology company Zyler partnered to deliver an in-store virtual try-on experience. M&S brought the technology to their Oxford Circus and Harrogate branches, where the feature was trialed with clothing brand Jaeger . The introduction of this technology provides a personalized shopping journey where customers become the model. Shoppers add a head and shoulders photo and basic measurements to see themselves digitally in the Jaeger collection. Sales assistants guide customers through the process and give style advice. CEO of Zyler, Alexander Berend, describes the partnership as “a wonderful opportunity to get customers excited…

MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) financial services platform is moving fast to meet the rising demand for online payment services. With 6,2 million people already subscribed to the service, the new personal loan offering and partnerships with SA-born fintech start-up Zapper, along with services aggregator QuickBus, are set to further extend MoMo’s impact for those looking to lead increasingly digital lifestyles.  MoMo Personal Loans, in partnership with Lndr (PTY) LTD which is a registered credit provider, offers a seamless application and loan approval process. A portion of the funds can then be safely, quickly and easily disbursed into the MoMo wallet…

Africa Data Centres, a business of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology group, has announced it is now offering remote peering through its partnership with INX-ZA, further advancing the data centre giant’s development in sub-Saharan Africa. In essence, remote peering is peering at an Internet Exchange without the requirement of being physically present. Customers can use any Network Service Provider’s infrastructure to reach the IXPs, so they do not need to invest in any extra equipment. INX-ZA is a division of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) of South Africa and operates a fully neutral, community-run Internet exchange point in South…