Author: Staff Writer

Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, the top three crypto exchanges in the world by web traffic, has called for the traditional markets to embrace the change being driven by crypto. Speaking at the Pantera Blockchain Summit Asia this week, Zhou discussed the growing convergence between traditional financial institutions and crypto. “The infrastructure is already in place and large institutions are already exploring and engaging at multiple levels with crypto leaders,” he commented. But he said, “Wall St could do a lot more to truly embrace the innovation in the market and remain relevant.” adding that traditional financial service…

iiDENTIFii, a biometrics tech firm, has raised $15 million or R272 million in growth capital. The round was led by African investment company Arise whose cornerstone investors include Rabobank Partnerships, Norfund, NorFinance and FMO. This is, to date, the largest African Series A in the identity verification space. iiDENTIFii is a world leader in biometric authentication. Its advanced face authentication technology securely authenticates users via their cellphones or PCs within seconds. iiDENTIFii operates across several industry verticals and is used by the largest pan-African banks, insurers and mining houses for both customer and employee authentication. Its customers include Standard Bank,…

The last two years have undoubtedly triggered new and exciting internet usage habits across South Africa, and the country’s townships have been no exception. Vuma’s 2021 Fibre Reach Survey indicates that considerably more homes are upgrading to fibre internet in these communities. In addition, more people are now streaming their favourite content and opting for a fixed internet fee in 2021 compared to the previous year. Vuma’s survey reveals that almost all surveyed township residents (96%) now understand the benefits of upgrading to uncapped high-speed fibre internet, contributing to this technology’s high uptake. In addition, most residents (90%) see the…

In 1999, CNN published an article with the headline: “Is the internet maturing?” The author referred to the first airline tickets being sold online and said the internet was ‘going ordinary’ – in other words, no longer the playground of the tech-savvy, but more ubiquitous in the average Joe’s life. Cloud, say experts, is going ordinary too. “Cloud, just like the internet back in the day, is revolutionising the way people think about their infrastructure,” says Andrew Cruise, Managing Director of Routed, a local VMware Cloud Verified and VMware Principal Partner. “The conversation really started changing during the pandemic. Before,…

Ukheshe’s SME in-a-box solution is making tangible changes to the lives of millions in Zambia through a partnership with Digital PayGo, improving financial inclusion and enhancing business dealings for entrepreneurs. Digital PayGo, a local Zambian fintech driving a mobile-first approach, enhancing the digital payment space for SMEs, is the first partner to utilise Ukheshe’s SME in-a-box solution to its fullest extent and provides a range of virtual financial services to its customers. “We’re so proud to be the technology partner enabling Digital PayGo in their partnership with Zambian bank Zanaco and Mastercard to implement this solution,” says Mark Dankworth, President…

Vodacom’s zero-rated ConnectU platform, designed to provide South Africans with free access to information and life-changing online resources, has grown exponentially, with over 34 million unique users accessing the platform over the past two years. This equates to an average of 3.5 million new unique users’ month-on-month. Boosting Education, Jobs, Social, Health, Safety & Security, Government, and Small, Medium, and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMME) pillars, ConnectU is helping millions of South Africans, with Jobs, Health and Education ranking as the top three visited pillars for users. The Education pillar provides zero-rated access to universities, TVET Colleges, Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, Vodacom’s…

SweepSouth, an online home services platform with presence across Africa, today announced that it has completed an US$11m investment round led by Alitheia IDF (AIF), Africa’s first and largest gender-lens private equity fund. The size of the round, which is SweepSouth’s largest to date, is a result of strong growth in the company’s valuation and social impact since the previous funding round. Current investors Naspers Foundry, The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and Futuregrowth Asset Management all committed to participate in this new round, as did new investors Endeavor Catalyst, Endeavor’s Harvest Fund II, Caruso Ventures, and E4E Africa. Co-founded…

Forge Academy & Labs is looking to enrol 15 youths for their newly launched 5G Certification and Cloud Practitioner programme in partnership with MICT SETA. The programme will lay the foundations for critical 5G and CLOUD computing skills in high demand in the ICT sector. Forge Academy & Labs recently partnered with MICT SETA and signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will offer students the following: Accredited 5G and cloud computing skills training Ecosystem building Workforce development programmes Public policy The ‘short skills’ programme, designed by Forge in collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs and AWS, begins on 15 October…

The Shoprite Group now helps its suppliers with access to funding at the most affordable rates with the launch of a new supply chain finance product.   The CredX finance product, which is often cheaper than bank financing, is available to all of the Group’s suppliers and is expected to assist especially SMMEs, for whom cash flow constraints and access to affordable funding are significant business growth obstacles in South Africa. The benefits include:   An affordable financing product from a trusted business with an all-inclusive interest rate and no additional fees;  100% of invoice value available for financing;  No further on-boarding requirements as the…

Vodacom has launched the YouTube ‘Buy & Get’ promotion which gives customers free YouTube data for simply buying a qualifying 7-day or 30-day data bundle. For instance, a qualifying 7-day or 30-day 1GB data bundle, will give a customer 500MB YouTube bundle (valid for 7 days) tagged-on for free, whereas a 2GB data bundle at R149 will give a customer a free 1GB YouTube bundle valid for 30 days. In addition to this YouTube ‘Buy & Get’ promotion, customers are now also able to purchase ‘Double Your Data’ YouTube social bundles, which doubles the value of the social bundle. With…