Author: Staff Writer

SA’s investment app Franc has announced its B2B offering Franc Business.  The announcement follows Franc’s recent seed extension raise of R8 million, which included investment from pan-Africa focused venture capital firm 4DX Ventures.  The capital injection will in part fund their B2B initiative aimed at businesses who want to entrench customer loyalty and their value proposition with a ‘plug and play’ investment and savings offering. Franc was launched in 2017 by varsity mates, actuary Sebastian Patel and engineer Thomas Brennan, who were frustrated by the complexity and high barrier to entry of existing investment offerings, and concerned by the poor…

The informal sector accounts for about 18% of South Africa’s GDP, with over three million workers engaged in the informal economy. In addition, an estimated 2.9 million migrants reside in South Africa, many of whom struggle to access financial services in order to start small businesses like spaza shops, salons and kiosks. That’s an incredible portion of the population that remains underserved in the financial sector, unable to access or otherwise afford the services needed to grow their businesses. To better serve this sector, Hello Pay has created a new turn-key suite of business solutions that will enable growth, save…

Santam, South Africa’s short-term insurer, is enhancing its digital offering, with the announcement that it is increasing its interest in insurtech company JaSure by acquiring the remaining 49% shareholding. In 2020 Santam acquired 51% shareholding in JaSure. The company said the buyout is a significant growth enabler, that will realise digital offerings for clients across the Santam Group, particularly in its Commercial and Personal (C&P) insurance business. “We believe we can open up the potential for increased value-add to our clients and the Santam Group through a 100% ownership. We aim to leverage the existing and powerful client experience and…

SA Motor Lease, a division of PACE Auto Group, will become the latest leasing company in South Africa to offer long-term car subscriptions on the FlexClub network. This follows Avis Fleet launching its own long-term subscription offers earlier this year. FlexClub has created a vehicle subscription account that enables customers to easily subscribe for vehicles online, from a network of rental and leasing merchants. Customers with an account avoid prohibitively expensive security deposits, complex applications and can earn cashback on their monthly vehicle subscription spend. This comes almost a year after PACE Car Rental, the car rental division within the…

Woven Solutions Group, a UK and South African-based technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) company, has acquired a majority stake in SA Commercial, a locally developed award-winning BPO provider based in Cape Town. This investment will accelerate growth for SA Commercial and the Western Cape BPO Industry, with the intention of creating an additional 1 000 new jobs in the province over the short term. Woven is expanding rapidly, thanks to its proprietary technology solutions, and intends to develop its partnership with SA Commercial to drive the combined companies’ growth globally. Renee Keeble, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at SA…

The Built With Bitcoin Foundation, a humanitarian organisation powered by Bitcoin, announced that it has constructed two new schools in Gerberha, South Africa thanks to a generous donation of 1 BTC. The foundation creates equitable opportunity by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming, and humanitarian support. This project was funded by a donor with strong roots in South Africa. After discovering the Built With Bitcoin Foundation earlier this year and speaking with Yusuf Nessary, Director of Philanthropy, the donor committed to donating 1 BTC towards building a school in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The donor wishes to remain…

Embedded finance enabler Ukheshe Technologies has announced the launch of the very first tap-on-phone payment solution that requires no certifications. Though tap-on-phone payments have been available for a while, up until now this functionality has been costly, with several administration hurdles. Ukheshe has solved this problem by creating a simple and quick process for merchants and service providers to accept tap-on-phone payments. It will allow any near-field communication (NFC)-enabled Android phone to accept tap-on-phone transactions – no need for any certifications and app approvals, and no need to include any third parties or software development toolkits (SDKs). Paul Selibas, President:…

Despite the challenging business environment, Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, is raising its venture-capital funding for the current business year. Its subsidiary Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) is setting up a new fund for startups. The fund has a volume of 250 million euros or R4.2 billion. As a provider of venture capital, Bosch supports startups around the world whose technologies have the potential to improve quality of life and conserve natural resources. “Our investments in startups promote technological progress in business and society,” says Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.…

As cryptocurrency gains incredible momentum in South Africa, local financial institutions are being presented with a massive opportunity for growth in this area – as knowledge and trust remains fairly limited. A Q1 2022 consumer survey, carried out by customer experience partner, Merchants, found that 53% of respondents had little to no knowledge of cryptocurrency; while only 14% felt they had a strong hold on the subject – 23% remained neutral Despite this, there is certainly an appetite for investment into cryptocurrency locally. According to crypto investment platform, Luno, South Africa is in the top-ranking nations for crypto trading on…

The Automobile Association (AA) of South Africa says spending more on Gautrain benefits a few, and disadvantages the majority. The determination of the expansion route for the Gautrain by Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport,  Jacob Mamabolo, disregards factual evidence opposing such a move, and underscores the poor financial decision to allocate funds to a failing system.  “We believe the publication of the route determination for Phase 1 of the proposed Gauteng Rapid Rail Integrated Network (GRRIN) project – Gautrain – must be rejected and we urge national government to halt any discussions regarding the funding of such expansions,” says…