Author: Staff Writer
Naspers announced on Wednesday a R34 million investment in InsurTech business Ctrl, through its early-stage business funding initiative Naspers Foundry. Ctrl is a digital short-term insurance advice platform that was founded in 2017. Ctrl provides a unique tech solution to the short-term insurance industry and consumers through its single platform, which connects consumers, brokers and insurers in one place. The platform enables brokers to provide insurance advice digitally and allows underserved consumers to easily compare multiple quotes, obtain advice, accept cover and manage their policies. “Ctrl has created a smart digital platform that unlocks consumer choice and competitive pricing in…
The South African Post Office has warned the public of email and text messages meant to convince the receiver to pay money into a fraudulent account. The Post Office said the latest text message includes the name of person who is receiving the message and either states that the address of the receiver is illegible, or that the parcel can only be released once a clearance fee has been paid. “The emails and messages differ in format, but they all contain a link. Should the receiver click on the link, a page requesting payment opens where the receiver can make…
My Smart City citizen’s platform was built to make it easy for South Africans to track and manage service delivery issues. The platform has been developed by Acumen Software, a software development and business consulting company. The My Smart City is a citizen platform that allows city residents to engage service providers within a city. These service providers include Municipal Services, Emergency Services, Private Services, and events in the city. My Smart City is a collaborative platform that allows citizens to engage key stakeholders in their community in a dialogue, sharing ideas and concerns to improve the services of the…
Zadara, edge cloud services provider, today announced that Africa Data Centres, Africa’s largest network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, and service provider Global Sense have added its edge cloud services to their marketplace. Zadara’s resilient, enterprise-grade products and services, including its Federated Edge program, are now available in Midrand, South Africa, and will soon be expanded into all Africa Data Centres locations to serve enterprise customers throughout the continent. With data centers located across Africa’s major regional business and trade hubs, Africa Data Centres sits at the heart of Africa’s digital transformation. These locations are rapidly emerging…
Swiggy, India’s online food delivery platform, raises $1.25 billion or R18 billion funding led by Prosus and SoftBank. This investment will further accelerate Swiggy’s strategy of growing its core food delivery business and building new food and non-food offers in 2021 and beyond. To support this, Swiggy will enhance its capabilities in technology and AI, and strengthen teams across Engineering, Product, Data Science and Analytics as well as in business and supply chain for its newer initiatives. Founded in 2014, Swiggy is leading the hyperlocal delivery market in India, connecting consumers to over 150,000 restaurant partners and stores in over…
With the advent of electric vehicles in the mainstream, and the inevitable rise of EV population on South African roads comes some confusing terminology even the most avid petrolhead might grapple with. Jaguar South Africa deconstructs the alphabet soup and offers some demystification with layman’s explanations of five must-know terms in the EV sphere. kWh Forget about what these three letters stand for. Just know that a kWh is a unit of energy and in EVs it’s used to measure the storage capacity of batteries. Think of it as the size of your “fuel tank” in your electric vehicle. Where…
Johannesburg-based online marketplace for home services Kandua has announced that it has raised a significant Pre-Series A funding round from a consortium of investors that include Knife Capital and Allan Gray E-Squared Ventures (AGEV). The investment will enhance business development efforts, expand Kandua’s product offering and solidify profitable growth channels. Kandua provides a digital platform that connects small service businesses with customers in need of jobs done. Moreover, the platform provides these contractors with financial, operational, and marketing tools to improve their professionalism and access to digital financial services to improve their financial health. Kandua’s mission is to shorten the…
Zoom announced it has agreed to buy Five9’s intelligent cloud contact centre for $14.7 billion or R213 billion. The popular video conferencing firm said combining Five9’s Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solution with Zoom’s broad communications platform will transform how businesses connect with their customers, building the customer engagement platform of the future. The company said the acquisition is expected to help enhance its presence with enterprise customers and allow it to accelerate its long-term growth opportunity by adding the $24 billion contact centre market. “We are continuously looking for ways to enhance our platform, and the addition of Five9…
Following the unrest in some parts of the country last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasised the importance of transforming the economy, creating jobs and sharing in the country’s wealth to lift millions of South Africans out of poverty. In his newsletter on Monday, the President said South Africa is not only rebuilding after the destruction of the past week; but it is also rebuilding after the devastation of decades of dispossession and exploitation. “We need to fundamentally transform our economy and our society, deepening our efforts to create employment, lift millions out of poverty and ensure that the country’s…
It’s an amusing irony that, for many of us, the quickest way to find answers to questions like these is via the technology that inspired them. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of the fabric of our daily lives, with smart assistants and technology now in millions of properties around the world. According to Statista, sales of Amazon’s Echo units reached 32 million in 2018 and are expected to hit 130 million by 2025. Advances in technology also form the foundation of the world’s shift towards hybrid work, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Herding people to the…