Author: Staff Writer
Pieter de Villiers, Founder of Clickatell and Tinashe Ruzane Co-founder of FlexClub are the latest South African entrepreneurs to join the prestigious global network and did so during Endeavor’s 92nd International Selection Panel (ISP) held in Riviera Maya, Mexico in December. Clickatell provides a chat commerce platform that enables brands to connect, interact and transact with their customers the same way they do with friends and family through chat. Clickatell’s chat commerce platform has two primary offerings: Clickatell/Touch, which enables organisations to reach their customers on any messaging platform and offer self-serve capabilities via AI and Bot-enabled mobile chat, and…
MTN South Africa on Thursday promised to offer its customers a viable mobile money service in South Africa. Today, MTN South Africa launched its mobile money service, known as MoMo. “At the heart of our renewed venture into the improved mobile money space in South Africa is our passion to provide value-added services that meet our customers’ needs. As part of this, a major focus area is to provide our customers with secure, reliable and accessible financial services,” says Felix Kamenga, Chief Officer of MTN SA Mobile Financial Services. “The local market is characterised by significant population growth, a youthful…
SAP Africa launched the SAP Experience Centre in Johannesburg, the first of its kind in Africa and one of only a handful of similar centres in the world. SAP developed the Experience Centers as a physical innovation space for creating and showcasing innovations using the end-to-end SAP technology portfolio, as well as the lines of business, industries and markets SAP serves. The first Experience Center was launched at the company’s global headquarters in Walldorf in June 2019, followed by Centers in Tokyo, Copenhagen, Den Bosch and New York. Others will follow in 2020. Cathy Smith, Managing Director at SAP Africa,…
GoDaddy has acquired South Africa’s popular social content startup Over for an undisclosed amount. Over app helps businesses create the photos and videos they need for social media. The company claims to have more than 1 million active users of its own, who are using it to create more than 150,000 projects every day. The US-based company’s app is available in 120 countries with offices n Cape Town and London. Over has grown from humble beginnings in 2012 as a simple “text over photos” app for sharing goals and inspirational quotes, into a multifaceted tool for businesses and individuals, used…
South Africa’s event ticketing and cashless platforms, Howler, announced on Wednesday that it has secured its second round of growth capital investment from three partner companies, namely Techstars, Platform Investment Partners Growth (Platform Growth) and Platform45. In just a few short years Howler has processed over 2,5 million tickets, R1,5 billion in revenues, and managed more than 3,000 vendors. Howler is the first company in Africa to consolidate ticketing, cashless payments and vendor management into one platform. On Howler you can buy tickets and load your money online. You collect a wristband at the event, have the time of your…
Uber Eats on Monday announced expansion plans across Soweto, saying hundreds of new eaters are downloading the app every week and with a wide range of restaurants to choose from, there’s always an option for any occasion. Uber Eats – which allows people to search for and discover local restaurants, order a meal at the touch of a button – started operating in South Africa’s largest township in May 2019. The company sais since the launch in May, Soweto has been a very strong performing area for Johannesburg city in terms of consistent weekly growth. With exciting new expansion prospects…
Cryptocurrencies have come along with us for longer than we believe, in fact, 11 years have gone by now since Bitcoin was created. During this time, the great challenge of those of us who are passionate this world has always been the same: adoption. And the path of adoption is slower than many of us wish. One thing is clear: the adoption will come from the hand of two great sectors: gamming and online commerce. All the experts agree about this point which removes any doubt on this question. Well, today we bring you the breaking news about online commerce…
Huawei is reassured by the UK government’s confirmation that it can continue working with its customers to keep the 5G roll-out on track. The UK government will allow Huawei to play a limited role in supplying the country’s 5G networks. The government said the package of restrictions being announced on “high risk” 5G vendors will allow it to “mitigate the potential risk posed by the supply chain and to combat the range of threats, whether cybercriminals, or state-sponsored attacks”. The U.K. government said that Huawei will be restricted from being involved in “sensitive functions” in a network of features labelled…
Hatchbacks are the most sold used cars in South Africa; this body type is even more popular than the perennially popular sports utility vehicle (SUV). But which are the most popular used hatches in South Africa? According to George Mienie, CEO of AutoTrader, the Volkswagen Polo is the most popular used hatch by far. “It is the most sold hatchback and also the most searched for a hatch in the land. So, when it comes to the Polo, there is direct parity between consumer interest and spend,” he notes. Mienie has based his findings on AutoTrader search and sales data…
Having deployed most of its R180m Section 12J Venture Capital Fund: KNF Ventures, Knife Capital today announced that it is extending the fund for new investors to participate and build on the success and momentum created. One of the main challenges to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa is access to equity finance. To assist higher-risk ventures in overcoming this challenge, the Section 12J venture capital company (VCC) regime was established where qualifying investors in approved Section 12J VCCs can deduct the full amount of their investment from taxable income in the tax year that the…