Author: Staff Writer

Meesho, a Bangalore-based social commerce startup, announced today the closing of a $125 million (R1.9 billion) fundraise led by Naspers, with participation from Facebook and existing investors SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS and Venture Highway. Former Vodafone Group CEO Sir Arun Sarin also participated in the round. Meesho is social commerce online marketplace in India that enables independent resellers to build small businesses by connecting them with suppliers to curate a catalog of goods and services to sell. The company also provides logistics and payment tools on the platform. These ‘social sellers’ then sell within their social networks on WhatsApp,…

JSE-listed technology group EOH announced on Friday it has appointed Fatima Newman as Chief Risk Officer. Newman joined the EOH management team and executive committee on 1 April 2019 and played a meaningful role in the forensic investigation lead by ENSAfrica and the interim report shared with the market on 16 July 2019. ENSafrica report has revealed evidence of a number of governance failings and wrongdoing at EOH. The report by the law firm unearthed wrongdoings including unsubstantiated payments, tender irregularities and other unethical business practices. The wrongdoings are primarily limited to the public sector business centralised in EOH Mthombo…

South African crypto firm Coindirect announced a new business to business cryptocurrency payment solution designed to facilitate borderless transactions within a secure and transparent environment. The company said the business to business (B2B) offering allows for merchants to receive payments in Bitcoin and a variety of other cryptocurrencies with only a small 1% merchant fee. The platform accepts cryptocurrency pay-ins and pay-outs both globally and locally allowing for the funds to be placed into the merchant bank account in either ZAR or Euros. “The South African market has had limited to no access to secure, transparent and cost-effective cross border B2B  payments…

MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday the launch of the 80GB Mega Deal at R299 per month. The mobile phone operator said the Mega Deal promotion is effective 1 August to 31 August 2019. It said that customers who sign up, or upgrade on the My MTNChoice 10GB data plan will receive 80GB Data (40GB Anytime + 40GB Night Express) every month for 24 months. In the first month of the customer’s contract, customers will also benefit from an additional 20GB promotional data and the 14GB Entertainment Pass. The Entertainment Pass includes social and content streaming data. MTN added…

AB InBev Africa is rolling out a Blockchain solution developed by BanQu, a US-based FinTech company. This technology enables farmers in the AB InBev value chain to have a line of sight of their barley, sorghum and cassava sales, and receive cash through a mobile money solution. AB InBev has also invested in BanQu, advancing an undisclosed amount to ZX Ventures, the company’s global growth and innovation group, in June 2019. “Our investment in BanQu is an investment in our future through empowering our farmers,” says AB InBev’s Solutions Africa Director of Innovation & Analytics, Sameer Jooma. AB InBev and…

Brainly, the world’s largest peer-to-peer learning community for students, parents and teachers, has announced a new funding round of $30 million (R422 million) led by Naspers, with participation from Runa Capital and Manta Ray. Combined with Brainly’s previous funding rounds, the latest investment brings total funding to date up to $68.5 million. The current round of funding will be used to enhance Brainly’s user experience and create the next generation of the platform. In addition, the funds will help further expand its user base in the United States, a key market for Brainly, which the company is already successfully monetizing.…

Zulu Nomad, a travel tour operator that creates curated experiences, has partnered with Geekulcha, the Northen Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism,  and BrownSense InSights will be hosting the Africa Travel Hackathon on 5 to 8 September 2019 while on the Premier Classe Train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. #TrainTourHack will consist of 20 teams of coders, designers and data scientists who will work on practical technological solutions for tourism industry for approximately 36 hours. With the guidance of mentors and seasoned travel influencers, the teams will work on developing solutions to tourism challenges around tourist safety, SMME digital…

London headquartered cryptocurrency exchange Coindirect has announced that customers can now buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on its platform using credit cards. This is a pioneering development in the South African cryptocurrency market, which has not yet experienced credit card to crypto payments. Using a credit card for cryptocurrency payments helps ensure the process is as quick as possible from sign up to ‘buy Bitcoin’, unlike purchases through bank transfers which are subject to traditional banking delays. Coindirect now has one of the largest offerings of cryptocurrencies in South Africa and stands as the only exchange in the country to offer credit…

Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator announced on Thursday it has added 1.1 million new customers and also signed up 1.3 million data users for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. The Vodafone–owned mobile phone company said it added 608 000 customers in South Africa in the quarter, 522 000 added in prepaid and contract customer base grew by 8.9%. It also added 560 000 customers in international operations, up 5.3%. Its data customers increased to 38.9 million, adding 1.3 million in the quarter. The revenue of M-Pesa, its mobile money service,  increased 42.7% to R905 million, representing 17.7%…

In the congested and somewhat complex arena of blockchain technology lays a singularly unique company, built around the fundamental foundations from which crypto is built. MinedBlock is a Fintech Crypto payments processor who specialises in transaction processing (mining) for cryptocurrencies. MinedBlock has adopted a very concise and progressive mission statement from the offset and aim to capitalise on this through the execution of their Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). “Our vision is to become a major player in the cryptocurrency arena and for MinedBlock to own a significant part of the infrastructure required to process transactions and mint new crypto assets.…