Enterprise social media startup WyseTalk secures $1M funding round

Social media for enterprise startup, WyseTalk, has secured first phase funding in excess of $1 million from an investment consortium comprising high nett worth individuals from South Africa, Europe and the United Kingdom.

WyseTalk was developed by Alacrity Technologies and launched in October 2011. The transaction, facilitated by local venture capital firm Clifftop Colony, sees a shift in shareholding as Alacrity Technologies divests to focus on its core financial services and retail business. WyseTalk will now be supported by a group of investors with global tech interests.

Speaking on behalf of investors, Sean Emery, Chief Investment Officer at Titan Investments, gives his vote of confidence to the executive and development teams behind WyseTalk, “South Africa is a hotbed of innovation especially for technology companies, WyseTalk is another great example of such ingenuity. We’re encouraged by the global trend towards social business and we believe WyseTalk is optimally positioned and developed to be a game-changer for African companies, for a start.”

Titan Investments recently invested in online retailer Loot.co.za

“Companies who understand that innovation, collaboration, transparency and communication are critical factors that influence your competitiveness and success will immediately see the benefit of social business,” adds Gys Kappers, CEO of WyseTalk.

The Yammer acquisition by Microsoft for $1.2-billion earlier this year signals that the enterprise social media sector is lucrative. “It would seem that international players have not yet seen the opportunity in Africa, and we’re taking full advantage of our position here,” adds Kappers, “2013 will see us rapidly expand our service to include a WyseTalk Community platform that focuses on the relationship between a company and its customers and we’re fortunate to have a dynamic group of investors that support our vision.”

WyseTalk touts unique features. “In addition to the traditional format for dialogue and collaboration that you would expect from a social media platform, the system caters for external company and third-party systems to trigger events and conversations and the platform can be hosted in a company’s country of origin. We have also taken it to mobile devices and developed an app for the primary mobile technology platforms in Africa; iOS, Blackberry and Android as we believe your geographic position should not inhibit you from making a valuable contribution to your company or community.

WyseTalk operates on the basis that communities and even companies are not domain specific and therefore participation in your community is not determined by an email address. These are only some of the unique differentiators that WyseTalk offers, but it’s in the areas of innovation, collaboration and communication that companies are really experiencing the value” concludes Kappers.