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Advice from four SA tech entrepreneurs behind biggest deals of 2018 so far [Digital All Stars]
We're nearly six months into 2018 and already South Africa has seen some big deals and acquisitions in the tech sector. It's not just Uber Eats' acquisition of orderTalk -- a tech company that was founded in South Africa, before being relocated to the US (see this story and this one) -- that is getting startups and entrepreneurs to pop corks off champagne bottles. There are a whole number of other deals to celebrate too -- like the investment that Cape Town based mobile software firm wiGroup secured from the Richard Branson's Virgin Group earlier this year -- or an investment worth tens of millions of rands in SA...
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Tertiary education one of founding blocks of entrepreneurship – MEST head [Q&A]
Tertiary education is one of the founding blocks for entrepreneurship. So, believes Victoria Jackson (pictured above), senior community manager at MEST Africa. "Access to the support and knowledge transfer of tech ecosystems and innovations must be available to all," said Jackson, speaking to Ventureburn ahead of the MEST Africa Summit which takes place between Monday and Wednesday next week (18 and 20 June) in Cape Town. Now in its tenth year, the organisation -- which offers a seed fund, incubator and graduate-level training programme -- has trained over 250 graduates with a further 60 set to graduate its fully-funded year-long training programme in...
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This is how Ventureburn will celebrate African tech startups this World Cup
The 2018 Fifa World Cup kicks off today. This year's tournament stands out from previous editions as for the first time video assistant referees will use tech to decide penalties, goals and red cards. More importantly, Africa has a contingent of five countries -- Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia -- participating in what many deem as football's showpiece event. Possibly the biggest question on every African football fan's mind is whether an African team will make history by making it to the semi-finals Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia are representing Africa 2018 Fifa World Cup To join in the fun, between tomorrow (15 June) and...
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Ugandan behind malaria test kit wins Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
Uganda software engineer Brian Gitta has been crowned the winner of the £25 000 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation for his Matibabu malaria test kit that enables users to conduct tests without having to draw blood. Gitta's test kit -- which uses a laser to detect changes in the shape, colour, and concentration of red blood cells, all of which are affected by malaria -- was selected ahead of three other finalists whose innovations included a tamper-proof electricity meter, and a textbook-sized mini-science lab. The Matibabu malaria test kit uses a laser to detect changes in the shape, colour, and concentration of red blood cells,...
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Here’s a breakdown of top 130 applicants for 2018 Startupbootcamp Cape Town
Startupbootcamp (SBC) Africa has narrowed down the list of the over 1000 applications it received for its upcoming Startupbootcamp Cape Town accelerator to 130 applications. Just over a third of these hail from West Africa, SBC Africa chief investment officer Zachariah George (pictured above) revealed earlier this week. The accelerator programme will kick off in August. SBC Africa will select 10 startups for the programme — which will be announced on 13 July. On Tuesday, George said startups from 77 countries across the world had applied to join the three-month long accelerator programme, with 87% of them from Africa. SBC Africa stated that this year's...
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Simon Dingle sees crptocurrency as shaping new economic order [Extract]
Money, argues SA investor and speaker Simon Dingle who has been designing crypocurrencies since 2011, is perhaps the most important human invention after language. But who really owns it -- you or the banks? In this extract from his latest book In maths we trust: The future of money released earlier this year, Dingle paints a vision of a future where people themselves are able to control and store their own wealth using digital money such as bitcoin or Ethereum. The new economic order The future economy is one in which money flows in and out of your world seamlessly without the friction of banking infrastructure...
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Paper Video founder could teach mom Helen Zille thing or two on disruption
Like mother, like son. Western Cape premier Helen Zille once served as an education minister in the province. Now years later her son, former maths teacher Paul Maree is making waves as an edtech entrepreneur. Maree runs edtech startup Paper Video which he launched with another former teacher Chris Mills in 2015. The Cape Town based startup provides extra teaching material on its online platform, as well as offline content through microSD cards. The company, which works with several non-governmental organisations such as Edunova and AVA, is already making waves. Last year the startup represented South Africa at the Global Edtech Startup Awards finals in London and...
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SA man’s UK-based fintech nets ‘good interest’ in £15m pre-sale – BVNK official [Updated]
A UK-based fintech -- that allows consumers to buy, store and use cryptocurrency and which was founded by South African Kyle Redelinghuys -- received "good" initial interest from users in a pre-sale that kicked off in May, says a top official at startup BVNK. The pre-sale aims to raise £15-million*. "We haven’t raised any significant amounts through these users as (we) have been focusing on private deals to lead the pre-sale. Once these deals are concluded we will focus on the public sale," BVNK head of business development, Kyle Hauptfleisch, told Ventureburn in an email last Friday (8 June). The platform -- founded by Redelinghuys (pictured above), a former...
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Is new Jozi artist investment platform Sunkambe set to be the JSE of music?
Recording, launching and distributing an album can typically cost an artist tens of thousands of rands -- money many new and upcoming musicians often don't have. Added to that, artists, much like startups, face a near impossible task financing their projects from banks. Enter Sunkambe, a platform that allows artists to crowd fund the distribution and recording of an album in return for allowing investors a share of their royalties. The platform is set to launch later this month. In April Sunkambe was one of 25 startups from around the world selected to pitch at Seedstars World Summit's startup garden in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the same month the...
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Seedstars opens call for Zimbabwean startups to pitch at Harare event
One of the world’s largest emerging market competitions for tech startups Seedstars World has opened a call for startups from Zimbabwe to apply to take part in a pitching event on 29 June at Impact Hub Harare. Seedstars made the announcement yesterday in a press release. The winning startup will have the opportunity to compete at the Seedstars Summit, that takes place annually in Switzerland, where the winner there stands the chance of getting up to $1-million in equity investment. For the Seedstars Harare event, the organisation's team will shortlist 10 startups. The 10 startups selected will give a five-minute pitch in English, in front of...
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