Michelle Phan, YouTube beauty and fashion vlogger A recent article published by Ad Age, revealed that bloggers are increasingly succeeding in attracting funding for new ventures. Why is that? Geri Hirsch went from authoring her fashion-lifestyle blog, Because I'm Addicted, to co-founding Leaf, a series of how-to concept videos covering things like living, eating and fashion. Following a very successful commissioned video, StyleHaul, the largest fashion and beauty community on YouTube, became Leaf's primary backer. Hirsch and Leaf co-founder Erin Falconer went ...

What a positive way to start the week. South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has awarded the first two incubators in its incubation support programme to The Micro Enterprise Development Organisation (MEDO). MEDO supports entrepreneurial activity by boosting trade between large organisations and SMEs or startups, and through its UK Trade & Investment programme. The first two incubators will focus on the ICT and the Mining and Heavy Industries sectors, providing training and support to businesses that can service ...

Frankly, when I hear that one startup has copied another startup, I really don’t care (give me the numbers, show me the traction). People complain about copying way too much. In my article on comedy website HaiVL one reader said that it’s a “9gag clone like a few others in the market”. While for CocCoc’s recent Coromrowser, some said that “CocCoc stole Chrome source code then renamed it”. And complaints like this don’t just happen online, they happen in conversations ...

Samsung Africa reiterated its commitment to battling the education challenges the continent faces by showcasing several solutions at the eLearning Africa 2013 conference. The tech giant also pressed organisations across Africa to reassess the ways in which they can contribute to providing education and skills development to the youth of the continent. “Every company can help in some way to solve the education problems that we are faced with in Africa, which affects all of us and ultimately impacts our future success ...

A famous quote by, author and New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman goes “every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running.” By this he ...

Imagine an office with people; only these people aren't employed by the same company. One is a lawyer, the other, a freelance app developer, and the small team in the corner is building a service aimed at disrupting the mobile payments industry. This is coworking. Coworking happens when a group of people, working independently of one another, share a workspace, and it's happening all around the world. By some estimates, there were 1320 coworking spaces worldwide at the beginning of ...

I can't say this surprises me. South African growth equity fund manager Knife Capital has launched a later-stage business accelerator in Cape Town. Knife Capital manages Mark Shuttleworth’s HBD Venture Capital's South African portfolio of investments and was named the South African venture capitalist of the Year in 2012 and 2013 by Acquisition International Magazine. The news comes from this year's Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship currently taking in place in South Africa. According to Knife, the point of the ...

Ever wished you could just snap your fingers and a taxi would magically appear in front of you? Well, a South African-based startup is working on a similar solution: one that involves a smartphone app that lets you 'zap' a cab. Founded by Paul Donner and Rupert Sully, Zapacab is a high-tech taxi-hailing service that allows passengers to request a ride and track the cab's progress towards their location in real time. The startup, which is currently working towards a public ...

The global Tech Trailblazers Awards for IT startups has announced a new Regional Cup Awards. Every entrant into the global competition will automatically be entered into their Regional Cup - giving them an opportunity at recognition, mentoring and prizes (from an estimated US$1-million fund) not only within their technology sectors, but also in their geographical regions. The Tech Trailblazers Awards describes itself as a new concept in awards, designed explicitly for smaller businesses and startups that are five years old or ...

Entrepreneurs are important. They help drive economies by creating jobs and their disruption of industries can help push innovation forward. Giving them a helping hand is therefore pretty important, which is what the Global Forum, currently taking place in East London, South Africa is all about. And now, Ventureburn can reveal the top five startups from the event's Dragons' Den contest. The winners, selected from the top 20 we wrote about recently, are in reverse order of ranking: Amant Antennas, ...