Invenfin, the early stage venture investment arm of Remgro Limited, has acquired a 20% stake in South African social enterprise platform WyzeTalk.
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The investment means that WyzeTalk has now raised more than R20-million from local and international investors, including the Kenyan based Savannah Fund.
According to WyzeTalk CEO Gys Kappers, the Invenfin investment is particularly important because the of the investment firm’s “exceptional experience, networks and resources”.
“Wyzetalk’s early successes in this market, innovative technology and strong team led by Gys, have impressed us,” Invenfin executive director Stuart Gast said in an official press release. We are excited by this business’ potential in South Africa and other emerging markets. Invenfin looks forward to being a valuable partner in helping Wyzetalk achieve its objectives, whilst our investment will enable the business to scale more rapidly.”
Founded in 2011, WyzeTalk was an attempt by its founders to overcome frustrations at the limiting features of social business software available.
“We welcome Invenfin as a new shareholder to the group. For Wyzetalk this means an important step towards institutional funding, thus now allowing us to scale up faster to establish ourselves as the premier social business solution for emerging markets,” said Oliver Drews, Wyzetalk Chairman.
At present, WyzeTalk has more than 30 000 users, the majority of whom are in South Africa.
The company’s products allow businesses to integrate with their existing software systems as well as LinkedIn, Skype, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft, SAP and Oracle. It also has a mobile offering which allows employers to send one-way notifications, get workers to respond to important messages and surveys and provide always-on content to ensure workers are kept up to date and able to communicate back to the company at any time.
