SA tech startup launches Africa’s first social card

Vault Share, the first social card in Africa, is a new digitally savvy product that has the ability to revolutionize local and global businesses along with offering network opportunities.

 SA-designed product Vault Share, simplifies networking process with a unique app and tech-based tool

Developed by South African entrepreneurs, Vault Share allows users to store contact information and share digital biographies instantly, through the easy-to-use tech product, simplifying the process of networking.  

All of the customer’s online profiles are stored in one place as Vault Share encourages authentic and meaningful interactions in a social or business setting.

In an official press release, Dr Chad Marthinussen, co-founder of Vault Share, explains that the SA product supports business trends during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“With the share card, you do not need to handle someone else’s device to help them find your details, they have full access to it via Vault Share. We believe that COVID-19 has opened the door for many novel ideas to come to life and novel ways of doing things will soon become the norm.”

Vault Share

The SA-designed business product, Vault Share is powered by the owners of the Vault Brand, who are Cape Town-based entrepreneurs, Dr. Chad Marthinussen and Gino Lange. The entrepreneurs leading Vault Share facilitates Wave-Innovate, a leading technology solution company.

The Vault is a minimal Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) theft blocking wallet. This non-traditional wallet is capable of holding up to 15 cards and includes an attachable cash clip to hold money.

Marthinussen, the co-founder of Vault Share, comments that the aim of Vault Share is to rewrite the narrative around tech solutions and products in Africa. 

“I decided to look for a piece of technology that could make the process of networking smoother, slicker, safer, and also more holistic. The act of handing over a business card is very outdated and not very effective – and I wanted to create something that would add value to the end-user by allowing them to get the most out of their social interactions. Gino and I realised that South Africa (and Africa) does not have a premium lifestyle orientated carry-on ecosystem and thus we ventured to create the Vault brand. The technology is relatively new with interest growing daily. The end goal is clear with where we want to go with the technology. The social aspect is only the start.”

The Cape Town-based entrepreneurs launch a variety of products across tech and business sectors, an example is the Nano Wave respiratory mask.

Social media allows individuals to curate a narrative for their lives and this concept sparked Vault Share, a Near-field communication (NFC) based social card that aims to revolutionize global networking.

Vault Share uses low power Bluetooth and NFC to allow transfers of pre-stored data from the Vault Share social card to new users. The SA product, Vault Share, makes use of cutting-edge technology to reinvent the business card. The product allows users to instantly share social information in one tap. The ability to collect digital content that is relevant and available to the user’s network validates the growth in the tech industry in Africa.

Operational areas

Vault share is operational in the following areas: 

• Business to consumer (B2C): this includes students, business owners, business professionals, recruiters, and social media users. 
• Business to Business (B2B) retail: this consists of shopping malls, brand stores, convenience stores, and gas stations. 
• Business to Business (B2B) hospitality: this includes businesses that entertain or receive guests, such as hotels, casinos, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, schools, vacations, stadiums, convention centres, airports. 

Marthinussen, the co-founder of Vault Share encourages SA to utilise the Vault Share product to revolutionize local and global businesses through network opportunities.

“Vault and Vault Share will bring tremendous value to the customers. The Vault Share will ensure their vital credit card information is safe and secure considering the rise in credit card skimming in SA. With the festive season approaching it will be even more prevalent. We believe that the use of Vault Share will result in more effective networking and more measurable conversions.” 

Users can purchase their own Vault Wallet which retails at R999 and the Vault Share card retails at R799. 

Read more: SA startup launches new app digitising the informal market
Read more: New Nigerian fintech to launch digital wallet platform 

Featured Image: (From left to right) Dr. Chad Marthinussen and Gino Lange, co-founders of Wave-Innovate [supplied]