NEWS & ANALYSIS

What’s moving in sa business right now

Deals, launches, policy shifts, and the moves shaping South Africa's startup and tech economy. Covered with context, not just headlines.

News

Still Good Opens The Goods: A Short-Dated Marketplace to Clear Distressed Stock & Help Retailers Move Problem Goods

The Cape Town-based scale-up Still Good has launched an online clearinghouse for distressed and short-dated stock directly from manufacturers. By shifting from retail mystery bags to a transparent marketplace model, the company aims to intercept a portion of the 10 million tonnes of food wasted annually in South Africa before it ever reaches a supermarket shelf.

News

March Funding Rounds in SA: These Are The Local Ventures That Raised in March & The VCs Backing Them

Three SA startups have announced funding rounds in the first ten days of March 2026, raising a combined $6.1 million across fraud detection, payment orchestration, accounting automation, and WhatsApp research. Here's every round, what each company does, and the VC funds that raised capital in February to fuel the next wave.

News

Labour Laws and AI: Is SA’s New Labour Bill Missing the Biggest Workplace Shift?

South Africa’s Labour Law Amendment Bill is one of its biggest proposed labour overhauls in years. With new probation-period dismissals rules, statutory severance pay, new protections for on-call workers and more. It’s a big shift, but the new labour law makes no mention of AI, potentially one of the biggest shifts today.

News

Yazi Raises First Institutional Round at R30M Valuation With 80% of Its Leads Coming From AI Search

South African WhatsApp research platform Yazi has closed its first institutional funding round at a R30 million ($1.6M) pre-money valuation, led by 3 Capital Ventures, the early-stage fund spun out of Allan Gray. Revenue grew 2.5x last year, 65% of it is now foreign-denominated, and the client list includes Old Mutual, Discovery, Capitec, Pick n Pay, and Ipsos. But the detail that should make every founder pay attention: 80% of inbound leads now come through AI search, with ChatGPT and Gemini recommending Yazi to people looking for WhatsApp research tools.

News

South Africa GDP: 1.1% Growth & the Two Sectors Driving It Are Exactly Where Founders Are Building

South Africa's economy grew 1.1% in 2025, more than double 2024's 0.5% but still below Treasury's 1.4% target. The two sectors that contributed most, finance and agriculture, are also where the country's startup ecosystem is most active. That's not a coincidence, and it's worth unpacking.

News

Orca Fraud Raises R38M to Stop Payment Fraud Across 70 Countries: Built by Two Former Stitch Engineers

Cape Town-based Orca Fraud has closed an oversubscribed $2.35 million (R38 million) seed round led by Norrsken22 to scale its real-time fraud intelligence platform. Founded 16 months ago by former Stitch engineers Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, the startup already monitors over $5 billion in monthly transaction volume across 70+ countries. The pitch: global fraud tools weren't built for mobile wallets, agent banking, and African payment rails. Orca was.

News

Capitec Pulse: The AI Tool That Knows Why You're Calling Before You Say a Word

Capitec has launched an AI system called Pulse that analyses your payment data, app diagnostics, and risk signals in real time to tell the call centre agent what's wrong before you explain it. In a three-month pilot, it cut call handling times by 18% and lifted net agent efficiency by 26%. The bank claims it's a world first, though that claim deserves some scrutiny.

News

NjiaPay Raises $2.1M to Fix Africa's Broken Payment Routing: Talk360's 25% Conversion Jump Shows Why

Cape Town and Amsterdam-based NjiaPay has closed a $2.1 million seed round led by European B2B SaaS investor Newion, roughly a year after an oversubscribed $1 million pre-seed. The startup builds a payment orchestration layer that sits on top of existing payment providers and routes transactions to whichever one performs best. After implementing it, international calling app Talk360 cut six PSP integrations to one and saw checkout conversions rise 25%.

News

Fintura Closes Pre-Seed Round to Build an All-in-One AI Platform for SA Accountants

The Startup World Cup winner that went to Silicon Valley has now closed its pre-seed round, backed by former Kalon Venture Partners CEO Clive Butkow, Ridwaan Boda, and Jozi Angels. Fintura is building a single platform to replace the four to six disconnected tools most SA accounting firms use daily. The round size wasn't disclosed, but the investor names tell you the smart money thinks this vertical is real.

What’s moving in sa business right now

Still Good Opens The Goods: A Short-Dated Marketplace to Clear Distressed Stock & Help Retailers Move Problem Goods

March Funding Rounds in SA: These Are The Local Ventures That Raised in March & The VCs Backing Them

Labour Laws and AI: Is SA’s New Labour Bill Missing the Biggest Workplace Shift?

Yazi Raises First Institutional Round at R30M Valuation With 80% of Its Leads Coming From AI Search

South Africa GDP: 1.1% Growth & the Two Sectors Driving It Are Exactly Where Founders Are Building

Orca Fraud Raises R38M to Stop Payment Fraud Across 70 Countries: Built by Two Former Stitch Engineers

Capitec Pulse: The AI Tool That Knows Why You're Calling Before You Say a Word

NjiaPay Raises $2.1M to Fix Africa's Broken Payment Routing: Talk360's 25% Conversion Jump Shows Why

Fintura Closes Pre-Seed Round to Build an All-in-One AI Platform for SA Accountants

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