Time to play {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Two SA engineers built an award-winning game to teach money skills, and now it’s launching nationwide. See all about the FinMaster board game’s Exclusive Books launch.

In This Open Letter

SA has 19.2 million square metres of office space and some of the poorest air quality scores in the world – this local venture wants to help South Africans breathe again…

We’ve all hit that infamous 3 PM slump at the office…

And blame what you will: what you had for lunch, Jeff from accounting’s PowerPoint presentation (no offence, Jeff). But in reality, you’re literally suffocating. 

See, most modern commercial buildings are built as sealed boxes, designed to control temperature and comfort levels. Often at the expense of heightened carbon dioxide levels, irritants like cleaning chemicals, aerosols, mould spores and just so much bad stuff.

And beware those who touch the aircon or try to crack a window…

SA’s big breathing problem

Local air quality is quite bad. Air pollution is the 2nd biggest health issue in SA, causing over 42’000 premature deaths a year. Why? Well, we have the 4th highest particulate matter pollution on the African continent, we’re the 12th largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet and the leader in sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions. 

Rough stuff. And it’s costing our economy R960 billion annually in lost productivity and healthcare. 

But all is not lost: If we can start by improving our indoor environmental quality, our people and businesses can benefit from as much as 101% higher cognitive performance scores.

Cleaner air, everywhere

AIrSynQ is a South African deep-tech company that builds hardware and software to track and predict what’s in the air we breathe; indoors, outdoors, as well as in the mining industry. 

First, their smart sensors pick up anything from fine dust and carbon dioxide to invisible chemicals in the air. Then, the system uses AI to spot patterns like potential mould growth or poor ventilation before they start impacting people's health or concentration.

Click for a glimpse into the tech 👇

Deep roots

Spun out from the University of the Witwatersrand and co-owned by Wits Commercial Enterprise, AIrSynQ is a great example of hard science making the jump from a research lab to a full-blown commercial venture.

The Blaauwberg Beach Hotel in Cape Town recently became the first in the country to use AI to monitor and improve air quality across its rooms and conference centres, shifting its value proposition from mere luxury to lifestyle performance.

For a business traveller, the difference between a room that feels fresh and one that is scientifically optimised for rest is the difference between a successful pitch and a foggy morning.

We’re watching this space…

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The one thing most small businesses are missing…

There’s a lot of info online on why new businesses succeed or fail, but most SA studies say SMEs win or lose because of finances.

And it makes sense: Big, successful companies have a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) sitting at the CEO's right hand, running the finance department and making sure they spend money strategically.

Most small businesses don’t have a CFO (‘cos they can’t afford one), yet building a business is just as tricky, regardless of the size.

That’s why Finvoke gives startups and SMEs their own CFO for a fraction of the price.

You get big-league level inputs:

✅ Real-time financial insights
✅ Smart tax advice
✅ Strategic growth

But on a fractional scale: You pay only for a few hours a week/month, not a full salary.

Serious about your growth this year?

🧮 Counting On It. FinTech startup Fintura has closed its pre-seed funding round, with backers including Clive Butkow, Ridwaan Boda and Jozi Angels. Find out what this investment means for local FinTechs.

💰 Securing The Bag. NjiaPay has just raised $2.1 million in seed funding, in a round led by European B2B SaaS investor Newion. The investment will go towards scaling the team, growing across Africa, and improving how its systems connect with others.

🇿🇦 Simply The Best. Companies from Europe, the Middle East and Australia are increasingly looking for South African talent, with international job ads targeting South African candidates increasing from 1.6% in 2021 to 2.2% in 2025. Interesting.

🪪 Do It Yourself. Capitec and the Department of Home Affairs have launched smart ID self-service terminals, letting citizens apply for ID documents at Capitec branches. Very cool.

🚀 NaaS Lands in SA. The Open Letter team has rebranded Stream to create SA’s first full-stack Newsletter as a Service (NaaS) product. It’s all-inclusive: Strategy, editorial, platform and growth – all in one package. Perfect for B2B techs that want to own their audience and build trusted distribution.

* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.

Yesterday, we showed you how Halo Dot mobile payments make queues a thing of the past, asking when you last abandoned a purchase because of a long queue. Most say this past weekend…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⌚ This past weekend (54%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👼 I'm a patient saint (20%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⚡ I only shop where the tech is fast (9%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📱 I've moved entirely to on-demand/online (17%)

On 10 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the phone call we learned about in history books. He phoned his assistant and said, “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you,” and history was made.

We’d like to think Bell would tear up to know that 150 years later, we continue that proud tradition by prompting our AI assistants via WhatsApp.

💬 Tool to Try: RepliFuse uses AI agents to analyse comments across YouTube & Meta platforms.

🥨 That’s Interesting: In 2023, Disney reportedly made more profit from selling churros at its theme parks than it did from the entire Disney+ streaming business.

🏃 Next Level: Watch this insane photo-finish at last Sunday’s LA Marathon.

🧾 Hack: A guide to the history and evolution of POS technology.

💰 Wow Site: Money Visualiser lets you see any amount of money as realistic 3D stacks of actual banknotes.