Too far {{ FIRSTNAME }}? This weekend, US artist Beeple auctioned off a series of robot dogs with billionaire faces for $100k (R1.6M) each. Elon, Zuck, Bezos — they all sold out. 🐕‍🤖

In This Open Letter

Kasi trade is massive, but runs on different rules than normal business – and this startup thinks it can facilitate the way trade actually happens…

South Africa might have high unemployment, but there’s no lack of skills here.

Our 2 million-some non-VAT registered businesses operate the country’s R1 trillion informal economy and employ around 20% of the workforce. But they don’t always have access to formal opportunities.

Every business owner knows the pressures of cash flow…

Sometimes, it would be great if you could just get what you need by applying your skills until the next invoice gets paid. And that’s where barter deals (trade exchange, where you offer your service as payment in exchange, instead of cash) can be a real lifeline.

The only problem? It’s pretty hard to formalise barter, until now…

The startup creating barter access

SwapVend is an ecosystem platform that wants to use digital tools to help connect informal entrepreneurs with the broader economy. And, working in this sector, they know that the way trade happens on the ground needs to be a little different, so they built a barter system for SA.

Users list what they have to offer for trade-exchange: think a plumber fixing a tap in exchange for a logo design, a hairdresser swapping three braids for maths tutoring, a mechanic trading brake repairs for home-baked meals.

Others can then search for what they need, and can make barter propositions using SwapVend’s multilingual AI mentor Chomi,  and trade through guided safety-first prompts that record each exchange as part of a growing digital identity.

Adding a digital layer

Additionally, traders appear on “Kasi Maps”, SwapVend’s localised alternative to Google Maps, which surfaces only nearby vendors, not big retailers, ready to sell to cash consumers. The thinking being that those local traders can get access to a slightly larger market than just their immediate neighbours.

What makes SwapVend interesting is not the tech but the posture: It starts from the belief that everyone carries value, even if you don’t want to express that value in cash right now. Not everyone has cash in hand right now, but they can deliver a vital service in exchange for goods.

In this scenario, the platform simply creates a space where that value becomes visible and tradable. A way for skills to also keep the wheels turning.

We’re watching this space.

5 Golden rules for SME funding. Lula’s team shares what funders actually look for: affordability and repayment ability over revenue alone. Read here.

Scale ads without touching them. Cracked multiplies one winning ad into hundreds, runs them via AI influencers, and A/B tests pages automatically. Explore.

Overwhelmed by AI right now? Coursera founder Andrew Ng’s free AI for Everyone course is perfect if you want a structured starting point to learn over the holidays. Take it here.

Most new and small businesses don’t have time to sit through demos or figure out clunky enterprise software. You’ve got products to ship, customers to talk to, and zero patience for red tape.

But what if you could just… start?

That’s why flEX by Chat Inc is such a game-changer — the first pure SaaS WhatsApp marketing platform in South Africa. No subscriptions. No platform fees. No gatekeeping.

You sign up. You connect your WhatsApp channel. You buy credits. You start sending.

Whether you’re a boutique store, local brand, or solo founder, flEX gives you the same broadcast and automation tools the big brands use — without needing a whole IT team to run it.

💳 Beefing It Up. Capitec is getting ready to fork over a cool R400 million for local FinTech walletdoc. Walletdoc is a local FinTech providing scalable payment gateway solutions for merchants, and aligns with Capitec’s play of lowering payment costs. Cool.

💥 Let’s Go Supersonic. 20+ years after the last flight of the Concorde, Lockheed Martin is working on an experimental supersonic aircraft for NASA, the X-59. Its mission? Prove we can break the sound barrier minus the window-shaking booms that killed it the first time.

🪪 Home Affairs Overtime. From 8-19 Dec and 5-16 Jan, Home Affairs will extend festive trading hours for branches working with Smart IDs and passports, staying open until 18:00 instead of 16:00. Lekker.

🧑‍💻 Tech Jobs Are So Back. Pnet’s Job Market Trends Report has shown an 18% increase for tech-related vacancies, with business analyst vacancies growing 102% since January and data-focused roles increasing more than 48% over the same period. Noice.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you your own CFO with Finvoke, WhatsApp marketing with 2'000% ROI powered by Chat Inc and more.

Every time you share, you get something cool in return.

Yesterday, we showed you NetZak’s cool local bottle carriers for gifting, asking what you’re gifting this season. For most, it’s a good vino…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🍷 A lekker bottle of local wine (38%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔥 Homemade chilli, chutney or chakalaka (8%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥃 Something fancy from the whisky shelf (8%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧺 A deli goodie that tastes like home (23%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎁 Whatever’s on special at Checkers today (23%)

On 9 December 1987, the Christmas Tree Worm started affecting IBM computers around the world. Delivered by email, it replicated and emailed itself to other computers on the network, each time drawing an image of a Christmas tree…

The first computer worm ever, it spread, and by 17 December, crippled IBM’s VNet e-mail network. It had to be shut down and the worm removed. Merry Christmas!

💡 Tool to Try: RecapHub turns keynotes and event recordings into summaries, notes and social posts in one click.

🥃 That’s Interesting: The Grand Rapids Dip is a statistical anomaly where drivers with a blood alcohol of 0.01–0.04% actually show lower accident risk than sober drivers. What?

🎮 Next Level: Matching your speed bag boxing to the Mortal Kombat theme.

🧠 Hack: Overwhelmed? Split tasks into things you can impact today vs worries that just exist in your mind; externalising worry clears mental load fast.

🐶 Wow Site: MyBreedMatch determines your ideal dog breeds based on your lifestyle.

We are always keen to get reader feedback to help make The Open Letter the most useful of its kind for you. So please select