All gamed out {{ FIRSTNAME }}? Yes, you can now deploy AI agents in Minecraft: Spawn them in, ask them to build your house, mine diamonds, whatever. No more of that pesky game-playing needed. 🎮

In Today’s Open Letter

SA education needs all the help it can get – and this startup knows how to deliver what learners really need…

Nearly a million matrics across SA are heading to school to write English Paper 2… Good luck!

Last year’s matrics boasted an 87.3% pass rate. Nice one. Until you notice the 2 glaring issues with that number:

Hundreds of thousands of young people never reach the moment where they even have a shot at finishing school. (Ok, so a caveat here, but learners dropping out before matric is not entirely as a result of academic failure…).

And while our education system certainly isn't the worst on the planet, ranking 114th behind places like North Korea, El Salvador and Venezuela is not great.

So how can we give more SA learners a better shot at passing matric?

Practice makes perfect

Doing practice exams has been shown to increase a student’s performance. But many learners struggle just to find last year’s papers, let alone digest them. 

Departmental websites don't work, have missing resources or copies of copies uploaded that are barely legible. Not to mention different papers are on different sites – it’s a needle-in-a-haystack situation.

The local startup getting exams into SA’s hands…

SA Papers is a free-to-use site that hosts past exam papers across all SA school subjects from Grade 1 to Matric.

The premise is super simple: Give students past exam papers, with minimal friction, in a format they know, all served via Google Drive links so that, once you click, the document opens instantly in the native app.

And the model worked so well, the team have spun it into a full-blown platform called Taptic serving 7 other African nations, with plans to double that by the end of this year.

The numbers game

When we caught up with Taptic Founder Veer Gosai and COO Kirav Doolabh recently, they said their model is free to the learner, earning revenue from ads (despite the challenge that ~60 % of their users block ads), and already serves ~12 million visits a year globally.

Rather than adding flashy AI tools, they’re doubling down on simplicity, ensuring learners get the exam papers they need in 4 clicks or less.

When half the learners in your pipeline never reach matric, can simple user-focused efforts (like fewer clicks) be a powerful way to get more to the final stretch of school?

We’re watching this space…

Still running daily standups? Git Digest eliminates them with AI-generated code summaries that keep your team in sync, with no interruptions. Try it here.

Tired of app-switching to get help? ScreenSnapAI lets you chat with an AI that understands whatever’s on your screen, right when you need it. Check it out.

Need a pitch deck yesterday? Gamma turns rough ideas into polished presentations or websites, with full AI design, no dragging boxes. See it here.

Lula brings your business a perfectly timed payment holiday.

The year is drawing to a close, and while everyone else is dreaming of beach holidays, your business is gearing up for its biggest moment. 🔆

Forget slowing down – the peak season is about to hit, and it’s packed with growth opportunities. 📈

👀 Keep your eyes peeled and ears tuned…

This Black November, Lula is handing you the keys to success with funding that lets you grow now and only pay later. 🔑

It’s the ultimate gift: Access to the cash flow you need at the busiest time of year, with the space you need to breathe.

Get ready to take up the deal of the year.*

_{*T&Cs apply. Offer applies to new funding applications only.}

🍯 Luck of The Irish. The seven winners of the Irish Tech Challenge South Africa 2025 have been selected, with winners picking up 198’000 rondt in grant funding, a pre-acceleration programme and a fully-funded business immersion week in Dublin, Ireland. Nice one.

🤑 Back in Black. The City of Tshwane launched a Black Friday sale that gives residents a 100% discount on interest on outstanding bills settled before 30 November. Will it work? Let’s see…

🛰️ Starlink to Everywhere Else. For those who thought Elon was (finally) sending Starlink home thanks to a deal struck with Vodacom, no dice. Vodacom’s deal will see them deliver high-speed, low-latency internet to African businesses, everywhere except South Africa.

🗼 Meanwhile, at Amazon. Not to be outdone by Musk, Jeff Bezos’ rival satellite company, Project Kuiper, is partnering with US-based Vanu to get cellular towers in far-flung and rural parts of Southern Africa. Interesting.

🇦🇷 Don't Cry For Me. Argentina’s President Javier Milei looks to be following in Murcan President Donald Trump’s footsteps by not attending the G20 Summit later this month in Jozi. Unlike Trump, however, he is still sending an Argentine contingency led by its Foreign Minister. Ooof.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you IP offshoring and global market access with Finance Isle of Man, VC and startup legal sorted by Dommisse Attorneys and more.

From 15 October 2025 to 15 November 2025, each friend you get to sign up to The Open Letter gets you one entry into a draw to win a brand new iPad Air!

Yesterday, we showed you how Unloc Money brings fast international payments to SA, asking what’s still faster than waiting for an international transfer. At least Eskom can feel good…

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚙 Jozi traffic at 5 pm (0)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🖌️ Watching paint dry (26%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🔧 Eskom fixing a substation (42%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 💬 South Africans’ voice notes (32%)

SA hits 10 billion digital payments a year — as ATM use halves in five years

South Africans are ditching cash fast, new data shows:

💡 Digital payments doubled from 5 billion in 2020 to 10 billion in 2025.

💡 Meanwhile, ATM withdrawals dropped more than 50%.

💡 The average South African now makes 6 digital payments a month.

With these rising volumes, legacy banking systems are under pressure.

🎵 Tool to Try: SOUNDRAW creates royalty-free AI music built entirely from in-house recordings.

🥪 That’s Interesting: The Earl of Sandwich restaurant chain was founded by the actual Earl of Sandwich alongside the founder of Planet Hollywood, who is named Earl.

🪐 Next Level: Watch the Perseverance Rover capture a dust devil on Mars.

🧀 Hack: Check out this visual guide to soft Italian cheeses.

🎬 Wow Site: WilhelmScreamDB catalogues every known use of the legendary Wilhelm Scream soundbite across film and TV.

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