Hairy teeth? Apparently, the keratin extracted from hair is way better at protecting your teeth from damage. So don’t be surprised to find toothpaste a la hair on the shelf soon. 🦷✨

In Today’s Open Letter

SA has 1.8+ million informal traders working 80% “cash only” — this startup’s organising them hardware-free digital economy access…

In SA, 95% of banked adults use digital payments, but 8 out of 10 informal traders have no bank account. That’s why 56% of all transactions are still cash. 

So you have a unique problem: The oke slinging sunnies on Clifton Beach is in the right place – his clientele have the capability to buy and that merchandise is so fine. But there’s a payment method mismatch: They operate on digital, he’s stuck on cash.

He’s essentially walking around collecting failed transaction opportunities.

That’s, of course, why mobile payments are exploding in Africa. SA’s prepaid card and digital wallet market alone is set to double from $11.80 billion to $21.22 billion between 2024 and 2029. But not everyone’s catching on.

And as more digital payment solutions launch, the divide between tech-enabled payment and Mr Cash is just getting bigger.

Find a way to marry the two, and you’re unlocking a whole lot of extra trade in SA.

The local startup narrowing the gap

Street Wallet is a FinTech solution converting digital payment into cash for SA’s unbanked population, without the clunky hardware: Vendors don’t need a device, an app or a bank account, just a free, branded QR code that leads their customers to a lightweight web interface supporting Apple Pay, SnapScan, Zapper and more. Allowing the customer to pay in a way that works for them.

Check it…

Payment is made via Standard Bank vouchers, the very next day, which is mega important for vendors who need to replenish stock in peak season.

We caught up with Street Wallet founder Kosta Scholiadis, and they’ve just closed a R6.2 million funding round at a US$2 million valuation. The capital will be used to expand the sales force, deepen market penetration and scale the service nationwide.

With a promise of helping get the man on the street paid and included in SA’s digital economy, we’re watching this space.

High-performing teams share one thing: they openly celebrate good work. Yet most companies bury recognition under forms, approvals, and quarterly awards that kill the feeling of appreciation.

Zuzo fixes this by:

✅ Putting peer-driven recognition inside Slack and MS Teams. 
✅ Colleagues write shoutouts in a public channel, and others back them.
✅ Rewards flow instantly to the Zuzo app — redeemable as 50+ gift cards or a virtual Mastercard.

It’s recognition that happens in real time, where work happens and culture shifts.

Powered by Yoyo, Geoff Forbes and team, Zuzo helps SA teams scale culture without making it feel corporate.

🚀 Pitch It Up. Tech startups itching for the big leagues can set their sights on the MEST Africa Challenge 2025. With a $50k equity prize, fame and other juicy perks from Absa. Applications close 26 Sept 2025.

🚙 Slowing Your Roll. VW in the UK has introduced a £16.50/month (~R400 per month) subs to unlock extra horsepower in its EVs. LOL. Pretty sure we'll be able to find someone locally to unlock it for us…

✈️ AI (Travel) Agents. Google's latest AI-powered venture, Flight Deals, lets users describe when, where and how they’d like to travel, before it spits out some travel options. Hmm, interesting. Only available in the US, Canada, and India so far, though.

💻 Zooming In. WhatsApp is getting into the workplace video call game with the introduction of some features to schedule and manage calls, stealing a page from Zoom and Teams' playbook. Nifty.

🚫 Cracking Down. Mobile operators in SA are turning to biometric authentication to thwart rising SIM-swap fraud, with a focus on fingerprints and facial tech — nice one.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you full-funnel tech performance marketing by Stream, hardware, software, acceleration and funding for remarkable builds with Octoco and loads more vital startup tools & services.

The future is accessible AI, not just custom AI: A member asked how to turn a folder of internal docs into a consumer-facing website where users can ask an AI questions about what the org does. Within minutes, multiple founders jumped in with first-hand tips — from building custom RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) solutions to using Google’s NotebookLM or piping LLMs into cloud docs. Turns out, a lightweight solution that feels like magic to the user can be “basically free” to build. Another reminder: AI infra is no longer the bottleneck. Clarity on UX and purpose is.

Your first customers are probably already in your phone: One founder shared how they landed their first 5 customers just by calling people already in their phone book. Not to sell — just to learn. A few weeks later, those same people were early adopters of their MVP and paid to help shape the next version. There’s no excuse for not starting customer discovery today.

Automate first, pay later: Zapier’s getting pricey, and in true Founder Collab style, someone’s already found a workaround: use Pipedream and a few clever API calls to run zaps that pipe data into Attio (CRM), sync calendars into Notion, and build lightweight ops automation — for free. Every founder’s secret weapon? A duct-taped stack that actually works.

Want to learn quicker and move faster in your business, too? Join The Founder Collab, it’s where 100+ real SA founders help each other to build better, faster every day.

Last Friday, we told you about the new earwax biomarker tech, asking which emerging MedTech diagnostics have you most excited. And most like the non-invasive earwax route…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤖 AI-powered stethoscope (16%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👂 Earwax testing (57)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧬 Microclot detection (19%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📊 Personalised health risk scoring (5%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💊 Know a different one? Share in the comments… (3%)

Your 2 cents…

Ah, yes, of course, Brandon. Right to the source. 🔬

Democratising SA’s Financial Access — JHB 18 Sep, 18:00 — The Open Letter is hosting Charles Savage, founder of EasyEquities and CEO of the JSE-listed Purple Group, at our next Joburg event. Discover how tech can break down barriers in finance, education and entrepreneurship. Come network, get powerful insights and make valuable connections. Early bird tickets are R200, but use the code TOL50 to get an extra R50 off, exclusive to Open Letter readers. Book here.

Venture Summit — JHB 9 Sep, 09:00 — SA’s largest gathering of tech startups and scaleups lands at Sandton Convention Centre. Learn from top founders, sharpen your GTM strategy, explore disruptive tech and AI trends, and get funding-ready. The Open Letter get free access to this event by using the code TOL when RSVPing here.

Next Orbit Founder Search — JHB 18 August, time TBC — NextOrbit is searching for founding CEOs to lead two new ventures — Docaroo.ai and Paystashio — from zero to one. This is a pre-funding role with no salary or equity until capital is raised, but you’ll work alongside the venture studio team to validate, build and pitch for investment. Contact Lara Prasad for info.

Strategic Fundraising — JHB 20 August, 13:00 — Decusatio and Uzenzele Holdings host this focused session on how strategic funding aligned with Enterprise Supplier Development can unlock real empowerment outcomes in SA’s industrial sector. RSVP here.

George AgriTech Solutions mini-expo — George 21 August, 08:30 — WorkLight and Impi Farm are teaming up to host a mini-tech-expo showcasing cutting-edge HR, land and production systems designed to boost efficiency and profitability for agricultural businesses at Redberry Farm. Book here.

Business Breakthrough Blueprint — DBN 21 August, 10:00 — Feeling stuck or unsure how to grow your business? This half-day session from Greatness Coaching Institute delivers practical strategies on lead gen, sales, branding and even AI. Book here.

How to Build like Elon — Online 22 August, 12:00 — Too many products fail because they’re built on assumptions. In this founder collab session, G-J van Rooyen (Octoco) breaks down how his team applies Elon Musk’s product-building principles to challenge assumptions, simplify, and accelerate delivery. Members only, join here.

Hosting a demo day, panel, founder meetup or tech event? Let us know, and we’ll feature it for FREE.

🛠 Tool to Try: Secnote lets you send encrypted notes that self-destruct after being read.

🤔 That’s Interesting: A pet donkey ran away from home and was found 6 years later living with a wild elk herd.

🔥 Next Level: Watch a remote deep-sea team encounter a sperm whale nearly 600m underwater in the Gulf of Mexico/America.

🍔 Hack: Understand your cat’s mood from this simple chart.

🌐 Wow Site: SizeComparison lets you compare smartphones, TVs, speakers and more — side by side, banana-for-scale included.

Know a tool or cool bit of info that should be up here? Share it here.

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