Scan it {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Grab your electron microscope, the world’s smallest QR code is smaller than bacteria. Why? Dunno, maybe marketers hope they have itty-bitty credit cards or something. 📲

In This Open Letter

SA R200bn transport sector moves a billion tons by road per year (2.7 million per day), but old tech and bad players are driving up prices – this venture wants to make it fair for SA again…

The deterioration of national freight rail infrastructure has made road transport the absolute backbone of our existence. 

In 2022, it made up 91.2% of SA logistics. Yet, unlike centrally controllable rail transport, road logistics is managed by thousands of different companies, drivers, spreadsheets and WhatsApp channels, somewhere in back offices. It’s the wild west.

And the industry is feeling it

Most road freight transporters get their contract from transport brokers, which researchers and operators say are bleeding logistics companies dry. 

How? Massive global carriers won’t deal directly with small freighters, and brokers already have the contacts, so they create deals, taking 10%, 20%, 35% commission on every trip.

The problem: Freighters face pressure from higher fuel costs, protestors and lootings, while carriers constantly drive down prices. Their margins are tiny and they carry all the risk: trucks, fuel, storage, maintenance, insurance – brokers have none of those expenses.

No wonder the spate of recent SA business liquidations. Old systems and fatcats are driving up all our prices for no value in return. 

So, how do we stop this race to the bottom?

The local venture building the digital rails for transport

Flyte is a marketplace that connects shippers with vetted transporters, handling everything from automated load assignment and live tracking to insurance and document management.

Shippers upload orders via API or spreadsheet, and Flyte’s proprietary system assigns the load to a transporter at a fair street price, modernising the process.

But they also act as the Principal, taking legal and financial responsibility for the load (unlike brokers); if a shipper doesn't pay, Flyte still ensures the transporter gets their money.

Flyte Founder and CEO Thinus Pretorius told us that they aim to help SA overcome the industry’s biggest structural hurdles:

Firstly, since logistics is a cash flow game (large retailers have 90- to 120-day payment cycles), Flyte has built a FinTech layer that provides early settlements so the little guy has the liquidity to service the big players.

Secondly, to overcome the physical paper paradox (even massive retailers still demand physical, hard-copy delivery notes be couriered to them before releasing payment), Flyte uses Optical Character Recognition to read physical docs and automate the rules each shipper requires for payment.

We liked how Flyte was MVP’d on WhatsApp: Before building their high-end dashboard, they proved the model by manually managing loads linked to trip IDs. A masterclass in lean.

We go deeper on this trend and uncover related signals in this week’s The Brief.

AI isn’t optional in software anymore. It’s the difference between incremental growth and real scale.

That’s why Brainstorm Magazine and Cloud On Demand are hosting an exclusive C-Suite SaaS Roundtable in Cape Town on “Powering Innovation, Scale and Success with AI.”

Expect a room of senior execs, SaaS leaders and innovators unpacking how AI is reshaping go-to-market strategy, profitability and long-term scalability.

✅ Learn how vendors are unlocking new revenue through Azure
✅ Explore real-world scaling challenges — and how partnerships solve them
✅ Connect with decision-makers driving Africa’s cloud ecosystem

📍 Bistro Sixteen82, Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town
📅 31 March 2026
🕒 12:30–16:00

🛫 Capitec’s Taking Off. Capitec has just launched some lekker travel-related benefits for its credit card holders, including airport lounge access thanks to their partnership with global lounge programme, DragonPass. Well, well, well…

📺 Netflix Pulls The Plug. Streaming giant Netflix has walked away from its protracted bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. Netflix decided not to raise their latest bid to match rival bidder Paramount Skydance’s latest offer. Interesting.

🧑‍💻 Taxing Roles. SARS is on the hunt for more technically-skilled people in its high-wealth individual unit and other departments to help improve collections and cooperation with other institutions to enhance tax compliance.

🏖️ SA’s Next Big Data Centre. SA’s KwaZulu-Natal could be getting an AI data centre in Amanzimtoti, with South Korea having approached eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality with plans for a R159 billion capital investment deal. Jinne.

💸 Faster VC Deals. Why does preparing funding take so much longer in SA? Well, the US and UK speed up deals with templated processes. So Dommisse Attorneys and SAVCA created SA’s first open-source model investment documents – see more here.*

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

Crypto’s coming to the SA financial rulebook. In last week's Budget Speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that the National Treasury will publish draft regulations to include crypto assets in the country's capital flow management regime. That means crypto will be governed under the same cross-border framework as traditional currencies.

Binance’s big African mobile connection. Binance and Africell, a US-owned operator serving nearly 20 million subscribers, plan to collaborate on crypto education through Binance Academy, digital payment tools, and improvements to peer-to-peer transactions. It’s meeting people where they already are: on their phones.

Disclaimer: Digital asset prices can be volatile. The value of your investment may go down or up and you may not get back the amount invested. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions and Binance is not liable for any losses you may incur. Not financial advice. For more information, see our Terms of Use and Risk Warning.

Last Friday, we showed you how Innovative Vending Solutions is bringing custom vending machines to SA, asking where the biggest vending opportunity is. Most say medicine dispensing…

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🏟️ Stadium snacks and drinks at concerts and sports matches (28%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💊 24/7 medicine dispensing (31%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🍔 Midnight snacks near my house (21%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ☕ All-day energy (10%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 I've got an idea (tell us) (10%)

Your 2 cents…

Honestly, Dennis, a Red Bull machine between double maths and economics? You might've just saved a generation. ☕🎓

Building Global Tech From SA – 5 Mar, Stellenbosch: Adii Pienaar shares hard-earned lessons from building and exiting WooCommerce, Conversio and Cogsy. Sadly, sold out.

Lekker Network Summit – 11–12 Mar, Somerset West: Two days of talks, connection and community with The Lekker Network’s global members at Lourensford. View details.

How To Hire Developers In The Age Of AI – 13 Mar, Online: OfferZen leaders unpack how AI is changing hiring, what to look for in dev talent, and how teams should scale smarter. Join via Founder Collab.

Founder-Led Sales – 27 Mar, Online: Heinrich Swanepoel shares how to qualify, handle objections and close deals confidently without feeling pushy. Live roleplay included. More information here.

How AI Is Shaping FinTech Across Africa – 16 Apr, Johannesburg: Shola Akinlade joins a high-signal Open Letter event exploring scaling fintech and the role of AI across African markets. Get your tickets.

🚀 Tool to Try: E-commerce? You don’t need to source only low-quality goods from China; Fulviro connects you with vetted European suppliers, with full Shopify integration.

♟️ That’s Interesting: There hasn’t been an actual checkmate in the World Chess Championships since 1929.

🦍 Next Level: This nice gorilla returns a tourist’s phone at the zoo.

🍎 Hack: A visual guide ranking apple varieties by sweetness and sourness.

🌍 Wow Site: True Size lets you see how big countries really are.