Worth it? Scientists trying to find a way to make social media less damaging to humans simulated a social network with AIs. They tried every algorithm trick in the book to make it a peaceful and positive place. But every single one failed, and it devolved into a polarised, zero-sum nightmare. What does that say about real social media? 😳

In Today’s Open Letter

SA’s plant-based milk market’s still small compared to dairy, but this SA company’s making inroads, growing share and even expanding overseas…

South Africa’s dairy industry is a R25 billion-strong agricultural powerhouse – our fourth largest agriculture sector. But not everyone can consume dairy without pain. As much as 65% of people globally are lactose intolerant. Not to mention a growing health-conscious trend to consume less dairy – humans are the only earthlings that consistently consume other species’ milk.

But plant-based options like almond, oat, macadamia milks, etc., are barely at the starting blocks at around R2.8 billion per annum (roughly 10% the size of dairy). And there are some notable cost pressures on this market.

Dairy enjoys VAT-free status in SA, while plant-based milks carry that extra 15%. Not to mention, nut prices often see double-digit inflation in SA. And that’s before you add the “swap surcharge” at your local café.

An opportunity nut to miss

The thing is, shifts in consumption patterns often follow a predictable lag. South Africa’s health-conscious, sustainability-aware consumer base is smaller than the UK’s or Australia’s, but it’s heading in the same direction, just a few years behind. 

Social media has flattened trend adoption cycles, and the demand for clean-label, better-for-you staples is growing, even in tough economic conditions. For brands that can bridge the price and access gap, the next decade looks less like niche territory and more like mainstream retail shelf space.

The local player going nuts

ButtaNutt is a local health brand producing a variety of nut spreads, milks and snacks. Founded in 2013 by then-engineering student Antoine van Heerden, the Paarl-based brand (that started in LaunchLab in Stellenbosch) kicked off with jars of macadamia nut butters sold at farmers' markets before going national with a broader range, including what would become its flagship: plant-based milks. 

ButtaNutt’s retail success comes from authenticity, clean-label products and broadening beyond niche nut butters into milks, peanut butter and yoghurts. Their 2024 Paarl facility boosted capacity fivefold and cut milk prices by 25% during peak inflation, proving plant-based can be mainstream, not premium, while ensuring reliability, accessibility and trust.

And, today, their products are on the shelf at 9 prominent SA retailers, including Checkers, SPAR, Pick n Pay, Food Lovers Market, Dis-Chem and Clicks.

In 2025, PSG Group secured a 54% equity investment in ButtaNutt, with them now eyeing category completion locally (soy milk is next), export growth starting with the UK and tackling everyday staples like gluten-free oats. 

The goal: Make plant-based swaps the default, not a luxury choice

If the café surcharge disappears, VAT rules shift and scale keeps pushing prices down, we might just see a shift in that 10%, and ButtaNutt is positioning itself for when we go nuts for nuts.

It makes us think that there are still countless, similar opportunities in SA to unlock. We’re watching this space.

Trying to put your product into AI videos? Most tools mangle logos and turn your sneakers into soup. But Higgsfield AI says it’s fixed that with its new Draw-to-Video tool — you literally drag your product image into the frame, position it, and the AI builds a cinematic scene around it. Try it here.

An intriguing new use for AI? Experts believe LLMs might be pretty good at doing real-world predictions based on data. And a university is testing it with Prophet Arena, where AIs have been making people real money with surprising takes on sports betting that have yielded surprising returns. You can check out the tool here and see which models are delivering the best returns.

Want actual pain points to inspire new SaaS ideas? StartupIdeaLab scrapes real customer pain points from Reddit, G2 and Capterra (over 5'000 verified complaints already live), then uses AI to help you generate product ideas, validation reports and launch plans. Have a look over here.

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🛒 Checkers SkipstySkipsty. Checkers shoppers can now skip the queues with Checkers' new Xpress Trolley. This nifty cart lets you scan, shop and pay without standing in line. The smart trolley comes with a screen that navigates your shopping journey, keeping your wallet in check. Mega cool.

🍑 Payments On Demand. Peach Payments has just launched real-time clearance payouts for South African merchants, slicing payment processing to mere minutes. Power move keeping merchants liquid.

🫸 Game over for Shemu? SA’s National Treasury is throwing curveballs at Shein and Temu by proposing VAT on all imports, possibly ending their sweet, tax-free run. With a hearty R7.3 billion in sales last year, these Chinese giants were loving the loophole, but now might have to rethink their game plan. Eina.

🥽 Next Level MedEdTech. Stellenbosch University has launched Africa's largest medical morphology training centre, supercharged with VR, AR and 3D tech to elevate student learning beyond the textbook. With over 1’300 specimens and cutting-edge interactive tools, the future of medicine resides in the winelands. Very cool.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you your own CFO for a fraction of the cost with OCFO, WhatsApp marketing with 2'000% ROI powered by Chat Inc, and loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we told you how Wumdrop took a unique route to learning and built a startup for sale in SA, asking what makes the ultimate cheese sandwich. Most say it’s about the toasting of the bread…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🍞 Perfectly toasted, golden, crunchy bread (48%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🧀 Its level of cheesiness (33%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥪 The other ingredients it’s paired with (11%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🌡️ How warm it is (4%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💬 Something else (reply in the comments) (4%)

Your 2 cents…

Lekke, CNProp, we bringa da cheese. 🫠

The more, the better, hey, Rob? 🧀

SA’s biggest news sites have started taking a stand against AI scraping.

💡 News24, IOL and TimesLIVE now block scrapers from GPT, Claude, Google AI and Perplexity.

💡 Most smaller publishers aren’t blocking — and some don’t even have a robots.txt file.

💡 Robots.txt isn’t enforceable, but it signals intent — and whether AI scraping is on a publisher’s radar.

With key SA publishers blocking, it could impact those using AI to scrape data on SA trends, though the titles and headlines are still findable on Google.

🛠 Tool to Try: Toon Composer turns your key sketches into full-colour animated sequences. Lekker for animators.

🤔 That’s Interesting: The banned 2013 mobile game Send Me to Heaven scored you by how high you could throw your phone. The dev’s real aim was to dupe people into destroying their iPhones.

🔥 Next Level: This is how to get two strikes in one at ten-pin bowling.

🍔 Hack: When online shopping, look in seemingly unrelated sections for similar items that do the same job; they’re often way cheaper — examples here.

🌐 Wow Site: EmailListCleaner validates email lists directly in your browser — no logins, no data sharing, fully open source.

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