Got game? Behold the spectacle of peak physical performance that is the world’s first Robot Olympics. OK, so they're not gonna compete with humans just yet. But robotics has come a long way — and just look at how peeps are investing in it. 🦿

In Today’s Open Letter

These two South Africans dove into a completely new industry, learning it inside out to build a startup and sell it to a big SA corporate within 3 years…

SA has a growing e-commerce market: From R71 billion in sales in 2023 to an expected R200 billion for 2025. And, while a lot is happening in the niche e-commerce space (we’ve started featuring exciting SA stores selling cool things on Fridays), it’s important to remember what’s driving this new surge…

The boom we’re seeing now is, in no small part, due to the innovation in the grocery delivery space stemming from the COVID era.

Yes, the mental shift from “order now and get it next week” to getting it delivered in the next hour was massive. Cue your Checkers Sixty60s, Woolies Dash and even Takealot’s shift to same-day. It’s shifting focus from what we sell to how we warehouse, ship and deliver, that’s changing the game.

In a word, last-mile has become the play in the SA e-comm big leagues.

And two local founders saw this change coming years ago. So when they wanted to play in the e-commerce space, they didn’t start with a store; they set out to learn how the last-mile game works, with grilled cheese…

Doing things the other way

In 2014, Simon Hartley and Roy Borole wanted to teach themselves to manage the complexities of time-sensitive last-mile deliveries. So they picked the hardest thing to hand-deliver to clientele and launched the Grilled Cheese Club in Woodstock, Cape Town.

It was a pilot project where they took grilled cheese orders via Twitter and then struggled relentlessly to figure out how to get them to customers on time (roughly 20 mins) before the sandwiches turned icky, years before you could send a WhatsApp pin.

The logic was simple: Cheese congeals, bread goes soggy and you know instantly if your delivery failed. It was the hardest last-mile playground to learn on, but 2’000 sandwiches later, they knew the game like no one else.

And it was those lessons that enabled them to build a service that helped others do the same…

A unique startup was born

They launched Wumdrop, a marketplace where businesses could source and pay for last-mile drivers. If you were an e-commerce store, you just book a delivery and they’d organise the ideal driver and get your goods in the customer’s hands on time.

It also worked for drivers, who could register with them and get regular work without being tied down to just one mother company.

They even built integrations with WooCommerce and Shopify to help retailers get same-day delivery and on-demand last-mile virtually everywhere in SA.

And it was so good, it caught the eye of Massmart (owner of Builder’s Warehouse, Makro, etc.), who bought Wumdrop in 2017.

We loved the story so much, we got Simon on the latest episode of the How Would You Build It Podcast to share some of the things they learnt starting Wumdrop from cheesy zarms to exiting to a big corporate retailer.

And he drops some sweet ones, including:

Catch it here

Who wants to log into a portal for HR?

Jem has flipped the old-school HR email/portal idea completely by building an HR ops system that lives entirely on WhatsApp — for payslips, benefits, comms and day-to-day workflows.

This is especially valuable in the deskless space — 72% of SA’s workforce do not sit behind a desk, don’t have a work computer, etc. And that’s why WhatsApp just makes so much more sense.

But here’s what’s really clever:

✅ 32× faster payslip delivery and about 10 hrs of payroll admin saved each week

✅ One day to onboard after accepting a quote — then everything runs in WhatsApp

✅ Plugs into existing payroll stacks (SAP, Sage, PaySpace, SimplePay, etc.) seamlessly

The result is adoption where it matters — because deskless shouldn’t mean disconnected, and WhatsApp is where work actually happens.

What would you build on WhatsApp today?

For some companies today, their data is becoming more valuable than their shares.

Proof? When Covid halted aviation, United Airlines used customer data from its frequent-flyer programme as collateral for a $5bn (R88bn) loan from a consortium of US banks. 

Can our companies do the same?

The Isle of Man is moving to legislate a new marketplace that treats data assets as financial instruments. The aim is to let organisations trade certified data or use it as collateral for loans within a governed market.

There are no universal standards for valuing organisational data, making this Isle of Man initiative one of the first of its kind.

What’s in the pipeline

✅ Organisations in the Isle of Man can register as foundations: Incorporated legal entities similar to companies but with no shareholders, offering significant operational flexibility.

✅ The island plans data-asset foundations to hold a company’s data so it can be traded, collateralised or treated as an intangible asset (like intellectual property) to increase M&A value.

✅ Data registered with these foundations must meet strict governance for certification, which is why you need a trusted partner like Finance Isle of Man to help you get it right.

✅ Once certified, data assets can enter a public marketplace to be sold or shared — for social good (for example, university research) or for profit.

Want to explore what this could mean for your business?

💸 Get funded. OCFO is bringing South African early-stage founders and investors together in Cape Town on 28 August at FundRaise Con 2025. Expect expert guidance on securing investment and a chance to network with the best and brightest in local VC. Seats are limited, so secure your spot now.

🚀 Google's ZA AI Boost. Applications are open for SA tech start-ups to join Google's 2025 Accelerator program. Targeting AI-driven Series A ventures, Google offers mentorship, global exposure and R1 million in equity-free funding. Who's applying?

☕️ Tariff Silver Lining. Local coffee snobs might soon perk up as US tariffs could push coffee-producing nations to sell coffee cheaper outside the States. With coffee inflation at 16.4%, this surprise twist could ease the wallet pain, albeit temporarily. Sipping on our short-lived espresso shots of savings over here…

🔋 Eskom Solar Surge? Eskom is rolling out a solar power drive with its first-ever Renewable Energy Offtake Programme, eyeing 291MW for big business via long-term power purchase agreements. Interesting…

🤖 Gen Z’s AI Assistance. Gen Z is turbocharging AI adoption in the workplace, helping older colleagues save nearly an extra day per week. It's a fascinating twist of the digital natives teaching their mentors a thing or two on efficiency and innovation. Ag cute man.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you the best in IP offshoring and global market access with Finance Isle of Man, all your VC and startup legal sorted by Dommisse Attorneys, and loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we showed you how Sticitt’s using school payment tech, asking about the best way to teach kids about money. Most vote for real-world pocket money experiences…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🪙 Some real-world experience with pocket money (51%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🎓 Enrolling them in a BCom degree (3%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📂 Sit them down with the family budget (26%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤦 Best way to learn is by making mistakes (14%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 Wait, I have an idea… tell us… (6%)

Your 2 cents…

Hmm, unique approach, Marco. We’ll allow it. 🧐

Wouldn’t have it any other way, Danei. 🧩

Hey, wait a minute. Frikkie, were you colluding with Marco on answers here? 👆

Win R300k in prizes for running an excellent SME. That’s right, Lula and News24 are giving away R300k in prizes in the inaugural SME excellence awards. All you need to enter is a 12-month track record and annual turnover of R500k+. More details here.

Need to get funding-ready? Applications are now open for the Founders Foundation Accelerator Programme by Investec and Outsourced CFO. This 9-month journey helps entrepreneurs become funding-ready and strengthen their marketing and sales capabilities. With over R79 million raised and 800+ jobs created to date, this programme is ideal for SMEs with 2+ years of operations and R1m+ annual revenue looking to scale. Apply here.

Ready to raise $50,000 and join Africa’s top founder network? The MEST Africa Challenge 2025 is a pitch competition for early-stage startups operating in fintech and digital value chains — from agri-tech to credit innovation. Expect access to the MEST portfolio, commercial pilots with Absa, and full sponsorship to pitch live in Cape Town. Entries close 26 September: Enter here.

Want to promote your event/programme here? Let us know.

🛠 Tool to Try: Travel Bug lets you share TikTok or IG travel videos to instantly pin every location from them on a map — powered by AI. Never lose a travel rec again.

🤔 That’s Interesting: The person who holds the record for most days without food or water is a prisoner police threw in a cell and forgot about for 18 days.

🔥 Next Level: Here’s how to feed a wild eagle… mid-boat ride… with a fish you just caught.

🍔 Hack: WFH startup? Actually, data shows that the older the company, the more likely you can WFH.

🌐 Wow Site: Kallax.io is a pretty board game screensaver that keeps your screen awake. Load your own collection or browse their picks.

Help us make The Open Letter more useful to you.

Vote in the poll, leave a quick comment, or hit reply — we read every single one.