Enhanced performance {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? The entire world is looking closely at ski jumpers’ crotches at the Winter Olympics, because of claims that men are injecting themselves in the weirdest places to be more aerodynamic. What? 🤷🏻‍♀️

In This Open Letter

Companies spend R66bn per day on fees for payments, but this local blockchain solution’s got a plan to decimate that cost and give it back to businesses…

South African institutions send and receive about R18.92 trillion in settlements per month (that’s 1.5 million individual transactions, about R788 billion per day).

Mostly through SARB’s SAMOS, a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for wholesale, high-value and cross-border payments between big financial institutions. And, on paper, it’s pretty decent: SAMOS is designed for same-day transactions and runs 24/7.

But there’s a catch: That speed only applies at the very end, at the final settlement. There are many steps before you even get there. Cross-border, for example: Money leaving SA needs to go to multiple banks (which don’t operate 24/7) and multiple time zones, with many compliance checks in between.

In fact, most cross-border payments still take 2–5 business days, for example, and even longer if there are complex AML checks to be done. 

And the fees add up: Sending $200 in sub-Saharan Africa costs around 8.4% (much higher than the global average of 6.5%), which, at R788 billion daily, would cost SA companies somewhere around R66bn in fees per day. Eina.

Saving SA companies a ton of time (and money)

We’ve explained before how blockchain removes all the friction (TLDR: it removes the need for all those extra steps before and after settlement) to drop fees down to less than 1% and complete every transaction in seconds, not days.

Understandably, banks and regulators are sceptical of the tech (because of its association with cryptocurrencies) and slow to move on it.

But if you were to use blockchain to create a Rand-backed stablecoin (1:1 equivalent), with proper oversight, built in SA, run and controlled by local companies we know and trust, you could build a new system that drops fees from R66bn to just R7.8bn, process instantly and pump R58.2bn back into SA’s economy per day.

Which is exactly what a group of big SA names did…

Helping SA institutions pay faster (cheaper)

ZARU is an institutional-grade Rand-based stablecoin built by Luno, EasyEquities and Lesaka Technologies, with reserve management by Sanlam.

And it’s not for investors or speculation, in fact, you can’t, as an individual, use or engage with it at all – it’s only for SA institutions to do settlements and cross-border transactions (sorry, crypto bros).

Why? Well, it's the start of bringing blockchain to the mainstream. The trust model is the point: for every ZARU issued, rand or rand equivalent reserves are held with Standard Bank, managed under an asset liability framework by Sanlam, and audited monthly by Moore Johannesburg. 

Helping companies pay instantly and recoup R58.2bn for the economy every day? So, ja, you know we’re watching this space…

More than funding. Apply for business funding with Lula this month and stand a chance to win your share of R250’000 — 5 winners over 4 weeks. Apply here.

Want to start global? Y-Bombinator reviews your Y Combinator application and estimates your chances using data from past batches. Try it.

Ask your data real questions. BayesLab turns spreadsheets into analysis — charts, causes, and recommendations without SQL. See it here.

If you run a South African (Pty) Ltd, tax season doesn’t have to feel like guesswork.

Most company tax deadlines follow one simple rule: everything is based on your financial year-end. That’s why February catches so many founders off guard — multiple returns can land at once.

Luckily, SA business compliance pros Govchain created a free guide that breaks down exactly which tax returns your company needs to file, when they’re due and which ones don’t apply to you at all.

From provisional tax and company income tax (ITR14) to payroll and VAT, it’s explained in plain English so you can plan instead of scrambling at the last minute.

Want tax clarity?

🧳 Bag Drop’s Locking In. Our friends over at Bag Drop just launched their first bank of smart luggage lockers at the V&A Waterfront. This is a power move from the Cape Town luggage storage and delivery experts — see what inside their V&A luggage storage play.

😷 The Bot Doc Is In. The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) recently piloted SA’s first course in the field of soft robotics. “Soft” means squishy materials that can be animated by pneumatic and hydraulic systems, mostly for use in healthcare. Very cool.

🤖 Business Building Bots. Naspers-owned Prosus is continuing its push to be an AI-first company, deploying 37’000 AI agents across its business to build an innovative e-commerce ecosystem. The AI agents are already automating complex workflows and transforming operations across its global portfolio of two billion customers. Goodness.

🤸 Olympic Level Bot. In the latest terrifying video released by the robotics company hell-bent on seeing the end of humanity, Boston Dynamics, their humanoid robot Atlas can be seen seamlessly doing a cartwheel before going into a backflip, like it’s nothing. Ja, no, hey. What could go wrong?

⏳ Domain Squatting Bot. Digital squatting has reached its highest levels yet, with 2025 seeing the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) dealing with 6’200 domain name disputes, a whopping 68% increase since 2020. Habitual domain buyers beware.

💼 Global Structure, Less Drag. Finance Isle of Man supports SA founders moving offshore with 0% corporate tax, UK VAT access and easier access to international capital — a smart base for global growth.*

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

Yesterday, we told you how Community Wolf, a startup, bought the incumbent from a corporate, asking about the boldest move startups can make. For most, it’s time in the market…

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚀 Scale internationally early (8)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧠 Build deep tech nobody else can (11)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛒 Acquire an incumbent (11)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💤 Survive long enough to matter (20)

Your 2 cents…

There’s something to be said for being niche and local. But if you’re able to manage global, GrayDog, of course. 🚀

On 10 February 1996, a chess computer named Deep Blue beat the reigning world chess champion (Garry Kasparov) in a game of chess. The first computer to ever do so.

🛍 Tool to Try: Phia shows secondhand alternatives while you shop — like finding a R3'600 dress for R700 instead.

📰 That’s Interesting: According to an old Huisgenoot, someone tried to popularise dwarf-tossing as a sport all the way back in 1985.

🐟 Next Level: This Amazonian fish (arapaima) has zero table manners.

☕ Hack: A visual guide to different coffee brewing methods.

🏛 Wow Site: Timeline of Rome is a cool way to explore ancient Roman history.