Too much AI? Merriam-Webster just trolled the entire AI industry in the coolest way possible: An advert announcing their “Large Language Model” that never hallucinates and uses zero electricity — a good old university dictionary. 🤭

The world’s regulated bio-enzyme chain is choking Africa’s access to vital resources – this startup’s bringing advanced biotech home…

Hey, know why your shampoo works so well? It’s chock-full of enzymes from living organisms.

Eek, why? Because these proteins have a superpower: They speed up chemical interactions. And it’s not just your shampoo, 90% of all detergents, most food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, skincare and textiles – in fact, nearly 50% of all chemical products sold worldwide require enzymes somewhere along the supply chain.

Jip, enzymes are big money: This $13.97 billion market (R240bn) is projected to exceed $21.9 billion (R377bn) by 2033, while the demand for chemicals will quadruple by 2050.

But, there’s only a small number of global suppliers: Primarily big Western players. Smaller labs either import reagents at razor-thin margins or settle for subpar consistency. In a word: Today’s resource-heavy enzyme production won’t cope. 

We need to reinvent how we make these essential materials.

The enzyme opportunity

Precision fermentation and synthetic biology tools are maturing, making smaller-scale production credible. And regulatory demands for “clean labels”, sustainability and local supply chains are making import reliance riskier. 

Not to mention the COVID-era exposed vulnerabilities in the global biotech supply.

We in SA should be asking: “Can we make this ourselves?”

The local BioTech democratising enzymes

Immobazyme is a BioTech that utilises precision fermentation to produce high-value active protein ingredients, essentially teaching the yeast or bacteria to follow a new recipe to make valuable proteins that can be used in (amongst others) food, medicine and skincare.

We caught up with Ethan Hunter, Immobazyme Co-Founder and COO, who said they started in 2018, solving the industry’s problem of losing enzymes during most manufacturing processes with a patented enzyme immobilisation filter that lets them “reuse” enzymes by making them “stick” to a reusable surface while a substrate flows through.

But that was pretty hard to scale. So they pivoted to engineering vital genes for the process: By creating genes that could express tagged proteins in bacteria, they could produce a good supply of “pharma-grade” protein at scale.

At first, they focused on high-value, low-volume markets like cosmetic serums, speciality food enzymes and diagnostic labs. But they’ve just moved into some state-of-the-art facilities to aid their push into drugs and therapeutics. 

And if Immobazyme’s patented proteins clear regulation, they won’t just ride biotech’s shift toward decentralised supply, they might just anchor it in African laboratories.

We’re watching this space.

If you care less about AI theatre and more about shipped outcomes, talk to Octoco AI. 

From the Octoco stable and led by Nolan van Heerden, the serial founder behind Garmin’s Varia Bike Radar, Octoco AI combines entrepreneurial thinking with product-led engineering to turn high-potential AI ideas into production-grade systems.

Why teams choose Octoco AI

✅ From hypothesis to production

✅ Co-create, not consult

✅ Full-stack execution with aligned incentives

With experience across seed-stage startups and NYSE-listed tech (plus 30+ startup builds), they focus on AI used for outcomes you can measure: time saved, cost down, accuracy up, new revenue unlocked.

🌍 Capitec Going Global? SA's biggest bank, Capitec, plans to expand beyond our borders. Having already increased its share in AvaFin in 2024, the banking heavyweight is already reaping rewards, with the loan provider contributing R121 million to the group's kitty. Hmm…

💰 Africa Securing The Bag. Tech startups in Africa have landed a whopping $1.1 billion by Q3 2025, mirroring the entire funding of 2024, which suffered a 50% plunge due to a global capital drought. Love to see it.

🔧 Amazon’s AI Ambitions. Amazon is rebuilding its devices business from the ground up around its AI assistant Alexa+ to compete head-on with Apple in the next wave of personal tech. Very interesting.

⛰️ More Than a Pretty View. Cape Town has secured a spot in the top cities worldwide for long-term remote work. Ranked criteria like internet speed, air connectivity, stability in climate, prime residential market prices and overall quality of life. Lekker.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you real-time AI insights from Sidekick Lab, zero-monthly-fee bank accounts and business loans in 4 minutes from Lula, plus loads more vital startup tools & services.

You can do entire client portals in Notion. Candice Grobler ran a live session for members, showing how to design custom client dashboards that cut inbox noise.

We got our free tickets! Members grabbed free tickets to the next Open Letter event in Cape Town — another perk you wouldn’t get outside the Collab.

We got invited to the Innovators Den. A special invite-only night at Old Mutual Place, JHB, with 150+ tech leaders, panel talks, breakouts and yes — free gelato.

The Collab is getting MEGA new member benefits soon. We connected with some big tech suppliers, and there’s a potential host of valuable perks coming our way.

It pays to ask the community. Members helped Enrico test billing perceptions and behaviour, turning raw data into fresh insights.

Learning from other tech plays. We debated gated content + Sora2: From lead magnets to AI shopping integrations, we explored where the next monetisation plays could land.

Find your founder community. 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 that some SA retailers seem to have cracked the e-commerce customer retention secret, asking about your last Sixty60 order. And most had a driver en route…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟢 Whatchou mean? The driver’s right outside (56%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥗 Nah, it's Woolies Dash or Bash only for me (2%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 Only on payday — treat yo’ shelf (2%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛒 Never — I’m a trolley warrior (34%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥷🏻 When there’s a promo — I’m a coupon ninja (6%)

Your 2 cents…

Nice, Samantha. Sure that’s what they're aiming for. 🚛

A good few peeps say the same, TN. Probably the next frontier. 🛵

Nice! Foodonomics sorted, Clyde! 📊

The Future of E-Commerce — CPT 30 Oct, 17:00 — Hear Takealot CEO Frederik Zietsman on scaling in SA’s ecom landscape. Get R100 off with an early bird ticket now. Book here.

AI in Finance Webinar — Online 15 Oct, 12:00 — Join OCFO's Dana Pretorius live on LinkedIn to explore how AI is transforming finance. Free. Register here.

Notion AI & Agents Intro — Online 28 Oct, 19:00 — Build a multi-profile agent inside Notion you can start using tomorrow. Register here.

AI in Digital Transformation — CPT 27 Oct, 17:30 — Panel + lightning talks on using AI in project & product orgs. Free hybrid event. Book here.

WWBA Founders Day — CPT 23 Oct — Apply now to join a curated day for high-growth women founders across Africa. Apply here.

AI-First, Not AI-Overwhelmed — CPT 9 Oct, 13:00 — Masterclass for execs on moving fast with AI in traditional businesses. R50. Book here.

FIA Advice Summit — JHB 9 Oct, 07:00 — Real talk, no fluff. Reimagine the future of advice. R1'075 for members. Book here.

Ready Player 2: AI Community Day — DBN 11 Oct, 08:00 — Free full-day tech event on AI agents, GenAI & data wizardry. Book here.

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

🛠 Tool to Try: ChatPlayground lets you compare AI models side by side to find the perfect one.

🍄 That’s Interesting: Button mushrooms used to all be brown — a random mutation spotted in 1925 gave us today’s white grocery store favourite.

🗡 Next Level: Slicing paper with a wooden sword is an ancient Korean martial art.

🧠 Hack: Practice rewarding the behaviour you want to see instead of guilting.

🕍 Wow Site: Virtual Basilica San Pietro is a stunning digital twin of the Vatican you can tour now.

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