Can you believe it {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Two days before the start of the World Cup, we told you in the Shorts section that EA used its famous FIFA game to predict that Spain would win this year. Last night, it came true — the 5th winner EA predicted in a row. 🏆🌍

Send this to a friend who doesn’t believe in coincidence.

In This Open Letter

AR and VR are mostly uncharted territory in SA, as only 2.2% of South African households own a headset, but this local founder got a foot in the door through sport…

Companies happily pour billions into a compulsory skills levy every year, so you'd imagine there's money and appetite for cool new tech like VR training.

That's exactly what local founder Weich Malan thought, so he spent months pushing a VR tool for corporate leadership training, only to get nowhere 'cos apparently no one wanted it.

It was tough. He hit a low point, feeling dejected, when one day a memory hit from the good old days playing Rugby 08 on his gaming console…

Head in the game

See, he’d always wanted to design his own rugby game. And that sparked the idea for Flyhalf Vision, a VR rugby decision-trainer that helps players work through scenarios that could help their game. Now this was something different.

So he managed to team up with Blue Bulls assistant coach Kennedy Tsimba, whose SHIFT training framework works perfectly with Weich's scenario-based VR. It did so well that Springbok assistant coach Felix Jones wanted to run a prototype, which caught the eye of the Bokke…

And it just might kick off VR in SA…

Bringing VR training to the forefront for SA

Many Worlds is Weich's Pretoria-built adaptive performance intelligence platform that treats VR as the instrument, not the answer.

Clients subscribe to a growing library of scenarios and can edit existing ones. And if you need a custom-made new one, the Many Worlds team builds it. And they're not trying to sell a headset, either. Many Worlds runs on the laptop or phone that a team already owns.

But Rugby is only the beachhead for Weich.

He knows the value of this is not in scenarios (anyone can copy those), the moat is the data: a live, scored read on how people perform and improve. And he intends on using it to turn that same engine towards corporate L&D, classrooms and any field where reps and feedback decide who wins.

What we like is Weich's founder grit: Being able to pivot and find a way (from boardroom to rugby field) and still keep your head about where you're trying to go (back to the boardroom) is exactly what you need to succeed. All founders should note this one.

We'd maybe stay in the niche a bit: Keep with rugby till you're officially serving the Springboks, try to leverage that to international rugby and then branch out to football (and those FIFA millions). Adjacent, aim for high-stakes use cases, like security guard training or emergency response, something requiring split-second decisions in frantic situations (much like Rugby).

We're watching this space…

Not a course. Not a tutorial. A real, working app built live with our team in 3 days - no code, no experience needed. Justin Burns walks you through every step. Free to attend July 22-24.

Grab your spot here.

📶 Checkers Now Sells Fibre Vouchers. Fibertime's prepaid fibre is now available at Checkers and Shoprite tills. Smart move from Fibertime; retailers have the footprint, and the grocery store is on many a township commute route. Don't be surprised if they roll out at other retailers, too.

🤖 China's 2.8 Trillion-Parameter AI Shook the NASDAQ. Moonshot's open-source Kimi K3 just dropped with 2.8 trillion parameters, beating Grok and reportedly even clocking Claude’s Fable. Twitter's been ablaze. We reckon it might be part of the reason the NASDAQ hit a wobble last week. LOL.

👩‍💻 Better Tech Options. The US-based Scott IT Academy has launched an online platform for secure agile development training (more cybersecurity-aware training). But the founder is a woman, and their approach is also friendlier towards women in tech. And it’s not just coding; relational roles like product manager are here too.

💰 R165bn in Crypto Rewards Paid Out. Binance says it's paid out over R165bn in rewards globally since 2019, across Earn, Launchpool, HODLer Airdrops, Megadrop and Alpha. It also just launched BTC Yield (BTCY), a covered-call product giving long-term Bitcoin holders potential weekly income on idle BTC. Noice.

💳 Payments Solved. Selling across Africa means navigating cards, bank transfers and mobile money across 10+ countries. Paystack handles it all on one infrastructure, 99.99% uptime, T+1 settlement and the trust of the continent's biggest brands.*

📲 99.2% Completion Rate. Studio 88 runs multiple WhatsApp-based competitions every month across all its brands, plus an evergreen sign-up flow for lead acquisition. 99.2% completion rate. No developer needed. All built inside Chat Inc's flEX platform.*

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

Every SA founder has heard someone claim their business went for "3x revenue" and started doing their own maths. But that number doesn't mean what you think. So we got the co-founder of an SA valuation firm to show us how to actually read a multiple.

And it turns out, there are 4 specific steps to read a valuation multiple without fooling yourself.

☝️ Send this to a founder valuing their business off a number they heard at a braai.

Cloudflare is letting websites charge AI agents in stablecoins. Cloudflare, which routes a fifth of global internet traffic, launched a Monetisation Gateway using the x402 protocol so sites can charge autonomous AI agents per request, settled in USDC.

SA's crypto capital question is heading for statute. Two High Court judgments have split on whether crypto counts as "capital" under the 1961 exchange control rules. Now, Treasury's draft regulations redefine "capital" to include crypto and end the debate by statute. Problem is, if SA rules get too strict, it’ll just push local activity offshore (where SARS can’t reach).

The future of finance is tokenised. Binance's latest deep dive maps how its TradFi stack is expanding, from tokenised equities and gold perpetuals to direct stock access. Meanwhile, Binance Africa's Larry Cooke argues that if Africa is serious about trading as one continent, blockchain belongs at the centre: intra-African trade still sits at just 15% of total commerce, partly because payments route through the dollar and banks outside the continent. Blockchain-based settlement could change that.

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 week, we showed you Radi's tech events platform, asking whether you've ever been so fed up with a clunky tool that you thought you'd build your own. And we have a tie between starting and wanting to…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚀 Built it, sold it, still complain about other people's tools (11%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🛠️ Started one, it's "almost done" (it is not almost done) (40%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😤 I fantasise about it weekly and do absolutely nothing (40%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 Nope, I'll keep paying and complaining, it's cheaper therapy (3%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤖 Waiting for AI to get just good enough to do it for me (6%)

Your 2 cents…

Thanks, Chris! It's already making our lives easier, and we have a few early testers on board. The ability to do VAT invoices alone (no other platform does this yet) is blowing event organisers' minds. 🥳

The Blind Man With Vision: Hein Wagner, 28 Jul, CPT: Born blind, Hein's completed the Ironman, run the Antarctica Marathon, sailed Cape to Rio and set the Blind Land Speed Record twice. A keynote on perspective, resilience and refusing to let circumstances define you. Sky On Long, 27th floor. Get tickets.

Faith in the Workplace, 29 Jul, Stellenbosch: An evening of honest conversations on integrating faith with purpose in business. Guest speakers share personal experiences navigating the workplace while staying rooted in values. Hosted by Silvertree Education. Get tickets.

Building & Scaling Venture-Backed Businesses, 30 Jul, Stellenbosch: 150+ founders, investors and operators at Workshack. Thalia Pillay (Orca Fraud) on going from living room to $5bn in monthly transactions. Brett Commaille (Hlayisani Capital) on decades of investing in SA startups. Drinks, food, live music. Get tickets.

Powered by Radi. Want your business event in front of 36,000 The Open Letter readers? Host it on Radi, and it lands here.

🧩 Tool to Try: Reelyze will scan your reels and tell you exactly where people drop off.

🐱 That's Interesting: The oldest named pet in recorded history was a cat belonging to an ancient Egyptian priest in the 15th century BCE. The cat's name was Nedjem, which means "Sweet One." We approve.

🚛 Next Level: You will not believe some truck drivers' parking skills.

💾 Wow Site: This music artist built an entire Windows XP experience to market their music. Nostalgia trap.