Need someone to watch your toast? This toaster has optic sensors to brown your bread, waffles or Woolies bagels by “sight” instead of time. 🧇
In Today’s Open Letter
Levelling Up: A new tool to keep your business in the clear.
Local: Spar’s Uber expansion & SA’s new early warning system.
Global: Fund for African techs & inside your new green Ferrari.
Made on WhatsApp: An awesome chat-based courier tool.
Tech Opportunities: New startup comps and accelerators.
Win a brand-new iPad!
Refer a friend to sign up for The Open Letter during October and get an entry into a lucky draw to win an Apple iPad 11-inch (A16 chip).
Share the link below with a friend and when they use it to sign up to The Open Letter, you get one entry👇
TRENDING NOW
Keeping SA in Business
New regulations can be draining and expensive – so these teams built a mega prepaid one-stop shop for every check you can imagine…
Regulation is heating up in South Africa: The FIC is doubling down on Anti-Money Laundering initiatives, the FCSA handed down R943 million in fines in 2024 (10 times as much as in 2023) and the Information Regulator issued numerous POPIA fines, including R5 million to the Department of Basic Education.
And the cost of compliance is rising for SA businesses.
Reports are that some independent financial advisory businesses pay up to R188k per year to stay compliant – and there are at least 11’890 of them, hitting a R1.5bn dent in their pockets.
A double-edged sword
Regulation is obviously a good move; formalised economies perform better. But when it comes at you all at once, and the costs and red tape keep piling up, it can stifle innovation.
Banks and established corporations often have entire departments dedicated to compliance, checking everything from identity to employment history, qualifications, bank details, credit history, criminal checks, AML compliance, vendor verification – the list is virtually endless.
It’s often with different portals/tools, with logins and details spread across various departments and people, requiring massive administration, ops and budget to manage – something new or smaller companies just don’t have.
And then there’s the question of pocket depth: The entire compliance industry is so geared towards massive corporates, pricing tends to be super obscure with loads of hidden costs.
Which is why a new SA joint venture is trying to bring clarity to the space…
The new local one-stop-shop compliance tool
NexusIntel™ is a consolidated dashboard that orchestrates many common SA due diligence checks (CIPC, DHA ID, PEP/sanctions/adverse media, bank account verification, consumer trace, refs/qualifications, conflict checks, etc.) into one big, simple portal. With complete price transparency.
Whether you’re a FinTech looking to meet FICA, AML, and KYC obligations, a broker looking for FSCA, POPIA compliance, in accounting, legal, forensics, procurement, supply chain and vendor management or HR – virtually any compliance-intensive and risk-sensitive organisation – you’ll likely find the compliance checks/tools right here in one place.
See a list of what it can do right here.
NexusIntel™ is a joint venture between Centurion-based forensic services company Nexus Forensics and SA software development specialist, Kohde.
The tool offers role-based access (one organisation account with access for individuals) and records your entire history for a clean audit trail, with transparent costs – the pricing tab on the web portal literally lists the price of each type of search.
Helping make compliance easier can help strengthen the economy for everyone, so we’re watching this space…
WHATSAPP’S HOT
They Built What on WhatsApp?!?
Who wants to manage accounts and portals when there are customers to deliver to?
Circular fashion store Thrif’s co-founder Nick Rout needed a faster way to ship stock, so he built it himself on WhatsApp — over a weekend.
WhatShip is a chat-based courier tool that lets you create a shipment anywhere in South Africa in under 3 minutes.
But here’s what’s really clever:
✅ No accounts or apps to download — just open WhatsApp
✅ Pay instantly and securely via Stitch Express
✅ Supports The Courier Guy (lockers, kiosks, door pickups) with more on the way.
It’s the kind of small, practical build that shows how SA founders are rethinking logistics right where business happens — in chat.
What would you build WhatsApp today?
Chat Inc proudly sponsors WhatsApp’s Hot
The trusted WhatsApp people powering WhatsApp and Chat Commerce experiences for some of SA's largest and most respected brands, from Lead Acquisition, Outbound Direct Marketing and enterprise-grade transactional chatbot platforms.
Chat Inc started locally, and today it is trusted by brands globally.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT FINANCE ISLE OF MAN
Your data is more valuable than you think
For some companies, it’s worth even more than their shares…
Did you know: When Covid halted aviation, United Airlines used customer data from its frequent-flyer programme as collateral for a $5bn (R88bn) loan.
Wait, companies can do that?
Yes. And you can too. The Isle of Man is developing a world-first marketplace that treats your data assets as financial instruments, so you can trade certified data or use it as collateral for finance deals, within a governed market.
How does this work?
✅ Organisations in the Isle of Man can register as foundations.
✅ The foundation holds your data — this makes it tradeable (an intangible asset).
✅ Once certified, your data can be sold, shared or bartered in a public marketplace.
Want to explore what this could mean for your business?.
IN SHORT
Making moves in SA tech & business…
🛵 Spar's Uber Eats Expansion. Spar is playing catch-up in the on-demand grocery scene, expanding its Uber Eats partnership from 275 to over 800 stores. SA grocery delivery be heating up.
🌱 Greenbacks for African Green Tech. The International Finance Corporation is pumping $6 million into Catalyst Fund, supporting climate-tech startups across Africa with a goal of raising $40 million. Lekker.
🔋 The Prancing Horse Going Green. Ferrari's galloping into the electric future with its first electric sports car, the Elettrica, replete with four punchy electric motors and a speedy 2.5 seconds to 100 km/h. Cue the hottest looking charger on the market...
🚨 SA’s Big Warning Plan. The SA gov has unveiled an ambitious roadmap to launch an early warning system by 2027, aimed at preventing disasters like the 2022 KZN floods. Very cool to see.
✅ 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.
YOUR MATES NEED THIS!
From 15 October 2025 to 15 November 2025, each friend you get to sign up to The Open Letter gets you one entry into a draw to win a brand new iPad Air! T&C’s here.
WHAT YOU SAID
Just in time…
Yesterday, we showed you how Takealot Fulfilment Solutions wants to help all of SA e-commerce deliver, asking what’ll drive the next wave of online sales. Most agree it’s logistics…
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📦 Logistics muscle (33%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🧠 Tech & data (25%)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 Pricing & deals (14%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🛒 Trust & reliability (17%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🌍 Global access (11%)
Your 2 cents…
“Delivery partners need to have strong trust signals, not only to the end consumer, but to the business using their services. With our clients, there has been a shift away from cheap and more to service delivery and customer support.”
Sounds like positive moves, BJ. We can’t fault that! 💪
NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
6 Boosters to up your game
Youth-led teams (18–35)? CAPSI Pan-African Youth Competition offers $32’000 prizes. Last day to apply: 15 Oct. Info here.
Pitch your startup online. Startup360’s AI & Tech Startup Battle SA goes live on 23 Oct. Register here.
AI startup? Disraptor’s 6-month AI Readiness Accelerator (backed by Telkom & UK-SA Tech Hub) closes 24 Oct. Apply here.
Under 26 and building for impact? WSA Young Innovators Award (£60’000 grants & global exposure) closes 31 Oct. Apply here.
Female founder? Aurora Tech Award by inDrive offers $85 000 for women-led tech startups. Apply by 12 Nov. Apply here.
Women-led startups: Naspers & Prosus FoundHER Africa Challenge offers $100k. Apply before 19 Nov.
Want to promote your event/programme here? Let us know.
AROUND THE WEB
Make tech fun…
🛠 Tool to Try: Fruitful will send you Slack alerts when competitors change pricing or launch products. (Paid, but free to try.)
⚽️ That’s Interesting: The highest-scoring soccer match of all time was 149 to 0. The one team was protesting by scoring own goals for 90 minutes straight.
🎨 Next Level: This artist paints insanely realistic 360° street scenes on spheres.
🥞 Hack: A visual guide to cooking pancakes of the perfect thickness.
🎃 Wow Site: Halloween o-Clock is a clock carved from a single pumpkin. (No jokes, it’s from 10+ years ago, before AI — here’s the proof.)
THE FOUNDER COLLAB
Building a startup? Don’t do it alone.
Hey, Renier here 👋, co-founder of The Open Letter.
I’ve spent 17 years in SA tech and seen hundreds of startups rise and fall. The ones that made it all had one thing in common: a strong community.
That’s why I started The Founder Collab — a space where 100+ SA founders connect for:
☕ Meetups & events
🎓 Weekly masterclasses
📚 35+ expert sessions on-demand
🤝 A network unlike anything else
Come build your startup alongside me and 100+ other SA founders in The Founder Collab.
Spaces are limited — new founders join weekly.
THANKS FOR READING
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