Cool enough {{ FIRSTNAME }}? Some news outlets are mocking Elon Musk for wanting to build a space catapult on the Moon. We don’t get the joke. Like, why isn’t there one on there already? 🚀
In This Open Letter
War Chests: Helping companies secure their treasuries.
Local: SONA or not, SA can boost the economy, vinnig.
Global: Next at Amazon & Russia’s WhatsApp switch-off.
Tech Jobs: New jobs in engineering, data science & more.
Company Evolution: This is Airbnb through the years.
Private Dinner + Social Commerce in SA
WhatsApp is quietly becoming a checkout.
We’re hosting a small, invite-only dinner in Cape Town on 18 Feb with a handful of senior retail and e-commerce leaders to unpack how brands are using chat, creators and DMs to drive actual sales.
Small room. Real operators. Practical discussion.
If you’re leading in e-commerce or retail and want in, drop your details. We’ll review and confirm.
TRENDING NOW
SA’s Billion-Rand Company Treasury Play
Businesses are buying and storing more crypto than ever, but securing it with passwords is dicey – this startup’s bringing a better way to manage treasuries…
The amount of bitcoin held by companies has increased by over 4’000% in the last five years. While some of this is for operational reasons (crypto exchanges, arbitrage, etc.), others are purely holding for speculation.
Some businesses hold it as a reserve, a savings pot in case of adverse impacts (like getting debanked without notice). In fact, reports reveal that some 30 companies got debanked without a proper reason in 2023 after the US government put pressure on banks to close accounts.
For these companies, their bitcoin treasury is a lifeline until the lawyers can spring into action and get the business restored.
But Bitcoin treasuries face unique challenges
If you don’t own the private keys to the wallet, you are vulnerable to theft.
If you do have private keys and something happens to you, well, that money is lost forever.
Regulations in South Africa require corporate holdings to be held by a regulated entity.
In fact, crypto theft had a bumper year in 2025, with over $3.4 billion being stolen, while it’s estimated that between $3 and $4 million BTC has been lost due to the loss of private keys.
The local startup offering a solution for bitcoin treasuries
Local startup SimplB offers a specialised multi-signature (a combination of keys) vault custody model to keep wealth preserved and accessible only by its rightful owners, eliminating the need to fully trust a third-party custodian.
The setup typically requires a combination of keys (two signatories, for example) to authorise transactions, preventing a single point of failure and aligning with a philosophy of bitcoin being a long-term wealth preservation tech.
We spoke to James Caw, founder of SimplB, recently, and he says that of the trillions of Rand held in FIAT treasuries, SimplB aims to capture 0.1% to reach R1 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) within five years.
Is Bitcoin a good bet?
Well, crypto asset regulation is evolving in SA, so bitcoin-based business treasury solutions are mostly being structured in recognised financial services frameworks. SimplB, for example, operates as a Juristic Representative of CAEP Asset Managers (FSP# 33933).
And, while the bitcoin price has been dropping lately, institutional adoption is soaring: stablecoin transfers reached $33 trillion in 2025, which is double that of Visa and Mastercard.
James says the core philosophy is preserving long-term purchasing power, and bitcoin is a powerful, permissionless form of money that has all the potential to be worth a lot in the future.
We’re watching this space.
Have your say…
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT HUBSPOT
Put your LLM to work…
Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a superpower if you know how to use it correctly.
Discover how HubSpot's guide to AI can elevate both your productivity and creativity to get more things done.
Learn to automate tasks, enhance decision-making, and foster innovation with the power of AI.
IN SHORT
Easing you into the weekend…
🇿🇦 SA Startup State of The Nation. SMMEs are the lifeblood of SA’s economy, but currently getting a raw deal from government regulation, strangling their growth prospects. Check out Renier Kriel’s Open Letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa about some ideas to make it easier to do business, unleash some tax breaks and get business builders mo’ money. Let’s go!
📖 Amazon’s Content Playbook for AI. Short on Microsoft’s heels, Amazon is also looking into launching a content marketplace where publishers can license their content directly to AI companies, obvs a move to help tech companies find legal sources of AI training data. Hmm, interesting.
🍔 A Little AI With Your Order? Not to be outdone by new tech launches, Uber Eats is launching an AI cart assistant to help you manage lists and order info — so obvs more for the grocery side than takeaways. Intriguing in SA’s booming grocery space.
✋ Russia No Longer Putin Up With WhatsApp. Russia could block WhatsApp and move its citizens over to a state-owned app (apparently replete with surveillance strategies and features). This, after the Russian communications regulator, has already issued multiple warnings to WhatsApp about it not being compliant with Russia’s laws. Jinne.
🎯 Leads Unlocked. Former Springbok Bob Skinstad has the presence but not the time to build LinkedIn. So FDC turned his profile into a lead engine that’s driven 33.5 million impressions, 70k+ new followers and at least 2 quality business leads per month.*
* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.
WHAT YOU SAID
Filing away…
Yesterday, we showed you how Akili’s bringing ambient medical transcriptions to reduce SA doctor admin, asking how many extra hours you pour into admin. For most, it’s 5-10 extra hours… wait, is that per week or daily…?
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔥 0–5 hours, I’ve got a system that works (15%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😴 5–10 hours, the unofficial shift is real (75%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😡 10–20 hours, it’s a second full-time job (5%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧻 I’ve lost count, paperwork is my business now (5%)
Your 2 cents…
“Great links, insights and articles. I have started to open and read the newsletter more.”
Glad you like it, CA. So much exciting stuff is happening in SA (and wider) right now. 🚀
READY FOR A MOVE?
Jobs in Tech
OfferZen proudly sponsors Jobs in Tech
The name in SA tech employment for over a decade, OfferZen needs no introduction, and their ability to get you placed is only as legendary as the time, energy and money they save employers in finding top skills.
TECH THROUGH THE YEARS
The evolution of Airbnb logos
Cash-strapped, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia inflated three air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment to rent out for $80 a night, with breakfast. The idea became Airbnb, and in 2008, they raised $20,000 in seed funding to build out the idea.
Today, Airbnb is a publicly-listed company valued at $100 billion, with a footprint of 5 million hosts with listings in nearly every country, generating around $4bn per quarter.
AROUND THE WEB
Have some fun…
💡🧾 Tool to Try: Docs2Excel turns your documents into clean Excel sheets.
🐬 That’s Interesting: Orcas and dolphins work together hunt fish.
🥇 Next Level: This Olympic team are so perfectly in sync, they look like one person.
🍌 Hack: A visual guide showing how banana health benefits change as they ripen.
📊 Wow Site: Visualize puts all your subscription costs (in Rand) in a grid, so you can analyse easily.
