Robots we’ll love? While everyone’s racing to build humanoid AI robot assistants, Apple’s announced that’s creepy and they’re opting for robots that elicit positive emotions instead — now the internet wants their Pixar-style dancing lamp, or something cuter.

And so, this Valentine’s we dance into another Fast-Five Friday — 5 SA startups you should know, let’s go…

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1. HERE COMES THE PAIN

Power to the People

Aside from that little weekend blip at the end of January (literally, the day after NERSA gave Eskom less than it wanted), SA’s been riding the loadshedding-free wave for almost a year now, causing only a slight dip in solar demand as it’s still a good alternative to expensive Eskom power.

Since the start of SA’s electricity crisis in 2007/2008, Eskom’s tariffs have increased by 937%, 6x more than inflation (just 155%). From 1 April, there will be 12.7% more pain, followed by 5.36% and 6.19% each financial year thereafter.

While load shedding might never come back, prices will keep rising. This means your electricity savings using a solar installation could start to justify a solar-as-a-service solution and actually save you money.

And that’s exactly what local Solar-as-a-Service provider Versofy is banking on — that renting solar from them could save you money.

It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes…

2. LOCKED IN

South Africans are a Loyal Bunch

Over 75% of South Africans are part of some or other loyalty programme, with many belonging to nearly 10 different programmes. That’s a heck of a lot of cards…

And while the larger retailers have cards, databases, and all sorts of personalised fancy offers to reward their customers, smaller stores and cafes rely on the good ol’ stamp card.

We recently saw local loyalty platform BrewPrks at play in a coffee shop in Stellenbosch, and they’ve taken the stamp card game up a notch. Not only do you accumulate your “stamps” as per usual – getting your 10th cuppa free – they’ve also gamified it: Build a streak by visiting your fave spot more frequently and you can get more rewards sooner.

Merchants on the other hand can see how their loyal customers are spending, cater deals for their VIPs, integrate the system (without overhauling their POS), and get Google reviews.

We think their maps function could help with the discoverability of new (or existing) cafes as users look for nearby places with BrewPrks. 

3. HELP IS ON THE WAY

Safety at the Tap of a Button

Emergencies are never a lekker experience. Car accidents, medical emergencies, veld fires, criminal activity or rip currents – those first few moments are crucial. But most of us probably don't even know what to do in a real emergency…

That’s where something like the Namola emergency response app can be super helpful: It’s like having a mobile panic button that lets you select the type of emergency and it instantly connects you with an agent that can connect you to the closest relevant first responder.

They even have a “Sensitive Incident” option for a silent SOS chat with an agent during home invasions, crimes in progress, or domestic, and gender-based violence.

Then Namola also lets you track your family when they’re travelling, with smart alerts for departure and arrivals, as well as a community feature for keeping up to date with emergencies in your area.

We downloaded the app to play around with the features and tapped “Other”, just to see what it was for – less than 15 seconds later, a friendly chap from Namola was on the line to check if we were OK. Oops, but darn good service.

Want to build with other folks developing lekker stuff in SA’s startup ecosystem? Namola CEO Pete Adolphs, is part of The Open Collab, our community of South African startup founders and builders. And you can come build with them and almost 100 top SA founders, right now – join here.

4. MAKING THE SWITCH

SA’s Electricity Marketplace

The unbundling of Eskom into generation, transmission and delivery was a step toward an open energy market, which creates exciting opportunities for private businesses to get involved — effectively using Eskom’s transmission lines to allow a solar farm in the Karoo to power an industrial plant in an urban area.

But how does one determine how much of this power, which runs on the same lines as Eskom’s generated power, was created by this solar farm and then used by the industrial plant in question?

That’s where local EnerTech startup Switch Energy comes into play. Their combination of smart metering and energy trading software allows the management of contracts between transmission, generation and consumption.

With the South African electricity shakeup unfolding, we can't help but wonder if startups like Switch are poised for a bigger impact in people’s pockets… 

PS: The tech behind Switch was built by our friends over at Octoco. If you have a hardcore tech project that needs some expert support, go check them out.

5. PARTNER FEATURE

Your Investment Rate is Your Personal Growth Rate

You know the startup rule: growth compounds.

The same applies to your personal wealth, so are you hitting your KPIs? The magic number is 20% — that’s the ideal percentage of your income to invest each month. 

But most founders aren’t even close.

That’s fine. Just like scaling a startup, the key is starting small and increasing every year.

Fynbos Money makes it effortless

✅ Measure: Divide your net income by the investment amount to get your current rate.

✅ Automate: Invest what you can through a monthly debit order.

✅ Iterate: Continuously improve, just like your startup, increasing your rate consistently.

Instagram post by @fynbosmoney

Founders don’t wait for perfect conditions. They take small, smart steps today that lead to big outcomes later.

Start growing your wealth with Fynbos

IN SHORT

Some convo grease for tonight’s Valentine’s Day date…

📱Corporate MVNOs. Cashing in on the rise in popularity of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in SA, JSE-listed investment firm Huge Group has launched Huge NXTGN, a platform to help businesses looking to embed virtual digital or connectivity services into their offering to their end-customers. Ooooohhh, it’s about to get tasty on mobile…

📺 Apple TV Goes Android. Streaming service Apple TV has just found a new home on Android smartphones, tablets, and foldables. And for R125 per month, subscribers can sign up directly from their Android phones. Other than Severance, anyone watching something cool on Apple TV?

🦻Hear us Out. The hearing aid feature on Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 is “available” in South Africa. According to Apple the AirPods Pro 2 provides “a clinical-grade Hearing Aid feature for perceived mild to moderate hearing loss”. And while it’s not been listed on Apple’s website (might still be subject to approval from SA’s Health Products Regulatory Authority), a local Apple user has stumbled across the capability. Guess Apple is really pushing into that whole keeping the Dr away thing…

💰JSE PSA. Have you ever been employed, been a shareholder, or had a loved one pass away? Well, you could qualify for your share of R4.5 billion in unclaimed JSE dividends. The Claim It campaign is trying to reunite nearly 375’000 former employees, shareholders, and beneficiaries of deceased estates with their long-lost funds. Head to the Claim It website to find out. Jis, we could be sitting pretty and not even know about it.

🚀 Your Startup on the Global Stage. If you think you have what it takes, the Isle of Man is hosting its 3rd annual Innovation Challenge and inviting SA startups to apply for access to their world-class mentors, potential investors and more. Successful applicants will be invited into their ecosystem to build real solutions in FinTech, CleanTech, Data & AI in the world’s only UNESCO-designated Biosphere. The winners unlock everything you need to propel your startup onto the global stage — apply here.

🏆 SA’s Top Startup? Innovation City Cape Town is on the hunt for SA’s top startup with some great prizes up for grabs. Head on over to their LinkedIn announcement for more details.

🎯 The Stack. Founders need trustworthy tools and suppliers. Our Founder’s Stack includes an easy-to-apply R5M business facility from Lula, next-level authority building with Stream, and loads more vital startup tools and services.

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JOBS IN TECH

Fall in Love with Your New Job.

🧱 Senior Product Manager - Merchant Experience @ BVNK

📊 Analytics Engineer @ Takealot

😉 Delivery Lead: Client Experience @ Capitec

👗 Stylist @ Superbalist

Hiring? Get in touch, and we will feature it here.

GAME TIME

Know the startup?

This SA startup uses machine learning to analyse aerial imagery to provide farmers with detailed insights into the health of individual trees improving crop management and yields.

WHAT YOU SAID

Have a break…

On Tuesday, we asked About your preferred eco-stay, and we have our first-ever tie with a 50/50 for the beach and the mountain (so Cape Town, then?)…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚣‍♀️ River/dam (12%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⛰️ Mountain/forest (35%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🌊 Ocean/beach (35%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🐑 Farm (2%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🦁 Safari (13%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏡 My house (3%)

Your 2 cents…

Ooh, stop it, Gail — else we gonna want to come visit 🌻.

For sure, Diane! Better keep an eye on SA’s relations with Elon Musk, though — probably gonna need Starlink up there 🏞️.

Indeed William! Seafront mountain cabins for everyone — wonder which founders are solving that supply-demand problem ⛰︎.

He he, we can only imagine you typed that and then jumped into a Land Rover and… Wolvaardt, Wolvaardt, you there…? 🦁

Indeed, Richard. Sommer take a boat there, too 🌊.

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