Deep into AI? Nvidia ($4.5 trillion market cap) made 100 AI investments in the last 2 years, including 10 of $1bn+, 13 of hundreds of millions and 9 of $100 million or more.

In This Open Letter

You don’t become SA’s largest player in the R96bn e-commerce game without learning a thing or two – and now they‘re helping propel others forward…

“Online marketplaces are more logistics businesses than they are anything else”, a paraphrased comment made by Nile co-founder, Louis de Kock, when we recently had him on our podcast, How Would You Build It. 

And he should know. 

Before founding Nile, which has gone on to raise R200 million in its most recent funding round to become the premium online marketplace for all things agri, Louis worked at Amazon, where he saw just what a big impact logistics has in successful e-commerce businesses.

Local e-commerce giant Takealot came to the same realisation. With very few options for delivery at the time, the Takealot group acquired Mr D in 2014, when it was still Mr Delivery, founded in the pre-app era and working to build out a network of food delivery drivers. 

But since food deliveries are typically concentrated around lunch and dinner time, you had drivers idle in between. And, given their distribution capability and experience, it made sense to start delivering packages during non-peak times.

Today, Mr D boasts more than 15’000 drivers, each making roughly 15—20 deliveries a day, making it one of SA’s largest and most comprehensive delivery networks. 

And now they’ve opened it up to others in e-commerce…

Power to the players

In a move that is set to drive SA’s e-commerce segment even further, Takealot Group recently announced Takealot Fulfilment Solutions (TFS), which allows third-party e-commerce players to use Takealot’s fulfilment solutions. 

So you can now have a hyper-niche or mom-and-pop style online store, but get your goods delivered by some of SA’s best.

It’s the power of Takealot open to all…

📦 Last-mile delivery: On-demand delivery of your goods to customers.

🛳️ Freight forwarding: Shipping your e-commerce sales to customers abroad. 

🚚 Courier services: Helping get Takealot marketplace sellers’ goods to and from distribution centres.

⛓️Supply chain solution: Warehousing, logistics software solutions and even international sourcing.

And it makes sense for the Takealot Group.

This gives them the kind of scale that can really up profitability and, in doing so, help the rest of the Takealot business reduce costs and indirectly benefit.

We’re watching this space…

PS: We are hosting Takealot Group CEO Frederik Zietsman on our main panel at our 30 October event in Cape Town, Future of E-commerce.

AI for your finance function. Join Outsourced CFO’s Dana Pretorius on Oct 15 for a LinkedIn Live on automating finance with AI. Register here.

Human research on any topic/industry. Sider is a tool that finds, highlights and summarises credible sources into full reports with citations in minutes. See more.

Find your next business idea. Govchain’s AI generator suggests startup ideas tailored to your skills, budget and the South African market. Try it here.

Here’s how we break down the barriers…

South African startups are building world-class tech, but many don’t realise their IP is stuck in a value-eroding system of exchange controls requiring SARB approval, formal audits and slow, uncertain processes most investors want to avoid.

But what if your idea is a global player?

Offshore IP (expanding your business operations while building your intellectual property outside of SA in markets investors love) changes everything. It gives global investors confidence, protects company value in hard currency, and enables cleaner exits when it counts. 

The thing is, most SA founders don’t pursue it, or start too late, because they think IP offshoring is too complex or overwhelming. Not anymore.

The game changer

Dommisse Attorneys worked with the SA SME Fund, SAVCA and Endeavor to create the IP Strategy Flow — an open-sourced framework for SA founders to establish their IP offshore and ensure they build a globally recognised business from day one. 

It’s legally sound, regulator-aligned, and designed to meet global investor expectations without relocating your team.

📱 Absa Enters MVNO Chat. Absa is planning to join the MVNO fray, becoming the last major SA bank to jump in, with its delay attributed to being able to offer its customers a “unique offering based on customer insights”. Unsurprising considering how well mobile is doing for Capitec…

🏃‍♂️ Strava’s IPO Sprint. Strava plans to hit the public market as Gen Z swaps dating apps for running clubs, with the popular fitness app standing at a $2.2 billion valuation. Looks like fitness is the new Tinder.

🚌 Mother City’s Electric Atmosphere. Golden Arrow buses are aiming for 120 electric buses cruising around Cape Town by year-end, highlighting a massive push towards greener transport. With 80 buses already covering 80’000km in a week, they're ambitiously charging ahead despite higher financing costs. Very interesting.

📈 Canal+ Close to Full Takeover. Canal+ has nabbed a hefty 94.39% of MultiChoice shares by investing over R27 billion. But the remaining 5% who aren’t budging require a legal provision that allows a company to effectively force shareholders to sell their stake at the agreed-upon price. *searches the back of the cupboard for any MultiChoice shares

✅ 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.

Yesterday, we showed you how Parents Sense gives SA parents superpowers with science-backed AI advice, asking about the hardest part of parenting to perfect. Most say “all of it”…

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 👶 Sleep schedules that never stick (29%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🍽️ Feeding routines (and what’s “normal”) (0)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🩺 Health scares and late-night Googling (24%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧸 Keeping them stimulated and on track (6%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤷‍♀️ All of the above. Send help. (41%)

Your 2 cents…

So true, Michelle! And then how often does Baby have a big scare and you race to the hospital only for them to be 100% fine the moment the doc arrives? 🧸

On 13 October 1881, Cape Town’s Adderley Street and Station were the first places to get electric lights in South Africa. And we were actually quite in step with the rest of the world back then — England and New York also only got their first electric lights that same year.

But that Cape Town installation wasn’t permanent; it was just a generator hooked up to lights. SA’s first official entire town lit up by an actual permanent power plant was Kimberley in September 1882 (second in the world).

🛠 Tool to Try: Humaniser rewrites AI text to sound natural and pass AI detectors.

🐕 That’s Interesting: The US military gives dogs higher ranks than their handlers, to force the humans to respect them.

🎾 Next Level: Watch pro tennis players try the impossible shot at last week’s Shanghai Masters.

🧠 Hack: Learning a new skill? Spend 20% of your time learning and 80% doing or practising it.

🚢 Wow Site: FleetLeaks is a real-time database to track illegal, sanctioned and “shadow” boats in our oceans.

Most successful founders will agree, to make it big, you need some luck.

But how does one increase one's chances of success when luck plays such a big role? Increase your surface area of luck!

✅ Meet more people
✅ Get faster feedback on your product builds
✅ Make faster progress when you are stuck with expert help.

That’s what The Founder Collab, SA’s premium community for startup founders, does. Weekly opportunities to meet other founders, get feedback, get unstuck and a network unlike any in SA.

It’s a surefire way to increase your surface area of luck.

We are always keen to get reader feedback to help make The Open Letter the most useful of its kind for you. So please select