Tech runs {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? If you loved that SA pro athlete Gerda Steyn won the women's Comrades for the 5th time, how about the men's winner, Pepkor data scientist George Kusche, sommer setting a new record. Phew.

In This Open Letter:

A lot of medicine was designed around the male body, meaning today women are often diagnosed four years later than men and nearly twice as likely to suffer adverse drug reactions. Now, one SA founder who was told she'd never conceive is using AI to change that…

It’s not about discrimination or a conspiracy. Before 1993, women were rarely included in drug trials for their own protection. Scientists didn’t believe they had the technology to experiment safely on the female body.

The problem is that, now, decades later, medicine seems skewed towards men, because we have more data on male bodies, and it's genuinely harder to connect women’s symptoms.

The FemTech turning scattered data into answers

Femmflo is a women's health app that gathers everything a woman's body is trying to tell her into one readable picture: Hormones, lab results, mood and daily symptoms.

It’s designed for women across all life stages and health journeys battling conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, thyroid issues and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or navigating contraception, postpartum and the run-up to perimenopause. And the results are geared 100% for the individual.

Gabi, Femmflo's proprietary AI, reads those results from lab partner Epicentre alongside your mood, sleep and behaviour, and explains why, then builds a care plan around her. And it’s sandboxed to your data and clinician-validated advice, as well as South African women's health data, not populations on the other side of the world.

Built from the heart

Femmflo is deeply personal for founder Tal Cook. At eighteen, she was told she would never conceive. Years of pain and three surgeries later, the problem wasn't her body, but the system around it. So Tal built the app she'd needed: One that connects the dots she'd spent years chasing. 

Today, her endometriosis is in remission, and she recently gave birth to a baby boy.

Femmflo is built by women, for women, already working closely with women navigating significant health challenges, with their feedback helping shape the platform. The app is live on both iOS and Android.

Bootstrapped and accelerator-backed, Femmflo is now preparing to raise.

We're watching this space…

AI fails when you skip the diagnosis. Kwanda, a Cape Town-based applied-AI company, has built a product around exactly that gap.

It's called the AI Roadmap: You spend an hour with their team digging into how your business actually runs; where people are still copy-pasting, where the bottlenecks sit. And within 48 business hours, you get a plain-English report: Two to five specific places AI can buy back time, each with a recommended build, the right tools and an estimated cost and time saving.

No jargon, no lock-in. The report is yours to act on, however you choose.

What makes it credible is that Kwanda builds this for real. One VC firm was drowning in inbound pitch decks, so Kwanda built a tool that pre-qualifies every deck against the firm's own investment mandate and surfaces only the ones worth a partner's time.

That's the difference between selling AI and knowing where it belongs.

BTC back above $66K on the US-Iran ceasefire. Bitcoin jumped 5%+ on Monday after Trump announced a ceasefire deal with Iran. With the Strait of Hormuz potentially reopening to oil flows, the Fed may look past recent inflation — bullish for risk assets.

Did you see SA’s first crypto vending machine? ICYMI: Customers tap the touchscreen, select a product, scan a QR code from a Bitcoin Lightning or crypto wallet, and the machine dispenses instantly.

Quantum crypto and tokenised assets are surging. Capital rotated into quantum resistance narratives (~59% MoM outperformance vs BTC), tokenised RWAs grew 589% since early 2025, and crypto card volumes hit $747M in May. Read the full report.

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.

💳 Fee Check. Here's a comparison of some payment platforms SA remote workers can use (Wise, Grey, Payoneer and PayPal all stacked up). There are more, obvs, but do your homework, fees make a big diff when you're earning in dollars.

🕊️ Peace Dividend. The US and Iran struck a ceasefire deal with the Strait of Hormuz reopening. The net effect? SA could see better fuel prices and even interest rate relief. Fingers crossed.

🛒 End of an Era. After 22 years, Woolworths is ending MySchool and WRewards and replacing them with a new programme. RIP to a loyalty card that outlasted most in SA. Gonna go check out the new one, though…

🎮 Bitcoin-Backed Gaming. Binance and Goliath Gaming hosted a weekend esports tournament in JHB, bringing together some of SA's top esports talent with Bitcoin-backed prizes. Crypto meets competitive gaming; SA gamers will want more of this.

📊 Smarter Decisions in 2026. Finance is the biggest reason SA SMEs fail. Finvoke gives startups and small businesses CFO-level insight (without paying a full-time salary) so you can grow with clarity, not guesswork.*

📐 Product Habits, Decoded. The Cape Town studio behind Yoco, Luno and Pick n Pay ASAP — and what 15 years of this work taught them about turning first-time users into habits. Get the free Isoflow guide.*

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

Last Friday, we showed you Booze Cap’s automated breathaliser, asking whether you'd fit a device that won't let a drunk driver start the car. And we had our first-ever three-way tie…

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🔑 In my own car, today (21%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 In my teenager's car, no question (25%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🚐 Across my whole fleet (25%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤝 I'd sponsor one for scholar transport (25%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😅 Nah, I'll back the driver to do the right thing (4%)

Few things kill a warm SA sales lead faster than a proposal that takes four days to land. So we got an SA GTM engineer who's built 85+ AI sales systems to show us how he gets a clear proposal out within the hour — while the prospect is still excited from the call.

And it turns out, there are 4 specific steps to send proposals faster and close before the lead cools off.

☝ Send this to that friend who's always last to respond.

Purpose-driven SA entrepreneur? Nedbank Business Ignite wants 15 finalists in WC and Gauteng — showcase live on 702 or Cape Talk, win R200k cash plus R200k in airtime. Closes 3 July. Enter now.

Need more than just advice? The Founder Collab bundles R40k+ in tools, cloud credits, legal sessions and a curated founder community into one membership for SA tech builders. Join now.

Women-led venture going continental? KPMG's Female Founders in Africa Competition brings resources, mentorship and networks to help you scale. Apply now.

Young agri founder in an AU country? GoGettaz puts up to $50k behind agribusiness builders — pitch live in Rwanda in September. Closes 28 June. Apply now.

Want free AI skills training? Google Hustle Academy 2026 offers one-day bootcamps and 60-min webinars for SA entrepreneurs and SME owners. Zero cost. Register free.

🧩 Tool to Try: Laddered lets you manage co-ownership of property.

🧊 That's Interesting: In the 1800s, Frederic Tudor (aka the Ice King) created the global ice trade from scratch. He would send 180 tons of ice to India, packed in sawdust, and 3 months later, 100 tons still arrived frozen.

🚤 Next Level: Watch the coast guard jump onto a runaway boat to save the day.

🪓 Wow Site: Firewood Splitting Simulator. That's it. Enjoy.