Who’s hungry? The only thing more unhinged than this video of a Unitree robot utterly failing to make supper is this full episode where they give it a gun and make it run with a machete. Phew, we need to go lie down now.

In This Open Letter

A new EU law is going to cost ~70k EU companies billions of Euros and take centuries to rectify – this local startup will slash those costs and drop it to a few weeks…

Some 82% of internet traffic is video, but 2.2 billion people have some form of visual impairment and 1.5 billion some degree of hearing loss, so nearly half of us can’t fully experience the interwebs.

Now, just imagine in the analogue world: Broadcasters, enterprise training departments and streaming platforms often have basic closed captions, but fully accessible audio descriptions, speaker-labelling and sound-cue metadata for the hearing-impaired? That’s very rare, pricey and labour-intensive.

But it’s no longer just a “nice-to-have”...

From 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act requires technology and online service providers to make their products and digital services accessible to people with disabilities across the EU, with strict requirements. And it’s already started dishing out fines.

A good way to lose billions, fast

While most of us think “just add captions with CapCut,” there are nearly 9’500 TV channels and ~3’400 on-demand platforms, 2’692 universities and 51’000 large regulated companies with massive video training libraries in Europe alone.

Regulators like the UK’s Ofcom now legally require that 80% of catalogues be subtitled and 10% audio-described. And not just new videos, you have to go back and apply it to your entire historical video library (for the BBC, for example, that’s 400k hours of video, over 1.5 million tapes and 600k cans of film).

Thing is, it costs about $12–22 per minute for subtitling and $15–75 per minute for basic audio description. Just hitting Ofcom’s 80%-10% target on the 400k digital video hours alone could cost the BBC $266.4m–$602.4m (R4bn-R10bn), just for one language. Triple that if you want to do 3 languages, and so on.

That example ☝ is totally impossible, by the way; by UK captioning standards, it would take a team of 70-odd manual transcribers 150–600 years to complete the audio in one language alone.

So, yeh, not happening. Because this South African startup can help them do it much faster and cheaper…

The local startup helping us watch video better

Phonetik is an AI-powered video accessibility and captioning platform for all forms of audio-visual content. They’re building a suite of products for broadcasters, streaming services, content owners and education and training videos, to make their video libraries fully accessible.

The platform ingests video files and outputs accessibility assets like accurate closed-captions, subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) with speaker identification, sound-cue tagging and full audio-description tracks for the visually impaired. 

Their first product helps clients who own legacy content with burnt-in subtitles and no metadata. Using an OCR solution, Phonetik makes those captions editable and ready for localisation or accessibility layering. 

They’re also working on automated dialogue sheets, diarisation (detecting who is speaking and when) and full audio-description tracks (all set to roll out next week).

The automation game

We chatted to Phonetik Cofounder Francois Schreuder recently, who emphasises that Phonetik automates those slow, labour-intensive manual processes in minutes, giving accessibility assets to brands and, you know, democratising accessibility around the world.

As South Africans, it’s awesome to see local players taking on such unique, global tech challenges.

We’re (literally) watching this space…

What if a brand is more than just a logo, colour and identity? What if it can be the infrastructure that builds belief and trust and makes you differentiate?

That’s what DoubleShift does.

They're a strategic brand and communications partner for ambitious fintech founders who don’t just want to look good; they want to build belief.

Their work helps FinTechs move from competing on features to competing on faith: The conviction that investors, users and teams have in what you’re building.

All while striking a balance between creativity and compliance.

The approach is hands-on:
✅ They get inside your business
✅ Map the real trust gaps
✅ Co-create systems that shift perceptions and move markets.

If you’re ready to build a brand that’s not just seen — but believed in — DoubleShift would love to partner with you.

♻️ Hot Renewables News. Our friends over at The Outlier (you’ll see some of their lekker charts in The Open Letter) are about to launch a brand new newsletter focused entirely on the renewable energy sector. The first edition hits inboxes on Wednesday, 5 November, so sign up here. Nice one.

🚗 WeBuyCars' Bumpy Ride. WeBuyCars' thrilling 125% climb met an unexpected hiccup as its shares skidded 14.8%, wiping out R3.3 billion of market value, driven by softer growth and Chinese car competition. Just give it a year or so when some of those Chinese cars hit the WBC LOT…

🤖 Get Set for Robotaxis! Nvidia and Uber are teaming up to turbocharge the autonomous vehicle game from 2027 with a fleet of next-generation robotaxi and autonomous delivery fleets that could hit 100’000 vehicles. Goodness.

📈 Optasia's Market Move. Looks like emerging markets FinTech Optasia is set to debut on the JSE at a hefty R23.5-billion valuation. Very interesting…

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools, so our Founder’s Stack gives you your own CFO with Finvoke, WhatsApp marketing with 2'000% ROI powered by Chat Inc, and more.

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!

Offshore investing can be a smart way to hedge against rand devaluation and diversify your wealth. The rand weakened by over 50% against the dollar in the past decade. But investors who rushed offshore during panic periods often underperformed those who diversified gradually.

The takeaway? Before you look abroad, it pays to ensure your financial foundations at home are solid.

1. Start local

It’s often a good idea to build your financial base first with essentials like an emergency fund, tax-free savings account, retirement fund and education fund before you move money offshore.

2. Then think global

Once your foundation is secure, offshore investing, such as offshore unit trusts/mutual funds or ETFs, can help spread risk and protect long-term purchasing power.

3. How to keep it simple and cost-effective

It pays to use transparent and trusted tools — high fees can quietly eat into returns. Here’s an article featuring some accessible South African platforms that let you invest locally or internationally with ease.

By carefully planning your offshore investments, you can be better positioned to grow and protect your wealth over time.

Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered personalised financial, investment, tax or legal advice.

We learnt the hard truth about turning services into products: Annette Muller shared what breaks first when you chase scalability too soon, how she managed to sell her agency and then some lessons from pivotting into the product space.

We learnt that courage still closes deals: Elijah landed a lead with a major corporate for FinMaster mid-flight (on the way to the event) by striking up a chat about retail investors and education.

We had our first Sales and GTM standup: Collabers shared their pains and current points they are stuck at and together brainstormed ideas on how to keep things moving.

Find your founder community. Join The Founder Collab, it’s where 120+ real SA founders help each other to build better, faster every day.

Last Friday, we showed you how LocumBase helps SA practices find doc replacements, asking who’d locum for you in your job. Most have overachieving work friends…

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧍 A clone (12%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🧑‍💻 ChatGPT (19%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ☕ My colleague who already does everything (25%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ ⚔️ I am the locum (22%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🪄 A coffee and sheer willpower (22%)

Your 2 cents…

Ag shame, no Caeri, we hope companies realise soon that AI is not for replacing humans, it’s for helping humans work smarter only. 😢

Africa Tech Festival — CTICC 11–13 Nov — The continent’s biggest tech gathering. Founders, investors, policymakers and scale-ups under one roof. Book now.

Open Build: AI Coding Night — CPT 12 Nov, 18:00 — Join Windsurf and The AI Collective for live builds, dev tools, and snacks with fellow AI-native coders. Book here.

Tech Safari CPT Mixer — 12 Nov, 17:30 — Founders, devs, and operators: join Africa’s tech community for sharp talks, real convos, and drinks. Register here.

Origin Stories: Live Founder Tales — CPT 12 Nov, 19:00 — Raw, human journeys from African entrepreneurs. Theatre, storytelling and startup community. Book now.

Hosting a demo day, panel, founder meetup or tech event? Let us know, and we’ll feature it for FREE.

👴 Tool to Try: Geni gives seniors tech help & sends families daily updates on how Gran is doing.

🐒 That’s Interesting: Monkey gland sauce is a South African original, born at Joburg’s Carlton Hotel and named after 1920s “rejuvenation” myths.

🚜 Next Level: You can watch Germany win the Forklift World Championships.

🥛 Hack: A cool guide to international yoghurts ranked by fat, sugar, and protein.

💸 Wow Site: Gedd.it finds promo codes for any product from its URL.

Vote in the poll, leave a quick comment, or hit reply — we read every single one.