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News

+1

Woolworths Just Bought the Company That Makes Your Ready Meals: Here's What It Took

Mar 17, 2026

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6 min read

Woolworths Just Bought the Company That Makes Your Ready Meals: Here's What It Took

Woolworths announced today that it will acquire 100% of In2food, its biggest supplier, from the founders, Old Mutual Private Equity and other shareholders. In2food does R5 billion a year in revenue, runs eight manufacturing facilities, and produces 3.2 million packs a week. The deal price wasn't disclosed. Here's what the deal means and what it took to build a company that Woolworths couldn't afford to lose.

Elvorne Palmer
Elvorne Palmer

News

+1

Resolute Education Is Selling a Robotics Teaching Business in a Box: Here's What You'd Actually Be Buying

Mar 16, 2026

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5 min read

Resolute Education Is Selling a Robotics Teaching Business in a Box: Here's What You'd Actually Be Buying

Looking for a business opportunity? You can now skip the years of building a STEM programme from scratch and open an after-school club or dedicated centre on a proven foundation. The SA coding and robotics provider behind 450+ schools and 200,000+ learners is now franchising. Resolute's "Business in a Box" gives you a CAPS-aligned curriculum, robotics kits, an LMS with 100+ hours of video content, and SACE-endorsed training. But what does the opportunity actually look like for an operator?

Elvorne Palmer
Madge Booth
Elvorne Palmer, +1

News

+1

Still Good Opens The Goods: A Short-Dated Marketplace to Clear Distressed Stock & Help Retailers Move Problem Goods

Mar 12, 2026

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4 min read

Still Good Opens The Goods: A Short-Dated Marketplace to Clear Distressed Stock & Help Retailers Move Problem Goods

The Cape Town-based scale-up Still Good has launched an online clearinghouse for distressed and short-dated stock directly from manufacturers. By shifting from retail mystery bags to a transparent marketplace model, the company aims to intercept a portion of the 10 million tonnes of food wasted annually in South Africa before it ever reaches a supermarket shelf.

Madge Booth
Madge Booth

News

+1

SA’s FinMaster Board Game Launches at Exclusive Books: From a Pizza Box Prototype to The Top Shelf

Mar 9, 2026

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5 min read

SA’s FinMaster Board Game Launches at Exclusive Books: From a Pizza Box Prototype to The Top Shelf

FinMaster, the South African board game that placed second at an international competition in Norway and had someone pay in crypto just to get a copy, launches at Exclusive Books stores nationwide on 3 April. It started as a pizza box prototype made in three days. Here's the story of how it got to the shelf.

Elvorne Palmer
Elvorne Palmer

Originals

+1

🥑 A R1.5 Trillion SA Grocery Play

Mar 6, 2026

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11 min read

🥑 A R1.5 Trillion SA Grocery Play

Plus: Business-friendly new labour laws 💪, so long Showmax, AI and brands & new SA tech jobs.

Originals

+1

🛵💨 Now Everyone Gets Same-Day (a R130bn Play)

Mar 4, 2026

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11 min read

🛵💨 Now Everyone Gets Same-Day (a R130bn Play)

Plus: SA’s OG startup funding 🇿🇦, recovering agri yield, WhatsApp HR & new venture opportunities.

News

+1

Hlayisani Capital Raises R500 Million for Fund II: And the Backers Really Matter

Mar 4, 2026

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5 min read

Hlayisani Capital Raises R500 Million for Fund II: And the Backers Really Matter

One of South Africa's oldest venture capital firms has secured R500 million in first-close commitments for its second venture fund, backed by the Public Investment Corporation and the SA SME Fund. For a firm that traces its roots to some of the earliest angel investing on the continent, the real story isn't the fund size. It's who's writing the cheques and what that signals about institutional confidence in SA VC.

Madge Booth
Renier Kriel
Madge Booth, +1

News

+1

Sanlam's First VC Bet: Is HAVAIC Fund 3 a Tipping Point for SA Tech?

Feb 24, 2026

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4 min read

Sanlam's First VC Bet: Is HAVAIC Fund 3 a Tipping Point for SA Tech?

HAVAIC Fund 3 has crossed $30 (R481) million with backing from Sanlam Multi-Manager and Allan Gray's E Squared. The fund's close matters less than what it signals: institutional South African capital is entering local tech VC for the first time. Here's what the portfolio reveals and what questions remain.

Madge Booth
Madge Booth

Originals

+1

🧋 10 Million Cold Drinks, Zero Spills

Feb 24, 2026

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10 min read

🧋 10 Million Cold Drinks, Zero Spills

Plus: Brewing in SA commerce ✅, scheduled WhatsApp messages, your financial health & birth of a legend.

News

+1

What Is Takealot Building on WhatsApp?

Feb 23, 2026

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4 min read

What Is Takealot Building on WhatsApp?

SA’s biggest online retailer seems to be building something new on WhatsApp. There’s no press release or announcements yet, just an opt-in screen shared on LinkedIn by a local founder who knows their way around WhatsApp. Here's what we know, what we don't and why it matters.

Elvorne Palmer
Madge Booth
Elvorne Palmer, +1

News

+1

Uber Eats Introduces AI Cart Assistant For Your Groceries

Feb 12, 2026

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3 min read

Uber Eats Introduces AI Cart Assistant For Your Groceries

Uber Eats has introduced an AI Cart Assistant that builds grocery baskets from lists, photos or recipes. Here’s why it could change shopping behaviour

News

+1

Fibertime and EasyEquities Just Rewrote the Rules of SME Employee Retirement

Feb 9, 2026

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3 min read

Fibertime and EasyEquities Just Rewrote the Rules of SME Employee Retirement

A startup and a scale-up have launched a new employee retirement model that flips the script by giving staff visibility and control over their savings

News

+1

Sixty60 Growth Outpaces Shoprite As On-Demand Sales Rise 34.6%

Feb 3, 2026

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3 min read

Sixty60 Growth Outpaces Shoprite As On-Demand Sales Rise 34.6%

Shoprite’s interim results show Sixty60 growing 34.6%, highlighting how scale, store density and logistics are reshaping South African retail

Originals

+1

💰 Takealot's R900bn Township Side-Hustles

Jan 30, 2026

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11 min read

💰 Takealot's R900bn Township Side-Hustles

Plus: OM’s 10x buy 💸, Home Affairs in hot water again, top stocks & new SA tech jobs for you.

News

+1

Shop Anything You See: Amazon Lens Launches in South Africa

Jan 28, 2026

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4 min read

Shop Anything You See: Amazon Lens Launches in South Africa

See something you like? Snap a pic or screenshot it, upload to your Amazon Shopping app and buy from anywhere in SA

Originals

+1

🧢 Hot New Look for This R10bn Market

Jan 22, 2026

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10 min read

🧢 Hot New Look for This R10bn Market

Plus: SA’s fastest internet 📡, the other cradle of life, voice AI plays & Africa startup funding winners.

Originals

+1

🛵💨 SA's R225 Billion Youth Play

Jan 21, 2026

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11 min read

🛵💨 SA's R225 Billion Youth Play

Plus: FIFA in SA ⚽, Google’s Zulu news, rural SA comms & new startups opportunities for you.

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Whether you’re building, scaling, operating, investing, or just curious, The Open Letter keeps you in the loop and ahead of the curve.

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