News
News
+1
Mar 12, 2026
•
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.
News
+1
Mar 11, 2026
•
5 min read
Yazi Raises First Institutional Round at R30M Valuation With 80% of Its Leads Coming From AI Search
South African WhatsApp research platform Yazi has closed its first institutional funding round at a R30 million ($1.6M) pre-money valuation, led by 3 Capital Ventures, the early-stage fund spun out of Allan Gray. Revenue grew 2.5x last year, 65% of it is now foreign-denominated, and the client list includes Old Mutual, Discovery, Capitec, Pick n Pay, and Ipsos. But the detail that should make every founder pay attention: 80% of inbound leads now come through AI search, with ChatGPT and Gemini recommending Yazi to people looking for WhatsApp research tools.
News
+1
Mar 10, 2026
•
6 min read
Orca Fraud Raises R38M to Stop Payment Fraud Across 70 Countries: Built by Two Former Stitch Engineers
Cape Town-based Orca Fraud has closed an oversubscribed $2.35 million (R38 million) seed round led by Norrsken22 to scale its real-time fraud intelligence platform. Founded 16 months ago by former Stitch engineers Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, the startup already monitors over $5 billion in monthly transaction volume across 70+ countries. The pitch: global fraud tools weren't built for mobile wallets, agent banking, and African payment rails. Orca was.
News
+1
Mar 10, 2026
•
5 min read
Capitec Pulse: The AI Tool That Knows Why You're Calling Before You Say a Word
Capitec has launched an AI system called Pulse that analyses your payment data, app diagnostics, and risk signals in real time to tell the call centre agent what's wrong before you explain it. In a three-month pilot, it cut call handling times by 18% and lifted net agent efficiency by 26%. The bank claims it's a world first, though that claim deserves some scrutiny.
News
+1
Mar 9, 2026
•
5 min read
NjiaPay Raises $2.1M to Fix Africa's Broken Payment Routing: Talk360's 25% Conversion Jump Shows Why
Cape Town and Amsterdam-based NjiaPay has closed a $2.1 million seed round led by European B2B SaaS investor Newion, roughly a year after an oversubscribed $1 million pre-seed. The startup builds a payment orchestration layer that sits on top of existing payment providers and routes transactions to whichever one performs best. After implementing it, international calling app Talk360 cut six PSP integrations to one and saw checkout conversions rise 25%.
News
+1
Mar 9, 2026
•
5 min read
Fintura Closes Pre-Seed Round to Build an All-in-One AI Platform for SA Accountants
The Startup World Cup winner that went to Silicon Valley has now closed its pre-seed round, backed by former Kalon Venture Partners CEO Clive Butkow, Ridwaan Boda, and Jozi Angels. Fintura is building a single platform to replace the four to six disconnected tools most SA accounting firms use daily. The round size wasn't disclosed, but the investor names tell you the smart money thinks this vertical is real.
News
+1
Mar 9, 2026
•
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.
News
+1
Mar 4, 2026
•
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.
News
+1
Feb 24, 2026
•
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.
News
+1
Feb 23, 2026
•
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.
News
+1
Feb 20, 2026
•
3 min read
Jem Launches WhatsApp Time and Attendance System for South African Workforces
The new WhatsApp-based employee clock-in system removes hardware and app barriers for attendance management
News
+1
Feb 20, 2026
•
3 min read
Araxi Acquires Pay@ in R1 Billion Fintech Deal
The R1 billion transaction marks one of the largest recent fintech acquisitions in South Africa
News
+1
Feb 18, 2026
•
3 min read
Africa AI Adoption Is Rising & South Africa Is Leading The Charge
Microsoft’s latest data shows South Africa leading AI adoption across Africa’s emerging tech markets
News
+1
Feb 18, 2026
•
3 min read
Strove Lite Launches on WhatsApp to Simplify Workplace Wellbeing
The South African healthtech platform is bringing AI-driven wellbeing directly into WhatsApp
