Summary of TechCabal’s coverage of the South African tech ecosystem.
As a pan-African tech publication, TechCabal prides itself on offering coverage of the continent’s tech ecosystem beyond its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. At this end of the year, our correspondent in South Africa, Ephraim Montiselooks back at the stories they made in 2023 in the regions and how we covered them.
This year, the region saw some successes as numerous funds were launched to support innovators, start-ups built products that addressed some of the region’s most important socio-economic challenges, and regulators introduced frameworks that drove innovation. However, there have also been several missteps as cybercrime and online fraud flared up, layoffs and closings rocked the region, and C-Suite executives made some questionable business decisions.
Read on to get a broader view of our coverage of the southern African region and how we stayed on top of all these stories and more!
Starting funds
Throughout 2023, several funds have been released to promote technological innovation in the region. These included Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund, Sasol greentech startups, SA SME Fund and Knife Capital’s $50 million Series A fund.
Several startups in the region have also raised a significant amount of capital amid a global fundraising crisis. These included Planet42’s large $100 million Series A round, Naked Insurance’s $17 million Series B, TymeBank’s $77 million pre-Series C, and Stitch’s $25 million Series A.
Startups solving pressing problems
This year, TechCabal also covered startups and tech companies in the region that are solving relevant problems in their respective markets. These included healthcare startups in South Africa, Whatsapp chatbot startups in the region, how startups are tackling the cybercrime epidemic in South Africa, as well as agritech, edtech and mobility startups creating solutions to address the region’s power issues.
Ecosystem exploration
Staying true to its mission of providing comprehensive coverage of the pan-African tech ecosystem, TechCabal also explored other ecosystems in the South African region outside of South Africa. From Zambia’s emergence as a powerhouse on the list of emerging ecosystems to Madagascar’s effort to make its name known in the African tech ecosystem, to Namibia’s mission to tackle the issues plaguing its ecosystem, our coverage provided readers with insights about what’s happening in tech on the continent beyond the “Big Four”.
Beyond ecosystem explorations, our coverage also delves into ecosystem activities that position technology as the driver of socioeconomic progress. This coverage included how South Africa continues to lead the continent in the race for data center dominance, how short-term telecom loans are driving financial inclusion in Botswana, how Zambia’s national debt restructuring will help grow its tech ecosystem, how WomHub is building an accelerator for female founders and how the University of Cape Town is producing the most startup CEOs on the continent.
We also spoke with several investors who are betting on the region’s innovators. Among them were Keet van Zyl of Knife Capital, Andile Ngcaba of Convergence Partners, Brenton Naicker of CV-VC, Francois Malan of Savant, Amina Patterson of Solve4X as well as Palesa Tabai of I’M IN Accelerator.
Other successes
TechCabal also covered many other areas of technology in southern Africa, including the launch of PayShap in South Africa, the launch of Amazon in South Africa, how the region’s startups continue to lead exits on the continent, how private equity firms capital comes to the rescue during the VC crunch, Innovation Collective’s mission to promote inclusion for Cape Town’s underprivileged founders, how Union54 bounced back from a near-catastrophic chargeback scam, and how unions are trying to lead the fintech development in Botswana and South Africa.
Layoffs and closures
As with the rest of the world, the Southern African region has been hit by macroeconomic challenges that have forced several startups, tech companies and other ecosystem players to curtail or cease operations altogether. Crypto exchange Luno cut 35% of its staff, WhereIsMyTransport closed while Naspers had to let go of 30% of its staff. Still at Naspers, the company also closed the Naspers Foundry fund which had invested in 12 startups.
Cyber ββsecurity and online scams have had a field day
βIt was the year that hackers and online fraudsters were victimized with near impunity in the region. In South Africa, hackers hit some of the country’s best-known brands, including Showmax, Shoprite, DisChem, Liberty Insurance, TransUnion and even government agencies. In Botswana, online scams had a field day, costing victims tens of millions of pula, while in Lesotho, the country’s central bank was hit by a security breach. Zimbabwe’s promising AI startup also saw a security breach threaten its existence.
Poor corporate governance
Beyond the startup challenges, TechCabal’s coverage of the region also touched on larger tech companies whose lackluster governance continues to erode shareholder value. We’ve covered MultiChoice’s seemingly endless struggles, including its falling share price, losses from Kingmakers, its ignominious exit from Malawi and the seemingly imminent takeover of the broadcaster by Canal+.
We also covered the drama of the love triangle between MTN, Telkom and Rain, MTN’s cost-shifting to customers, the dramatic departure of Naspers CEO Bob van Djik, South Africa’s listing by the Group Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the shrinking profits of Botswanan microfinancier Letshego, and Starlink’s battles with regulators in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Other failures
Other not-so-good ecosystem events we covered included how a so-called Facebook rapist escaped from prison in South Africa, the trend of incubators and accelerators failing in the region, startups exiting too early as they fail to raise follow-on capital, lack of technical talent in the region, internet outages in Zimbabwe during elections, complaints against InDrive operators in Botswana, why CEOs in the region are struggling to raise capital, and South Africa’s mission to introduce strict tax requirements for remote employees.
What to expect in 2024 in South African tech
With 2023 in the mirror, we’ve brought you coverage that’s kept you up to date on everything tech in the Southern African region, and in 2024, we’ll do even more. Stay tuned as we watch whether Zambia’s sinking currency will wipe out the growth of its tech ecosystem, whether Botswana will continue to fall prey to online scams, whether South Africa will reclaim its position as the continent’s VC destination, whether Namibia will successfully address its ecosystem challenges, how Zimbabwe will accelerate the growth of its startup scene and more!