🇿🇦 The Top 10 Startups in SA Right Now?
A little too polite? We couldn’t help but snicker when we heard Sam Altman saying that users saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT has cost OpenAI tens of millions of dollars in energy and computing costs. A small price to pay for the machines to remember our good manners one day.
Before that genteel robot uprising, though, it’s time for a very special Fast-10 Friday: 10+ SA startups and some tech news you should know. Let’s go…
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Fast Five (+5) Friday
Earlier in the week, we attended the Live Pitch Event for the Top 10 Finalists of our friends over at Innovation City’s Startup of the Year 2025.
DRUMROLL, PLEASE
The Winner of Startup of the Year 2025 is…
Congrats to:
Bots that speak your mother tongue
Botlhale AI, co-founded by Thapelo Nthite is officially the 2025 Innovation City Startup of the Year. Botlhale is building multilingual chatbots and call centre tools in African languages, making digital services more inclusive for millions.
The SA call centre industry employs more than 250k+ South Africans and brings in roughly R63 billion, a sizable market. Add the fact that only 8.7% of South Africans speak English as a first language, and Botlhale might just be onto something!
NINE MORE OF SA’S BEST
And The Runners Up Are…
Retail, but make it a platform
Flood builds Shopify-style infrastructure for brick-and-mortar giants, turning telcos, banks, and broadcasters into digital marketplaces. Think discovery, commerce, and payments all in one place.
The offline-to-online race is on, and Flood is using the distribution and mass adoption of existing brands to reach customers with white-labelled solutions. Brands win because it increases revenue per customer, and customers win because of convenience.
Investing for the R99-data-bundle generation
Fynbos is on a mission to unlock wealth for 1 million young South Africans by making it easy to automate putting away money in emergency savings and tax-free accounts with zero platform fees, maximising your savings.
ICYMI: Check out this Open Letter feature on Fybos from the start of the year.
HR in your pocket
Designed for frontline and deskless workers, Jem HR delivers payroll solutions and benefits via WhatsApp. Being plugged into payroll enables them to manage risk better and, in doing so, offer better financial services to these employees. Already helping over 150,000 people build financial wellness while making HR easier for employers, too. If you
ICYMI: Check out this episode from our podcast with Caroline from Jem.
Recruitment, slicker and quicker
JOBJACK helps companies find entry-level talent through a smart, all-in-one digital platform. Screening, assessments, risk checks, all in one. They have amassed a whopping 3 million detailed profiles of work seekers, and as soon as a client decides to hire, finding that perfect candidate becomes a lot easier.
AI that reads the fine print for you
Lawyered Up, backed by Google and powered by Vega AI, is giving SMEs affordable legal support through an AI-driven platform. Drafts, compliance, contracts – automated, affordable, and finally within reach. 25’000 SMEs already access the platform, and they are planning to hit 100k across Africa by the end of the year.
ICYMI: Catch our Tuesday Deep Dive into Lawyered Up here.
The smarter way to rent
LeaseSurance Agent replaces old-school rental deposits with lease insurance, giving landlords better risk control and renters more flexibility. It’s tech-first real estate, with a data engine driving smarter decisions.
ICYMI: Check out this edition of The Open Letter featuring LeaseSurance.
Yes, we do have the receipts
Callbi Speech Analytics provides AI-powered transcription and analytics software for contact centres, trained specifically on South African languages and dialects. It enables companies to analyse local conversations accurately, at a fraction of the cost of global alternatives.
Making gas cylinders smarter
The LP Gas industry in Africa is estimated to be $9.6 billion a year, and for many in areas where the electricity supply is unpredictable, gas offers an affordable way to cook, improving quality of life and health. But for LP gas retailers, theft is a major issue, with more than 20% of gas being stolen or lost through rogue refills.
Sensify prevents LP Gas theft and rogue refills with a patented “lock-and-key” valve system and cloud software. Real-time tracking means more safety, more loyalty, and no more disappearing inventory.
Fitness apps, made personal
The global personal trainer industry is valued at ±$40billion and Sudor lets fitness creators launch their own branded app complete with video, chat, and payments capabilities. No code, no stress, just the ability to turn your fitness brand into an app.
Huge congrats to all the winners and finalists. We are rooting for all of you and cheering you on to greatness. We’re watching this space…
IN SHORT
Stay five headlines ahead of everyone else…
💳 Extending Capabilities. Local FinTech Kazang is extending its terminal capabilities to accept card payments for bill payments, helping turn more than 90’000 spaza shops across SA, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia into financial service hubs. Nice one.
👍 Thumbs up. SA’s Electoral Commission has started its 6-month consultation process with voters, political parties, interest groups and civil society organisations to help shape the policy on e-voting in SA. SA’s Dads give it a thumbs up.
🤖 AI Funding Blitz. 19 US-based AI startups have already raised $100 million so far in 2025, including OpenAI, Lambda, Harvey, and ElevenLabs. Some very interesting stuff is being built (and funded) in this space.
✖️ Take VAT back. After mounting pressure from pretty much everyone in SA, Gov has relented and canned the 0.5% VAT increase. And, unrelated yet seemingly suspicious, we got klapped with Stage 2 loadshedding from 4 PM yesterday… hmmm…
😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with all your VC and startup legal sorted by Dommisse Attorneys, your own CFO for a fraction of the cost with OCFO and loads more vital startup tools & services.
CHECK THIS OUT
The Venture Partner You’ve Been Looking For
Hardware, software, execution, investment — done right
In a startup world full of noise, Octoco has quietly built one of SA’s most capable engineering teams — and now they’re five years in. (Happy birthday, guys!)
Started in 2020 to fill a gap in real CTO support, Octoco has evolved into a full-scale venture and engineering studio, combining hardware, software, and strategy under one roof.
From solving problems big firms couldn’t crack to investing in tools like LeaseSurance and Henlo Coffee, they’ve delivered across 12+ industries — always with the same mantra: build properly or don’t build at all.
Today, their 70+ team blends technical depth with startup grit — and they’re just getting started.
What makes them different?
It’s not just that they write code or wire up devices. It’s how they approach problems:
- They step in when the stakes are high, not just to consult but to execute.
- They operate like co-founders, not contractors.
- They’ve earned their reputation by solving tough problems others couldn’t.
And they do it all while growing a culture that values curiosity, clarity, and quality execution above all else.
What’s next?
Octoco is expanding again — this time into AI. Their new Octoco AI department will deepen their ability to solve complex, frontier-level problems for clients who want more than off-the-shelf solutions.
If you're building something ambitious and need a partner who’s seen the full journey — from idea to implementation — Octoco is the team to call.
JOBS IN TECH
Get a job that gets you...
🧰 Head of Product Management for Africa @ PayU
👩💻 Chief Technology Officer @ Prescient Group
🌱 Head of Seed & Growth Portfolio @ E Squared Investments
🫙 Head of Pre-Seed & Growth Portfolio @ E Squared Investments
💼 Key Account Manager @ Picup
Hiring? Get in touch, and we will feature it here.
GAME TIME
Riddle us this…
I move without wheels,
Across warehouses and racks.
I scan all your stock,
No ladders, stairs, or backs.
No rider, no fuss,
Just code and eyes that see.
Built in Durban town —
Which startup could I be?
WHAT YOU SAID
Next in tech…
On Tuesday, we asked about the most important tech jobs of the future, and everyone’s swinging AI…
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🤖 AI anything (38%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👩💻 Full-stack web development (1%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📊 Data science (20%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🔒 Cybersecurity (25%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ☁️ Cloud engineering (1%)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🔌 Knowing which plug kills the machine overlords (15%)
Your 2 cents…
Ha ha, ja, Andersen, you mean “what founders do in the first few years”, and then need to find someone else to take over. Definitely. 😅
Defs, Ruan. We saw a report the other day that languages like COBOL, C and C++ are susceptible to like 70% of the most common vulnerabilities — and so many systems are still legacy. ⌛
For sure, CNProp. At the risk of playing matchmaker, sounds like you and Ruan ☝ could team up and build the next big thing, too. 🚀
Thanks, Lungile! We’re extremely fond of you, too. 🤜🤛
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Until next time,
Elvorne, Renier & Jason
