Hi there,

Ever wanted to drive upside down? Well, then check out this EV: British hypercar maker McMurtry used what they call “active aerodynamics” to generate enough downforce for them to drive this machine like Batman. Don’t forget your seat belt, though.

In this Open Letter:

• Unbreakable: The venture helping secure SA’s R128bn per day.

• Fully optimised: Take the pain out of hiring top devs and engineers.

• Stitch raises funding, OpenAI verifying organisations & CT’s F1 bid.

• Level up: Startup MBA, import-export clarity & the big pitch event.

• Who recognised this SA fisheries startup? The results are in.

• Startup power: 100+ businesses SA needs right now.

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TRENDING NOW

Safeguarding R128bn Per Day

Commercial crime in South Africa is out of control – and seriously damaging to society and the entire economy. So today’s Tuesday Deep Dive showcases a scale-up that’s securing SA banks and retailers’ physical safety…

At any given moment, there’s about R128bn in cash in circulation in South Africa…

And SA banks and retailers lose billions annually due to theft, robbery and internal fraud. In 2023 alone, crime in general cost our economy R700bn (6.7% of GDP). 

In 2022, bank burglaries increased by 17%, and losses skyrocketed by 366%. This decreased only slightly in 2023 after the SA Post Office shifted from cash-based SASSA payments to electronic.

Weird story, the number of laptops and office equipment stolen increased that same year (because there’s no cash to steal).

Retail numbers are hard to find, but if you scour through SAPS’s quarterly crime reports, you’ll see that commercial crime is practically the only crime to have consistently and reliably increased over the last 4 years: 19.2% in Q1 of 2024 and 18.5% in Q2.

And it doesn’t just hurt banks and retailers; this type of crime impacts every one of us…

So, what’s the problem?

Economically, the insurance impact alone is devastating to the country:

• In 2024, every Rand lost to commercial crime cost the victim company R3.64 to replace.

• That’s why commercial insurance costs have outpaced CPI from 2021 to 2024.

• Off the back of a 103% rise in the average cost per claim to commercial insurers in 2019 and 2020.

• Causing SA’s biggest international insurance partner, Lloyds, to hike up the price of reinsurance in SA by tenfold in 2021, and start refusing to reinsure most SA companies because it’s just too risky.

But even those increases are covered by We the Peeps, of course. Go check your bank statements and grocery slips to see how prices have increased over the last 5 years…

The true cost of commercial crime

Where’s the opportunity? Well, there are two ways to look at it:

• Cybercrime is skyrocketing every year (45% in 2023 alone, driving up financial losses by 47%), so software is one possible route – hence the rise in cybersecurity startups in Africa.
  

• Physical crime is another thing altogether, requiring a unique mix of software, social and hardware solutions – hence a rise in new solutions like Namola we showcased a while ago and the Wolf safety app before that.

But while a lot is happening on the software and social front, you don’t see much innovation where it’s most needed: hardware, where a core problem is that traditional security measures (CCTV, safes, manual stock control etc) are just not cutting it anymore.

So, one day in 2016, a group of South Africans got together to ask “Why don’t we just build the world’s most advanced smart safe?” 

And that’s when things really started to get interesting… 

The local scale-up helping SA commercials protect their own

Intelligent Safe’s Sentry is like if Robocop and The Terminator had a baby in the banking and retail sector. 

Seriously, the founders got together and made a list of every security technology available to mankind – biometrics, time-delayed doors, vibration and motion detection, backup communication, sirens, tilt detection and automatic pepper spray deployment (of course it shoots you), to name just a few – and said: Let’s build it all into one ultimate safe not even Tom Cruise can break into.

It’s got so many additional features, but we can’t tell you about them for legal reasons – security industry, hello! 

But the company’s MD, whom we also can’t name for security reasons (so let’s just call him Arnold Strongarms for now), explains that the tech features so many traditionally independent systems that the team spent a few years enhancing and polishing the offering over time.

Fully remote & adaptable

The system integrates with a mobile app that allows their clients to be fully remote and assist their in-store teams with adding users, dispensing inventory and approving requests, as well as receiving notifications when certain events on the safe take place. It also allows them the ability to review event logs and view time and attendance as needed by the store.

They’re currently operating in the high-value retail space (think cellphones etc.), jewellery and precious metals, but also have safes operational in the manufacturing sector where expensive tooling like grind disks and bolts etc. need to be kept safe and checked in and out when used.

And, with numerous new-generation safes operating in a few key malls and places around the country (no we can’t tell you where they are), the company is finally ready to start focusing on scale. 

It’ll be interesting to see SA’s commercial crime stats when we get a few of these babies deployed in banks and shops around the country. We’re watching this space…

CHECK THIS OUT

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IN SHORT

Something interesting to share…

🪡 Securing the bag. Local FinTech Stitch has secured $55 million in additional funding to help advance its payment solutions throughout the African continent. Nice one, Stitch team.

📡 Connecting the Kingdom. Lesotho has officially granted Elon Musk’s Starlink a 10-year license to operate, just hours after denying that the move was tied to tariff negotiations with the US. The internet’s arriving — but the politics are very much still in play. And, of course, we here in Mzansi are asking “What about us?”

☑️ Locking it down. OpenAI is introducing a verification process for developers to be able to access the most advanced models and capabilities on the platform called ‘Verified Organization’. This is to combat the misuse of OpenAI’s API and could also be aimed at preventing IP theft. Very interesting.

🤖 Are we human? GPT-4.5 has passed the Turing test (study still to be peer-reviewed). The OpenAI model was judged to be human 73% of the time by study participants, with the other AI models hitting considerably lower levels of 56%, 23% and 21%. Starting to see why peeps on Facebook are getting caught by them deepfakes…

🏎️ ZA GP. SA’s hope of a local F1 Grand Prix is set to take its next step as Gov will decide which bid to support: a return to a refurbished Kyalami racetrack, or a 5.7km street circuit along the ocean and Green Point stadium set to the natural backdrops of Robben Island, the waterfront and Table Mountain.

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with your own CFO for a fraction of the cost with OCFO and startup legal and off-shoring support from Dommisse and 12 more vital startup tools & services.

BUILDING TOGETHER

Happening over at The Open Collab

In the last few days alone, in our online network, we…

• Got a killer prompt checklist for power SEO posts with AI from Gustav 🦾.

• Had an awesome time meeting each other and networking during Chat Roulette.

• Celebrated another successful funding round with Taariq and the Stitch team.

• Crowd-sourced Chris some options for a referral partner management platform.

• Discussed and shared major social, web and podcast strategies during Office Hours.

• Rediscovered the value of niching and doubling down on the things that drive real value 🚀.

• Got some free Personal Brand LinkedIn content writing for members via Matt — we expect big things!

Thinking about joining The Open Collab?

• Supercharge your network in the SA startup landscape — get that introduction, get that customer, or meet that partner.

• Get feedback on your products, services and/or offers from others who have built and are building their own products right now.

• Join all our online and in-person events for free!

• Exclusive 1-on-1 sessions with startup consultants.

SA’s only dedicated tech startup and scale-up founder network.

WHAT YOU SAID

Something fishy…

Last Friday, we gave you 4 startups and only one of them was real. Most of us recognised fisheries startup ABALOBI…

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ☕ Mugify: 3D prints biodegradable coffee cups for cafes on demand. (22%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🐟 ABALOBI: Connects small-scale fishers directly to consumers through a digital marketplace. (49%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🍼 BabyWhisper: uses AI to translate baby cries into specific needs. (5%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏗️ rebrickza: develops self-healing concrete for affordable housing. (24%)

Your 2 cents…

Oh, no, Elijah! How many weeks was that? Let's start again 🎈📌💥

Definitely, BzaarZA. If they can keep it all legal and help small-scale fishers earn a living = happiness 🐳.

HAVE A BREAK

Easter is coming up this weekend. So we decided we’re not sending you an FFF this coming Good Friday. Relax, rest up and enjoy some time with the fam.

We’ll see you back here and ready to do business next week.