Hi there,

Smart enough? In the quest for better, faster computing, an Australian startup has launched the world’s first commercial code-deployable biological computer. Using lab-grown human neurons (brain cells) as part of its “chip”, it’s said to be faster and more flexible than most chips used in LLMs. Plus: Apparently, it “evolves” too. 🧠

In this Open Letter:

• Local lift-off: This SA startup helps deliver hundreds of payloads into orbit.

• Fibertime’s Finnish funding, Khula’s AgriTech harvest & mobile solar devices.

• The obvious next move: The real key to strategic business growth.

• What these SA startups should pivot to next: The results are in.

• Lonely building your startup? Join The Open Collab and get support.

First time reading? Join 21,694 South African professionals and sign up.

TRENDING NOW

The SA Startup Sending 100+ Products Space

The space industry is big business. Not to mention it’s pretty cool. So in today’s Tuesday Deep Dive, we look at one SA startup that’s built up the street cred to fly with Elon and the Right Stuff boys…

Since the launch of the very first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, we’ve sent thousands of satellites and other objects into space – their numbers growing pretty consistently each year until the boom of 2017 when the total number of annual objects launched doubled from 221 to 456.

It continued in hyperdrive to the 2’664 objects sent into orbit in 2023 alone. 

But building these satellites (or any other product for that matter) that need to function far from Earth, with no opportunity to fix once they are out there (literally one-way missions) and having to withstand extremely harsh circumstances, offers quite a unique set of challenges.

One such challenge is how to manoeuvre the various elements of the satellite in zero gravity to accomplish its mission. Typically, satellites need power – which they normally get from solar panels, but that means you need to remotely or automatically turn the panels towards the sun. 

What’s more, you need to ensure you point cameras or sensors directly towards the satellite’s goal. And, to enable it to send high amounts of data back down to Earth, you need an antenna trained on a specific point on the planet for long enough to perform the transfer (while moving at around 28,800 km per hour in Low Earth Orbit). 

All highly complex and fun stuff, done by the satellite control system.

Moving stuff at Zero gravity

The control system is a highly-specialised component and is a combination of: 

• electronic PC board design

• complex firmware that needs to run on these boards

• mathematical equations and algorithms to modulate the satellite

• complex mechanical bearings and integrations to turn the satellite as it floats in space (i.e it doesn't have a hard surface that it sits on from which it can turn on)

• optical sensors for the satellite to orient itself with where it is (and where it needs to go).

All of these elements also need to feedback to the control system, confirming it’s actually performing as instructed and reporting back on its new orientation etc.  

Complex, multidisciplinary engineering – which means it’s very expensive. What’s more, if this fails out in space, the satellite is gone. Forever.

So no data, no learnings, and nothing to show for months, even years, of work. Eina.

The unique challenge of building for space

Iterating is a vital part of the learning journey when building tech down here on Earth. Builders need to iterate and improve on mistakes to achieve better results.

But when iteration is extremely costly ($300’000 for a 50kg payload) and time-consuming (you have to stand in line to catch a lift on the next SpaceX mission), getting costs and time-to-launch down while increasing the chance of flight success could be the difference between failure and success in the space industry.

And one way of achieving this is buying an “out-of-the-box” control system out of the box.

This is where this local Stellenbosch-based startup comes in…

The local startup playing in the space

CubeSpace is a local SpaceTech startup specialising in fully integrated Attitude Determination and Control Systems (ADCS) for cubes and microsatellites.

These control systems allow the satellite controller to direct different parts of the satellite to its objectives.

Their suite of products is designed to integrate modularly into their client’s onboard computer, so they can plug and play as many or as few of CubeSpace’s components into their satellite as they want.

Clients provide CubeSpace with their requirements including:

• The size of the satellite.

• The payload.

• The accuracy of where the satellite needs to point and the manoeuvres it needs to be able to perform are crucial.

• How it needs to orbit (believe it or not, different orbits present different challenges).

• Diagrams of what the satellite looks like.

CubeSpace then processes the info through a simulator with models of their components with a proven track record developed over 10 years of flight heritage (350 satellites with over 4k components for 250+ clients globally, including NASA, the European Space Agency, universities, EnduroSat, the UAE Space Agency and more. 

And they’ve just raised their 2nd round of funding, $3 million to scale even further.

With the global space industry bound to hit the $ 1 trillion a year mark by 2030 and $1.8 trillion by 2035, there’s never been a better time to cement oneself as a global leader in space technology. Something CabeSpace is well positioned to become.

We are watching this space…

PS: We’re hosting a fireside chat with CubeSpace CEO Mike-Alec Kearney this Thursday, 6 March 2025 from 6–8 PM at the LaunchLab in Stellenbosch, so you can come and get some out-of-this-world startup-building insights.

Get your tickets on Quicket for R100 (hurry up; there are not many left!)

CHECK THIS OUT

Time to Grow: The Next Crucial Step for 2025

Most businesses don’t fail because they have a bad product – they fail because they run out of money…

If you don’t have full visibility into your numbers — your cash flow, margins, payment cycles — you’re making decisions in the dark. 

Fact: You can’t scale what you don’t understand.

Along with Outsourced CFO, we held a workshop two weeks ago on making financial year-end more manageable for startups. One key takeaway was this: 2024 is behind us, but to position yourself for growth in 2025, it's time to gain 100% clarity on your finances.

Why? Because, in order to scale, you need to:

✅ Know exactly where your money is going — every day.
✅ Automate your finances so you can focus on growth, not admin.
✅ Use expert CFO-level insights to plan, forecast, and scale – most investors require it.

Growth Doesn’t Happen by Accident: It’s Designed

🎯 Measure: Are you tracking the key financial numbers that drive growth? OCFO breaks down the metrics that matter.

🎯 Automate: With integrated, automated systems in place, you can streamline your financial processes. Seamlessly connect your bank, payroll, and expenses — so your books stay clean while you scale.

🎯 Strategise: Want to raise funding? Expand? Increase profit? You need CFO-level insights to make smart decisions.

You can’t build a great business on financial guesswork. The sooner you get this right, the faster you can grow.

🚀 Book a free session with OCFO today and take your business to the next level.

IN SHORT

Strike up a conversation…

💻 To The Finnish Line. The Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd., finnfund has made a follow-on investment of €2 million to pay-as-you-go fibre provider, the Fibertime Group, to expand its fibre services to new townships and connect more homes. We love to see more SAns get connected…

👩‍🌾 Gooi Mielies. Local AgriTech startup Khula has closed a R126 million funding round from investors, including Absa Bank, AECI, E Squared, and PepsiCo’s Kgodiso Fund to enable financial inclusion and support a new era of farmers. Nice to see AgriTech growth.

☀️ Solar Goes Mobile. This year’s Mobile World Congress saw a number of brands showcasing their solar-powered devices (well, their concept of solar-powered devices) including Infinix’s smartphone and Lenovo’s Yoga Solar PC concept which can charge the notebook via its lid even when the laptop’s not in use. Hopefully, we get these in time for Eskom’s next bout of loadshedding.

🧚‍♀️ H2 Go. FlyH2 Aerospace, a local zero-emissions aviation startup company, has announced that its Dragonfly V prototype uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) is successfully continuing its test program. While it is still being powered by batteries, the UAV is designed to be powered by Hydrogen Fuel cells. Epic.

🎯 The Stack. Founders need trustworthy tools and suppliers. Our Founder’s Stack includes an easy-to-apply R5M business finance facility from Lula, next-level authority building and lead generation with Stream, and loads more vital startup tools and services.

BUILDING TOGETHER

Happening over at The Open Collab

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

• Got the ultimate startup PR playbook in our exclusive masterclass on Friday!

• Got a sweet new community platform with resources, tools, recordings and even our own mini startup marketplace 💃🏻🕺🏽.

• Everyone got 10% off any luxury eco-stay, getaway or holiday anywhere in the country (thanks, Lara!).

• Met 20+ SA startups, scale-ups and tech companies — usually with direct access to the founder.

• Helped Danie with feedback and loads of use cases for his new AI project.

• Helped Carlos flesh out an idea for building authority and visibility for ventures.

• Discovered 2 high-powered AI web design tools 😎.

• Mused about what’s more important: doctor’s orders or your daily cuppa…

Thinking about joining The Open Collab? There's never been a better time

On top of all the normal weekly benefits, we have now launched our community repository featuring all our recorded masterclasses, a community directory and other useful tools for building your startup.

From mastering B2B sales, building great products and raising funding, there is something for everyone.

Come join SA’s only dedicated tech startup and scale-up founder community today!

WHAT YOU SAID

More with less…

Last Friday, we asked what pivot these SA startups could make next, and everyone wants to see Bank Zero get into decluttering…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🍉 Melon Mobile — Watermelon deliveries in summer (8%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🧗 Yebo Fresh — Outdoor adventure tours (31%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ ⚡️ Zapper — AI-powered mosquito control service (28%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 📦 Bank Zero — A marketplace for decluttering minimalists (33%)

Your 2 cents…

Oh, yes, we can see it now, William — drones and the works 🦟⚡︎😎