South Africa is a country that has one of the most developed and robust start-ups ecosystems in the continent of Africa due to her massive entrepreneurial talent, strong corporate sector, and the consumer and business market. South Africa has a well-developed local economy and a strong tie with a lot of international investors. The country has a massive number of start-ups working hard to take center stage in 2020. Today, we will be discussing the ten start-ups’ in South Africa to be on the lookout for in 2020.
- Rapid Deploy
Reduction of emergency response time and improved situation awareness is vital to the South African economy. Rapid Deploy is a cloud-based software that allows public safety officials to perform their emergency response functions effectively. The start-up was established and launched in 2014, raised over $16M, and has continued to expand its services across South Africa.
- Travel Start
Having the privilege to compare air ticket prices, hotel reservation bookings, and vehicle hire options are essential to all travelers. Travel start is a fantastic online travel agency that performs these functions, to ensure traveling is affordable and straightforward to travelers. It was founded in 1999, but started operation in South Africa in 2019 and has raised more than $50M.
- MFS Africa
MFS Africa is an excellent start-up that works in close collaboration with financial institutions and mobile network operators to provide quality value-added services to banks and their customers. MFS Africa was launched in 2013 by Dare Okoudjou and has raised over $17M.
- Sweep South
Sweep South is one of the highly funded start-ups’ in South Africa. The start-up focuses on providing quality home cleaning services to its clients in the country. Sweep South was founded in 2014 by Alen Ribic and Aisha R. Pandor and has raised over $8.5M.
- Where Is My Transport
The provision of mobility data to make public transport predictable, accessible, safer to use, and easy to navigate is the aim of launching the Where Is My Transport start-up. It was founded by 2015 by Devin de Vries, Chris King, and Dave New. The start-up has raised over $6.5M.
- Lulalend
For small businesses that desire to access funding without visiting the bank branch, Lulalend is a start-up that got them covered. The start-up evaluates the real-time performance of small business owners before allowing them to receive funding without visiting the bank. Lulalend was founded in 2014 by the duo of Neil Welman and Trevor Gosling.
- Jumo
Jumo is a financial start-up that offers microloans to customers and allows them to have access to fantastic saving services with strong collaboration with insurance and banking institutions. The start-up started in 2015 by Andrew Watkins-Ball and has raised over $70M.
- Aviro Health
Founded in 2014 by Musaed Abrahams, Aviro Health is a start-up that focuses on guiding and educating patients with HIV and Tuberculosis and are undergoing treatment. The start-up has been beneficial to the South Africans since its establishment in the country and has raised over $100M.
- Vula Mobile
The act of Referring health workers to health specialists in tertiary health facilities is beneficial to upcoming health workers in South Africa. Vula Mobile has a start-up app that performs this function effectively. It was founded in 2017 by William Mapham and has referred thousands of health workers to tertiary health hospitals’ specialists.
- Guidepost
Guidepost is a start-up that facilitates the needed support and guidance to Type-2 diabetes patients in South Africa. The start-up started running five years ago and has gotten over 6000 users. Since diabetes is a significant health challenge in the developing world, the use of Guidepost will continue to trend beyond 2020.
Summary
Here, we have discussed the ten start-ups to be in the lookout for in South Africa in 2020. Patronizing their services will not be a bad option. Try it out, and you will not regret doing so.
