Company News
Citrix Acquires SaaS Work Management Solutions Company, Wrike
Image sourced from The Business Journals Citrix has officially completed its acquisition of Wrike – a SaaS collaborative work management solutions company – for approximately $2.25 billion. Through the acquisition, Citrix is expected to deliver a comprehensive cloud-based work platform where employees and teams can securely access, collaborate and execute all work types in the “most efficient and effective way possible”. Delivering the Future of Work “For more than three decades, Citrix has been a leader in providing digital workspace infrastructure that empowers IT organizations to securely deliver the apps, content and business services employees need to do their jobs,” says David Henshall, President and CEO of Citrix. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_335.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.t...
Silicon Cape Appoints New Co-Chair
Image sourced from East Coast Radio Silicon Cape has appointed Vusi Thembekwayo to its board – effective March 2021. He will take on the position of co-chair, alongside Sumarie Roodt, as the board will be moving to a co-chair governance structure. Thembekwayo is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, speaker and founding CEO of MyGrowthFund Venture Partners. “Having someone of Vusi’s calibre come on board is not only a massive achievement and milestone for the organisation and the ecosystem, but it also means that we are determined to tackle the systemic challenges that exist in our ecosystems such as the structural inequalities and the relative lack of diversity,” says Roodt. On his appointment, Thembekwayo says, “Silicon Cape leads in the work that it’s been doing because it ...
Jumia to Expand Food Delivery Service in Africa
Jumia is set to expand its eCommerce offering to include food delivery. According to the company’s co-CEO, Sacha Poignonnec, 20% of all transactions across the Jumia platform is already made up of food and this is growing quickly. He also revealed that the service will expand to Egypt following the exit of Uber Eats. TechCentral writes [Poignonnec’s] comments come “after a year where demand for delivered meals and groceries has exploded worldwide as restrictions to contain the coronavirus kept people indoors”. And while countries in Africa have taken longer than others around the world to adopt this trend – due to limited access to affordable Internet solutions – Jumia is making waves to expand before other eCommerce goliaths – like Amazon – do. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_bce.td-a-rec-im...
Luno Reaches 7 Million Users Milestone
South African-founded Luno has officially recorded seven million customers (wallets) – just seven weeks after reaching the milestone of six million customers. The business believes this growth is due to the simplicity of its online and mobile platforms, offering education, bank-grade security and self-regulation. It is actively working with regulators and banks to safely increase access to cryptocurrencies. Luno was ranked in the top six cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide in the latest CryptoCompare Exchange Benchmark and also received the top tier AA rating. South Africa is one of Luno’s strongest markets and the appetite for cryptocurrency trades continues to grow. Reaching seven million wallets demonstrates the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies across the globe. /* custom css */...
Vodacom and Google Give Smartphones to Rural Communities in South Africa
Vodacom has partnered with Google to give away hundreds of Android-powered smartphones to communities across Limpopo, South Africa. This move forms part of the companies continued efforts to “reduce the digital divide” and offer many who reside in deep rural communities “access to the internet for the first time”. “At Vodacom we are optimistic about how technology and connectivity can enhance the future and improve people’s lives. Through our business, we aim to build a digital society that transforms communities, embraces everyone, leaving no one behind. Our purpose is to ‘connect for a better future’, improving the lives of the next 100 million customers by 2025,” says Imran Khan, Managing Executive for Vodacom Limpopo. “In our pursuit to build an inclusive and sustainable digital societ...
Microsoft Word to Introduce New Text Predictions Feature
Image sourced from Lifewire Microsoft is set to introduce text predictions for Word. This new feature is expected to help users write “more efficiently” by reducing spelling and grammar errors. According to Neowin, text predictions uses a Machine Learning model to “make suggestions based on the text typed by the user”. How Word Text Predictions Work Simply start typing in a Word document and note that predictions start appearing. Press the TAB key to accept a prediction and the ESC key to reject it. Text prediction learns and improves over time. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_666.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_666.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Text predictions are supported in English only and available on the following word platforms and builds: The f...
Google News Initiative Launches in Africa
Image sourced from Pymnts Google has announced the second Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in Africa, with an “open call for projects that increase reader engagement and explore new business models for media”. The first GNI Innovation Challenge saw 21 projects in 13 countries receive funding last year. Awardees were from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Turkey, and the UAE. In Nigeria, Ringier Africa Digital Publishing was awarded funding to increase personalisation across its platform using a blend of prediction, recommendation and local information pages to increase user engagement. Kenyan awardee Africa Uncensored is aggregating news from members of the public to produce at scale. Applications open today ...
Microsoft Offers OCR Support for Official South African Languages
Microsoft has revealed it would add Optical Character Recognition (OCR) support for two of South Africa’s official languages, Afrikaans and Zulu. “Adding support for these languages is part of Microsoft’s mission to build meaningful cognitive products and services that improve local engagement,” says Rory Preddy, Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft South Africa. “This support, which now counts a total of 73 languages, means that more people are able to connect in their own language and that language will become a seamless feature of using technology, rather than a hindrance.” OCR support for local languages allows users to use visual data processing to label content with objects and concepts, extract text, generate image descriptions and moderate content. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_a3a.td...
UberGo Launches in South Africa
Sourced from CNet. Uber has launched its low-cost ride-hailing service UberGo in South Africa. “Due to the successful launch of UberGo in Port Elizabeth in 2017, we have decided to change the name of UberNam to UberGo, in order to follow the global Uber standard and to easily expand this option across South Africa,” reads a statement from the company. “We also understand that the name led to some confusion regarding a ride-sharing product, which we do not have in South Africa. Therefore, when you open your Uber app, you will see UberGo. This product is in addition to the current suite of products such as UberX and UberBlack.” UberGo comes with smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, with fares priced more affordably than before. Riders and drivers can expect the same door-to-door safety fea...
Tarsus Technology Group Appoints New CEO
Tarsus Technology Group (TTG) has appointed Anton Herbst as its new CEO with effect from 1 March 2021. He replaces Miles Crisp who resigned to pursue new interests. Herbst brings to the role more than two decades of leadership experience in the ICT distribution industry, starting his career at TTG 20 years ago when it was known as MB Technologies. Between 2001 and 2011, Herbst was the managing director of Advanced Channel Technologies (A.C.T.), a company within TTG that focused on the distribution of printer consumables and accessories. Under Herbst’s leadership, A.C.T. grew from a start-up into a billion Rand enterprise by the time he left to start his own consulting business. Herbst re-joined TTG in July 2013 as CEO of Tarsus Distribution and served as a member of the mainboard. He assum...
Rectron To Distribute NZXT PC Gaming Solutions Across South Africa
Rectron has added NZXT software-powered hardware solutions for PC gaming to its portfolio. According to the company, NZXT is dedicated to providing “premium PC gaming products and services that combine affordability, functionality, engineering and design to achieve extraordinary gaming experiences”. Through this partnership, Rectron will distribute the complete range of NZXT products including the H series cases, AIO liquid coolers, Power Supplies, AER RGB series Fans & Accessories. “NZXT is a very valuable addition in significantly strengthening our PC gaming offering. As a leading developer in innovative gaming products, NZXT has established a passionate following among gamers seeking craftsmanship and value, and we are excited to bring a focused selection of their products to o...
King Price and Secura Launch Emergency Response App in South Africa
King Price and Secura have introduced an app-based emergency response service, code red, in South Africa. In an emergency situation, app users can hit the panic button and the nearest armed response or emergency service vehicle will be dispatched. Code red taps into a network of more than 280 armed response companies, which connects to thousands of responders across all 9 provinces. Other services available to respond to a code red activation include the SA Police Service, metro, municipal and traffic law enforcement, ambulances, and fire and rescue services. “If you feel threatened, or if there’s a medical emergency, you open our app and tap on code red,” begins client experience partner at King Price, Wynand van Vuuren. “The code red control room will dispatch the closest linked armed re...
