The Startup Club Podcast STARTUP CLUB ZA®

In this episode, we’re humbled to sit down with Karidas Tshintsholo, CEO and Co-Founder of Khula!, the pioneering agritech startup dedicated to empowering smallholder farmers through access to markets and financing. Founded in 2016, the business now enables the trade of thousands of products from hundreds of local & international suppliers on its platform and is changing the face of the agri-supply chain for good. Khula is a graduate of the Google for Startups accelerator, a past winner o...

In this episode, we’re humbled to sit down with Saul Kornik, the visionary Founder and CEO of both Kena Health and Healthforce, the technology ventures solving the gap in the country’s health infrastructure by making affordable care accessible to hundreds of thousands of patients across South Africa. Both ventures have achieved significant traction, with Kena Health raising both $2m in venture capital and winning the MTN Business App of the Year award in 2023 - and Healthforce facilitating ov...

In this episode, we’re humbled to sit down with Badi Sudhakaran, the brilliant Co-Founder and CPO of Africa’s leading crypto exchange, VALR. Since its founding in 2018, VALR has grown to become the continent’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, processing more than $10bn from more than 500K customers. The company has also successfully raised more than $55m from leading investors and is now eyeing a new wave of growth through its expansion to the Middle East.We talk about:&nb...

In this episode, we’re joined by Kimberley Taylor, Founder and CEO of LOOP, the trailblazing delivery management platform that’s empowering companies across the country to optimise and scale their logistics infrastructure. What started as a third-year university project in 2015, Loop has since grown to raise meaningful investment, built a team of 21 employees and is supporting big-name clients like Nandos and OneCart, evening helping your Checkers' Sixty60 driver arrive at your door. We talk ...

In this episode, we’re joined by David Akinin, Founder and CEO of JABU, one of the continent’s leading B2B commerce startups, solving last-mile distribution, payments and supply chains for informal retailers in Africa. Since its founding in 2020, JABU has expanded to multiple countries, grown a team of 70 and has raised more than $18m in capital. We talk about: David’s incredible life storyHow he was accidentally hired at GoogleHis journey of navigating tough decisionsHow and why he fell in l...

In this episode, Mathew sits down with the formidable Thandeka Xaba, co-founder and Managing Partner at Digital Africa Ventures, one of South Africa’s first black, female-founded venture capital funds. This episode dives into:Thandeka’s upbringingNavigating entrepreneurshipThe power of networksThe realities of being a first-time fund managerHer passion for supporting underrepresented founders to make an impact on the continent-Connect with Thandeka on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tha...