The Startup Club Podcast

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 about:

• Kim’s formative childhood
• Starting a company in university
• Raising capital and finding the first big client
• Perspective on being a female founder
• The ups (and downs) of scaling too fast
• The company’s exciting prospects

Connect with Kimberley on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-taylor-loop/
Connect with Mathew on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
-
This episode was sponsored by FNB South Africa.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In this episode, we're thrilled to sit down with Paul Kent, Founder and CEO of adumo, the multi-channel payments platform that's helping businesses get paid, boost their customer engagement and keep employees motivated.

The last two decades have seen a radical transformation in South Africa’s payments landscape, evolving from predominantly cash-heavy commerce to a world that's embracing digital infrastructure. The space is both diverse and dynamic, with a mix of traditional banking systems, mobile payment platforms, challenger POS brands and a growing consumer appetite for fintech solutions.
Having built one of the country’s first non-bank card payments businesses, SureSwipe, Paul Kent has witnessed this payments revolution first-hand. Over a decade later, his experience culminated in the founding of Adumo in 2019, which has since grown to serve more than 23 000 active merchants and process over R100-billion in throughput across channels annually. Earlier this month, Adumo received approval from the country's Competition Commission to be fully acquired by listed financial services group, Lesaka Technologies, in a R1.6bn cash/equity deal. For Paul and the Adumo team though, the opportunity remains greater than ever.

We talk about:
• Paul's upbringing, early career and juggling talent over passion.
• Leaning in when opportunity knocks.
• Lessons from building multiple ventures in a competitive space.
• The founder journey from start to acquisition.
• What's next for Paul and the Adumo team.
-
Connect with Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkentsa/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Guardrisk Launchpad - a pioneering initiative that's driving insure-tech innovation through capital and value-added support services to qualifying scaleups. Learn more at the halfway mark of today’s episode - or visit https://grlaunchpad.com.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In this episode, we're excited to sit down with Lynton Peters, Founder and exited-CEO of OneCart - South Africa's premier online, on-demand delivery service - that lets customers shop across multiple stores, in a single order, with one delivery fee, arriving at their in under 60minutes.
In 2023, South Africa’s e-commerce market generated an estimated R71bn in revenue, largely driven by sectors like clothing/apparel, entertainment/hobbies and electronics. Alongside growing demand for conventional goods and services, has been the exponential growth in South Africa’s online grocery space - and in particular - the surge in on-demand and last-mile delivery services available. In fact, it’s now common practice for many consumers to buy their groceries online and have them delivered direct to their doorstep.

Founded in 2016, OneCart is one of South Africa's on-demand grocery delivery pioneers and has played a key role in establishing the category. Within 5 years, the business grew to over 1000 direct/indirect employees and achieved triple-digit revenue growth annually - largely accelerated by the Covid19 lockdowns - before being sold to Massmart (Wallmart’s African subsidiary) in late-2021, in one of the country's largest-ever e-commerce acquisitions.
Since leaving the business in 2022, Lynton has become an active angel investor and remains motivated to build Africa, armed with the insights and experience that come with being one of South Africa’s few exited tech founders.

We talk about:
• Lynton's upbringing, early-career and returning to South African roots.
• Transitioning from corporate leader to startup pioneer.
• Building product, welcoming co-founders and raising capital.
• The companies acquisition to Massmart and his life after exit.
• What's next for Lynton.
-
Connect with Lynton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyntonp/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Paystack - helping businesses in Africa get paid by anyone, anywhere in the world - thanks to their suite of world-class payment solutions, intuitive APIs, founder-centric support and an exciting (and free!) credit program called Paystack Catalyst, purposefully created to help startups accelerate their growth. To learn more visit paystack.com/za.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In this episode, we're thrilled to sit down with Abu Addae, Co-Founder and CEO of LifeCheq - the South African fintech democratising access to financial advice and using AI to enable financial advisers to improve client experience and drive efficiency.

Founded in 2015, LifeCheq is disrupting the multi-trillion rand financial services sector through it’s tech-first proposition that enhances the effectiveness and accessibility of financial advice in the South African market. The business has since has grown to a team of 75, serving over 200K users, and has raised more than R100m in venture capital, from the likes of Naspers, Futuregrowth and ARC Investments.

With this significant market challenge comes a massive opportunity and the team remains laser-focussed on building a technology business that enables financial advice for 2BN underserved clients in emerging markets.

We talk about:
• Abu's upbringing and early career.
• Early success and navigating risk.
• Moving from corporate executive to founder.
• Raising capital and the right team.
• Competing in an established space.
• What's next for Abu and LifeCheq.
-
Connect with Abu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abuaddae/
Connect with Mathew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Momentum Group - one of South African’s leading financial services groups - home to household names like Metropolitan and Momentum. The group's mission is to build and protect their clients' financial dreams - whilst providing a sense of certainty in an increasingly uncertain world. They also place innovation and digital transformation at the core of their strategy and are excited about playing a proactive role in advancing and supporting the country's startup ecosystem. Visit momentumgroupltd.co.za to learn more 🚀

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/

In today's episode, we're excited to sit down with Thato Schermer, Co-Founder and CEO of Zoie Health, Africa's first holistic digital women's health & wellness platform, dedicated to making female healthcare more convenient, affordable and caring.
Shocked at how costly and difficult it was to see a gynaecologist, get a prescription, then fill it at a pharmacy, the founders recognized a gap to improve access and affordability to female healthcare.
Founded in 2020, the Zoie platform allows users to book virtual consultations, purchase medication and supplements online, as well as join a community for advice and support. Since its founding, the business has grown exponentially to now serve more than 9 thousand members and 50 healthcare providers (with a pipeline of over 300). In 2022, Zoie was recognised as an MTN "App of The Year" finalist and took first place at Harvard Business School’s "Africa Business Competition" - not to mention winning our very own Startup Club ZA “Healthtech of the Year” award in 2023. On the back of this momentum, the team closed their pre-seed round, led by 4DX and E Squared.
In 2024, Zoie launched an exciting, Whatsapp-enabled employee benefits solution, “EasyDoc”, where employees can engage in convenient consults with doctors, helping employers reduce absenteeism, enhance productivity and improve retention.

Armed with a bold mission to change the landscape of female healthcare across Africa, it’s clear that things are only getting started for Thato and the Zoie Team.
We talk about:
• Thato's upbringing, career and mission to "serve people" through business.
• Taking the leap from corporate achiever to health innovator.
• The nuances of building a startup in a crowded sector.
• Raising capital and navigating pivots.
• The Zoie Health mission, vision and what comes next.
-
Connect with Thato on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatomabudusha/
Connect with Mathew on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathewmarsden/
This episode was brought to you in partnership with our friends at E Squared Investments - one of South Africa's leading impact investors - providing funding and support to early-stage founders, high-growth businesses and social enterprises - intent on creating meaningful employment to tackle social inequality and enable economic inclusivity. For more info, visit esquared.org.za.

The Startup Club Podcast dives into the stories of South Africa's leading tech startup founders and investors, their journeys of innovation, failure, resilience, and triumph and is an initiative of Startup Club ZA - the country’s fastest-growing tech startup and investor community. If you're passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, solving hard problems, backing the change-makers and co-creating a better country, then you're invited to join us! 🇿🇦
Connect with us:
Website - https://www.startupclubza.com
LinkedIn - https://za.linkedin.com/company/startup-club-za
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/startupclub.za/