The Open Letter is a love letter to the South African startup space. A fun, quirky and hella informative daily newsletter about everything you need to know about African startups and the South African business scene.
The best stories from South Africa’s startup and business scene. Delivered with insight, edge, and just the right amount of mischief. Whether you’re building, investing, or just curious, The Open Letter keeps you in the loop and ahead of the curve.
The Open Letter
What Is The Open Letter — and Why You Need to Know About Them
If you care about South Africa’s startup ecosystem, who’s raising, who’s building, and where the next big opportunities are emerging, The Open Letter is one publication you need on your radar. It’s the go-to insider newsletter that captures the pulse of the country’s tech and venture capital scene in a way that’s sharp, grounded, and refreshingly honest. And kinda fun and quirky. And also random, like I wanna know who is making those hyper specific memes.
Unlike global tech media that glances at Africa occasionally, The Open Letter writes from the inside out — by people building in the trenches of the South African startup world.
What is The Open Letter?
The Open Letter is a weekly newsletter that covers the South African and broader African startup ecosystem, founders, investors, operators, and the real stories behind the headlines. Founded by Renier Kriel, and a small team of contributors from within the local tech ecosystem, the publication delivers analysis that blends venture insight with on-the-ground realism.
Its tone is clear, opinionated, and distinctly South African, no jargon, just fun and hella informative. It’s written for people who actually build things: founders, fund managers, startup employees, policy thinkers, and anyone trying to make sense of how innovation works on the continent.
Why you need to know about them
1. They make the local ecosystem make sense
If you’ve ever tried to keep up with funding news, policy shifts, or tech acquisitions in South Africa, you’ll know how fragmented the information can be. The Open Letter pulls it all together, not just who raised how much, but why it matters. They unpack the patterns behind the deals, the policy implications, and what it all signals for the next generation of startups.
2. They speak from experience
Many of The Open Letter’s contributors are founders or investors themselves. That means the commentary doesn’t come from the sidelines, it’s from people who’ve built startups, raised funding, or run venture capital firms. It’s the kind of writing that says what everyone in the industry is thinking but few are willing to say out loud.
3. They connect dots others miss
From policy changes at the Department of Trade and Industry to trends in African venture capital, The Open Letter is where macro meets micro. They highlight how global shifts, AI regulation, venture downturns, interest rates, affect founders on the ground in Johannesburg, Lagos, or Nairobi.
4. They’re shaping the conversation
As South Africa’s startup ecosystem matures, narrative matters. The Open Letter has become a trusted voice not only among founders but also among journalists, investors, and policymakers who follow their insights to understand what’s really happening beneath the PR gloss.
5. They’re building a record of modern African innovation
Beyond analysis, The Open Letter is documenting history. Each issue captures a snapshot of Africa’s startup evolution, the scrappy wins, the quiet shutdowns, the founders pivoting, and the investors doubling down. It’s creating an archive of lessons that future entrepreneurs will look back on to understand this moment.
What they cover
Every issue of The Open Letter typically features:
- Funding rounds: Who raised, from whom, and what it means for the market.
- Founder features: Honest stories of what’s working — and what’s not.
- Macro insights: How global tech and capital trends affect local builders.
- Operator wisdom: Real, practical lessons from people scaling teams, products, and revenue.
- Opinion essays: Smart takes on regulation, culture, and leadership in African tech.
It’s the newsletter equivalent of a strong coffee and a reality check.
Why it matters for South African founders and tech talent
South Africa’s tech scene has been on the rise for over a decade from fintechs like Yoco and TymeBank to AI startups and edtech players expanding across the continent. But with that growth comes noise, speculation, and media coverage that often misses the nuance. The Open Letter fills that gap.
For founders, it offers perspective and context. For jobseekers, it’s a way to learn how local startups really operate. For investors, it’s a signal source a way to track talent and sentiment long before official reports catch up.
It’s also a bridge between South Africa and the rest of the continent. The newsletter consistently covers regional patterns, where Kenya’s startup scene differs, how Nigeria’s regulatory shifts ripple through Africa, and how Southern African founders can learn from their peers.
The bigger picture
At a time when much of global tech media feels either sensational or detached, The Open Letter represents something rare: a publication that’s deeply local but globally relevant. It tells the story of African innovation with clarity, accountability, and ambition, the way the ecosystem deserves to be seen.
For anyone building, investing, or dreaming in tech, reading The Open Letter isn’t optional. It’s part of staying informed, inspired, and connected to where the future of African innovation is really being written, not in Silicon Valley, but right here, on the continent.
Key takeaway
The Open Letter is more than a newsletter. It’s the pulse of South Africa’s startup world a mirror held up to the builders shaping the continent’s future. If you want to understand what’s next for African tech and who’s building it you need to read it.
