Original engineering team started to develop FEKO
About us
We stay actively involved in the evolution of businesses through all their phases of growth from incubation to scaling to profitable.
About us
We stay actively involved in the evolution of businesses from incubation to scaling to profitable.
Who We Are
The Group has a unique approach to investment, focused on aligning and supporting the right people to find commercial ideas based on their individual field of expertise. Profits and experience are shared from the profitable businesses to grow the incubation and scaling businesses.
The Group has a track record of expanding internationally, with over 50% of companies selling abroad. The portfolio comprises of 17 innovative tech businesses, over 375 employees and more than 175 engineers and developers.
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Innovative tech businesses
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of portfolio companies selling abroad
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Employees
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Engineers
Our Story
1997
1999
Alphawave Mobile Network Services was born, providing EMF compliances services to operators
2002
EMSS Antennas established as hardware development partner
2005
EMSS Antennas started with R&D work on radio astronomy receivers for SKA-SA
2008
- Antenna Magus, an antenna design acceleration tool, was founded
- Developed IXUS an EMF Compliance tool for internal use and for sale on the international market
2009
Developed and launched FieldSENSE to protect RF workers at cellular base station sites
2012
Skynamo was founded (originally called Field Office and later Honeybee) using tablets and smartphones to manage field sales
2014
- Antennas Magus sold to CST Germany
- FEKO sold to Altair
- Started to design and build Inrange® Golf, a golf ball tracking radar system, out of EMSS Antennas
2015
- Alphawave Ventures founded as investment vehicle for new startups in electronics and software.
- Sozo Labs, a virtual reality company was founded as one of the first Alphawave Ventures investments.
- Investment in Etse, a precision electronics business, which today includes FarmRanger, Farmtrack and Cubecom.
2016
First tranche investment in Polymorph Sytems, a specialised mobile app development company
2017
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- Investment in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) companies including Saigen and Predictive Insights
- HCI becomes a co-investor in Inrange® Golf
2019
- Skynamo secures series A funding from Five Elms for growth investment into the USA and UK markets
- Callbi was developed for contact centers, using Saigen’s automatic speech recognition technology
2020
- Kagiso Capital invest R100 million in the Alphawave Group
- Investment in Neurozone, digitising neuroscience and analytics to build resilience
2021
- Bytefuse and Scout founded out of MLAI Innovation Unit
- Fanfire founded out of Web3 (crypto NFT, blockchain) Innovation Unit
2022
Hawktivity, a computer vision at the edge company, was founded out of the IoT Innovation Unit.
Our Technology
Our portfolio companies have all built innovative technologies in the world of electronics, software and data – or a powerful combination of these. This includes:
• Electronic design & development
• Interconnected sensor technology
• Back-end & front-end software development (mobile & web)
• Electromagnetic fields
• Machine learning, artificial intelligence & data science
• Voice technology
• Extended, virtual & augmented reality
• Crypto, Smart Contracts & NFTS
• Web3 technologies
Innovation Units
Our Innovation Units create the perfect environment to foster ideas, curiosity and new developments. Each Unit is led by a domain expert, giving our teams the space to play and learn to accelerate growth and new ideas – all within the fields of electronics, software and data.
Crypto, Smart Contracts & NFT
Blockchain technology has evolved well beyond cryptocurrency, and the Crypto, Smart Contracts and NFT unit focuses on the ways in which these technologies can have practical, commercial utility. Gert-Jan van Rooyen has worked in this space since 2013, and his team of specialists develop smart contracts and other Web3 applications to test out new business models. An important part of their efforts is to make the technology friendly and usable for applications where users have little to no crypto knowledge.
Machine Learning & AI
Etienne Barnard, well-known for his work on pattern recognition and speech processing, heads up the ML and AI unit. Together with his team of specialists, they look for new ML and AI trends, with a particular interest in the applications of Deep Neural Networks. The unit’s focus is on domains where significant amounts of data are available, and where a learning capability would add substantial value to such data with the goal to develop prototype solutions that demonstrate this.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The IoT unit focuses on evaluating the latest advancements in sensor technology and building new software for existing sensors. Richard Barry and his team of IoT and product developers continuously look at innovative ways of automating and visualising insights from sensor data. The unit aims to take what they discover about the limitations, advantages and specific value of sensors, and build it into viable products that improve business’s operational efficiency and productivity.
How We Help
As engineers with first-hand
experience in building
successful international tech
businesses, we support each
company with continuous and
relevant business insights, as
well as central support for
finance, marketing, sales and
human capital development.
How We Help
As engineers with first-hand experience in building successful international tech businesses, we support each company with continuous and relevant business insights, as well as central support for finance, marketing, sales and human capital development.
Business Insights
We are strategically involved at board level with
every company. We assist CEOs in making the right
decisions, taking market challenges and resource
constraints into account.
every company. We assist CEOs in making the right
decisions, taking market challenges and resource
constraints into account.
Financial Management
We offer financial services, including budget cycles
and financial model preparation for most of the
portfolio.
and financial model preparation for most of the
portfolio.
Sales
We support our portfolio companies with
business-to-business sales insights. This includes sales strategies, as well as setting up and managing sales functions.
Human Capital Development
From performance reviews to talent acquisition, we support companies with human capital management and
development.
Marketing
We provide strategic marketing support to the companies where required. This includes putting marketing foundations in place to develop our portfolio brands and generate demand for sales. We also encourage inter-group learnings through Group events to share best practices and learn from each other’s experiences.
Work With Us
We are always looking for highly talented people to join our team. We have full-time and internship opportunities within the group.
Work With Us
We are always looking for highly
talented people to join our team.
We have full-time and internship
opportunities within the group.
talented people to join our team.
We have full-time and internship
opportunities within the group.
Work With Us
We are always looking for highly talented people to join our team. We have full-time and internship opportunities within the group.
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