Scale up lessons

In the year 2000, when the world was recovering the dotcom bubble the breathless non-event of the Y2K a former optometrist in Cape Town was busy developing his start-up company, which had created a way to send SMS from the internet to cellphones – a world first at the time which seems scarcely believable now. The firm was also instrumental in helping WhatsApp create a sign-up solution that doesn’t require email. The company’s name is Clickatell and it now has offices across the world including in Silicon Valley and Nigeria, but most of its developers - and its CEO - remain based in Cape Town. The global chat commerce leader, led by South-African born co-founder and CEO Pieter de Villiers - one of the Endeavor South Africa network of high-growth entrepreneurs, recently secured $91 million in investment in their Series C round. That’s R1,3bn. Along with his work with Clickatell and the mobile industry, Pieter actively works to promote and empower entrepreneurs in Africa in digital skills training in South Africa serving as chairman of SiMODiSA.org, a public benefit, not-for-profit organization based in South Africa and Africa. Pieter de Villiers, CEO and founder of tech unicorn Clickatell Alison Collier, Endeavor South Africa Managing Director