Funded Startups & Projects

South African Astronomy Observatory (SAAO) Network's Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is upgrading its Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS) with a new single monolithic CCD detector to replace the old, fragmented one, improving performance and throughput by eliminating chip gaps and leveraging new fringe-suppression techniques. This new detector will be similar to the one used in the RSS-Red arm, with the goal of being operational by early 2026.

The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) has been exploring marine red algae along the Eastern Cape coastline as a source of novel compounds with potential against breast cancer. These algae, including species such as Laurencia and Gelidium, produce chemically diverse metabolites such as halogenated terpenes, bromophenols, and sulfated polysaccharides.

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Founded in 2020 by a fleet owner, Right Now Response (RNR) was built to revolutionise how businesses manage repairs and maintenance. Their people-first approach and cutting-edge technology make managing events seamless and transparent.

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Sawubona Mycelium is a South African biotechnology company harnessing the power of African medicinal fungi to create sustainable, high-value bio-based ingredients for industries such as personal care, functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and beverages. Founded in 2018 and based in Centurion, the company integrates fermentation science, indigenous knowledge, and AI-driven data analytics to unlock novel biomolecules from a library of over 3,000 fungal strains sourced across Southern Africa.

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