WATCH: Lessons on how to scale up

In the year 2000, when the world was recovering from the dotcom bubble and the breathless nonevent of Y2K, a former optometrist in Cape Town was busy developing his start-up company, which had created a way to send an 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 SA-born co-founder and CEO Pieter de Villiers — one of the Endeavor SA network of high-growth entrepreneurs — recently secured R1.3bn ($91m) in investment in their series C round. 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 SA, serving as chair of SiMODiSA.org, a public benefit, not-for-profit organisation based in SA and Africa.

Business Day spoke to De Villiers, and Alison Collier, the MD of Endeavor SA.