One of SA’s fastest-growing tech companies turns 10

From its foundation a decade ago, Everlytic has evolved from being a bulk e-mail provider to providing a comprehensive digital messaging platform that helps businesses communicate personally, reliably and automatically using e-mail, SMS and voice broadcasting. This has helped propel the business to being one of the fastest-growing technology companies in SA.

Everlytic was founded in 2010 when Sam Hutchinson and Josh Adler built on an earlier venture designed to help publishers better cope with the shift to digital. Rather than restrict themselves, this new solution was built to provide marketers from across all industries with a platform that enabled them to use e-mail and SMS to reach broad audiences.

Everlytic’s rise to being a leading SA provider of multichannel digital messaging software did not go unnoticed either. In 2016, it was acquired by Vox, an integrated infrastructure and ICT provider, to broaden their portfolio of digital service offerings and open up opportunities for growth.

Progress has not been without its obstacles though, says JD Engelbrecht, who was appointed as MD in May 2019: “Most businesses face similar challenges — building a solution that makes a difference, finding or creating an addressable market, hiring the right type of people to move the business forward, generating liquidity to pay said people and fund growth, developing an agile culture, and re-evaluating and taking some strategic risks along the way.” 

The company is ranked the fastest-growing tech company in SA and the third-fastest in Africa by Deloitte in 2014. It was also nominated as a top 10 finalist in PWC’s 2015 Vision to Reality Awards, and voted one of the Most Promising African Technology Companies by CIO Review in 2020. 

Despite the challenges (and restrictions) posed by the pandemic, Engelbrecht says that the company still managed to bring some of the team together for a small-scale celebration of their 10th anniversary.

“We are blessed with a phenomenal team, and in celebration of them we had a cake made with all of our employees’ faces in the middle of the tier to showcase how they really are the glue that holds the foundations together — and we obviously love cake!” he says. 

Bringing value to marketers

Engelbrecht puts Everlytic’s success down to the talent of its people, being brave and taking measured risks without the fear of failure, and building something that the market needs and is willing to pay for.

“Succeeding more often than failing in these pursuits has supported Everlytic in growing into the market-leadership position that it holds in SA today. We place the customer front and centre, and focus on bringing value to marketers and content teams at accessible and fair prices,” says Engelbrecht.

“We have built out the product to be a globally competitive multichannel automation-driven platform, and will continue to make enhancements to it. This will help us maintain our growth trajectory of about 30% year-on-year over the next 10 years. In addition, we’re proud to say, 11% of our staff have been here since the beginning, 12% have worked with us for more than eight years, and 40% for more than five years, showing that Everlytic is a really great place to work.”

“The founders have always encouraged a culture of personal growth, inclusion and transparency where everyone’s voices are heard. We strive to be at the forefront of technology by adopting international standards and processes,” says head of development Abubakr Snyders, who has been with Everlytic since its inception.

Using smart messaging software to build relationships is becoming an essential extension of the communication, news and media industries. Engelbrecht says that Everlytic is looking to take advantage of this market opportunity over the next 10 years: “We are looking to continue with our growth trajectory and recruit and train top-class specialists to build a global go-to platform for elite marketers and communicators.” 

“We would like to further deepen our channel business through international partnerships. This is so that we can offer our products and services in more markets and achieve the same market leadership position that we have in SA in at least three other countries,” says Engelbrecht. 

This article was paid for by Everlytic.