Acumen Software, the company behind the My Smart City service delivery management platform, has purchased a 25% stake in Kinektek, a commerce PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) provider. This move will add more value-added services to the My Smart City array of public service offerings (VAS).

“Kinektek is the perfect complementary technology for the My Smart City platform. It allows the two platforms to seamlessly integrate and offer customers a wide range of services with easy and secure payment options,” explains Acumen Software CEO Joao Zoio. “Our vision is for smart cities to bridge the digital divide and improve service delivery from the private and public sector.”

A Look At What Kinetek Does

Founded in 2009, Kinektek is a black-owned fintech with a cloud-based, omnichannel commerce platform situated in Cape Town. The platform offers simple and secure self-service terminals (SSTs) at a variety of company locations, as well as mobile POS devices that serve consumers on the go or at the counter.

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Users of My Smart City may expect to see a number of VAS features in the coming weeks, including the option to buy lottery tickets, airtime, data bundles, power, and the opportunity to pay municipal accounts.

Kinektek has two products that are particularly relevant to services like My Smart City:

• Biome is a pre-certified omnichannel commerce platform for processing digital sales and service transactions, which will let merchants provide convenience while also lowering operating costs and complexity.
• Orca (Online Retail Content Access) is a full VAS platform that helps merchants expand their client base by giving lifelong value at no fixed cost. In order to improve functionality, the company will also provide specially built devices.

Omnichannel retailing, which provides a smooth, continuous consumer experience across any device or location, has become the gold standard for success in the retail sector.

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Using the Kinektek platform, My Smart City has incorporated this astounding set of features. My Smart City is presently available in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Steve Tshwete, and eThekwini, with ambitions to expand throughout the country by 2022.

Kinektek ecommerce Kinektek ecommerce

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer