Empowerment Capital back Acumen Software to create their My Smart City Citizen Platform

Acumen Software has raised a series A round of equity amounting to R14 million from two venture capital investment companies, Imvelo Ventures and Andzani Ventures, two companies which raised anchor investments from Capitec Bank and Sappi Southern Africa respectively. The venture capital was raised to support the launch of their “My Smart City” citizen platform, a mobile application which aims to constructively support public and private sector service delivery through mass private service job creation for semi and skilled workers.

“Acumen Software, the epitome of a values-based South African small enterprise, has developed a disruptive technological model that will ultimately address South Africa’s mass unemployment dilemma while bridging the need for rapid, real-time, intelligent information in the provision of public service delivery in the formal and informal sectors of the economy”, says Anton Baumann executive Director at Empowerment Capital.

The My Smart City platform will allow citizens of any city to engage service providers in their cities, whether you have potholes on your road, a power outage or need to find a service provider in your area. My Smart City will allow citizens to engage critical service providers in their cities to access relevant information, log issues, and request services, all in an easy-to-use mobile application.

“The My Smart City platform has been long in the making, and with this investment, it will finally become a reality. We are leveraging our Forcelink B2B Mobile Field Services ERP backbone to offer the public a B2C communal platform.  The platform will allow citizens, the city, councilors, and service providers to engage in a safe and controlled environment, with the sole purpose of improving services and communication.” says Joao Zoio, Acumen Software’s Chief Executive Officer.

My Smart City will assist South Africans as we move into the digital era, improving communications between citizens, service providers and municipalities. Allowing parties to view and log incidents, prioritize them and connect the right resource to resolve them. We believe that the platform could see the creation of 50 000 jobs in South Africa in the next 5 years, providing a platform for the formalisation of the informal work sector.