south-africa-startup
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Jon Jacobson
Jon Jacobson is the co-founder, Group CEO and CTO of Omnisient, a privacy-preserving data collaboration platform that lets banks, insurers, retailers and healthcare organizations share and analyze consumer data without exposing raw personal information. A software engineer with more than 25 years building data platforms, he founded Omnisient in South Africa in 2019 to attack a specific problem: nearly two billion people are shut out of affordable financial services because they lack the behavioral data lenders use to assess risk. His platform uses cryptography to tokenize and match datasets locally, turning loyalty-card and retail data into alternative credit signals.
Aerobotics
Aerobotics is a Cape Town-founded agritech company that turns aerial and smartphone imagery into tree-level intelligence for fruit and nut growers. Using drones, satellites and machine-learning algorithms feeding its Aeroview platform, it counts trees, flags missing or sick plants, tracks pests and disease, and forecasts yields with size, color and quality measurements - helping growers across roughly 18 countries protect crop value and make data-driven decisions.