Technology giant Mustek announced a R7 million investment to acquire a 51% stake in Business AI, a soon-to-be launched South African startup building a dedicated business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for artificial intelligence (AI). The company is set to be launched in November this year.
The investment forms part of Mustek’s broader strategy to diversify its portfolio and gain early-mover advantage in Africa’s fastest growing AI ecosystem. The majority acquisition of Business AI was finalised on 1 August 2025, shortly after the company’s financial year-end.
“Business AI is developing a dedicated B2B marketplace portal for artificial intelligence (AI), and we are supplying the seed capital and hope to launch the business in November this year. It will provide enterprises with a single, trusted environment to access vetted AI vendors, products, platforms, solution providers and data centres,” said Engelbrecht.
According to Mustek, Business AI’s marketplace will operate across multiple layers of the AI value chain, featuring participation from developers, hyperscalers, and hardware suppliers. The platform will run on a subscription-based model, offering enterprise customers a centralised ecosystem for sourcing and deploying AI solutions tailored to their business needs.
The company also released its financial results for the year ended 30 June 2025, revealing a mixed performance.
Revenue declined by 14.9%, falling to R7.2 billion, compared to R8.4 billion in the previous financial year. However, despite this drop in revenue, the company reported an increase in gross profit margins, which rose to 13.3%, up from 12.2% in 2024.
The full-year results marked a notable recovery from the first half of the year, during which Mustek had reported a 75% decline in net profit. The company attributed the second-half rebound to better financial discipline and strategic cost management.
“The main driver for the improvement was the group’s continued focus on its strategic priorities, delivering a significant improvement in working capital, net finance costs and cash generated from operations. These efforts have strengthened the statement of financial position and enhanced financial resilience,” stated Mustek.
Cuts to Finance Costs and Capex to Boost Profitability
One of the key contributing factors to the improved bottom line was a substantial 32.7% reduction in net finance costs which fell to R138.5 million, down from R205.7 million the previous year.
“Finance costs has been a focus area for the past two financial years and remains a focus area for the next financial year,” said the company.
Additionally, Mustek slashed its capital expenditure (capex) by 81.6%, from R43.1 million in 2024 to just R7.9 million in 2025. The group also reduced its workforce from 1335 to 1112 employees, although employee-related costs edged slightly higher to R479 million compared to R476 million the previous year.
The company reported that the improvement in gross profit margin was largely due to a more beneficial product mix and improved margins and contributions from Mecer Inter-Ed, Mustek’s IT training subsidiary.
“Operating costs were kept in check through improved budget management, cost-reduction efforts, and stricter control of discretionary spending,” the company added.
Mustek declared a cash dividend of 13.75 cents per ordinary share for the year, payable on 13 October 2025.
Lungile is the Digital Editor for Startup.Africa, with a knack for storytelling, technology and innovative ideas. Working with Startup.Africa, she takes simple ideas and turns them into amazing stories.
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