Billionaire Johann Rupert is one of South Africa’s most renowned businessmen, known for his wide-ranging investments worldwide.
While most of Rupert’s $16.1 billion (R263.4 billion) net worth is attributable to his stake in luxury goods maker Richemont, he holds significant shares in local tech and telecoms firms.
Rupert’s contribution to South African telecoms began with Vodacom, which was the country’s first mobile network operator.
Vodacom was co-founded in 1993 as a joint venture between state-owned Telkom, UK-based Vodafone, and Johann Rupert’s Rembrandt.
Rembrandt’s history dates back to 1948, when Johann Rupert’s father, Anton Rupert, established the tobacco company Voorbrand.
Rembrandt was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in 1956. Since the 1970s, the company has rapidly expanded its interests.
The company diversified from tobacco and alcohol through investments in banking, financial services, mining, printing and packaging, medical services, engineering, and food.
Vodacom officially launched in 1994 with the first GSM network in South Africa, and one of the first on the continent. Telkom owned 50% of the company, Vodafone held 35%, and Rembrandt had 15%.
In September of 2000, Rembrandt restructured by collapsing its South African holding structure from four listed companies into two, namely Remgro and VenFin.
VenFin housed its telecommunications and technology companies, like Vodacom, while Remgro represented Rembrandt’s established tobacco, financial services, mining and industrial interests.
In 2006, VenFin sold its Vodacom stake for around R16 billion after a bidding war between Telkom and Vodafone. Vodafone won.
The deal wasn’t straightforward, with Vodafone buying the entire VenFin for R21 billion, after which Rembrandt would buy back its other investments for R5 billion through a separate legal entity.
VenFin’s other holdings included E-tv owner eMedia, Dimension Data (now NTT Data), FrontRange, Idion, Tracker, and Alexander Forbes.
Johann Rupert explained at the time that it would have been difficult for VenFin to sell its Vodacom shares separately and return the cash to shareholders in an effective way.
In November 2009, Remgro and VenFin merged, adding media and technology interests to Remgro’s investments.
Remgro’s telecommunications investments
Through Remgro, Rupert today owns a large portfolio of companies spanning several sectors, including telecommunications infrastructure and energy.
Its portfolio includes Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) and its subsidiary Maziv, which is the parent company of Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) and Vumatel.
Vumatel is South Africa’s largest fibre network operator, with nearly three million homes passed, including those covered by Herotel, which it recently acquired.
Remgro’s effective interest in CIVH is 57.0%, and the intrinsic value of its holding in CIVH as of 31 December 2025 was an estimated R16.23 billion.
Through Remgro, Rupert also holds a 30% effective interest in the submarine cable system company Seacom, with the company giving its intrinsic value as R706 million.
Seacom was the first private company to launch an undersea telecommunications cable connecting South Africa to the rest of the world.
Its participation in the telecoms market not only improved international bandwidth capacity but also reduced prices, enabling affordable, uncapped residential and business Internet.
Technology ventures and energy businesses
EXSA team visiting Sereti Green
Remgro also owns Invenfin, a strategic venture partner which invests in high-growth businesses with international ambitions.
Invenfin’s technology sector investments include Blue Robot, LifeQ, Money Fellows, OfferZen, Root, and Wyzetalk.
It also invested in e-hailing platform Bolt in 2019. Invenfin sold one-third of its shares ahead of Bolt’s €600m Series F fundraising round, co-led by Sequoia and Fidelity in January 2022.
In the energy sector, Remgro holds stakes in energy trading company Ubiquity Energy and TotalEnergy’s South African arm, through which it has an indirect stake in Natref.
Ubiquity’s portfolio includes Energy Exchange South Africa (EXSA), which is among a handful of companies that have received electricity trading licences from the sector regulator Nersa.
Remgro reduced its ownership in Ubiquity in March 2023, when it sold a 25% stake in the company to Rand Merchant Bank.
All the South African tech companies that businessman Johann Rupert owned as of May 2026 are listed in the table below:-
Company Subsidiaries/Brands/Investments
Remgro Maziv / Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) (57%)
Seacom (30%)
Ubiquity Energy (75%)
TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa (24.9%)
Invenfin (100%)
Maziv / CIVH Vumatel
DFA
Britelink MCT
Vumatel SA Digital Villages (SADV)
Herotel
Rise Telecoms
VumaCam
TotalEnergies Natref
Invenfin Blue Robot
Bolt (partial exit)
LifeQ
Money Fellows
National Healthcare Group
OfferZen
Root
Samarkand
Wyzetalk
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Source: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business-telecoms/650069-all-the-south-african-tech-companies-johann-rupert-owns.html
