There’s a new tech kid on the JSE block today following the listing of 4Sight Holdings on its Alternative Exchange (AltX).

As a pioneer in Industry 4.0 technology, 4Sight says the listing will offer South Africans the opportunity to invest in a pure data technology company.

The company seeks to raise up to R300 million, which will be used for acquisitions and the incubation of new products in sectors as diverse as retail and health care.

The listing provides South African investors access to an international technology group that is run by exceptional individuals with entrepreneurial expertise, says 4Sight CEO and co-founder, Professor Antonie van Rensburg.

“We foresee a growth in demand for realtime decision solutions in the fourth industrial revolution,” he says. “The underlying power to unlock economic value lies in the use of scientific and engineering skills applied cross-functionally with disciplines such as econometrics, medical sciences, bio-informatics, and astrophysics.”

The Group, through its subsidiaries, earns its income mainly from licensing intelligent algorithms in a “software-as-a-service” annuity revenue model.

4Sight Holdings, incorporated in Mauritius, acquired Digitata Mauritius on a share for share basis in June 2017. Digitata was formed over 10 years ago and employs over 150 staff. It operates in telecommunications, media and property services industries, and utilises big data, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), block-chain technology and data science capabilities. Its offerings in dynamic tariffing, network services, gamification platforms and community portals indirectly serve more than 60 million consumers across 15 countries. The acquisition brings 97% of 4Sight’s revenue in dollar-based income, with South Africa revenue contributing the remaining 3%.

The Digitata acquisition provides 4Sight Holdings with an active regional office footprint in New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Panama, and sales representatives in Canada, the USA, the UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore and a number of African countries including Mauritius and South Africa.

4Sight plans further expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, seeking profitable businesses with deep data science skills. All the founders and management remain as shareholders in the group.

The next round of strategic acquisitions will be concluded before December 2017 enabling 4Sight to offer mining and manufacturing customers the ability to optimise value chains and plant operations in realtime. This includes new AI technology, which can predict physical asset failures up to eight weeks in advance, providing customers with the means to reduce operations downtime.

These acquisitions will on-board end-to-end Industry 4.0 solutions, from sensors, to real-time data analytics, intelligent algorithms, across the total value chain, in realtime.

“Our acquisitions are aimed at creating long-lasting partnerships with Industry 4.0 companies to ensure our core focus on intelligent algorithms are secure for future licensing revenue flows,” Professor van Rensburg says.

4Sight Holdings’ planned acquisitions will add approximately 150 employees to the fold, bringing the data science and engineering capability to 300 personnel across the world who will be supported by another 200 on-demand specialists through its digital workforce platform.