ai-first technology · Innovation City, Cape Town
the control is back in the hands of the inventors. we build real ai solutions for retail and financial services — grounded in 17 years of deep domain expertise, in the interest of our customers, and always bringing everyone along.
what we build
the barrier is no longer technology — it's the courage to execute. we work with inventors, founders and business leaders to turn ideas into real, working ai products fast.
17 years of retail domain depth — from merchandise financial planning and replenishment to size curves and ranging — now supercharged with ai. for retailers who want an edge that actually understands their business.
the majority of South Africans and billions across the developing world remain underserved by financial services. we build ai-powered solutions that change that — practically, affordably, and at scale.
sometimes the most valuable thing we bring is knowing what good looks like. we advise leadership teams on ai strategy, market entry, acquisitions and the moves that matter — grounded in real industry experience, not theory.
industries
we know retail from the inside out — the formal market, the informal market, and everywhere in between. from merchandise financial planning to the detail of a size curve, we understand the numbers that make or break a retail business. now we bring ai to bear on all of it.
financial services in South Africa and across the developing world is ripe for transformation. we build ai-first products that serve the underserved, extend credit intelligently, and bring the majority into the formal economy — not as charity, but as good business.
about us
kerching! started in 2008 with a simple belief: that the sound of a till — that kerching! — is the only real proof point in retail. it means a customer decided your product was worth their hard-earned money. everything else is just noise.
for the first decade, we were a retail strategy consultancy. we went deep — merchandise financial planning, replenishment, acquisitions, ranging, size curves. the unglamorous detail that separates retailers who thrive from those who don't. we worked at the sharp end of the industry, including years inside the Pepkor group, where we were part of the team that ingested the acquisition of Flash mobile vending — an experience that opened our eyes to the enormous unmet need for financial services innovation across South Africa and the developing world.
then ai arrived. and our founder, Ross Norton, will tell you it feels exactly like 1999.
"the internet was coming to change the world. there was a bubble and a burst — but the internet changed the world. now ai is here, and the same thing is going to happen. the opportunity is unprecedented."
so kerching! re-emerged. not as a consultancy, but as an ai-first technology business — one with something most ai startups simply don't have: 17 years of knowing exactly how retail and financial services actually work, from the boardroom to the shop floor to the last mile of a township delivery.
but we hold that opportunity carefully. ai will displace jobs. it will disrupt communities. it will reshape economies in ways we are only beginning to understand. we believe the businesses that will matter in the long run are those that embrace the potential of ai while taking seriously the responsibility that comes with it — especially in a country like South Africa, and across the developing economies where the stakes are highest and the upside of genuine financial inclusion is transformational.
that's why we're here. not just to build clever technology. but to build technology that counts.
let's talk
we're based at Innovation City in Cape Town, but we work with businesses anywhere. if you have an idea, a problem, or just a hunch that there's a better way — that's enough to start.