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Huge Group buys stake in community app platform Glovent

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 30 May 2022
James Herbst, director of Huge Group.
James Herbst, director of Huge Group.

Huge Group has concluded an agreement to acquire an interest in Glovent Solutions for an undisclosed amount.

In a statement, the JSE-listed Huge Group says the acquisition will provide the company with an interest in an exciting global growth opportunity operating in fintech and software.

“The acquisition gives us an exciting entry into markets and industries that are key investment focus areas of ours,” says James Herbst, a director of Huge Group, and a principal member of its investment committee.

“For Huge Group, Glovent is a global venture,” adds Herbst. “It has global application and global appeal.”

Glovent has created a platform-as-a-service and a super app, which includes the global citizen application (the Glovent Mobile App) that allows citizens (Glovent Citizens) to link the communities (Glovent Communities) to which they belong to their citizenship (Glovent Citizenship).

Huge Group explains the Glovent Communities subscribe to the services the Glovent app provides, and Glovent Citizens can belong to multiple Glovent Communities.

Glovent offers Glovent Communities a range of tools and services to help them run more efficiently, including, but not limited to, a Glovent Community Management System (Glovent CMS), a Glovent Visitor Access System (Glovent VAS), e-wallet functionality, energy usage and sustainability improvement, utility management, facility management, SOS and emergency response features, direct access to third-party service providers through application programming interface integration on many levels, directories, classifieds and deliveries through partnerships with retailers (Glovent Services).

The Glovent CMS, the Glovent VAS and all the Glovent Services are embedded in the Glovent Mobile App, which can also be white-labelled depending on the communities’ requirements.

While community management systems, visitor access systems and all these other services are not new to communities, the architecture of the Glovent Mobile App, the concept of Glovent Citizenship and the Glovent Citizen set the Glovent Mobile App apart, says the company.

It adds that other community applications are specifically built for a particular community – they are not interoperable. On the other hand, a Glovent Citizen can belong to multiple communities. In other words, Glovent Citizens obtain their Glovent Citizenship and then add Glovent Communities, rather than downloading different apps for different communities.

The Glovent Mobile App’s e-wallet and its payment rail functionality promotes cash-less environments, facilitates payments (including crypto assets) between Glovent Citizens and every Glovent Community administrator, governing body and vendors, and empowers Glovent Citizens to manage their personal expenses more effectively.

Glovent director Frans-Johan van Dyk says: “The Glovent Mobile App has demonstrated impressive Glovent Citizen growth and Glovent Community creation through the Glovent Mobile App’s powerful network effect.

“The Glovent Communities and the Glovent Citizens are part of a much bigger ecosystem – a global ecosystem. One Glovent Citizen can interact with another Glovent Citizen even when they belong to different Glovent Communities.”

“The Huge investment team’s relationships and their experience in, and access to, international equity capital markets will facilitate and accelerate taking Glovent global,” says Duarte da Silva, chairman of the Huge Group Investment Committee.

“Glovent represents an exciting digital platform that will appeal to multinational investors hungry for quality fintech assets.”

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