.png)
About Us
Fanfire provides solutions for artists, athletes and businesses who recognise the opportunities presented by the third-generation web (“Web3”), such as cryptographic tokens, web wallets, NFTs, and loyalty economies. The team has worked
with a diverse range of partners such as the Cell C Sharks rugby franchise and Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary to create new Web3 engagement strategies, and is also involved in digitizing the ownership and trade of collectible art & wines.
Our Story
Fanfire is part of Alphawave, a leading technology group consisting of businesses with products and services that are hard to replicate. The group is headquartered in Stellenbosch and applies South Africa’s signature high-innovation-low-cost creativity to concepts with world-wide application.
The company is led by the former Research Chair in IoT at Stellenbosch University (who co-founded Custos, an InfoSec blockchain company, in 2013). It is chaired by an industry veteran who has led two JSE-listed companies, and has decades of experience in technology, entertainment and consumer businesses.
Meet The Directors
Gert-Jan van Rooyen
Chief Executive Officer
Gert-Jan has more than 20 years of research and industry experience, and co-invented an early commercial use of NFTs in content security in 2013.
He co-founded Custos and Octoco, holds directorships in several tech companies, and is Associate Professor Extra-Ordinary in Industrial Engineering at Stellenbosch University.
André van der Veen
Chairman & Lead Investor
André owns interests in several listed and unlisted firms and has invested in Fanfire with Alphawave. He previously served as director on a number of listed firms.
Incl. Clover, HCI, E-Media, Tsogo Sun and Niveus Investments. He currently serves as a director of A2 Investment Partners and chairman of Alphawave.
Frans Meyer
Non-Executive Director
As co-founder and CEO of Alphawave Holdings, Frans guided it from a consulting start-up to a group of 14 companies and 300+ engineers.
He's been involved with numerous successful start-ups and various enterprises in the Group. He is an active Non-Executive director of each company in the Group.
Michael Joubert
Non-Executive Director
Mike serves as global board director of Population Services International (PSI), Chairperson for PSI Health Services in RSA, Non-Execuctive Chairperson of Quicket
Executive Chairman of Shopstar, Non-Executive Board Director at Clark Holdings, Advisory Board Member at Ctrl Technologies and as trustee of WWF® South Africa.
Meet The Team
James de Villiers
Back-End Developer
James holds a BEng degree in mechanical engineering (cum laude) and an MEng degree in electronic engineering (cum laude).
He is a computer vision specialist as well as a full stack software developer with a wide range of technical skills.
Heinrich de Lange
Lead Developer
An experienced entrepreneur and full-stack IoT engineer. He holds a BEng in Electronic Engineering, and is responsible for systems architecture at Fanfire.
He also leads the design of cyberphysical systems that combine IoT and AR with blockchain technologies.
Louwrens Labuschagne
Smart Contract Developer
An enthusiastic, dedicated and versatile developer with an outstanding academic background in Data Science & excellent attitude to work. Highly motivated, reliable, and eager to learn.
Passion for everything new, interesting, likes challenges and enjoys teaching anyone who's prepared to listen. Louwrens hold a MSc in Data Science from the University of Cape Town.
Collin A Sherriff
Product Integration Manager
Collin holds a BSc cum laude in International Business from Stellenbosch University. He also completed an economics exchange programme at the University of Bristol, UK.
Being highly analytical with a demonstrated work history in business analyses, marketing, government administration and NPO's, Collin is geared to boost Fanfire.
Our Clients
