Octoco Group Takes Strategic Equity Stake in South African Rail-Tech Startup HisWay Labs

CAPE TOWN — South African technology investment and product development firm Octoco Group has acquired an undisclosed strategic equity stake in HisWay Labs, the Cape Town-based industrial hardware startup behind the TrackView® rail-integrity monitoring platform.

The growth capital and technology partnership will back HisWay Labs' international expansion and commercial rollout across sub-Saharan Africa, North America, and Europe.

The investment comes as South Africa's rail operators move to reverse severe infrastructure erosion caused by widespread copper cable theft, vandalism, and undetected track failures that have disrupted freight supply chains across mining,agriculture, and manufacturing.

Proprietary Hardware & Zero-Copper Architecture

Designed specifically for harsh operating conditions, TrackView® directly addresses the vulnerabilities of legacy trackside infrastructure:

• Theft-Resistant Hardware: The solar-powered sensor unit contains zero copper cabling and zero batteries—the primary targets for infrastructure theft—giving the unit negligible scrap value.
• Pulse-Based Diagnostics: Mounted directly onto a rail sleeper, a single sensor monitors approximately 2 kilometers of track by transmitting micro-electric pulses through the steel rails, continuously detecting broken rails,sleeper displacement, flat wheels, and real-time train positioning.
• Commercial Commercialization Model: HisWay Labs is deploying a Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) recurring revenue model, maintaining hardware ownership while offering rail operators continuous real-time safety telemetry without upfront capital expenditure.

Regulatory Traction & Global Expansion Pipeline

Led by Chief Executive Officer Franz Struwig, former co-founder of radar startup iKubu (acquired by Garmin), HisWay Labs has established key commercial and regulatory milestones:

• Domestic Certification: Secured formal product type approval from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).
• Industrial Partnerships: Deployed commercially in South Africa through a technical partnership with Siemens Mobility.
• International Field Trials: Currently undergoing active field testing on rail networks in the United States and pursuing European operator partnerships following its showcase at InnoTrans in Germany.

Executive Statements

"South Africa has a long tradition of solving hard engineering problems out of necessity. HisWay Labs has turned one of our most damaging infrastructure challenges into a globally competitive product. Backing them is a chance to help restore confidence in our own rail network while proving that world-class industrial hardware can come from here," stated Heinrich de Lange, Managing Director of Octoco Group.

"The scrap value of our sensor is R6. No copper, no batteries — you can make a paperweight out of it and not much more," added Franz Struwig, Chief Executive Officer of HisWay Labs.

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