In the swelling tide of global AI innovation, it is easy to assume that the most disruptive developments are unfolding in places like San Francisco, Shenzhen, or London.

4C Predictions, an AI-powered predictive marketplace, is doing something few local startups attempt. It is building deep tech from scratch, commercializing it fast, and scaling it across borders.

“In AI, people are not just buying forecasts; they are buying belief,” says “And when your predictions could influence how someone places a bet, invests their money, or makes a business decision, the integrity of the system is everything.”

This is where most AI prediction platforms face a wall. Users want to know: How do I know it works? What happens if it is wrong? Is someone gaming the system? According to the team behind 4C Predictions, that is precisely the problem they set out to solve.

Unlike many platforms that operate behind opaque black boxes, 4C offers full transparency on model performance. Model builders are incentivized to compete based on accuracy and rewarded directly when their predictions hit the mark. Subscribers, meanwhile, can see historical model results and pick which algorithms to trust, just as they might choose which analyst or fund manager to follow.

It is a marketplace model that reframes AI as not just smart, but accountable.

There is also something quietly radical about the company’s origins. It is built by South Africans, for a global market, in a sector (AI) that is notoriously capital-intensive and confidence-driven. That comes with its hurdles.

“One of our biggest challenges is convincing the world, and sometimes even ourselves, that world-class AI software can come from South Africa. Silicon Valley does not have a monopoly on innovation. But they do have a monopoly on perception,” says Schwabsky.

Raising international capital has been another obstacle, especially with investors wary of geopolitical risk or limited by mandates that exclude African entities. To navigate this, 4C Predictions structured itself as a 50/50 entity, with one foot in the US and the other firmly planted at home.

The more interesting challenge, though, is human.

“The real resistance is not to the tech. Rather, it is to what the tech represents. There is still a hesitation to fully integrate AI into everyday decision-making, especially in high-stakes contexts like sports betting or financial predictions,” adds Schwabsky.

But the demand is undeniable. The company’s models, which currently average over 83% accuracy across a full sports season, have been deployed across soccer and will soon expand into golf, cricket, horse racing, F1, and tennis. As the US sports betting market heats up, that is where much of the platform’s immediate focus lies. Still, they have not turned their back on the local market, where punters will bet on everything from the next rugby score to a record rainfall.

“We are not trying to replace intuition. We are building something that helps people make more confident decisions based on data they can trust.”

Looking ahead, the team has no plans to stay static. New functionality is being rolled out monthly, the user base is expanding, and the long-term vision is bold.

“In two years, we believe checking 4C Predictions will be as normal as checking the weather.”

For now, the startup still lives in that messy, exhilarating early stage where every decision could be a turning point. But its foundations like transparency, accountability, and world-class engineering, are surprisingly mature.