Like every good tech story, we had a humble start to our journey.
Some of the greatest tech companies in the world originated from garages. Byte Orbit? We had our start in a bedroom in Durbanville. Our very first office was on a smallholding with cats, dogs, horses and three developers. We were understaffed at that stage and certainly tempted to teach the farm animals to code. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary as we eventually moved offices and expanded the team.
Fast forward to 2012, when Amit and our now head of Byte Orbit Ventures, Martin Ras, joined forces. We’ve heard rumours about working 24/7 and eating lots of junk food during this period. Their dedication and hard work would lead to more office moves, new client partners, the launch of Byte Orbit Ventures, the appointment of Greg van Eden as our MD, and eventually, a team of over 100 Orbiters in a glossy office in Century City.
Byte Orbit Timeline
From a classroom discussion between two friends to the official launch of Byte Orbit in 2003. Our name was born over a cup of coffee at Mugg & Bean and was originally supposed to be pronounced as "Byte or Bit". We soon after secured our first client and started venturing into the world of PHP.
Mistakes were made, and challenges were faced. But with each obstacle, we learned valuable lessons that helped us grow stronger and more resilient.
Building on these newfound learnings and experience, we introduced Python to the company, which enabled us to secure even more projects and gain further momentum.
As our client base grew, we expanded our team and hired more engineers and developers. We also moved to a new, larger office space to accommodate our growing team.
This was a significant period in Byte Orbit’s history, as it saw Amit, our CEO, and our Head of Ventures, Martin Ras, join forces. Their shared passion for innovative technology and their unwavering commitment to their vision saw them build a successful partnership, one growing from strength to strength even today.
During this period, Byte Orbit pioneered Startup Knight, which embraced and supported tech startups in South Africa by offering a disruptive competition platform to help them scale their business. It was highly successful and ran for three years.
We experienced exponential growth during this period. After establishing our mobile development division, we started working with bigger corporations. Our team expanded, and we needed a bigger home for everyone, so we packed up our desks and - you guessed it - moved again.
In 2016, Amit founded Frontier Lab, a creative, design thinking company that specialised in defining and building innovative tech solutions to market challenges. This is also where our customer experience division was born. After three years, Frontier Lab merged with Byte Orbit, bringing our design thinking and development under one roof to become a one-stop shop for all product-related needs.
This was a time of uncertainty but also of coming together. We adapted our processes, embraced the learnings, and improved our working environment. We also implemented hybrid working and expanded our recruitment efforts outside Cape Town.
We stepped into a new chapter by appointing Greg as our MD and launched Byte Orbit Ventures under former MD, Martin’s leadership. A strategic move to further invest in our own Intellectual Property and develop our own products.
The future is looking bright as we shift gears and embark on this new and exciting chapter. With our biggest team yet, all talented individuals with valuable skill sets, we have never been in a better position to take Byte Orbit to even greater heights.
As a people-driven company, we are passionate about empowering our employees both professionally and personally. We don’t believe in a corporate approach to leadership and our open-plan office allows for cross-functional collaboration with all team members. Don’t be surprised if you see our MD flying a drone around the office, or if our CEO invites you for a drink at the bar.