What Unomena does

Unomena (Pty) Ltd is a Cape Town, South Africa-based design and development studio founded in 2010, operating as an independent, founder-owned entity with no external funding. The studio serves ambitious technology companies globally through three formalized engagement tiers — Sprint (2–8 week focused deliverables), Build (1–4 month end-to-end product builds), and Partner (ongoing retainer management of a client's full digital estate) — with all work delivered by a small senior team of four principals (Euan Jonker as Founder, Marnus van der Berg leading design, Alec Smook leading technical delivery, and Sanet Stevens managing HR and operations) working directly with clients without an account layer or handoffs.

The studio delivers full-stack design and development across brand identity, UI/UX and design systems in Figma and Sketch, web and mobile applications, APIs, hosting, and ongoing maintenance. The technical stack spans React, Svelte, Vue, TypeScript, Next.js, Python, Django, Go, Rust, Swift, Wagtail, and Contentful, with AWS hosting providing 99.9% uptime, sub-two-minute deploys, CI/CD, auto-scaling, and monitoring. Notable client platforms built and operated by Unomena include iBanFirst (cross-border payments, €2B+ monthly across 135+ currencies), Seacom (telecommunications network-status dashboards across 17 African markets), Partech (venture capital portfolio platform managing €3B across 220 companies), Crypto Banter (high-traffic crypto media platform with 1M+ subscribers), Alfanar (venture philanthropy and Arab Impact Summit 2026 platform covering 224 enterprises), and Arrcus (enterprise networking marketing platform backed by $150M+ including NVIDIA).

The business model blends one-time project-based fees (50% deposit, 50% on completion, 14-day invoicing terms) with subscription-style Partner retainers that have run continuously since 2018–2019 for the studio's largest clients. Marketing and lead generation rely primarily on the published portfolio, referrals (including documented referral chains between clients), direct website contact, and the LinkedIn presence of the four principals. Four of Unomena's clients have been acquired by major technology acquirers — Barefoot Networks by Intel (2019), Avi Networks by VMware (2019), Cumulus Networks by NVIDIA (2020), and Apstra by Juniper (2021) — a record the studio uses as its core credibility signal under the positioning "we build products that get acquired."

Name

Unomena

Legal name

Unomena (Pty) Ltd

Website

https://unomena.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Unomena is a Cape Town-based design and development studio founded in 2010 that builds and operates digital platforms for ambitious technology companies worldwide through Sprint, Build, and Partner-tier engagements delivered by a small team of principals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Project-Based Development: Fixed-scope design and development projects quoted individually. 50% deposit required to commence, 50% upon completion. Invoice payment terms: 14 days.
2. Retainer Engagements: Long-term ongoing partnerships where Unomena runs a client's digital estate continuously. Clients like Partech (since 2018), Seacom (since 2019), and iBanFirst (since 2019) operate on retainer basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Unomena is an independent design and development studio that provides full-stack product design, engineering, and deployment services to ambitious technology companies. It delivers work under three engagement models (Sprint, Build, and ongoing Partner retainer) covering brand identity, UI/UX, web and mobile applications, APIs, and managed hosting on AWS.

Product overview

Unomena is a Cape Town-based design and development studio that offers client services rather than a single product. The company provides three engagement types: Sprint (2–8 week focused engagements), Build (1–4 month end-to-end product development), and Partner (ongoing digital estate management). Service offerings span Design (brand identity, UX/UI, design systems using Figma and Sketch), Develop (full-stack using Svelte, React, Python, Go, Rust, Swift, Django), and Deploy (hosting and maintenance on AWS with 99.9% uptime). For clients, Unomena builds and maintains specific platforms: the Arrcus marketing platform (React, Next.js, Contentful), Alfanar platform for venture philanthropy (React, Wagtail), Crypto Banter platform for digital media (Svelte, Django, Cloudflare), Partech portfolio platform for venture capital (React, Next.js, Wagtail), Seacom digital platform for telecommunications (React, Django, AWS), and iBanFirst platform for cross-border payments (Django, Wagtail, AWS). The company also discloses internal AI-assisted development practices but does not offer AI-powered product features to clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sprint Engagement A focused 2–8 week engagement for defined products with a deadline: brand, marketing site, or MVP. Principal-led designer plus engineer team.
• Build Engagement End-to-end product build covering Design, Develop, Deploy arc over 1–4 months, with design, engineering, and dedicated PM team.
• Partner Engagement Ongoing digital estate management with a standing senior team for continuous shipping. Long-term partnership model.
• Design Services Brand identity and strategy, UX/UI design, and design systems built for clarity and conversion using Figma and Sketch.
• Development Services Full-stack development from MVP to enterprise scale using Svelte, React, Vue, TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Swift, and Django. Covers marketing websites, web applications, mobile apps, and APIs.
• Deploy Services Hosting, monitoring, ongoing support, project management, and quality assurance on AWS with 99.9% uptime. Includes CI/CD pipeline, auto-scaling, SSL, monitoring, backups, and alerting.

Quantifiable outcome

• Four client companies acquired by major technology companies (NVIDIA, Intel, Juniper, VMware)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Arab Impact Summit 2026minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2025Unomena is a named partner of the Arab Impact Summit 2026 in Amman, Jordan. They designed and built the summit platform and are recognized as a backer of the gathering. This partnership extends beyond the main Alfanar site work.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Thoughtbot: US-based consultancy offering design, development, and product strategy with a senior-practitioner delivery model closely paralleling Unomena's boutique studio approach. Comparable in size and target market of ambitious tech companies.
• Dockyard: Boutique software consultancy specializing in custom web and product development for enterprise and tech clients. Comparable in size, technology stack (Elixir, React, Phoenix), and senior-practitioner delivery philosophy.
• Work & Co: Digital product studio building digital products for major brands and tech-forward companies. Similar high-craft, senior-led delivery model and focus on producing acquisition- or launch-grade product outcomes for ambitious clients.
• Ramotion: Design and development agency focused on brand identity, web, and mobile for tech-forward startups and growth-stage companies. Comparable in serving venture-backed clients with full-stack design and engineering needs.
• Metalab: Boutique design agency building digital products for tech-forward companies including many that have been acquired. Closely comparable in client profile (venture-backed tech), boutique scale, and product-design focus.
• ustwo: Global digital product studio with strong design and engineering practice, known for product-led engagements with technology and consumer companies. Comparable in combining strategy, design, and engineering under one senior team.
• Big Medium: Small New York-based digital studio specializing in design and engineering for ambitious tech products. Similar boutique structure and tight senior-team delivery model targeting technology clients.

Broad incumbents

• Huge: Global experience agency with deep digital product, brand, and technology capabilities. Overlapping service portfolio but at significantly larger scale and broader industry coverage than Unomena's boutique focus.
• R/GA: Large global digital agency offering design, technology, and brand strategy across many industries. Much larger scale but operates in the same digital product and brand space Unomena serves.
• Frog Design: Global design and innovation firm with design, technology, and strategy services across industries. Operates in overlapping design and product engineering space but at much larger scale and broader scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/unomena

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Unomena