Bootstrapped NZ Edition #15
💚 NZ's first hydrogen startup 🚀 Cybernesia has LAUNCHED and helping businesses understand their environmental impact ♻️
Happy Thursday kiwi startup enthusiasts!
New Zealand’s startup scene is certainly alive with activity. In this edition we’ve got:
Whats new? - A quick rundown of ecosystem highlights
Ecosystem stories - Stories of cool people in the NZ tech ecosystem!
Accelerator news - Creative HQ and Kōkiri announce their participants
It’s all fun and games - A quick wrap of data on our gaming sector
Deal roundup - A roundup of capital raises
Who’s raising? - Rundown of some startups raising capital (if that’s you let us know here!)
Meet Tom from CarbonTrail
Opportunities + Jobs
Upcoming Events
We hope you enjoy, hit subscribe for more 🚀
📣 So, what’s new?
💚 Bspkl, New Zealand’s first deep tech Hydrogen startup is set to launch with a $2.5M seed round led by WNT ventures
🚀 Fibre Fale launched Cybernesia, a platform for Pasifika in tech to connect in a digital space
🤝 AWS and the government inked a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and drive innovation in the economy
🛫 EasyRent booked a one way ticket to New York
🔑 Lawtech startup Everlasting launched, aiming to prevent crypto and digital assets form becoming inaccessible
Ξ Callaghan launched Web3NZ, an open-source initiative for kiwi founders building in the Web3 space
👴 The government launched the Senior Enterprise Pilot Programme to enable senior entrepreneurship
🤝 Creative HQ and WellingtonNZ partnered up to provide support packages for Wellington based startups
🤝 MJ Alvarez joined Carl Jones as co-leader of WNT Ventures
🏥 Whats new in health?
🧠 Te Whatu Ora convened an AI and Algorithm Expert Advisory Group
🩺 Eric Topol spoke about how AI could restore the power of human connection to medicine at Hack Aotearoa conference
🧬 Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland will partner to develop a government-funded Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) Development Platform
🚶♀️ARA Journeys partnered with researchers at the University of Auckland to develop an augmented reality game to help stroke patients’ recovery
📚 Ecosystem stories
💻 Tāiki e!’s Phil Kupenga spoke about their mission in the Gisborne Herald
🤔 William Mace wrote about the challenges iwi-owned VC fund Māui Toa have faced in getting government investment
🧪 Matū Iramoe spoke to newsroom about their capital raise
🍃 Medicinal cannabis company Ora Pharm shared the progress they’ve made using R+D funding from Callaghan innovation
📈 Accelerator news
As the year starts to ramp up (does April still count as the start?) a few accelerators have announced the startups they will be working with this year!
👉 Kōkiri’s business accelerator have selected 10 startups for their programme, many of whom are building in the tech space. Check out the full list here.
👉 Creative HQ have picked 16 startups for their Impact Accelerator and 11 teams for their Young Founders incubator. The teams tackle a diverse range of problems spanning from health to education and the arts. Check out the full list here.
🎮 Fun and Games
What’s the state of our gaming industry? A quick rundown of stats from the NZ Game Developers Association “NZ Interactive Media Industry Survey”
“Due to a lack of industry support in New Zealand, some may only be coming back only to pack their bags again.”*
Last year the NZ Game Developers Association shared the "NZ Interactive Media Industry Survey” which flagged some interesting changes in the sector:
⭐ The NZ digital video game industry boosted revenue by almost 50% to a record $407 million in the space of a year
⭐ Digital games are New Zealand’s single fastest growing export
⭐ Maintaining growth is challenging with several large studios considering a move across the tasman to take advantage of Australian tax incentives
How do we best support our gaming sector? Could gaming be a big New Zealand success story? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
*Excerpt from this recent Newshub article
💰 Deal roundup
🐄 Halter closed a $85M series C round
📹 VFX studio Floating Rock raised a $2.5M round led by Hillfarrance
🤝 DisputeBuddy closed a pre-seed round
☀️ Lightyears Solar closed a $1M round to help build out solar farms in NZ and support growth ambitions.
💳 GD1’s Web3 Fund 1 invested in IMMERSVE’s pre-seed round
❓Who is raising?
🚨 Are you a kiwi startup raising capital? Let us know here and we’ll share the word with the community!
👉 Territory 3 also put together a list of startups raising in their monthly newsletter, check out their latest list here.
🙋🏼♀️ Cool people doing cool things: Meet Tom from CarbonTrail
Through innovation and education CarbonTrail works with businesses to understand their impact on the planet and become leaders in the change to a more sustainable world.
Hi Tom! What's your story?
Kia ora! I'm Tom and I'm the founder of CarbonTrail. I'm originally from the UK but moved with my partner (now wife!) to New Zealand from the UK in November 2019, before everyone's world got turned upside down. We stayed in NZ during COVID and fell in love with Christchurch and the South Island where we still live. My background is in financial services, big data, IoT, and robotics and I've always been passionate about the environment and sustainability.
How was CarbonTrail Born?
CarbonTrail connects to your existing accounting tools and gives you a real time carbon footprint in minutes, and guides you on the journey to net zero.
It was born from the ashes of another tool that I was working on, called Uppsy, that allowed you to offset your personal emissions based on rounding up transactions. It never made it to prime time but the core mechanics and code was ready for something bigger. I believe that we can have an outsized effect on climate outcomes by approaching organisations and helping them measure and reduce their emissions over time, so CarbonTrail was born in May last year to realise this vision.
How is it going?
Since we launched on the Xero App Store last year, we have been delighted to welcome many different types of organisations, big and small, to the CarbonTrail platform. We're working with accountants, food manufacturers, B-Corps, and everyone in between to take positive climate action.
What is your vision for the future?
Did you know that per-capita Aotearoa New Zealand is the leading emitter in the world? We have a net-zero 2050 target and that is a real mountain to climb. My vision is that we reach our targets through organisations taking meaningful action.
Of course, New Zealand is just a part of a wider story. We want to help organisations all over the world move in the right direction, and this raise will help us achieve that vision.
Do you have any asks for the community?
We're interested in speaking to impact investors that understand our mission and are driven by similar values. Please reach out to tom@carbontrail.co if this sounds like you :)
We're excited about the future and helping Aotearoa meet its ambitious net zero 2050 targets. If you have a business that's interested in understanding your carbon footprint quickly and easily, get in contact. We have a 10% off annual plan offer for members of this newsletter.
Otherwise, keep being awesome and if you're interested, follow us on LinkedIn for updates, offers, and articles about sustainability and carbon accounting.
Cool opportunities
⚡ Are you 18-25 and want $1000 for a passion project? Apply for the next season of Blackbird protostars!
💧 Applications for the Global Innovation Launchpad for NZ aquaculture are open until April 12th
🏆 Nominations for the Matihiko Awards are now open! Celebrate Māori excellence in digital and tech, and nominate someone today.
💼 Cool Jobs
🔧 Partly are hiring a bunch of epic engineering roles like Engineering Manager and Senior Software Engineer
🤓 ecoPortal are looking for a Business Analyst
🎮 PikPok are looking for a Data Engineer
📣 Can you help support folks affected by restructures?
Matchstiq are curating a free virtual space for folks affected by tech layoffs to network and support each other through their next steps.
If you’re looking for or keen to give some support, share your details here.
📆 Upcoming Events
Code Camp Wellington (15 April)
He Pito Mata 2023 (18-19 April)
Growth Game Auckland (18 April)
Startup Grind Auckland (20 April)
Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti (21-23 April)
VakaCon (27 April)
HealthTech Activator Capital Planning - Valuation workshop (27 April)
She Sharp & MYOB: DevelopHer - Creating Opportunities for Women in Tech (28 April)
✨ If you want to keep up with events, Pauli and Paul’s Techstars Startup Digest sends you a weekly summary of these. If you’re organising an event, add it to the national event spreadsheet ✨
Thanks for reading! Hit subscribe for more free fortnightly kiwi startup goodness (make sure to check your promotions tab, Substack tends to send them there)
Ngā mihi nui,
Izzy 👩🏽💻
Wow, comprehensive roundup! Well done Izzy!