Bootstrapped NZ Edition #16
🍕 Pizza by drone 🚀 New aircrafts take-off and how The Laptop Drop are closing the digital divide 💻
Kia Ora team,
Though it’s been a relatively quiet few weeks, there are still some exciting stories coming out of the woodwork (particularly in fuel and aerospace!)
In this edition you can expect:
🗞️ What’s new - the highlight reel for our main ecosystem news
📚 Ecosystem stories - founder and startup stories in the media
💰 Deals - a summary of the latest deal announcements
❓Who is raising? - a shoutout to some kiwi startups who are capital raising!
🙋🏼♀️ Cool People Doing Cool Things: Meet Jonathan From the Laptop Drop
🚀 Cool Opportunities (including a Brand Identity giveaway from Misfit Ventures)
📆 Events - an overview of what’s happening in the next few weeks
It’s hard to believe Bootstrapped is approaching its 1 year anniversary - I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for being a part of the community, whether you’ve been around from day 1 or just joined the crew. It’s been an absolute pleasure wrapping up news for you!
🗞️ Whats new?
🚒 FABRUM. were part of launching Australasia’s first part hydrogen, part diesel fuel truck
🍕Huntly became the first place in New Zealand to receive pizza and packages by drone
🚀 Dawn Aerospace successfully completed the first rocket-powered flights of its spaceplane
✈️ Kea Aerospace has begun flight testing the country’s first solar-powered, stratospheric uncrewed aircraft
🏠 Hamilton startup EC8 became the world first to develop automation tech for measuring and cutting plasterboard
🏥 The government has allocated $97 million to fund stage one of the data and digital solutions and infrastructure for the New Dunedin Hospital.
🔨 Marlborough district council announced plans to build a tech and innovation hub
🤝 Microsoft joined AWS and inked its own memorandum of understanding with the NZ government
🧠 Climate Connect Aotearoa partnered with NZ future energy centre Ara Ake to accelerate energy innovation
🏠 Sustainable construction startup XFrame is up for a chance to win £1 million as a nominee for this year’s Earthshot Prize
🏆 Nominations for NZ Hi-Tech awards are out, with record number of women-led companies nominated
📚 Ecosystem Stories
💬 Amber from NextWork shared her story in NBR
💚 Fibre Fale released Our Stories - a portrait series a portrait series sharing the journeys of Pacific people in tech (CEO Julia also featured on Business is Boring)
🔨 Teddy talk about how they’re building with ChatGPT (they’ve also built an open-source GPT powered tool that fixes their code)
💶 Fintech startup Akahu shared their story in Herald Premium
🔥Tāiki e! Impact House have been everywhere: running the fifth Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti, sharing success stories from the tech talent incubator, and building Haututu Hacklab.
P.S. If you’re keen to support, check out the registry of things they need to get the space up and running.
💰Deals
☀️ Solar farm developer Lightyears solar closed a seed round
👁️ Toku Eyes closed an $8M USD Series A for their AI powered retinal imaging platform
🍦 APAC Alternative Protein Fund Better Bite Ventures invested an undisclosed amount into EatKinda
❓Who is raising?
There are some awesome kiwi startups raising at the moment like Teddy, who are revolutionising the way we get our groceries and alcohol and Bike Matrix, who are changing how bike replacement parts are found.
🚨 Are you a kiwi startup raising capital? Let us know here and we’ll share the word with the community! Territory 3 and the Angel Association also put together a list of startups raising in their monthly newsletter.
🙋🏼♀️ Cool People Doing Cool Things: Meet Jonathan from The Laptop Drop
We interrupt your usual startup programming to share the story of an awesome community initiative. The Laptop Drop connects tech companies with old gear to schools in need of tech for their students.
Hi Jonathan! What's your story?
I’m a regular guy from Auckland with two kids, an awesome wife and a friendly dog. Apart from that, I don't have a story I want to tell, except that someone had a problem, and I decided to do something about it. That approach is what I believe in strongly. Imagine if we all did whatever we could, with what we have, exactly where we find ourselves. I think the world would start to look like a different place. Problem-finding is powerful; problem-solving even more so!
How was The Laptop Drop born?
During one particular school holiday, I walked my dog, Takkie, through Whangaparāoa College. Takkie often played with another dog named Shire; who happened to be owned by another Jono; who happened to teach at the college. As usually happens with dogs, they played, and us Jonos talked.
One day, our conversation centred around tech in schools and how students were struggling because their devices could not run the software needed for their courses. I decided to see if I could help, and that week I sent emails to three companies. Mark Heine, from EROAD, emailed back offering to help, and a week or two later, Jono, the teacher, had four laptops for his design students. I thought to myself, "That was easy!" and decided to see if other schools had similar issues. Sadly, they did.
I have built The Laptop Drop just like one of my ventures - constantly thinking about how I can disprove traditional notions and limitations, asking what the next gate (or milestone) was that would prove it's possible and will work.
The gates along the way were:
Can I get one kid a laptop? Thanks, Mark Heine
Do other schools have the same issue? Thanks, Kevin Cronin and Margaret Nightingale
Will someone I met once donate? Thanks, Aaron Ward
Can I convince my business partners to fund the website? Thanks, Kathleen and The ResolvePay Customers
Will someone I have never had any contract with reach out to me and donate? Thanks, Daniel Buchanan.
Will someone volunteer their time to help regularly? Thanks, Ben Duggan
How is it going?
We just hit 104 laptops donated now, with an additional 60 screens and 40 computer desks. We are now helping seven schools with 11 companies donating equipment. I started this hoping to get one kid a laptop, so it's fantastic that so many people are willing to help.
What is your vision for the future?
Eventually, we would like this to become a reverse marketplace where companies can list their old equipment to donate, and teachers can request technology. For now, we are a long way off that, but slowly moving towards the goal of increasing children's access to technology.
In the meantime, every Monday, another tech company will get an email or call from me.
Do you have any asks for the community?
You can open your cupboards and check for any working gear. If you have something, either give us a call or donate it to your local school. Honestly, it doesn't matter to us if you go directly to a school, as long as a kid gets it.
NZtech says over 100k people are working in IT in NZ. If 20% get new laptops each year, then 20,000 laptops could be donated to kids to reduce the digital divide from people working in IT alone
🚀 Cool Opportunities
🆓 The team at Misfit Strategy are running a 'Brand Identity Giveaway'. One lucky startup will win free brand identity including:
Logo and visual identity development
Brand book/guidelines
Suite of brand assets and templates
Applications close on May 5th, you can apply here!
🔋 Venture Taranaki are looking for entrepreneurs to join PowerUp
🤖 AWS launched a global generative AI accelerator for startups!
📆 Events
NZTech: Geopolitical Impacts on Tech Exportshttps://events.humanitix.com/nztech-geopolitical-impacts-on-tech-exports (2nd May)
GD1 AMA - Ask Me Anything (3rd May)
FoundX Tauranga Meetup (4th May)
Girls In Tech New Zealand - Launch Event (4th May)
Auckland Pitch Fest May 2023 (12th May)
Women in Tech Global Conference 2023 (10-13th May)
Techweek (13th-20th May)
Artificial General Intelligence: Have We Opened Pandora's Box? (17th May)
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 👩🏽💻