Participated · Series A · Aug 2026

Vessev (formerly Seachange, and before that FreightFish, which built autonomous cargo vessels) designs and builds electric hydrofoiling passenger vessels along with the flight-control and telemetry systems that operate them. Its VS-9 entered commercial service with Fullers360 on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf in January 2025, and the company has since brought propulsion in-house with VS-Drive, an electric motor developed with co-funding from New Zealand's Low Emission Transport Fund. Operators in New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Europe have placed orders, including Taupō Hydrofoil Tours, Fly Derwent in Hobart, which has doubled its order, Finn Lough as its first European customer, and FlyTahoe at Lake Tahoe as its first US customer. A larger VS-18 is in development, and the company opened a US office in Rhode Island in 2025 ahead of entering the American market the following year. Founded by Max Olson and led by chief executive Eric Laakmann, Vessev employs 58 people at its Auckland, New Zealand headquarters. Financially, Vessev raised US$19 million (NZ$32.6 million) in Series A and follow-on financing in August 2026, led by Blackbird Ventures; the articles do not state a cumulative total raised across its earlier rounds.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2026

Linca is a spin-out from Mint Innovation that has developed a process for refining critical minerals—lithium, nickel and cobalt—recovered from end-of-life electric vehicle batteries. The company is leading a consortium with Jaguar Land Rover, LiBatt Recycling and WMG at the University of Warwick to demonstrate domestic refining capabilities in the UK. Linca has secured an £8.1 million APC26 UK grant alongside equity funding to support its formation and has completed a NZ$5 million first close of a seed round (expected to reach NZ$7 million) led by Motion Capital with participation from Icehouse Ventures, K1W1, Booster, Aspire and Enterprise Angels. The seed proceeds will be used to scale up the technology and construct a UK demonstration facility to prove the concept of domestic critical mineral refining. The spin-out officially launched after under three years of development within Mint Innovation.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2026

Appetise (formerly MenuAid) runs a two-sided business: a free meal-planning and shopping app used by households, and Appetise Insights, a subscription analytics product sold to FMCG brands. By making the consumer tool free, the company sacrificed roughly NZ$400 k in subscription revenue to amass behavioural data across the entire shopping journey, creating what it claims is the largest food and beverage behavioural panel in Australia and New Zealand. The platform now has more than 110,000 active users, whose anonymised data underpins a B2B revenue stream that has reached NZ$3.5 million and tripled in the last six months. Around 70% of current growth comes from Australia, where over 70 brands—including Kraft Heinz and Lee Kum Kee—license the insights. The dataset enables brands to identify whitespace, refine category management and understand purchase drivers earlier than sales-scan or survey methods. Fresh capital will fund deeper Australian penetration, further development of the insights platform and preparatory work for a U.S. launch, which requires localisation for imperial measurements, retail structure and terminology. Management believes the free-utility/paid-data model can continue to scale as brands seek real-time intent signals.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2026

Founded in 2023 by Lucy Pink and Hannah Hardy-Jones, Contented offers an AI platform that automatically converts unstructured spoken conversations into actionable documents such as meeting minutes, task lists, risk registers, and draft publications. The product targets enterprises seeking to streamline post-meeting workflows and improve knowledge capture. Headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand, the company already serves more than 200 global clients, including Christchurch Airport, Synlait, and Craigs Investment Partners. Contented plans to use newly raised capital to bolster its marketing and engineering teams, strengthen its technology, and push into the US and UK markets. Although no revenue figures were disclosed, the company’s customer base suggests early product-market traction. Management intends to scale internationally while continually enhancing the underlying AI models. The platform is positioned within the broader productivity, AI, and meeting transcription software categories.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2024

Mushroom Material has developed a process that produces millions of fungus-based pellets which are coated with a binding agent and formed into custom packaging to replace single-use polystyrene. The company emphasizes scalability and cost-effectiveness and says its technology can integrate with existing Styrofoam production lines. Founded in 2020 by Shaun Seaman and Jotinder Singh, the startup plans to build a 1,300-square-meter pilot plant in Auckland using the new funding. It intends to begin shipping orders to current customers in 2025 to meet rising global demand for sustainable packaging. The firm positions its product as addressing both regulatory pressure and the environmental harms caused by traditional foam packaging. The articles do not report revenue or other operating metrics.