The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Jan 2024

Marama Labs is a deep-tech sensor and data-analytics company that develops patented CloudSpec UV-Vis spectroscopy instrumentation and accompanying cloud software for chemical analysis of complex liquids. The company targets applications including wine, nano-medicines and pharmaceutical products to improve production processes and add value. Led by CEO Dr Brendan Darby, Marama Labs operates out of Dublin, Ireland and Wellington, New Zealand. The company intends to use the new funds to scale up hardware manufacturing capacity in New Zealand. The product suite combines novel light-based sensor instrumentation with cloud data-analytics tools to enable efficient, on‑site chemical analysis. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article. Marama Labs has developed CloudSpec, a UV-Vis spectrophotometer that simultaneously measures absorption, extinction, and scattering spectra of clear and turbid liquids. Its sensors are combined with proprietary data-analytics tools to provide solutions for food & beverage and liquid-processing industries. The company’s current target market is winemaking, where the platform helps winemakers track the style of their wines throughout production to meet and exceed consumer preferences and improve winery sales. Led by CEO Brendan Darby, Marama Labs plans to use new funds to expand operations and to build its product line. Financially, the company completed a $500K seed round and has raised NZ$2M in total to date. The business is based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2021

RosterLab offers an automated rostering platform built on advanced techniques developed at the University of Auckland. Its core technology addresses weaknesses in existing rostering solutions by accounting for staffing complexity and rapidly generating optimised rosters that comply with challenging, industry-specific requirements at scale. The company is targeting high-intensity sectors, initially focusing on healthcare clients including hospitals and aged care facilities. Poor staffing compliance and time/labour inefficiencies in these settings are cited as direct costs the platform seeks to reduce. RosterLab was co-founded by Daniel Ge, Sunny Feng and Isaac Cleland. Financially, the company raised NZ$500k in a Pre-Seed round to fund software application development and an initial product launch in New Zealand's healthcare market.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2021

Litmaps is a science software company based in Wellington, New Zealand that built a research navigation platform enabling scientists, engineers, and other experts to more rapidly and deeply navigate peer‑reviewed research and patent literatures. Its platform combines interactive citation maps, modern search tools, and models of a researcher’s existing knowledge to accelerate discovery across 200+ million published and peer‑reviewed studies. Litmaps launched an early access product in November 2020 and has seen rapid uptake and positive feedback, including features on Product Hunt and Hacker News. Over 30,000 researchers worldwide have used the platform, spanning public research organizations and R&D teams in industry. Having closed its seed round, the company is focused on expanding its user base and exploring how its technology can deliver value for high‑performing research teams in R&D‑intensive companies.