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 · Series B · Jan 2020

Soul Machines develops autonomous animated 'digital people' for B2B customer experiences, using CGI, NLP and a Digital Brain powered by cognitive modeling. The company sells emotionally engaging virtual assistants and has deployed products like Yumi (a digital skincare specialist), Ruth (a cookie coach) and Florence (a virtual health worker). It reports measurable lift from deployments, including a 4.6x increase in conversion rate, a 2.3% increase in customer satisfaction and customers being twice as likely to buy after interacting with Yumi. Soul Machines is positioning its tech for service industries, telehealth, entertainment and metaverse use cases, and is working toward higher levels of autonomous animation (planning Level 4 goals-based animation). The startup also intends to build celebrity digital twins and envisions digital replicas trained by user interaction. The company has said it will use new funding to further enhance its Digital Brain and cognitive modeling capabilities. Soul Machines develops an Autonomous Animation platform that enables brands to create digital ambassadors and fully digital service agents to engage customers. The company describes itself as an AGI Research firm spun out of the University of Auckland. Its technology has produced Digital Heroes for global clients across retail, automotive, banking and finance, including Procter & Gamble, Bank ABC and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Soul Machines currently employs over 120 people and maintains offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Tokyo, Melbourne and Auckland. The company says it will use the new funding to continue global expansion with a specific focus on R&D and increasing its operating footprint. Soul Machines develops intelligent, emotionally responsive avatars that augment and enrich user experiences for AI platforms. The company was built as a University of Auckland spinout based on Baby X technology created by Dr. Mark Sagar and his engineering research team at the Laboratory for Animate Technologies in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. It intends to use the Series A funds to continue developing its avatars. The $7.5M Series A was led by Horizons Ventures with participation from Iconiq Capital. In conjunction with the funding, Phil Chen of Horizons Ventures joined Soul Machines as executive chairman. New Zealand entrepreneur Greg Cross also joined the company to accelerate commercialization; the company is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2018

Founded in 1995, Coherent Solutions delivers tailored digital solutions through roughly 2,000 product, engineering, and design professionals spread across 10 development centers in Europe and Latin America. The company partners with high-growth scale-ups and large global enterprises, focusing on translating modern engineering practices—including practical applications of AI—into measurable business outcomes. Its service lines cover digital product development, platform modernization, and advanced technology integration. Clients cite Coherent’s combination of deep domain expertise and execution-focused culture as key differentiators in a market crowded with AI claims. Management continues to emphasize quality, transparency, and innovation as core values. With three decades of technology experience, the firm plans to use fresh capital to expand global delivery capacity and deepen advanced technical capabilities. Coherent’s workforce and geographic footprint position it to meet growing demand for digital transformation services worldwide.

Participated · Series A · Mar 2017

Upside Biotechnologies, based in Auckland, New Zealand, is developing an advanced skin replacement therapy that grows a small sample of unburnt patient skin into large areas of full-thickness lab-grown skin for grafting. The company’s product is produced faster than competing products in development and is supplied in larger sheets with handling characteristics preferred by burns surgeons. Upside was spun out of the University of Auckland from Professor Rod Dunbar’s laboratory. CEO Robert Feldman says the recently raised capital will enable the company to complete product development, demonstrate proof of concept and ready the product for its first human trial. The company also plans to use the funding to forge links, collaborations and explore market opportunities in the United States. The article situates Upside within the broader regenerative medicine market, which is projected to reach US$30 billion by 2022.