Mastaplex

Mastitis is a problem that effects all International milk operations (there are approximately 270 Million dairy cows worldwide.  Currently Farmers diagnose Mastitis via visual identification of inflammation of a cows udders and/or clotting of the milk.  Farmers and Vets usually choose to start antibiotic treatment straight away and make a best guess of which bacteria may be the cause.    It is estimated that in the US alone the disease cost the industry around $1.7 billion per annum.  Dr Olaf Bork began development of this technology at the University of Otago.

www.mastaplex.com

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Onesixone Limited

SoundSwitch provided DJs with the ability to dynamically enhance the visual and lighting elements of their performances.In May 2018, Onesixone was acquired by American based company Denon DJ, a leading manufacturer of premium DJ products and solutions. Denon DJ forms part of parent company, inMusic, alongside leading music industry brands such as Akai Professional, Numark and Rane. Denon DJ will retain Onesixone’s employees and the company’s existing base in Tauranga.  The increase in R&D spend will attract more talent to the region, ensuring continued positive economic outcomes for the Bay of Plenty and New Zealand as a whole.

www.soundswitch.com

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Avertana

 Avertana is process technology company whose products are bulk industrial commodities – physical products with tangible value and large, global markets.Established by a team out of Lanzatech using a combination of inorganic chemistry, advanced materials and innovative design, Avertana turns low-value industrial residues into valuable minerals used in everyday items.  Their products can be found everywhere, from paints and plastics to water treatment solutions, building materials and fertilisers.

www.avertana.com

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Mint Innovation

New Zealand clean tech company Mint utilises a technology platform which uses microorganisms to selectively and rapidly recover precious metals from various low concentration materials under environmentally benign conditions.  The process is low cost, recyclable and fully scalable making the ideal solution for recovering value from materials at any scale. 

A key aspect of the Mint process is the broad spectrum of biosorbents that can be used to selectively recover a variety of metals.  This enables recovery of precious metals from a range of resources and remediation of metal contaminated streams.

www.mint.bio
Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Nyriad

Nyriad developed a new generation of compression technologies designed for modern big-data needs and intelligent software solutions.

This was achieved by mixing and matching compression methodologies for various kinds of storage, performance and processing requirements. Founded by Alex St. John – Early co-creator of Microsoft DirectX media platform for Windows, Early pioneer in GPU accelerated computing and 3D graphics, and Matthew Simmonds, a New Zealand based serial entrepreneur for over 30 years, TEDx Speaker, inventor of technologies in audio, electronics, digital cinema, digital signal processing, geothermal and nuclear energy, medicine and optics.

www.nyriad.com

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Ficomms

Due to a change in strategy by Ficomms, WNT’s own decision process guided us towards the conclusion that our funds would be best invested elsewhere in our portfolio, supporting those companies with strong return potential, over those with considerable downside risk such as Ficomms. A disappointing, but necessary conclusion. WNT achieved an orderly exit from the company after working through this phase with them.

Helix ID

The company was formed between WNT Ventures and Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), in conjunction with the Sprout Agritech Accelerator Program.

In 2017, the decision was made to close this investment and wind up the company.

Foundry Lab

The Foundry Lab technology solves the long-standing market pain of slow turnaround and high piece price that plagues prototyping and low volume manufacturing.

www.foundry-lab.com
Investment Manager: Laura Faulconer 

TDRi Limited

TDRi sensing allows an unprecedented level of insight into sub-surface structures and overcomes the drawbacks of invasive and costly traditional single-point detection ground sensors.  The potential for the technology extends to a range of industries and applications in the $1 billion global market for sub-surface sensing. The technology was originally developed at Lincoln Agritech Limited.

The company has been focussed on developing continuous, non-invasive mobile sensing devices for the road construction sector and thereby dramatically improving the quality, consistency and efficiency of road surface construction.  Following successful field trials of the MVP, the Company is now preparing for the next phase of commercial development. This involves developing the company’s production/manufacturing plans, sales and marketing strategies, and future capital strategy.

Investment Manager: Jon Sandbrook

Marama Labs

Marama Labs developed CloudSpec, a unique instrument that allows customers identify and measure characteristics of turbid (cloudy) samples by using the spectral properties of light.   

The technology removes the requirement for several pre-testing processing and filtering steps, whilst providing additional insights into sample characteristics.

Businesses using CloudSpec will gain key strategic and operational benefits over  businesses using traditional testing methods.  While CloudSpec will initially be applied within the wine industry, the technology can be readily applied across a range of industries.

The unique ultra-violet and visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy technology was developed at Victoria University of Wellington’s globally recognised Raman Spectroscopy Lab.

www.maramalabs.com

Investment Manager: Jon Sandbrook 

Insite AI

Insite AI developed an enterprise level, artificial intelligence platform designed for buying and planning for large, leading, physical retailers.

Their technology makes intelligent merchandising recommendations ahead of time, augmenting the human element decision process and providing better quality, and more profitable, decisions as a result.Insite AI is based in Auckland and was established by Goat Ventures.  The founders, Jonathan Reid and Shaveer Mirpuri, are experienced entrepreneurs who have built and scaled companies before and invested into numerous start-ups.

www.insite.ai

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Opum

An instrumented brace collects sensor data to track and monitor the joint, together with an AI-driven platform that optimises the patient rehabilitation program. OPUM’s vision is to revolutionise the orthopaedic rehabilitation industry through intelligent automation.

www.opumtechnologies.com

Investment Manager: Laura Faulconer

Farrago

With a few clicks of a button, this AI tool streamlines the process and makes it exceptionally more efficient than manual data preparation.  They believe every organisation should benefit from the power of machine learning without having to invest in a team of data scientists and expert software engineers.  Farrago Ltd is based in Wellington and founded by Asa Cox, an experienced entrepreneur in the fields of AI and commercialising machine learning products and services.

www.farrago.ai

Investment Manager: Carl Jones/Michael Nguyen

PiPIoT

The company achieves this by providing real-time information about the location and operating status of distributed assets. PiP’s devices are class-leading in ruggedization, total cost of ownership, and service delivery experience. PipIot is a spin out of award-winning high-tech engineering firm InFact. 

www.pipiot.com

Investment Manager: Laura Faulconer

Argo Navis

Argo Navis was co-founded by Dr Malcolm Snowdon and Dr Avinash Rao. Malcolm and Avinash have a combined two decades of experience in the aerospace industry through joint doctoral degrees and six years of intense R&D efforts.  Malcolm and Avinash were early employees in Rocket Lab with responsibilities in the development of Electron navigation systems and Guidance, Navigation and Control.

www.argonavis.aero

Investment Manager: Carl Jones

Sortify.tm

Sortify.tm developed their relatedness engine which identifies the similarity and relatedness between goods and services in a trademark context. 

In plain English this means that they can make the trademark filing process simpler, faster and cheaper for trademark applicants and attorneys alike.   Formed in 2017, the team at Sortify.tm is headed up by the ex-Potter IP team founders, Claire Foggo and Alan Potter and is supported by Co-Founders Narly Kalupahana and Senior Development Manager Blair Leighton.

www.sortify.tm

Investment Manager: Carl Jones