See Tomorrow First

In this episode, our guest is Max Ferguson, founder and CEO of Lumin; a software leader, providing accessible, safe and intuitive tech products that enable seamless collaboration in the workplace. Max was an engineering student in Christchurch, New Zealand, working on the city’s post-earthquake rebuild. He saw a mismatch between old and new workflows: on construction sites he’d draw on paper blueprints, and in the office he’d email around digital plans. From that, Lumin was born. Within a month, they had one million people using it – today they have ninety million.

In this super insightful chat we covered Lumin’s global-from-day-1 mentality which saw Max relocate to Silicon Valley very early on, followed by his choice to return to Aotearoa New Zealand to set up Lumin’s global headquarters in Christchurch. We talked about the cultural differences between the US and NZ when it comes to building new businesses, NZ’s world-class tertiary education system, and how to support talent to stay here once they graduate. 

In this episode, we talked to Simon Malpas, founder and CEO of Kitea Health — a medtech start-up that’s created the world’s most accurate implantable sensor for heart failure and hydrocephalus. The device is roughly the size of a few grains of rice and is capable of remotely monitoring changes to pressure and sending real-time, accurate information straight to the healthcare professional and patient.

This wide-ranging conversation covered Simon’s background in research and  start-ups, the size of the global opportunity for Kitea Health’s world-first tech, the long pathway to commercialisation for medical devices, and the key ingredients to building a successful medtech company from New Zealand (hint: he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata).

Next we’re joined by Mary Vance, founder and Executive Director of Cemplicity — a global SaaS platform for the healthcare industry. Cemplicity provides real-time patient feedback to improve clinical outcomes. It’s about using software for improvement, not just measurement. Mary founded the company alongside Nick MacDonald in 2011, and it’s now serving customers in 8 countries in more than 3000 healthcare facilities. 

It was fascinating to hear Mary’s story, and to learn from her twenty-year journey scaling Cemplicity from New Zealand. Her approach to funding, governance, and setting up in-market was so clear-eyed and filled with insight. Enjoy! 

In the next episode of the STF podcast, we sat down with Dave Rouse, CEO and Co-founder of CarbonClick. 

CarbonClick is a climatetech SaaS platform that empowers businesses to integrate carbon offsetting in a simple, meaningful and transparent way, designed as a tool to support companies on their decarbonisation journey. Their vision is to inspire 1 billion clicks for a cooler planet. 

In this conversation, Dave takes us through CarbonClick's journey from launching in New Zealand to bringing on global clients within their first month. We discussed how the company’s focus on transparency is a key differentiator that helps them build trust with their customers around the world, and how leaning into New Zealand’s reputation for care for the environment is helping CarbonClick to grow. 

With plenty of plans for growth in the future, the future is looking bright for CarbonClick. 

We were delighted to have Alliv Samson, Co-Founder and CGO (Chief Growth Officer) join us to share Kami’s journey.

Kami is a New Zealand edtech company that is transforming the way students and teachers engage and collaborate with learning resources. Alongside her three co-founders, Alliv’s has grown Kami’s user base to more than 40 million people across 180 countries.

In this inspiring conversation, Alliv takes us through Kami's inception and how the founding team’s unrelenting dedication to meeting their customers’ needs has been a key ingredient to their success. 

We discuss the big decisions they made during the pandemic which led to 1200% growth, and how they maintain a competitive edge as a New Zealand-based company with a global customer-base.

At the launch of Techweek24, CEO of NZ Story David Downs sat down with 2 leaders in the NZ space sector to talk about how NZ ingenuity is shaping humanity's future in space. Our panellists were:

Morgan Connaughton, Director of Comms, Rocket Lab

Stefan Powell, CEO and CTO, Dawn Aerospace

Aotearoa is home to space tech innovation that’s rapidly putting us on the international space map, in fact, we’re the 4th largest player in space in the world.

We  have the world’s first fully private orbital launch site, capable of 120 launches a year. Our space innovators have developed a rapidly reusable, rocket-powered space aircaft as well as a fuel-free, solar-powered satellite control and propulsion system. We partner internationally on world-leading research to reduce climate change, minimise space debris, and gather data to improve life on earth.

All this is backed by an agile space industry that empowers us to think bigger, move faster, aim higher.

At the launch of Techweek24, CEO of NZ Story David Downs sat down with 3 leaders in the NZ gaming sector to talk about how they're taking NZ creativity global. Our panellists were:

Sam Ramlu, CEO and Co-Founder of Method, Mighty Eyes and Mad Carnival

Mario Wynands, CEO and Co-Founder of PikPok

Antony Blackett, BDM of Synty Studios

New Zealand’s gaming sector is booming, in fact it’s poised to become a billion-dollar industry in the next few years.

Our rich history of creativity and ingenuity is the foundation of our globally competitive gaming industry. New Zealanders are behind some of the world’s most downloaded games, and our games studios draw on award-winning visual effects expertise and the latest technology to create immersive, impactful games and content, and to supply the world’s best 3D art packs to developers all over the planet.

It was excellent to kick-off Season 2 of the podcast by sitting down with Toby Littin, Co-Founder and CEO of Parkable.

Parkable is a marketplace and SaaS solution that aims to make parking painless and profitable. Toby was one of 3 founders who came together in 2015, united in the knowledge that parking is a universally terrible experience, with an ambitious goal to build a company that would make it better for everyone.

Toby believes that better parking has a part to play in a more sustainable future, and he and his growing team are scaling globally with that vision, operating in the US, UK, Australia and Europe.

This insightful and wide ranging conversation spanned from the company’s origins, to its pivot to SaaS, to the importance of team culture when scaling to the world, and what Parkable’s customers love about working with them. Toby shared Parkable’s story with such honesty and humour, we hope you enjoy the conversation as much we did. 

Join us as we talk to Doctor Brian Ward, founder and CEO of Aroa; a soft-tissue regeneration BioTech company that develops, manufactures and distributes medical and surgical products to improve healing in complex wounds and soft tissue reconstruction.

Brian steps us through Aroa’s beginnings, from investigating and developing a ruminant forestomach extracellular matrix (ECM) technology, through to the company’s global presence today. He shares the challenges faced in the life sciences sector, especially around raising capital and regulatory considerations, and how Aroa has navigated these to scale and make regenerative healing available to people worldwide.

Hear more from New Zealand’s inspiring tech innovators intent on building a better tomorrow by listening to other episodes in this series. Listen to unique founding stories, from beautiful brand tracking software and a widely acclaimed gothic fishing game, to a seaweed-derived sustainable nanocellulose hydrogel -  an ingenious green alternative to petroleum-based polymers.

Join us as we talk to Maru Nihoniho, founder of Auckland-based interactive game design and development studio, Metia Interactive. Metia’s foundational project and labour of love is Guardian Maia; a hybrid historical, science-fiction story inspired by Maru’s whakapapa and Māori culture in Aotearoa.

Maru’s foray into gaming development began more than two decades ago – it’s a story of perseverance, resilience and clarity of vision. She steps us through her journey, how her culture has greatly inspired Guardian Maia, and the potential for cultural learning and empathy building through the game play experience.

Hear more from New Zealand’s inspiring tech innovators intent on building a better tomorrow by listening to other episodes in this series. Listen to unique founding stories, from beautiful brand tracking software and a widely acclaimed gothic fishing game, to a seaweed-derived sustainable nanocellulose hydrogel -  an ingenious green alternative to petroleum-based polymers.