Icehouse Ventures

Bookended by wirelessly powered drones and Tracksuit’s big Series A, to Tradify’s acquisition, OpenStar Technologies sparking first plasma, and Dawn Aerospace’s space plane breaking the sound barrier, it’s been a huge year of momentum and milestones. 🎉👏 Our NZ Startup Year-in-Review highlights just a slice of the moments that defined 2024 for Kiwi startups. Check them out in the video below and let us know what we missed! Plus, read Robbie’s take on the big losses and even bigger wins of 2024: https://lnkd.in/gGPgP-q7 Thanks to the founders, operators, and supporters driving New Zealand towards an even brighter future. Here’s to an amazing 2025!

Following months of behind-the-scenes work with our partners, Previously Unavailable, we’re excited to announce the launch of Brand Fund 2—a $10 million fund to back the next generation of ambitious, brand-led Kiwi companies. Over the past 18 months, Brand Fund 1 has shown how transformational a clear, compelling brand can be for growth. It has backed companies like Free AF Drinks, Tracksuit, Ārepa, Appetise, and Extraordinary, supporting them to scale faster and smarter. With momentum building, Brand Fund 2 will back founders who are ready to leverage brand as a growth engine. The fund is launching six months earlier than planned to support follow-on investments in some of New Zealand's fastest-growing startups and to fuel new opportunities where brand can create outsized impact. The fund will again be led by Simon Pound (Brand Fund Managing Partner), with an investment committee featuring James Hurman (Co-founder, Previously Unavailable), Phoebe Devine (Partner & Head of Design, Previously Unavailable), Connor Archbold (Co-founder & Co-CEO, Tracksuit), and Barnaby Marshall (Partner, IV). As Simon puts it: “Great brands don’t just win customers—they build teams, attract partners, and define markets and categories. That’s exactly what we’ve seen with companies like Extraordinary (formerly HealthNow) and Appetise (formerly MenuAid), who saw customer and revenue growth accelerate post-rebrand." With $6.5M already committed, we’re looking forward to backing more founders who are redefining their industries through bold ideas and exceptional brands. Read more here (paywall): https://lnkd.in/g-FNqg9h Brand Fund by Previously Unavailable and Icehouse Ventures

Emerging from stealth mode, we can now publicly congratulate DevRamp on their $1.58m pre-seed raise! 🚀 Founded by Peter Beguely, William Palmer, and Nicolas Maquet — the team that previously scaled Movio into a global tech leader — DevRamp is tackling a critical challenge in software development: the knowledge gap or lack of "code familiarity" that emerges when codebases grow, team members leave, and AI-generated code becomes more common. DevRamp’s platform addresses this by mapping, tracking, and sharing code knowledge across teams, ensuring familiarity is retained and shared, not lost. It helps teams onboard faster, reduce technical debt, and eliminate key person risk — all while integrating into existing development workflows. Having spent six months in stealth mode, working with ten leading development organisations, including Cin7, Raygun, and Timely, DevRamp is now gearing up for wider release in early 2025. It’s a privilege to lead the round, backing a seasoned team tackling an escalating global challenge in the software development industry. As Robbie put it, “When you come across second-time founders like Will and Peter, the first question you ask is “Can we get involved?” The second question is “What are you working on?” Check out a short demo of DevRamp below, and find more at: devramp.io

A wrap on last week’s news from the startup ecosystem 🚀 Caruso secured $3.2M in funding to accelerate global growth. Their platform, used to manage $15 billion in assets across more than 400 funds and 27,000 investors, aims to streamline operations for fund managers by consolidating multiple software systems into a single interface. NILO closed a $13M Series A to fuel team expansion and scale production for international clients. Their game-changing tech turns plastic waste into eco-friendly adhesives for wood products — a clean, scalable solution for a $16B+ global market. Vessev and Fullers360 announced they will launch passenger trips on the Vessev VS-9, a high-speed electric hydrofoil boat, from January 29, 2025. The vessel will carry tour groups through the Hauraki Gulf at 30 knots (55 km/h), setting a new standard for sustainable water transport. Kitea Health have been awarded the Breakthrough Device Designation by the FDA — a rare status granted to only 150 devices each year. This fast-tracks regulatory review of Kitea’s system, which allows hydrocephalus patients to monitor brain pressure at home and access treatment faster when it’s needed. Adding to the week’s achievements, Ben Scales and William Murrell (KiwiFibre) and Simon Malpas (Kitea Health) have been named finalists for NZ Innovator of the Year. Congrats to all the finalists across each of the categories!

If you’ve kept up with the happenings within NZ’s technology ecosystem this year, then you’ll know:   OpenStar Technologies, a company based in the Ngauranga Gorge, are advancing towards creating the world's first city-scale fusion energy reactor based on a unique method of levitating magnets.   And Halter, who are redefining the future of farming, were recognised as New Zealand's fastest-growing company this year (at a growth rate of 1539%), and have surpassed 250,000 cows trained using their technology.   As well as Crimson Education, who are transforming the future of global education, hit a $1B valuation this year—and its co-founder and CEO, Jamie Beaton, holds qualifications from four Ivy League schools and hasn’t even celebrated his 30th yet.   I could keep going.   Ideally, in 16 short months, have collected over 13 million responses to questions their customers want answered—empowering more than 130 brands and agencies to bring bolder ideas to life.   Basis came out of stealth a few months ago to publicly launch a world-first electric smart panel designed to transform the way we manage electricity and have already pre-sold >5,000 units.   And Vessev got their truly world-class electric hydrofoiling boat on the water and you can now experience it for yourself by booking with Fullers.   What you might not know, is that all of these exceptional companies are in Icehouse Ventures Growth Fund II. The fund is oversubscribed at $105m, and it’s the last call to get involved before it closes at Xmas.   If you are interested in investing alongside Generate KiwiSaver Scheme, Pie Funds, Craigs Investment Partners, Harbour Asset Management, Simplicity, Sir Stephen Tindall, and 588 investors — DM me.

Last call : ) Growth Fund II closes on the 31st. Thanks to the support of Generate KiwiSaver Scheme, Pie Funds, Craigs Investment Partners, Harbour Asset Management, Simplicity, Sir Stephen Tindall, and 588 wonderful investors we are now oversubscribed past our $100m target. The pedigree of our investors and the quality of our initial investments (some featured here) speak to the great position we are in with Icehouse Ventures Growth Fund II. Join us! Message me if you would like to learn more. $50k min paid over three years.

100 investors. Two buses. 🚌 Three companies. The IV Startup Tour is all about bringing investors behind the scenes to meet the companies they back and hear the wins and milestones of the year firsthand. This year’s tour was no different, with stops to hear from and celebrate: 💡 Ideally, who have collected over 13 million responses to questions their customers want answered—empowering more than 130 brands and agencies to bring bolder ideas to life. 🐄 Halter, who continue to redefine the future of farming, having surpassed 250,000 cows trained using their technology and earning recognition as NZ's fastest growing company in the Deloitte Fast 50. 🔧 Tradify, the best-in-class job management software for tradespeople with over 20,000 global customers, whose growth recently led to their acquisition by the U.K.’s Access Group 👏 A huge thank you to the teams at Halter, Ideally, and Tradify for hosting us. Shareholder updates are important, but even more so are the people behind the metrics and missions that the updates report on. Here’s a glimpse into the afternoon!

On Wednesday evening, we transformed the OpenStar office to host a dinner alongside Icehouse Ventures. We were honoured to show the guests around our facility and provide insight into what the future holds for OpenStar and, by extension, the clean energy sector. Among the speakers were Ratu Mataira, founder and CEO of OpenStar, Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures, Sean Molloy, CEO and co-Founder of Ternary Kinetics, co-founder of Avertana, Director at Zincovery, and Angus Blair, General Partner at Outset Ventures. . . . #cleanenergy #fusiontechnology #climatetechnology #deeptechnology

What happens when the conversation is good? People stick around for hours! 🕺 Thanks to the 250 people in the Pōneke Wellington Startup community for coming to hang out and connect with one another at our Startup Block Party a few weeks ago. And special thanks to Brooke Roberts (Co-founder and Co-CEO of Sharesies) and Ratu Mataira (Founder of OpenStar Technologies) for the fireside (stairwell) chats. They shared candid stories about building their companies from the ground up in Pōneke, including the wins and losses they had along the way. The wind (sort of) played ball and we even got a fire pit going. 🔥 We’ve had a heap of fun bringing Aotearoa’s startup community together at Block Parties this year. You can put people in a room together but the magic comes from the types of people and the kind of conversations they have, so thanks to all who brought the magic through their insightful convos, thoughtful questions, and the love of what they do ✌️

Congrats to Joshua Parsons and the Watchful team on their $4.6M raise! Watchful is a security monitoring startup transforming how security firms monitor and identify potential threats. Their suite of AI-powered products automate critical elements of security monitoring for large scale systems, prioritising alerts to allow security agents to make swift decisions and actions as threats occur, helping eliminate errors and accelerate decision-making. “We have created a vastly improved triaging system, so instead of an agent trying to monitor hundreds of cameras at once, we can direct them to the most vital moments, to take decisive action, while automating the rest,” - Joshua Parsons. After officially launching in NZ last year, and the U.S. in January, they’re already seeing early success, monitoring several thousand cameras from customers including Zaladium Analytics. "Security surveillance is a market that hasn't seen a huge amount of innovation in recent years. Recognising this, Joshua has figured out a way to address some of these clear gaps and has been rewarded with instant commercial traction.” - Mason Bleakley. The idea for Watchful emerged from Josh's firsthand experience as a police officer and his subsequent security business, Crosbies Security, that specialises in solar-powered security equipment and has deployed over 1,000 solar-powered camera towers across 500 sites. We’re excited to be backing Josh and the Watchful team and to have lead their recent seed round. Read more on Watchful’s story here: https://lnkd.in/gxWx_kKG Or read Mason’s great take on Joshua & Watchful here: https://lnkd.in/gHu8b_vq