Icehouse Ventures

“Go big at the beginning.” 💭 Advice from Kami Co-founder & CGO Alliv Samson to young founders at our First Cut Meetup. Kami started as a uni project — now it’s a digital learning platform used by over 40 million students and teachers worldwide, and recently secured investment from a US private equity firm to fuel their next phase of growth. Up next in our First Cut event series is Brainwaves to Breakthroughs 🧠  A 3-part virtual series offering practical advice on turning ideas into startups. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gE649Pyg First Cut is our community for young founders and operators in Aotearoa. Join the community: https://lnkd.in/g84dZUr5

Brainwaves to Breakthroughs returns on the 24th of April — a three-part virtual series for aspiring and existing early stage founders on the practical steps to take your startup from concept to launch. Each session brings together industry experts and founders who’ve been through it all and have plenty of wisdom to share. Whether you’re already working on an idea or just curious about starting something, this series is designed to help you learn from the best. ▪️Funding Your Startup - Emily Blythe (Pyper Vision) & Jonathan Ring (Zincovery), Thursday 24th April, 1-2pm. ▪️Founding Your Startup: Legal 101 - Becca Gaunt (Icehouse Ventures) & Murray Whyte (Avid.legal), Tuesday 20th May, 1-2pm. ▪️Building Your Startup Team - Anna Liumaihetau Darling (Sharesies) & Samantha Gadd (Humankind), Thursday 19th June, 1-2pm. Brought to you by First Cut, Icehouse Ventures’ community for young founders and operators in Aotearoa. Free to attend, register here for one or all of the sessions here: https://lnkd.in/gE649Pyg

Founders always ask us: "Is now a good time to raise capital?" Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures, has an answer that might surprise you… Robbie is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to startups, venture capital and capital raises. He's been through it all and knows what works. Our new venture capital series kicks off this week, coinciding with our launch of “Insight Pitch”. This is the first in a three-part series of interviews featuring Robbie’s insights. Our episode this week is essentially a "State of the Nation" on growth funding for Kiwi businesses. It’s a fresh format for us, and recording in person with Robbie made it all the more enjoyable! These interviews push me out of my comfort zone—but worth it to share insights from true market experts such as Robbie. #venturecapital #ai #tech Jo Wickham Jack McQuire Barnaby Marshall

Last week in San Francisco, we co-hosted a Startup Leaders Meetup with Substack to bring together Kiwi founders, operators, and supporters leading global communities from the Bay Area. Big thanks to our speakers: Hamish McKenzie (Substack), Kathryn Zealand (Skip, ex-Google X), and Tim Brown (Allbirds / IV) for sharing their perspectives. The conversation was centered around how NZ’ness has informed the way they have led and built their businesses. Here are some of the takeaways that stuck with us: ▪️ You don't need to downplay the essence of being a Kiwi but you do need to understand the nuances of communicating in the US. ▪️ You don't need to talk yourself up, but you shouldn't talk yourself down. ▪️ Confidence & humility don't need to be in conflict. ▪️ Be very strategic about winning, don't work hard for the sake of looking busy. ▪️ Go for it! It doesn't matter if you fail along the way. ▪️ In pursuit of a career path, or entrepreneurial idea - try lots of small things. That's how you get to find the big thing. Thanks to everyone who came along, we loved connecting with so many Kiwi building big things offshore.

Congratulations to Aspiring Materials on reaching a major milestone: scaling from lab to pilot plant with the official launch of their 250kg/day facility in Christchurch. Aspiring’s novel process takes commonly found rocks containing olivine and breaks them down into high-purity, carbon-free materials like magnesium hydroxide, silica, and nickel-cobalt hydroxides. The process is circular, zero-waste, and produces no emissions, providing a clean alternative to the high-carbon materials used in wastewater, construction, energy, and agriculture today. “The way I like to describe it is we digest rocks, we separate the products and then we regenerate the reactants. So it’s a beautiful, elegant solution that means there’s no waste.” - Co-founder and CEO, Mark Chadderton. It’s a breakthrough with global potential, offering industrial resilience, local supply chain certainty, material purity, and a smarter path to decarbonisation. Check out the full story via BusinessDesk NZ here (paywall):  https://lnkd.in/g4rkhmDy Or more on their launch here: https://lnkd.in/gg-f9jRX

From Aotearoa to America Part 2: The $28M Journey You Haven't Heard About. Chasing the American Dream is rarely a straight line. Sometimes it's a zigzag that tests every ounce of your resilience. One Kiwi company's US expansion story is a masterclass in resilience. Over 10 years the company has ‘won ugly’ and grinded their way to a $28m ARR with enterprise customers around the world and a thriving US business. Attempt 1: It was tough. COVID hit, costs soared, and they felt miles away from their customers. They had to pull the plug. But they didn't quit. Attempt 2: They found the right person to take the product to market. This was a game changer. Someone who lived and breathed the product, could sell ice to Eskimos, and turned customer feedback into real product improvements. Here's what they learned the hard way: - Don't scale prematurely. Nail it before you grow it. - US product-market fit? Way tougher than you think. - Integrations were a key. Unlock them. - Culture doesn't translate. Hire slowly, teach culture constantly. - "Build ugly, win ugly." Do whatever it takes to get traction. These anonymized stories are for Kiwi founders tackling the US. Here is the full story: https://lnkd.in/gJ49WwuF

A big thank you to Alliv Samson (Co-founder and CGO at Kami), Max Olson (Founder and CTO at Vessev), and Sophie Cooper (Founder at Anihana) for joining us at last Wednesday’s First Cut Meetup - and for sharing real, early-stage lessons that shaped their journeys as founders. Some takeaways we’re still thinking about: ▪️ Talk to your customers — Kami's early success stemmed from genuine, on-the-ground customer engagement: visiting classrooms, attending teacher expos, and building a great product always keeping empathy for the users at the forefront. ▪️ Pivots are the most important part of the journey — every founder shared moments of redirection that ultimately led them to stronger, more aligned businesses. Reframing setbacks as signals to realign can lead to a path that makes more sense in hindsight. ▪️ Bias toward action matters — what sets people apart is often just doing something. As Max put it, even the wrong decision is better than doing nothing — momentum matters. ▪️ And most importantly — find others who are on the same path. The journey of a founder can be long and windy, but having the right support network can make all the difference. Thanks to everyone who came along, asked thoughtful questions, and stayed for the good chats after. Missed out on this one? Stay up to date with upcoming events via our socials or monthly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gkTsifpR

Congratulations to all the finalists announced yesterday for the NZ Hi-Tech Awards! This year's list is packed with incredible Kiwi founders, teams, and tech taking on global challenges and redefining the industries that shape how the world works. A special shout out to the finalists from within the Icehouse Ventures portfolio: Crimson Education, Calocurb, CarbonCrop, Cleanery, Hot Lime Labs, Ideally, Kitea Health, Narrative, Neocrete, RoofBuddy, Scentian Bio, Toku, and Zincovery. From pioneering new approaches in disease detection and continuous care, to decarbonising heavy industries and rethinking education, waste, agriculture, and construction - these teams are building a brighter future for the world, from Aotearoa. 👏 We’ll be cheering you on in May! Check out the full list of finalists and their categories here: https://lnkd.in/gzqEgwj9

Most successful Kiwi SaaS companies fail entering the US market. At least the first try at it. As a Partner at Icehouse Ventures, I've witnessed both triumphs and setbacks in US market expansion. Recently, I met with two promising Kiwi companies, each generating approximately $5M ARR, both eyeing the American market in 2025. Their ambition reminded me of the countless conversations I've had with founders who've walked this path before. The story normally goes something like this: Product market fit is achieved in our local market, things are going well, the team is pumped about growth. They raise capital to fund US expansion only to find the market is more different than expected, it costs more, it’s hard, the customers want different things, the culture is more nuanced than anticipated. I've just completed in-depth interviews with 6 of our portfolio companies about their US expansion experiences. What emerged was fascinating - while certain themes appeared consistently, each company's journey revealed unique insights that could be game-changing for others. Here's what's striking: many of the costliest mistakes were entirely preventable. Over the next several weeks, I'll be publishing these stories (anonymized, of course) to give founders a real, unvarnished look at what it takes to crack the US market. These aren't just success stories - they're practical playbooks built from real experiences and, yes, some expensive lessons. Ready to dive into the first chapter? Here's Part 1 of our "From Aotearoa to America" series: https://lnkd.in/dQvvDDY6

Looking for your next role? Kiwi startups with teams in NZ and across the ditch are looking for talented people to join them. Check out some of the latest listings from our jobs board: ▪️ Hnry are hiring a Performance Marketing Coordinator (Sydney, AU) ▪️ Vessev are hiring an Electrical/Mechatronics Engineer (Auckland, NZ) ▪️ Tradify are hiring a Customer Success Manager (Auckland NZ) ▪️ Tracksuit are hiring a Pre Sales Lead (Sydney, AU) ▪️ Halter are hiring a Senior Business Development Executive (Hawkes Bay, NZ) ▪️ Basis are hiring an Intermediate Procurement Engineer (Christchurch/Auckland, NZ) Explore these and 200+ roles via the link in the comments. Looking for something specific? Join our talent network (takes 3 minutes), tell us what you're after, and we’ll keep you posted on jobs that match your skills, experience, and interests. Link in the comments 👇