New Zealand’s hottest start-up companies honoured

14th MARCH 2007

New Zealand’s hottest start-up companies honoured

New Zealand’s hottest young start-up companies had the chance to shine when their achievements were recognised at the Gen-i New Zealand Incubators Awards in Auckland on Wednesday night.

The Gen-i sponsored awards underlined the growth of New Zealand’s incubation industry, with the winning companies representing everything from superconducting products and digital signage applications, through to fabric cutting software and broadcast video asset management.

This year’s winners were:

· Start-up of the Year: eBus and OpenEye Displays, both from The ICEHOUSE incubator in Auckland
· Start-up Exporter of the Year: HTS-110 Ltd from Industrial Research Limited’s incubator in Lower Hutt
· Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year: Gareth Croy of OpenEye Displays from The ICEHOUSE incubator in Auckland
· Innovation of the Year: ShapeShifter Technology from the Canterbury Innovation Incubator in Christchurch
· Hall of Fame Award: Optimal Usability from Creative HQ in Wellington

Opening the Awards, Incubators New Zealand Chairman Jonathan Kirkpatrick said that the nominations show that the calibre of incubator companies is truly world class.

“These start-up companies are winning major export contracts, developing world-first technology and attracting significant amounts of investment. The success of these companies illustrates how incubation nurtures innovation and is helping to diversify the New Zealand economy.”

Since the establishment of the industry just five years ago, incubator-assisted companies have attracted more than $62 million in equity capital and now generate annual revenues of $89 million, of which a quarter is earned from exporting.

Gen-i’s Head of Wellington Sales, Paul Wilson, said that celebrating the emerging stars of business is something we should do more of as a country.

“New Zealand is known for its ideas but it takes real passion and commitment to successful commercialise them, particularly when you’re taking on the world. Hopefully the achievements of these companies will provide the impetus and motivation for future fledging start-ups and budding entrepreneurs,” he said.

Incubators New Zealand represents 16 regional incubators providing entrepreneurs and start-ups with the expertise, networks, tools and stimulating environment needed to make their ventures successful.

Start-up of the Year
eBUS and OpenEye Displays shared the award for Start-Up of the Year. eBUS was recognised for providing a centralised and shared digital platform that enables agencies, broadcasters, TV regulators, media and production companies to reduce costs and generate more value from their video assets. With all major post-production houses in New Zealand already secured as clients, eBUS opened an office in Singapore in October 2006 and already has two major broadcasters and several production houses currently trialling their product there. eBUS is a resident of The ICEHOUSE in Auckland.

OpenEye Displays is a leading New Zealand technology company that specialises in strategy, development and integration of digital signage applications. Digital signage is a breakthrough technology that shatters the barriers of conventional, static POP messaging. In the past year OpenEye’s customer base has tripled with major client wins in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, UK and Ireland in sectors from banking and finance, retail, to major supermarket chains and convenience stores. At the same time staff numbers have doubled to twenty and revenue has grown by approximately 500%. OpenEye Displays is a resident of The ICEHOUSE in Auckland.

Start-Up Exporter of the Year
HTS-110 is the world's leading firm in the design, manufacture and marketing of high temperature superconducting solutions for medical, scientific, energy, defence, transport and industrial markets. With almost 100% of their product exported, HTS-110 has a global presence and have created a distribution network that in the last year was highlighted by the sale of two large magnet systems (valued at $1.2 million) to clients in Germany and Australia, along with sales in the US, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea. In less than three years of operation they have grown staff numbers from 2 to 14, achieved a multimillion dollar turnover, established a US sales office and raised significant additional equity investment from the shareholders. HTS-110 is resident in Industrial Research Limited's (IRL) incubator in Lower Hutt.

Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year
Gareth Croy was awarded ‘Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year’ for his role in turning OpenEye Displays into a success story. OpenEye Displays was also co-winner of the Start-Up of the Year category.

Innovation of the Year
ShapeShifter Technology has developed breakthrough software for apparel and sewn-good manufacturers that instructs cutting machinery how to cut a set of pattern pieces from a roll of fabric so the least amount of fabric is used. ShapeShifter's software is based on complex mathematical optimisation routines and consistently uses less fabric per cut than the traditional non-computerised methods or other competing software. In addition to saving fabric, the automated nature of the software reduces the labour required to plan the cut. The reduction in fabric and labour costs can increase profit by over 10%. Sales have now been made in the Asian, European, South American and Australasian markets. ShapeShifter Technology is based in the Canterbury Innovation Incubator (Cii).

Hall of Fame Award

The Hall of Fame award, recognising a successful incubator graduate, was presented to Optimal Usability Limited. Providing consultancy services to help evaluate and improve the usability of technology products, services, environments and interactions they can now boast 94 clients, many of whom are this country’s largest customer-facing organisations. Not only have they gained 30 new clients in the past year, but they have also diversified the technology they have evaluated to include an in-cab device for truck drivers, in-branch bank kiosks and automated phone systems.

They are also slightly unique in that, as New Zealand’s largest usability consultancy company, they have had to create awareness of a new industry in this country in order to grow their business. Optimal Usability Limited is a graduate of Creative HQ in Wellington.

ENDS

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