Startup Dunedin Announces Challenger Series Finalists

7th June 2019

Deloitte, Gallaway Cook Allan, Grow Dunedin Partnership and Enterprise Dunedin congratulate the winners of the 2019 Startup Dunedin Challenger Series and are once again delighted by the caliber of the applicants.

The three Challengers are:

Next Farm
Next Farm is a Dunedin based agritech startup creating autonomous irrigation to enhance water management practices. They ensure there is enough water left for the future and enable farms to thrive by maximizing their yields, while minimizing their inputs.

Winely
Winely gives winemakers easy to use, timely data by automating the collection and analysis of data in winemaking.

Kaffelogic
Kaffelogic spreads the joy of roasting your own coffee beans. They combine sophisticated software with elegant design to make the best 100g-batch coffee roasters in the world.

Last night, a high-profile panel of judges from around the country selected the three winning Challengers. The panel included Pete Hodgson, Chair of Callaghan Innovation; Tamsin Bateman, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Investment Manager; Kyle Cameron, Deloitte Partner; and John Gallaher, Forsyth Barr Senior Investment Advisor. Startup Dunedin Chair, Sarah Ramsay says the quality exceeded expectations. “All of the judges commented on the extremely high quality of applicants. It’s fantastic to see startups from a variety of backgrounds, innovating in a variety of fields. Given Dunedin’s rich history of manufacturing it’s also heartening to note this year all the winners are physical products.” says Sarah.

The Challenger Series services startups that already have traction and are looking to scale. However, Donna Hall emphasised Startup Dunedin’s support for startups of all stages. “Some of the unsuccessful applicants are completing our nine week Co.Starters programme and we hope that they will apply for Challenger again in 2020.” Donna also made mention of other startup activity in Dunedin including, Audacious, as well as co-working spaces: Petridish, Innov8HQ and Regus.

All applicants completed written applications which were used to shortlist the top 20. These 20 then pitched to a panel of judges and were narrowed to 7 finalists which have spent the last month preparing to pitch for their spot in the top 3.

The Challenger Series begins on June 24th and features mentoring from some of Dunedin’s top business leaders. Each finalist will also receive $15,000 worth of support including $5000 credit with Deloitte, $5000 credit with Gallaway Cook Allan and $5000 cash support from Startup Dunedin.

Industry and Government have collaborated to establish the Challenger Series. This includes Enterprise Dunedin (part of Dunedin City Council), Grow Dunedin Partners, Startup Dunedin, Creative HQ, Callaghan Innovation, Deloitte and Gallaway Cook Allan.

Deloitte Partner, Kyle Cameron was impressed by the maturity of this year’s applicants. “It’s great to see a group of talented people driven to succeed in business. All of the short-listed entrants had clearly articulated a market need for their offering and to me that was a clear indicator of the maturity of this group of entrants.”

Gallaway Cook Allan Partner, David Smillie, expressed their excitement to support the winning startups. “Gallaway Cook Allan is proud to support the Challenger Series and we look forward to working with the winners and helping them on the next stage of their journeys.”

“The development of the Dunedin startup ecosystem is a key investment initiative for Enterprise Dunedin and the Grow Dunedin Partnership, as startups will contribute to Dunedin’s job growth and increasing incomes. We are pleased with the capability and confidence that is building in the startup community and look forward to seeing this group of ambitious Challenger startups, with global potential, progress in Dunedin.” Said Enterprise Dunedin Economic Development Programme Manager, Fraser Liggett

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