NZ’s on its way to becoming a ‘tech utopia’ within a decade
Saturday, 17 January 2026
Robbie Paul is Icehouse Ventures’ chief executive.
OPINION: In December 2017 - just after our first child had just arrived - I made a pitch (with a PowerPoint!) to my wife: we should buy a derelict bach on Great Barrier Island.
I said a lot across a waffling 42 pages, but this was the key point: “Great Barrier is part of a country that is politically stable, English-speaking, resource rich, increasingly accessible and widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful, prosperous, and safest countries in the world.”
How could we possibly go wrong?
About 126,400 people have moved away from New Zealand since January. Many of them would rightfully point to the high cost of living and housing, weak GDP growth, and a near-nine-year high for unemployment, company liquidations at a 10-year high, and much more could go wrong.
Do I still have conviction in my bet? Absolutely. New Zealand may have a lot to sort out in the near term but my pick is we have the ingredients to become a technology utopia over the coming decade.
(My definition is a country where people’s possibilities and ambitions are limitless thanks to technology.)
The five Ingredients:
1. Fundamentals
New Zealand is consistently named among the most peaceful, stable, democratic, and safest countries on earth. We have ample natural resources, the potential to produce immense amounts of energy, and a reasonable debt-to-GDP ratio.
We are also fortunate in what we don’t have: big money in politics, climate extremes, XL military budgets, or problematic borders.
It also helps that we have also beaches, islands (including Great Barrier Island!), wine, craft beer, produce, coffee, seafood, golf courses, and hikes that have been named among the best in the world.
2. Capability
We have world-leading entrepreneurs like Craig Piggott of Halter, Alliv Samson and Hengjie Wang of Kami, Connor Archbold and Matt Herbert of Tracksuit, and Jamie Beaton of Crimson. Great entrepreneurs emerge every year regardless of who is in power, macro-economic conditions, geopolitical tensions, the weather, or anything else.
We are increasingly seeing second and third-time entrepreneurs like Tom Batterbury and Scott Barrington of Harth, Brianne West of Incrediballs, Sean Molloy, Sean Simpson, and Aaron Marshall of Ternary Kinetics, and Anna Mowbray of Zeil.
Our universities consistently produce startups like Toku Eyes, Heartlab, Formus Labs, Open Star, Aspiring Materials, and Zincovery, to name a few. Did you know Apple’s wireless power technologies were developed at the University of Auckland?
3. Connectivity
We have the most phenomenal “alumni network” in the world: 500,000+ Kiwis across 100s of countries and working in the upper echelons of many industries. Despite living overseas, the majority that I have met are fiercely proud Kiwis. They yearn for connection and have desires to help fellow Kiwis to thrive.
Numerous offshore Kiwi entrepreneurs are going XL like Hamish McKenzie of Substack (recently valued at US$1 billion), Paul Copplestone of Supabase (US$5b), Dave Ferguson of Nuro ($6b+), and Alex Kendall (US$6b+). Despite running empires, all of them eagerly take calls and meetings with budding entrepreneurs.
New Zealand’s connectivity has been supercharged thanks to hundreds of investor immigrants and Edmund Hillary Fellows. The only people prouder to be Kiwi than Kiwis are those who have made New Zealand their new home.
And some phenomenal individuals are making New Zealand home. I wish I could name them but it’s safe to say you would do well if your Bingo card had the top 25 wealthiest people on earth.
Technology is making virtual commerce easier by the day. But don’t forget how far we have come with our perspective on virtual commerce. That we can hire team members, raise $10s of millions, close big sales, and even sell companies remotely was science fiction a decade ago. This type of change disproportionately benefits a remote nation like New Zealand.
4. Capital
New Zealand’s startups are no longer capital constrained. Quite the opposite.
Twenty years ago, entrepreneurs had the doors of Sam Morgan, Stephen Tindall, and Phil McCaw to knock on. Today there are more than 100 entrepreneurs-turned-angel investors including Sir Peter Beck, Sean Simpson, Anna Mowbray, Brianne West, Fady Mishriki, Hadleigh Bognuda, and Alliv Samson & Hengjie Wang.
Twenty years ago, there were a handful of venture funds investing. Since then, 30 new funds have been established and >$2b has been raised.
Twenty years ago, international venture capital firms investing in New Zealand companies was a thing of folklore. Today we are seeing monthly investments by international VCs into New Zealand startups.
And then there’s KiwiSaver. The amount of capital they could bring to venture capital and growth assets overtime is significantly underestimated. Here’s why: as KiwiSavers grow (and they are growing fast!) so too can their allocation to unlisted and illiquid investments.
Based on their current growth and allocation models, KiwiSavers could have up to $30b allocatable to venture capital and private equity by 2030.
5. Time
Given a bit more time - and some luck - New Zealand will produce hundreds of world-leading startups. The success of these startups will amplify our capabilities, expand our international connectivity, and grow our capital base.
At that point, the next generation of founders – including those that came up under the wings of earlier success stories, graduated from great universities, or returned or moved to New Zealand for its peace, beauty, and vibrancy– will be supercharged by Kiwi capability, connectivity, and capital.
And that’s when the story will really begin.
VC firm Icehouse Ventures has invested in approximately half of all early-stage technology startups in the country. At the end of 2025, its Seed Fund IV secured nearly $70m of capital from 363 investors, the largest such fund backing early stage startups in the country’s history.