Icehouse Ventures

Home
New Zealand
Parnell
Icehouse Ventures

Directions Website

Our mission is to be transformative investors in transformative Kiwi companies.

We have invested >$800m into >390 companies, including Halter, Crimson Education, Sharesies, Hnry, Dawn Aerospace, Tracksuit, Wayve, OpenStar, Substack, & Nuro.

01/11/2026

Two Kiwi companies have been named on the TIME Best Inventions of 2026 list, recognised for different ways of getting more from plants.

▪️ BioLumic’s xTraits is a platform that improves crops using light. Seeds are treated with a recipe of UV light that prompts their existing genes to express useful traits, like stronger germination and more growth. Founder Jason Wargent describes it as “more like a dimmer switch than an on-off edit.” Treated seeds are already growing in commercial fields across three continents, and BioLumic report yield gains of more than 20% in some corn field trials.

▪️ Leaft Foods’ Blade puts rubisco, described by TIME as the most abundant protein on the planet, into a single drink. Found in every green leaf, rubisco sits inside tough cell walls. Leaft Foods have spent years developing a process to harvest it from lucerne at scale. Blade is their first consumer product: a 100ml vegan pouch with 18g of protein, a complete amino acid profile, iron, and vitamins B2 and B12.

Both are deep science stories, built in Aotearoa and now earning global attention.

Congratulations to the BioLumic and Leaft Foods teams on the recognition!

See both on the TIME list: https://time.com/collection/best-inventions/2026/

30/10/2026

Looking for your next career move? High-growth Kiwi startups are scaling their teams, with roles spanning different disciplines and time zones.

Here are some of the latest listings on our Jobs Board:

Social & Community Lead @ General Compute, San Francisco, CA, USA + 7 more

Registry Officer @ Caruso, Auckland, NZ + 2 more

Data API Engineer @ Supabase, Remote + 42 more

Principal Product Engineer @ Partly, Austin, TX, USA + 17 more

Marketing Lead @ Tracksuit, London, UK + 17 more

Software Engineer, People Ecosystem @ Halter, Auckland, NZ + 183 more

Find these and hundreds more via our Jobs Board: https://jobs.icehouseventures.co.nz/jobs

You can also join our Talent Network (takes just 3 minutes). Tell us what you are after, and we will keep you posted on jobs that match your skills, experience, and interests: https://jobs.icehouseventures.co.nz/talent-network

28/10/2026

General Compute have raised a US$100m Series A to bring high-speed AI inference to open-source models.

Founded by Kiwi Finn Puklowski and Jason Goodison, General Compute run a ‘neocloud’, an AI cloud built specifically for inference, the step where AI models generate their responses. Fast response times matter most for coding agents, voice AI, and autonomous systems.

Most AI clouds run on GPUs, the general-purpose chips made mainly by Nvidia. General Compute focus on specialist chips designed purely for inference, which the team say generate responses 5-7x faster than GPU-based clouds.

They buy these chips from SambaNova, Positron, and Cerebras, install them in existing data centres and repurposed bitcoin-mining sites, then rent the computing power to AI companies and developers. This gives specialist chipmakers a way to reach customers at scale, and gives AI companies more choice in the hardware they rely on.

Finn, Jason, and the team have moved quickly. In the five months since their US$15m seed round, they have signed a customer agreement worth ~US$100m ARR and secured a chip financing facility of up to US$400m, reported as the first debt financing of inference chips.

“We believe the demand for ultrafast inference will be many times larger than slow inference.” - Finn Puklowski, Co-founder and CEO.

The new capital will help bring their first racks live in Q1 2027.

Congrats team!

Read more via TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/27/general-compute-raises-100-million-series-a-countering-the-neocloud-disaster-narrative/

27/10/2026

Congratulations to Familiar Therapeutics on their launch and US$5m seed raise to bring proven human medicines to dogs and cats.

Founded by Elizabeth Iorns and Dan Knox, the idea for Familiar started with Elizabeth’s French Bulldog, Lily. After Lily was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, Elizabeth, a cancer biologist by training, found a promising treatment that had been tested in pet dogs, but no one was developing it for veterinary use. She and Dan licensed that therapy themselves and ran a registrational study in dogs, which recently met its endpoint.

Familiar build on that model by licensing drugs developed for people and taking them through to FDA approval for pets. Because each programme starts with years of human research behind it, the team aim to bring medicines to pets significantly faster than the seven to ten years a new animal drug typically takes.

Five months in, they have 13 programmes, several pharma partnerships and two investigational new animal drug files open with the FDA. Their lead programme targets hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive dog cancer with no FDA-approved treatment, with a pilot study starting later this year.

Elizabeth and Dan previously co-founded Science Exchange, a life sciences R&D platform used by many of the world’s leading pharma companies, which was acquired in 2024.

“Elizabeth and Dan are two of New Zealand’s most accomplished founders. The market for veterinary medicines is growing, and pet owners now expect the same standard of care for their animals that they get themselves. We have high conviction that Elizabeth, Dan and their team are the right people to close the gap between human and veterinary medicine, and we’re proud to have been Familiar’s first institutional investor.” - Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures.

Read more via Stuff: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361050229/30-days-live-how-dogs-deadly-diagnosis-sparked-8m-idea

22/10/2026

A new chapter for Daisy Lab who are joining Mycofeast, an international group specialising in precision-fermented ingredients for functional food and beverages.

Founded in 2021 by Irina Miller, Nikki Freed, and Emily McIsaac, Daisy Lab uses precision fermentation to produce high-value dairy proteins (such as lactoferrin) without cows, from their facility in Parnell, Auckland. In this time, their team has taken the technology from early lab experiments through to production in their own large-scale fermenter.

Joining forces pairs Daisy Lab’s protein expertise with Mycofeast’s research and development team at Evolutia Bio in the US, and their manufacturing and commercial network worldwide. The Daisy Lab team and operations will remain in New Zealand, and the founders will move into group roles.

Congratulations to Irina, Nikki, Emily and the team on this next step.

Read more via NZ Herald: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/nz-biotech-start-up-daisy-labs-expansion-hopes-after-uk-acquisition/GW2GGPCJCNAOLKXEJWBMVT7MSI/

19/10/2026

Today we are excited to share that have committed $50m to Icehouse Ventures’ Growth Fund III, one of the largest single KiwiSaver investments in New Zealand venture capital.

Their commitment means hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders can share in the growth of some of the country’s most valuable and fastest-growing companies, which are privately owned.

“This investment is an endorsement of how good investing in Kiwi startups via Icehouse Ventures has been for our members, and a sign of confidence in the New Zealand economy.” - Sam Stubbs, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Simplicity.

Growth Fund III will back 20 late-stage Kiwi companies that typically have millions in revenue and the ambition to grow to billions, starting with Halter, Calocurb, and Supabase.

Thank you to Sam and the Simplicity team for your continued backing of exceptional Kiwi companies. 🚀

15/10/2026

After more than a decade of building from Auckland, Fuel50 have been acquired by Phoenix Education Partners, the Nasdaq-listed parent company of the University of Phoenix.

Anne Fulton and Jo Mills founded Fuel50 in 2012 with a mission to help people grow their careers. Their software now helps global organisations understand their workforce’s skills and create clear career pathways for staff, combining industrial and organisational psychology with AI.

We have loved watching Anne and Jo grow Fuel50 from their very first customer into a global business. Around 90% of their earnings now come from outside New Zealand, their clients include Roche, NetApp and EA, and they have a team of 65 across New Zealand and the US.

Fuel50 will continue under their own brand, with Jo leading as CEO.

“For 13 years, Anne and Jo have been standouts for their consistent communications, passion for their mission, and relentless dedication. The growth and success of Fuel50 is a testament to their tenacity and willingness to fly to every corner of the globe to close a deal.” - Robbie Paul, CEO, Icehouse Ventures.

Huge congratulations to Anne, Jo, and the entire team. We are proud to have been part of the journey!

Read more via NZ Herald (paywalled): https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fuel50-acquired-by-phoenix-education-partners-in-deal-valued-at-up-to-72m/premium/BQC5CEW5YZCL5BLUI4BGMG7TBE/

12/10/2026

Precision Chroma have raised a US$7.3m seed round to commercialise a world-first approach to pharmaceutical purification.

Founded by Sean Feast in 2022, Precision Chroma have developed 3D-printed chromatography technology that replaces multiple slow, expensive filtration steps in drug manufacturing with a single, faster process.

When pharmaceutical companies make biopharmaceutical drugs, they need to extract therapeutic proteins from a complex bioreactor harvest containing cells and cellular debris. Before traditional chromatography can begin, that material must first go through costly clarification steps. Precision Chroma’s 3D-printed columns are designed to handle unclarified material directly, combining clarification and purification into a single, simplified workflow.

The team are running validation trials with AstraZeneca and have received funding from the US Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). The raise will fund a manufacturing plant in Christchurch and grow the team from six to ~17.

Read more via NZ Herald (paywall): https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/merck-leads-13m-raise-for-christchurch-start-up-precision-chroma/premium/K3E725YPRJF3BGWERWCRUC6K4I/

10/10/2026

Some of the most ambitious companies in the world are being built by Kiwi founders, and they are hiring.

214 startups have 500+ open roles right now, spanning engineering, marketing, operations, product, and more, across experience levels and time zones. 🌏

Here is a snapshot of those roles on our Jobs Board:

- Growth and Demand Generation Manager @ Joyous, Auckland, NZ
- Head of Finance @ Emerge, Auckland, NZ
- Director of Finance & Operations - South America @ Halter, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Head of AI Native Operations @ Supabase, Remote
- Solutions Engineer Intern @ Partly, Austin, TX, USA
- Senior Frontend Engineer (3D/WebGL) @ Harth, Christchurch, NZ

Find these and hundreds more here: https://jobs.icehouseventures.co.nz/jobs

You can also join our Talent Network (takes just 3 minutes). Tell us what you are after, and we will keep you posted on jobs that match your skills, experience, and interests: https://jobs.icehouseventures.co.nz/talent-network

04/10/2026

Meet the 2026 cohort of The Fellowship! 👏

Six high school students from across Aotearoa have been selected by Icehouse Ventures and Crimson Global Academy as our inaugural fellows.

We assessed each applicant much like we assess early-stage founders. Each fellow stood out for a different reason:

🎓 Peter Zhou - for his willingness to talk to users early, listen closely, and use what he learns to build better products

🎓 Harper Lazelle - for her natural storytelling, distinctly creative perspective, and gift for communicating ideas

🎓 Aamena Mangera - for her sharp instinct to spot opportunities and act on them, guided by strong personal values

**🎓** Thomas Guthrie - for pairing deep technical ambition with a talent for bringing people together around a shared interest

🎓 Nishka Vanal - for her bold ambition and curiosity across medicine, technology, and entrepreneurship

🎓 James Wang - for his practical engineering, experimental mindset, and willingness to share what he knows with his community

Over the next year, each fellow will receive $10,000 in funding to start and grow a business, take part in a programme with Icehouse Ventures (including mentorship, engagement with investors, and attendance at events), learn from founders, and have the opportunity to study at Crimson Global Academy.

Welcome to The Fellowship Peter, Harper, Aamena, Thomas, Nishka, and James. We cannot wait to see what you create!

Address

125 St Georges Bay Road
Parnell
1052

Website

https://www.icehouseventures.co.nz/, https://linktr.ee/icehouseventures

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Icehouse Ventures posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.