NEWSROOM

University of Auckland alumni crowd NZ Hi-Tech Awards Finalists list

9 April 2021

The NZ Hi-Tech Awards celebrate New Zealand’s most successful hi-tech companies and highest achieving individuals. University of Auckland alumni are well represented in the recently released 2021 finalists list, with alumni involved in every category.

The NZ Hi-Tech Awards acknowledge the importance of technological advancements to New Zealand’s economy. The New Zealand technology sector is the fastest growing sector in the country with almost 29,000 companies generating close to $9 billion in revenue. The hi-tech industry is the third largest export earner in the country. The NZ Hi-Tech Trust also notes that the industry employs more than 57,000 people and the sector is growing at twice the rate of the economy as a whole.

Associate Director of the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), Darsel Keane, says that technology also enables the full potential of New Zealand’s top export earners. “Look at Hectre, an orchard management software platform created by our CIE alumnus Matty Blomfeld. Matty’s venture is massively helping growers increase profits by lifting the consistency of high grade fruit. Innovations such as this help to keep New Zealand competitive.”

Darsel says that the NZ Hi-Tech Awards are an important acknowledgement of an industry that needs support to thrive. “The University of Auckland has been playing its part in New Zealand’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are working on increasing the capability and confidence of our students through programmes such as our Velocity entrepreneurship development programme to help develop New Zealand’s future potential. I’m delighted to see so many of our Velocity alumni such as Matty, Greg O’Grady, Ben O’Brien and Auror co-founders Phil Thomson and Tom Batterbury acknowledged for their work. We look forward to seeing many more of our students and graduates go on to become the futurists New Zealand needs”.

Congratulations to our University of Auckland alumni

AgriSea New Zealand Seaweed – Director and General Manager Clare Bradley
Alimetry – Co-founders Peng Du and Greg O’Grady
Anna Dao – Hi-Tech Young Achiever finalist
Anna Spyker – Hi-Tech Young Achiever finalist
asBuilt Digital – CEO David Burton
Bluelab – CEO Greg Jarvis
Dotterel Technologies – Co-founder and COO Matt Rowe
Formus Labs – CEO Ju Zhang
Fuel50 – CTO Peter Waring
Hectre – Founder Matty Blomfeld
ImpactLab – Co-founder Emily Mason
Levno – Director Oscar Ellison
Microsoft – Global Co-Chair of Indigenous ERG Dan Walker
Moxion.io – Director/Founder Hugh Calveley
Orion Health – CEO Ian McCrae
Parkable – Founder Brody Nelson
Revolution Fibres – CEO Ray Connor and Research and Innovation Manager Bhuvana Kannan
Rocos – Co-founder and CEO David Inggs
RUSH – CEO Pavan Vyas and CTO and Founder Danushka Abeysuriya
Seequent – CFO Philip Keith
StretchSense – Founder Benjamin O’Brien
Tradify – CTO Karl Chaffey
Waybeyond – CEO and Founder Darryn Keiller
Whip Around – Co-founders Tim Boyle and James Colley

See the full list of finalists