Vertus Energy, a biofuel start-up co-founded by University of Auckland alumnus Freddy Gonzalez, has raised $1.2 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Icehouse Ventures for its innovative green fuel generation technology.

The Hynds Entrepreneurial Fellows Programme run by CIE aims to embed innovation and entrepreneurship into curricula across the university. Hynds Entrepreneurial Teaching Fellow Peter Rachor is dedicated to working with and supporting academics from all faculties to make this happen.

Flashcards are a tried and true method of studying for revision that has been souped-up through research and technology by University of Auckland student venture, Zorbi. Since Zorbi’s official launch in August 2021, Zorbi has grown to over 15,000 users with several schools on the platform, and over 300,000 flashcards reviewed per month.

Through combining depth of knowledge with an entrepreneurial mindset, Cosmin Laslau has created a career that has allowed him to travel the world and work at the forefront of technology innovation. He currently works in Boston on the team developing Amazon’s Alexa.

Data wrangling start-up Segna have raised substantial investment to advance the development of their innovative machine learning software platform. Segna uses machine learning to aggregate and clean data from multiple sources in under a minute.

The local chapter of the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ survey (GUESSS) shows that New Zealand students are less entrepreneurially inclined than their global peers. University of Auckland staff say the results are concerning as an entrepreneurial culture is vital to lift New Zealand’s productivity and standard of living.

The University of Auckland’s annual 40 Under 40 list aims to spotlight alumni who are shining in their personal and professional lives. Nine of this year’s named alumni are former participants of programmes run by CIE such as the Velocity (formerly named Spark) student-led entrepreneurship development programme.

Unleash Space is the University of Auckland’s vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship hub, run by CIE. It offers workshops, a bookable meeting room, brainstorming spaces, experts and inspiration for your projects and ventures. Ensuring that the space is ready to help students and staff unleash their potential is Unleash Space Venue Coordinator Matt Broughton.

Unleash Space, the University of Auckland’s innovation hub featuring a state-of-the-art maker space, has been the perfect place for student Melissa Bather to let her creative side run free while studying towards a Bachelor of Science and then a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics.

The founders of A.I. hospital rostering and recruitment solution ventures, New Zealand Universities National League Case Competition winners and the Global EY Corporate Finance Woman of the Year have all been recognised as outstanding student innovators in the 2021 University of Auckland Blues Awards.