Watch out for these three startups in 2023

While venture capital may be more difficult to find in these economic downturns and higher interest rates, three smart startups have plans for growth in 2023.

Kai’s Education

Kai Education KaiBot can still be used
While the mini-AI-powered robot is only a couple months away, international attention has been gained already.

Kaibot won in Dubai the Learn to Code category of the Smart Toys Competition. The event was organized in partnership between Dubai Future Foundation, the World Economic Forum and was intended to show off the top AI (artificial Intelligence) toys in education.

“Kai” is te reo Māori for food. In this context, founder Bruce Jackson pitches it as “food for the brain”.

KaiBot works in conjunction with visualisation software, physical cards, and other software. This helps five- to 15-year olds to learn about software programming. Once it scans a number of cards, the KaiBot will perform a variety of moves on either the floor or special KaiTiles.

The Pakuranga-based Jackson has been able to self-fund Kai’s Education, thanks to the runaway success of a company he founded back in 2010 – 3D Printing Systems, which became the largest distributor of 3D printers in New Zealand.

He’s already had an international hit with Kai’s Clan, an AR and VR-friendly robot that integrates with Minecraft.

If you’ve never heard of it,, that’s because Jackson has concentrated much of his sales efforts offshore.

His website features endorsements from teachers from Mississippi, Texas and Raumati.

Jackson shuns big retailers such as Amazon to make deals with US school districts. These are bodies at the state level that have the power to manage anything, from just a few schools to hundreds.

He can stay hidden from the large toy companies while still achieving significant success.

He tells the Herald he’s already landed a major order from a school district in New York. And after considerable logistical pain, 2000 units of the designed-in-Pakuranga Kaibot have already been made in China, ready for the New Year launch.

All that KaiBot does in real life can also be seen in virtual reality. With Kainundrum as an added reward, the exploits of KaiBot are available in a 3D interactive environment.

If you want to take your game further, there are many options available. You can use lasers, gates and mirrors as well as lesson plans that will help teachers.

It allows educators to decide how much technology they use, according to the stage and age of their participants.

“KaiBot is designed for a five-year-old-kid, with no coding experience – or a teacher who’s never coded before,” Jackson says.

Also, the price of this KaiBot is much lower. Whereas a Kai’s Clan Start Pack sold for around $1700, the KaiBot will be priced around $149.

Seachange

Seachange tested its prototype hydrofoil technology, which it hopes to one day be used in electric ferry cars that travel over Cook Straight.

It has the modest goal of putting a 10-seater electric hydrofoiling vessel on the waters by 2023.

The startup is partnering with Fullers on the “F8″, which will have a top speed of 30 knots and range of 55 nautical miles on one charge – which founder and CEO Max Olson pitches as enough for a zero-emission jaunt to any of the inner Gulf islands.

Fullers will be buying the F8. The ferry company’s CEO Mike Horne says this will represent the first time hydrofoiling EV technology has been commercialised, anywhere in the world.

Horne won’t put a price tag on it. But he says the F8 won’t operate on commuter runs but be used as a tourist vessel.

Horne states that the F8 is the first to offer a quiet and peaceful experience due to its combination of an electric engine and foils.

Olson says Seachange’s hydrofoiling system and carbon fibre hulls come from technology developed for the America’s Cup.

“We’re standing on the shoulders of giants,” he says.

“What’s different there is that we design for safety and efficiency rather than top speed. We care a lot more about passenger comfort.”

Horne sees the F8′s glide the Gulf as a luxury experience. A party could hire one for a day trip to Waiheke at $95 per head, while an evening “thrill ride” around the harbour could cost $145 per person.

On the shareholder side, investors include Icehouse Ventures (the largest outside backer, with a 25 per cent stake), Blackbird Ventures (12 per cent), Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 (6 per cent) and Ports of Auckland (2 per cent).

Seachange trialled its technology at Marsden Point but now has its own boat-building facility in East Tamaki near McMullen & Wing.

McMullen & Wing’s sister company EV Maritime was involved in the effort to put five pure-electric and two hybrid EV/diesel ferries on Auckland waters by 2024, which will be owned by AT and operated by Fullers.

Olson states that, like an electric car on the road the F8 will cost more up-front than a traditional boat but have much lower operating costs.

The “8″ in F8 stands for 8 metres in length (26 feet). Seachange has also 10 and 14-metre vessels.

Fullers customers grappling with cancellations and delays involving a current fleet of ageing diesel vessels might roll their eyes and think “we’ll believe it when we see it”.

A recent modification to the firm has allowed it to operate vessels that AT owns. The company was hit hard by a labor crunch and, until recently, was in negotiations with AT.

Horne believes that F8 should be available on the water as soon as September.

And he sees potential for Seachange’s technology to ultimately power commuter ferries to Waiheke and, down the track, larger, hydrogen-powered vessels around the Gulf, and between the North and South Islands.

Avasa

A new surgical device currently in development in New Zealand could simplify a complex procedure and reduce the time patients need to spend under anaesthesia – improving the outcomes of major surgery.

Avasa is led by Dr Nandoun Abeysekera (New Zealand physician and bioengineer) and has developed an arterial coupler technology that can connect major arteries. This eliminates the need to have surgeons perform risky and time-consuming stitching.

Abeysekera tells the Herald that during today’s reconstructive or organ transplant procedures, it can take even a skilled surgeon up to 45 minutes to sew two arteries together. His firm’s coupler device can reduce that to as little as five minutes – meaning a much narrower window of time when the patient is at risk.

“Every minute that we save a patient from being under anesthetic is a win. While modern anesthesia is a safe process, it is not without its risks, particularly for older or medically vulnerable patients,” Abeysekera says.

“If any part of the process of reconnecting an artery goes wrong, the tissue it’s connected to will die. It’s rare, but the main cause of tissue death after surgery, unfortunately, is technical error.”

It works by loading the arteries onto it, moving the arteries to a place that is ready for healing and then creating a firm connection to bring back blood flow.

Avasa received $750,000 from Callaghan Innovation in support of her local business.

Avasa received no strings attached funding in the past. The grant can be repaid. It also secured an injection of seed funding from California-based Bridgewest Group, which has taken a one-third stake in Abeysekera’s startup.

Bridgewest, a private investment company whose portfolio includes everything real estate-related to wireless internet technology and medtech– is the founder’s key conduit into the US market.

Avasa completed its successful test of the coupler in a pig. (Pigs share a similar-sized blood vessel system to us) and will now seek approval from US Federal Drug Administration. If the influential regulator approves Avasa’s product, other agencies around the world are likely to follow.

Bridgewest Group, in partnership with Callaghan has established a New Zealand incubator called Bridgewest Ventures.

Abeysekera was introduced to the US company by Auckland University Department of Surgery Professor Greg O’Grady. O’Grady is also the co-founder and CEO of Alimetry – a startup that recently raised $16m in Series A funding to help get its abdominal sensor to market.

Abeysekera hopes to achieve similar Series A success, but he anticipates it will happen around mid-2024.

Avasa is the latest in a string of medical device and robotic startups to emerge from Auckland University’s Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI). The institute is home to Alimetry as well. It also houses the orthopedic startup Formus Labs and PowerOn, an artificial sense of touch outfit. HeartLab was backed by Peter Beck and Peter Tehiel.