Brittany Fox on her 10 day, $1.2m raise
Plus: Funeral stone business expands to Aus, Chris Hipkins talks tax
Happy Tuesday!
Kia ora Caffeinators. There’s nothing like a fine run of weather to really lighten the mood - seems like everyone’s feeling it, and I hope you are too, wherever you are.
Some great stuff to get into this morning, so here it is.
Brittany Fox: Lessons from a 10 day, $1.2m raise
Pod Pick: Hipkins talks tax
Reterniti expands LegacyTech business to Australia
The AI hardware face punch test
Also, I mentioned the other day that if anyone knew the term for what $5 trillion company is, to let me know. A shout out to Peeyoosh Chandra for the tips: Unicorn: $1B+, Decacorn: $10B+, Kilacorn: $1T+. Garuda: $5T+. Apparently a Garuda is the mighty eagle-like divine creature from Hindu mythology - the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Vishnu. The things you learn.
Nick and the CAFFEINE team
Brittany Fox: Lessons from a 10-day raise and the future of AI marketing
When Brittany Fox opened her seed round for Nevam, she didn’t expect to close it in just 10 days. But that’s exactly what happened.
Nevam is an emerging martech startup building a digital twin for marketing - a system that mirrors an organisation’s marketing ecosystem in real time. It helps teams test smarter, optimise faster and make confident marketing decisions by using AI to simulate how campaigns will perform before they go live.
We talked about what the raise taught her, advice for fellow founders, and the path ahead for Nevam.
You closed a $1.2m round in just 10 days. What did that process teach you?
“That you need to think very fast.
“I went out with one goal - to bring one venture capital firm on board. I targeted Previously Unavailable because of their martech focus. Once they were interested, introductions started rolling in, including to the Huljich family and angels. Within days, multiple investors wanted in, and by the end of the week, the round was effectively filled.
“The speed surprised me. There’s a narrative of VC funding being a slow process, and it can be if you’re not prepared. But once momentum builds, you have to keep up.”
You’ve spoken about being in the 1.5% of VC funding that goes to female founders. What made your approach different?
“Preparation. You’ve got to have your ducks in a row. If you don’t have your traction, numbers, or confidence sorted, those early conversations will fizzle. Investors move quickly once they’re convinced, and if you can’t match their pace, the opportunity passes.
“Confidence was huge for me too. By the time I’d met my investors I felt so confident in what I was building, I had wind in my sales and validation that I’d hit a problem and I’d figured out I was on the right track with a solution, I felt positive about what I was doing.”
What’s your advice for founders preparing to talk to VCs?
“Don’t underestimate what the coffee catch-up really is.
“If you go in unprepared - unclear on what you want, how much you’re raising, or what kind of partner you need - you’ll walk away feeling deflated. I learned that the hard way. Investors will ask sharp questions that make you second-guess yourself if you’re not ready.
“I missed a lot of opportunities because I had coffee catch-ups too early. It’s not just a casual conversation - they ask deep questions that can be hard to answer, so you can end up feeling stuck and doubting yourself. It puts you 10 steps back because you think you have to recalibrate.
“So be strategic. Don’t take those meetings until you’ve built something tangible. You want to walk in saying, ‘I’m building a rocket ship. Want to jump on? Because this is your last chance.’”
You waited several months to announce your raise. Why?
“Closing the round wasn’t the finish line - it was the start of a new phase. We effectively treated the raise like a marketing campaign.
“The deal was done in May, but we waited to announce it in September. I wanted to make it matter. For us, it wasn’t just about saying, “We raised $1.2 million”, it was about using that moment to build visibility, generate leads and establish credibility with enterprise clients.
“We aligned the announcement with South by Southwest Sydney, where Nevam had a strong presence. We created media attention and built a wave of attention right when the industry was paying attention.”
Where do you see the biggest opportunity for Nevam?
“Most marketing tools are built vertically, solving a narrow problem. The real opportunity is in horizontal SaaS - tools that support how entire teams operate and make decisions.
“With Nevam’s digital twin, businesses can predict how campaigns will perform and fix problems before they happen. It turns marketing from reactive to proactive.
“I believe digital twins will be standard in marketing operations in 18 months to two years. They’ll fundamentally change how businesses measure, plan and optimise performance.”
Note: Brittany is in New Zealand over the next couple of weeks and speaking at two events:
Buyers and Bots: Is your brand ready?
📍Previously Unavailable HQ, 28 Mackelvie Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland
📅 Thursday 6 November, 7:30 - 9:30am
How Brittany Fox raised $1.2m in 3 weeks for tech startup, Nevam
📍Basestation, 148 Durham St, Tauranga
📅 Monday 10th November, 8:30 am – 10:00 am
Pod Pick: Chris Hipkins talks tax: There’s something funky going on with the NBR podcast this morning where it looks like there are two different pods on two different platforms. Not sure what the deal is but all I can do is tell you about them, because they both have interesting ramifications for startups.
On the NBR platform (paywalled), Chris Hipkins talks through Labour’s capital gains tax policy. On Apple podcasts, there’s an fascinating look into American expats renouncing US citizenship. Thousands reportedly do it a year; host Simon Shepherd talks to expats coming to NZ, being “liberated”, and the big reason why they do it that they “can’t openly talk about.”
A quick shout out to our mates at Airwallex, who’ve just launched a first-of-its-kind solution giving businesses the ability to earn competitive returns on their AUD and USD balances, while maintaining full flexibility and instant access to funds.
Yield is connecting customers to high-grade global money market funds through a seamless digital experience, all within the Airwallex platform. There’s plenty to like about this one - find out more here.
Reterniti expands LegacyTech business to Australia: Founder Peter Russell sent this through last week and I’ve been keen to mention it ever since. Most of us know someone who’s kept the ashes of a loved one somewhere, and often it’s in a shoebox in a cupboard, or something similar.
Reterniti solidifies ashes in a tasteful stone that can be more easily kept, transported and displayed. They’re available for people and pets, and have steadily grown in New Zealand since launching four years ago.
Now they’ve opened a manufacturing facility in Victoria, with a PledgeMe campaign to support its Australian expansion already topping $320,000.
The deathcare industry is reportedly massive - it’s valued at more than US$120b, and the pet care industry is also valued at US$207b+. I’m a little blown away that the numbers for animals are that much higher than for humans, but that’s just another example of my endless ignorance.
Image credit: Getty Images via TechCrunch
The AI hardware face-punch test: This is a great headline that demonstrates all the many things you need to consider in new product development. TechCrunch has a great story this morning with Kevin Rose, an early investor in the likes of Fitbit, Ring, Peloton and others, talking through his approach to evaluating AI hardware.
The top line is, “If you feel like you should punch someone in the face for wearing it, you probably shouldn’t invest in it.”
To me, the hallmark of a great insight (and in this case, a great quote as well) is when it distills an idea that you already feel, but aren’t overly conscious of. I’d never thought about this before, but that’s exactly how I feel about more than a few new gadgets. I have no doubt the face-punch test will apply to many other instances in life so I look forward to using it as my new litmus test from now on.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co