How founders should prepare for their A.I future
PLUS: Icehouse Ventures opens $30m Seed Fund IV to back the next 30 Halters.
Welcome to mid week!
Happy hump day team. Once again it’s a stacked newsletter with good news to parse and and some exclusive content for our Caffeine subs.
Kicking off with what’s on offer for our paid subscribers we have the latest from resident scribbler Serge van Dam answering the question I spend an ordinate amount of time pondering: how do we prepare for our A.I future?
Here’s what’s in your Daily Shot of news you don’t want to miss
Scribbles from the Startup Frontlines: A Tsunami of Uncertainty (ramblings about AI)
Icehouse Ventures opens $30m Seed Fund IV to back the next 30 Halters
Event: Auckland Fintech Expo 2025
Pod Pick - NBR Podcast: Why Some Shares Suck
The rights to ‘Fyre festival’ sold on eBay for $245k USD
Got a tip, press release or just a comment? Drop us a note: hello@caffeinedaily.co - we love to hear from you.
Finn & the Caffeine team
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Scribbles from the Startup Frontlines: A Tsunami of Uncertainty (ramblings about AI)
TLDR: The only way to be ready for our AI-fuelled future is to do your part in creating it.
By Serge van Dam
Not another war analogy!
It may surprise you to discover that I read books.
In the opening scene of Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman - which I am currently reading - the narrative begins in the summer of 1942, amidst a tense and uncertain atmosphere as Nazi Germany prepares for its advance deeper into the Soviet Union. The story opens not on the battlefield, but with an intimate focus on the Shaposhnikov family in Moscow, offering a purely human lens on the looming crisis.
The characters have a strong sense of foreboding and unease and “anything could happen”, and have very different perspectives on what they should or could do next.
It reminds me of the broad range of conversations I am having with people about AI. No one, and I mean no one, has any idea how it is all going to evolve / revolve.
What to do?
Paid subscribers can check out the full column below
Icehouse Ventures opens $30m Seed Fund IV to back the next 30 Halters: While we’re inundated with grim economic tidings day in and day out, the startup and venture scene is quietly surging and the latest evidence comes courtesy of our friends over at Icehouse Ventures. A month after quietly opening its new Seed Fund, the firm has already raised half of the $30m goal for the fund aiming to back New Zealand’s best emerging companies.
Seed Fund IV is the firm’s fourth flagship early-stage fund, built to back 30 of New Zealand’s most promising up and coming startups over the next three to four years.
“The enthusiasm for this fund speaks to New Zealand’s consistent production of high-value startups for 10 years running,” said Icehouse Ventures CEO, Robbie Paul.
“If Funds 1 and 2 were thanks to the aspiration of investors for New Zealand, Funds 3 and 4 are thanks to entrepreneurs delivering on those aspirations. It’s hard to ignore the export revenue, high value jobs, technical triumphs, and cash returns delivered by companies like Halter, Crimson, Dawn Aerospace, Tradify, and Tracksuit.”
Seed Fund IV’s first investment, Harth, an AI-powered platform for collaborative building design, is co-founded by Scott Barrington (Founder of Modlar, a building design tool used by over 300,000 AEC professionals and 95% of the world’s top 100 architecture firms) and Tom Batterbury (co-founder of Auror and New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year).
Congrats to the team and I can’t wait to meet the unicorns which come of it.
Event: Auckland Fintech Expo 2025: As we’ve covered many times here on Caffeine, the fintech sector is surging across New Zealand and well outpacing the broader tech sector. Whether you're building in FinTech, investing in it, or just curious where it's all heading – FinTech Expo 2025 is your chance to see it in action.
🚀 See What’s Next in FinTech
Explore the latest tools, platforms, and services redefining how we bank, invest, save, lend, and more. From early-stage start-ups to scaling game-changers, you’ll see it all.🤝 Connect With the Ecosystem
Meet others building epic fintech solutions, find collaboration opportunities, and build real relationships that go beyond LinkedIn requests.🎤 Hear From Innovators
Speak to the founders, experience the demos throughout the afternoon – straight from the builders, no buzzwords or sales pitches.💡 Get Inspired
Whether you're here to exhibit, explore, or invest – this is your front-row seat to NZ’s fintech future.🍕 Free to attend. Free to exhibit. And yes, there will be free stuff, like good food, drinks, and all the right people.
Sort your tickets here.
Pod Pick - NBR Podcast: Why Some Shares Suck - I’ll be honest, I would have recommended included this podcast on name alone. Some headlines are just really good at getting across the essentials without needless fluff. It’s a skill I never mastered but thankfully Simon Shepherd over at NBR has. In his latest ep (unpaywalled now on Spotify) he takes a look at some famous listed companies whose average share price has dropped by 85% since their all-time highs. With the help of investment firm Forsyth Barr, the episode unpacks some key governance problems for shareholders to look out for. Listen here.
The rights to ‘Fyre festival’ sold on Ebay for $245k USD: I’m not sure if I should be surprised the most cursed I.P in events still has value at all or angry that convicted criminal Billy McFarland is still making a dime off the brand.
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
