Happy Tuesday!
Kia ora Caffeinators,
This New Zealand ‘spring’ has finally got to Finn, so while he’s swanning around in Europe, I’m here keeping the lights on. I’m Nick, and I’ll be with you for the next three weeks doing my best not to break anything while also adding some kind of value.
With that in mind, if you have any news tips or things worth knowing, send them through to hello@caffeinedaily.co and I’ll owe you a chocolate fish.
For now, here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Christchurch aviation innovators make major step toward Australasia’s first hydrogen-electric flight
Pod Pick: AI tech stocks: boom or bubble?
Events: Nevam founder Brittany Fox in Auckland and Tauranga
1m+ people a week talking to ChatGPT about suicide
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or even just recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Nick and the CAFFEINE team
World-first liquid-hydrogen refuelling delivers major step toward Australasia’s first hydrogen-electric flight: I’m a big fan of the potential for green hydrogen as an emissions-free fuel, particularly in the transport sector, where there isn’t really an alternative to high carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
Fabrum, AMSL Aero and Stralis Aircraft are together working on the world’s first long range, zero emissions eVTOL aircraft, which is scheduled to have its first flight next year. Building towards that, they’ve just successfully filled their pioneering composite aviation tanks with liquid hydrogen produced and stored on-site at Christchurch Airport.
Naturally, you don’t fly a plane if you can’t fill it with fuel, so while this seems a fairly fundamental step, it’s also a critical one - not least because the specially engineered composite tank needs to be as light as possible in order to, um, fly.
There’s some cool promo footage and background info here, complete with fantastically inspirational background music, and a great quote from Fabrum Co-Founder and Technical Director Hugh Reynolds: “Everyone else is talking about it and doing paper studies - we’re making them.”
Pod Pick: AI tech stocks: boom or bubble? - We’ve carried commentary recently on how precarious the foundation of AI is, and the latest NBR podcast goes into this in some really good detail. Among the headlines is how 10 AI startups in the U.S. have amassed a combined US$1 trillion in market value, despite none of them being profitable (yet).
It seems the world is racing to profit on the revolutionary promise of the technology (NVIDIA shares anyone?), but there’s a growing call for caution amid comparisons to the dot-com crash.
I can’t pretend to be any kind of expert in this, but you could do plenty worse than analysis from BlackRock and Salt Funds to properly understand the investment risks. NBR link is here, and just to be extra helpful for non-subscribers, here’s a link to it on Apple Podcasts too.
Events: Nevam founder Brittany Fox in New Zealand
Nevam is one of Australasia’s hottest marketing-tech startups right now, raising a $1.2 million pre-seed found in just three weeks recently.
Founder and CEO Brittany Fox is coming to NZ next week and taking part in events in both Auckland and Tauranga:
Buyers and Bots: Is your brand ready?
The future of online visibility is being re-written before our eyes, with search, no-click queries and soon AI agents all changing the game. Brought to you by our mates at Previously Unavailable, this panel discussion will look at how to build for a dual-audience future that’s fit the AI-era of marketing.
Featuring:
Brittany Fox, Nevam founder
Meredyth Dale-Ganda, Digitas Head of Strategy
Admad Salim, Deloitte Digital Senior Business Leader & Creative Strategy Advisor
Facilitator Carl Sarney, a brand, comms and CX strategist rolled into one
📍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
One day into writing this newsletter and I’m not sure how much authority I have to say this…but this is the kind of ‘how I did it’-style event that we love.
It’s a fireside chat covering Brittany’s playbook and strategies for raising and closing fast. Her track record with Nevam speaks for itself, and if you need any more convincing, she was one of the top 1% of entries to get into Techstars Sydney, one of the world’s top tech accelerators.
It’ll cover:
• The moments that built Brittany’s resilience and belief she could do anything
• Her exact playbook for raising $1.2 million in just three weeks
• The emotional and tactical side of fundraising in a tough market
• How storytelling, grit, and clear strategy made all the difference
📍Basestation, 148 Durham St, Tauranga
📅 Monday 10th November, 8:30 am – 10:00 am
Even better, tickets are free (though space is limited). Sign up here.
1 million+ people per week talk to ChatGPT about suicide: For my sins, I was a talkback radio producer in a past life, and I remember one of our busiest ever shows was people talking about the pros and cons of Googling health symptoms. Lots of people loved it, especially for avoiding “having to go” to the doctor. The downside is fairly clear.
This appears to take it to the next level. OpenAI has released new data saying more than a million people a week have “conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent”. We’ve heard plenty about long wait times to see mental health professionals in this country, so it’s probably only natural that people who are struggling turn to the internet, and it’s probably been happening for a long time already.
But these numbers are massive - even if they’re a tiny fraction of daily ChatGPT users. OpenAI says it’s working with more than 170 mental health experts to improve the way it responds to these kinds of queries, so that’s something. Talking to ChatGPT is probably better than talking to nobody (or nothing), but I can’t help but feel uncomfortable about vulnerable people getting potentially life-altering advice from a bot.
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