Icehouse Ventures celebrates multi-billion dollar milestone
Plus: Unpacking the BNZ Growth Levers Report.
Happy Thursday!
Kia ora Caffeinators,
It’s Thursday, the weekend is in sight and in light of spring around the corner, I thought I’d make a concerted effort to bring you only optimistic news today.
Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find some space for some existentially challenging AI or robotics news next week but for now, enjoy a few data points which will give you some strong cause for optimism.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
BNZ research identifies key drivers of NZ business growth – and the untapped opportunities
Icehouse Ventures celebrates multi-billion dollar milestone following 15th Annual Showcase
Pod Pick: First Block from Notion
A visual reminder of how far our ecosystem has come since 2010
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or simply recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Finn and the CAFFEINE team
BNZ research identifies key drivers of NZ business growth – and the untapped opportunities
New Zealand businesses excel at operational fundamentals, but many are missing strategic opportunities that could accelerate growth, new research from Bank of New Zealand reveals.
“We’re at a pivotal moment for New Zealand business,” says Brandon Jackson, GM Growth Sectors at BNZ.
“The economic headwinds are slowly easing, and the enterprises that will truly thrive in the next phase won’t just be those that successfully managed to weather the storm – they’ll be the businesses that use this recovery period to make bold strategic choices that set them apart and give them a competitive edge.”
BNZ’s Growth Levers Insight Report, based on a survey of over 1,000 businesses across the country and in-depth case studies of six high growth companies, reveals what drives sustained business expansion and where the biggest gaps exist.
The research tested a framework of 10 key factors – called “growth levers” – that BNZ’s Growth Sectors team developed from years of working alongside leading New Zealand businesses. Businesses were surveyed on which levers have contributed most to their success so far, and which they believe will matter most looking ahead.
Strong foundations, untapped potential
Customer focus dominates as the top growth lever, with 49% of businesses identifying it as critical to their success to date, followed by operational efficiency (38%) and people and culture (35%).
“These results show New Zealand businesses have built strong foundations,” says Jackson.
“Customer focus and operational efficiency are genuine strengths that have served companies well through challenging times.”
Yet the research also uncovered significant untapped potential. Notably, only 13% of businesses cited innovation as a primary driver of growth to date, while even fewer – just 9% and 6% – highlighted professional advisors and market understanding, respectively – areas that can help businesses move beyond operational focus to strategic thinking.
“Many business owners find themselves working ‘in’ their business rather than ‘on’ it – getting caught up in daily firefighting and not having time for the strategic thinking that delivers sustainable competitive advantage,” Jackson says.
“As New Zealand’s largest business bank, we see time and again that businesses that are able to break free to focus on strategy, innovation, and long-term planning consistently outperform.”
Jackson says this operational focus might help explain New Zealand’s broader productivity challenge.
“New Zealand’s productivity growth has been stalled for years, averaging just 0.2% annually over the last decade, and we can’t just recruit more staff or optimise processes to fix the underlying issues.
“While our businesses may run efficiently by local standards, we’re competing globally against companies with access to deeper pools of capital and larger market scale. We need to be more strategic about innovation, which increasingly means technology and automation investment, to compete on the global stage.
“While structural factors like government policy and investment settings play a role, businesses can focus on what they can control. This means bringing in expert advice when needed, investing time in understanding their competitive landscape, and making deliberate choices about where to allocate resources. In our experience this helps businesses move from incremental growth to more transformational results.”
When businesses get it right, results follow
The companies profiled in the report demonstrated what’s possible when businesses combine strong fundamentals with more strategic decision-making.
Spring Sheep identified a global opportunity by recognising that dairy intolerance affected 68% of people worldwide, then innovated to solve it. They created a new breed of sheep that increased milk production from 60L to over 300L annually, making sheep milk commercially viable, and conducted clinical trials that showed their product is more digestible than cow milk.
Auckland-based Independent Traffic Control enlisted professional advisors to improve their people and culture systems, improving their operational structure and boosting productivity through new reward initiatives. They also leveraged market intelligence to adapt, shifting focus from a contracting Auckland market to emerging regional growth.
The path forward
While the research reveals room for improvement in strategic areas, there are encouraging signals. When asked which levers will drive future growth, businesses showed growing appetite for investment, with more than a quarter (28%) now prioritising funding and capital as a key growth lever, up from 21%, suggesting companies are preparing to move beyond survival mode.
For the businesses ready to seize this moment, BNZ has developed a practical five-step framework to help leaders assess and prioritise which growth levers could drive their next phase of expansion. BNZ is also scaling up its Growth Academy programme nationwide to help businesses develop these strategic capabilities through hands-on workshops and AI-powered planning tools.
“The fundamentals are strong, but sustaining resilient growth requires broader capabilities,” says Jackson. “The businesses that combine operational excellence with the strategic levers will be the ones that truly thrive.”
The complete Growth Levers Insight Report, including detailed business case studies and practical implementation tips, is available here.
Survey responses were received from n=1,005 participants. The sample was not controlled. Our survey results are indicative, collected using a sample of convenience including BNZ business customers who span various industries, business sizes, and stages.
Icehouse Ventures celebrates multi-billion dollar milestone following 15th Annual Showcase: As mentioned, I had great night at this event last week and now our friends over at Icehouse Ventures have released some new data off the back, celebrating how far our ecosystem has come.
The first ever Icehouse Ventures’ Showcase took place in 2011, where sixteen startups pitched to 180+ investors, raising $3.8m on the night. Amongst those emerging names was Aroa Biosurgery, Adherium, Snakk Media, and Martin Aircraft.
They were followed by Parrot Analytics, now a global player in entertainment, PowerbyProxi, which later sold to Apple, and Crimson Education, which pitched the first funding round of the now billion dollar company.
To mark the 15th Showcase, Icehouse Ventures have released some numbers showing the incredible success and flow on benefits to our economy of the many companies who have graced the stage in subsequent showcases.
Prior to the Thursday event, Showcase had featured 156 companies, with $93m invested across 14 showcases into 120 of the best startups.
120 of the startups to pitch over the first 14 Showcases have:
Raised $1.98b since their Showcase pitch (for a total of $2.2 billion, including before the night)
That total includes over $1 billion from offshore investors bringing fresh capital into New Zealand
Added $750 million in new revenue since pitching at Showcase
Created 2,000+ jobs, more than half of them in New Zealand
Delivered 13 successful exits
Icehouse Ventures CEO Robbie Paul says Icehouse Ventures portfolio companies are now bringing in roughly $700,000 a day into New Zealand through equity investment and export revenue.
While the general mood of the economy can be fairly grim these days, it was extremely gratifying to be in a room filled with so much energy and optimism. It’s even better to have some hard data to back up that optimism.
Pod Pick: First Block from Notion - Here’s a pod pick that somehow has only just come across my radar but would highly recommend from our friends over at Notion. First Block is a series where founders from the world's leading startups share what it was really like to navigate the earliest (and hardest) chapters of building. In this episode, they spoke with Brendan Foody, Co-founder and CEO of Mercor.
Mercor is an AI-powered recruiting platform that scaled from $1 million to $100 million in revenue run rate in just 11 months, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in Silicon Valley. This episode is the latest but head back through the catalogue for some other bangers. While I know we all have more content than we can possibly ever consume, this is one of the increasingly rare bits of content truly focused on giving you perspective or advice that will actually help you, not just entertain you. Check it out here.
Event: I Wish I Knew with Penelope Barton - I know, I know I talked about this yesterday but this is my last normal newsletter of the week and I can’t not give people one last chance to get their tickets to this event on Monday because it’ll be a special one. There is a tiny handful left so act now if you want one.
Join us for cocktails and a raw and real conversation with a successful Kiwi operator Penelope Barton from Crimson Global Academy, who has taken hits, made calls, and kept showing up. This is about the stuff they wish they knew earlier – the kind of lessons that only come from doing the work (and a few things going sideways).
This event is for founders and we are only allowing one person per company, due to it being an intimate event. We screen all registrations to make sure appropriate criteria is met.
Date and time
Mon, 1 Sep 2025 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM NZST
Location
Dr Rudi's Rooftop Brewing Co.
Get your tickets and check out more details here
I often end this newsletter on a note about something that’s taken my interest and considering the world we live in currently, sometimes those things are troubling. So I thought I’d finish with this simple but powerful illustration from the Icehouse Ventures dataset showing the difference in the startup and venture ecosystem since 2010.
There’s a lot represented there for a lot of people reading this to be proud of and for the rest of us to be excited about.
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