Māori economy could exceed $200b by 2030
Plus: Tech watchdogs drop ‘OpenAI files’ and get your questions in for an AMA with BNZ.
Happy Thursday!
Happy Matariki eve! In the spirit of Māori new year, we’re kicking off with a timely report from Chapman Tripp showing that the Māori economy could surpass $200b by 2030. Check back tomorrow as well for a bonus edition of the newsletter with some cracking interviews.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
The Māori economy could reach if not not exceed $200b by 2030
Event: Waipa Tech Meetup - Fuel for Growth & Funding your Venture
Tech watchdogs drop ‘OpenAI files’
AMA with BNZ
New research could help unlock the secrets of limb regeneration
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
The Māori economy could reach if not not exceed $200b by 2030: With Matariki on the horizon, a very timely report in the form of Chapman Tripp’s latest Te Ao Maori Trends and Insights showing the surging growth in the Māori economy.
According to Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL) contained in the paper, in the five years from 2018 to 2023, growth was recorded at:
• 83% in terms of Māori asset value: Increased from $69b to $126b, surpassing projections that it might reach $100b by 2030. The 10 largest iwi by asset base collectively hold over $8.2b
• Over 86% in terms of contribution to GDP: Rising from $17b in 2018 to $32b in 2023 and now accounting for 9% of New Zealand’s total GDP.
As the report notes, based on this performance, it is likely the Māori economy will meet (if not exceed) $200b by 2030.
Importantly for the founder community, the report highlights much of this growth is being driven by diversification into high-growth sectors:
“In particular: professional, scientific, and technical services ($5.1b, up from $1.2b in 2018); administrative, support, and other services ($4.2b), and real estate and property services ($4.1b). The professional, scientific, and technical services sector includes high-value services such as architecture, engineering, scientific research and development, IT services, and management consulting, primarily provided by Māori-owned businesses, highlighting the value of Māori entrepreneurship.”
Read the full report here.
Event: Waipa Tech Meetup - Fuel for Growth & Funding your Venture: Shouting out the fourth in a great series of events for the Waipa startup community, this time exploring options for funding your venture. Avenues like bank loans and venture capital can provide substantial backing, while crowdfunding platforms allow you to tap into public support and private investors you'll likely not know about.
At our fourth Waipa Tech Meetup, they've got 3 experts to guide you through these options, offering insights tailored to tech innovators in New Zealand.
Register to join in on Tuesday 24 June 2025.
Speakers:
Emily Heazlewood - Snowball Effect
Stuart Inglis - Operating partner at Altered Capital
Emma Ballantyne + Josh Starky - BNZ
Register interest here.
Tech watchdogs drop ‘OpenAI files’: It’s Thursday and the day we like to check in on the wider global ecosystem and of course, there’s more news on the OpenAI front. As we often note, it feels like we’re approaching some form of endgame when it comes to AGI development and alarms are blaring loudly that we should serious concerns with the people leading the charge.
The Midas Project and the Tech Oversight Project, two nonprofit tech watchdog organizations, have collated the many leaked reports, whistleblower accusations and convoluted timelines of OpenAI into one website which can easily be scanned and parsed. They call for further oversight in the race to AGI and handily highlight some of the key issues which may be lost in the glare of OpenAI’s current success.
Summary of Findings
OpenAI plans to remove limits on investor returns: OpenAI once capped investor profits at a maximum of 100x to ensure that, if the company succeeds in building AI capable of automating all human labor, the proceeds would go to humanity. They have now announced plans to remove that cap.
OpenAI portrays itself as preserving nonprofit control while potentially disempowering the nonprofit: OpenAI claims to have reversed course on a decision to abandon nonprofit control, but the details suggest that the nonprofit’s board would no longer have all the authority it would need to hold OpenAI accountable to its mission.
Investors pressured OpenAI to make structural changes: OpenAI has admitted that it is making these changes to appease investors who have made their funding conditional on structural reforms, including allowing unlimited returns—exactly the type of investor influence OpenAI’s original structure was designed to prevent.
We’re excited to partner with BNZ. As New Zealand's largest business bank, BNZ shares our mission to support the next wave of founders and operators. Over the coming months, we’ll be working together to share insights, tools, and stories that help you grow smarter and faster.
Startups can be hard. Banking shouldn’t be.
Whether you’re bootstrapping or wanting to attract VC investment, having a strong relationship with your bank can be a key factor in your start up’s success. Our Technology Industries team is running an Ask Me Anything Q&A series for the Caffeine Daily audience. An easy way for founders to get any finance related questions answered.
You have enough on your plate. Building a product, growing a team, managing cashflow. Have you ever been in a conversation and thought “Hmm, I don’t really understand what XYZ means?”
Now you can ask away. As the adage goes, there is no such thing as a silly question.
Next week’s Ask Me Anything is designed to give founders and startups a straight-talking guide to banking and finance.
No stupid questions, only clear answers. Please share your questions here: Tech_Business_Hub@bnz.co.nz by the end of 23rd June 2025 and keep an eye out for the responses in next Thursday’s newsletter.
New research could help unlock the secrets of limb regeneration: We often rattle through some worrying updates in the world of tech in this section so this time I wanted to finish with A) A cute as hell picture of a cute as hell critter and B) A genuinely exciting bit of science.
Research led by Northwestern University has helped to unlock some of the secrets behind how Axolotls, those impossibly cute amphibians, are able to regenerate lost limbs. The research could help unlock new therapies for humans and maybe even one day, the full regrowth of limbs. CNN has a good wrap here.
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