New group joins forces to supercharge NZ hi-tech space industry
PLUS: Another banging ep of Business is Boring and is the future of AI-powered law coming into view?
Welcome to mid week!
Morena Caffeine fam, bit of a shorter news letter today as its a little quiet on the startup front in this shorter week. To make it up to you though, I will have a special Matariki bonus edition of the newsletter this Friday.
Here’s what’s in your Daily Shot of news you don’t want to miss
New group joins forces to supercharge NZ hi-tech space industry
Business is Boring: How timber innovation can protect old growth forests
Event: Parentpreneur program info session
Crosby emerges from stealth with vision for future of AI powered law
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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New group joins forces to supercharge NZ hi-tech space industry: Anyone who has read Caffeine for a while knows I am exceptionally excited by New Zealand’s space sector so very much welcomed this news landing in my inbox.
Zenno Astronautics, Wellington UniVentures, and Paihau—Robinson Research Institute have formalised a collaborative partnership to advance the development of superconducting magnet technologies for space, and further strengthen New Zealand’s position as the global centre in this critical field.
Together, the three organisations represent a significant opportunity for New Zealand to advance superconducting space technologies with a wide range of applications.
Zenno is building core technologies that underpin in-orbit mobility and advanced space operations and is a leading IP holder, with patents awarded for conduction cooled superconducting magnets in space in New Zealand and worldwide. In December 2023, Zenno became the first company in the world to launch a superconducting magnet to space, marking a major step in the deployment of superconducting hardware in orbit.
Max Arshavsky, CEO of Zenno Astronautics, said, “At Zenno, we’re focused on building technologies that are simple, reliable, and highly scalable, creating a foundation the space industry can thrive on. Our goal is to develop systems that reduce the industry’s dependence on Earth-based resources, such as onboard fuel or traditional radiation shielding. Superconductors offer transformative potential in addressing these challenges and have the promise to become one of the core pillars of space infrastructure in the years ahead.”
Congrats to all the teams involved and can’t wait to see what comes of the collaboration.
Business is Boring: How timber innovation can protect old growth forests: You may have seen the news recently that our old growth forests may be capturing far more carbon than we originally thought and now an excellent episode of Business is Boring has dropped with a founder who is doing great work to protect those forests.
Daniel Gudsell from Abodo joins Simon Pound to discuss how his company is pioneering a new category of rapidly renewable, high-performance wood - grown in sustainable forests, thermally modified to stand up to the elements, and positioned to win hearts as well as specs. Check it out here.
Event: Parentpreneur program info session: With Electrify Aotearoa next week, the different demands placed on founders trying to build a business while also raising kids has been on my mind lately. That’s why I wanted to shout out ‘Make it Work’, Taranaki's award-winning “parentpreneur” program, which is back for its third year by popular demand.
It’s a step-by-step experiential program teaching parents how to build a business while raising kids, it runs during school hours throughout Term 3 at Flourish Taranaki's family-friendly venue.
Expert entrepreneurship coaches will facilitate you through the steps and the challenges of innovating to build a viable business.
This year they’re doing something different. Some of the parents who've been through the program have asked for a more advanced program. Others are keen to start from the beginning.
So head along to the info session, share your hopes for your own business, and help the Doso coaches work out how to adapt the program to best suit Taranaki parents' needs.
Register your interest here.
Crosby emerges from stealth with vision for future of AI powered law: One of the most fascinating parts of the A.I revolution is that it seems to be coming for white collar work before it comes for blue collar work and the wider economic and social implications of that will be fascinating to watch. Law firms seem to be first in line for transformation, as much of the routine legal work can plausibly be automated even with existing capabilities of A.I tools, now one startup has emerged from stealth wanting to be the first to showcase how that works.
US AI startup and law firm Crosby, backed by Sequoia, has closed a $5.8m seed round and is promising a wildly different vision of how legal firms will operate in future. It claims that its AI tools, with human super vision, can review a new client contract in under and hour and aims to get that time down to only ‘minutes’. Great piece from Tech Crunch here with all the details.
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. Keep an eye out every Thursday for content powered by BNZ.
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
