Rocket Lab soars to all time high
Plus: X executive steps down and game sector rebate looks to be paying off.
Happy Thursday!
Kia ora Caffeinators, apologies for the slightly delayed newsletter today. I was busy this morning in my happy place - delivering existentially concerning A.I news on TV.
But don’t worry I haven’t forgotten you. Help yourself to an afternoon newsletter and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Rocket Lab soars to new heights
Game sector rebate boosts industry but with a lot of money unspent
Event: Up & Comers - An Evening for Founders, Supporters, Doers & Dreamers
Pod Pick: Business is Boring - How Polymath is reimagining maths class
X executive steps down, Grok goes on obscene rant
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
Rocket Lab soars to new heights: The last few months have been scorchers for Rocket Lab and now it’s soaring ever higher, hitting an all time stock price record in the past few days. On Tuesday the stock price jumped 9.03% to US$38.88, off the back of a rapid recent string of successful launches and partnership announcements.
This contrasts well with its most notable competition, with instability at SpaceX as Elon Musk continuously blows up online with investor spooking nonsense. Very public, literal and spectacular rocket explosions probably aren’t helping either. Add Trump publicly threatening SpaceX contracts as his feud with Elon escalates and the climate continues to improve for Rocket Lab to gain more ground.
Game sector rebate boosts industry but with a lot of money unspent: This one is quite close to my heart as I did many a news story over at TV3 about how underutilised our video game sector was and how founders in that space were making incredible things with very little support. That support eventually came in the form of the GDSR (Game Development Sector Rebate), which gives 20c back on the dollar (capped at $3m) for eligible game devs to stay here instead of moving overseas.
While the game industry globally has been rocked by thousands of lay offs in the past few months, notably at Microsoft in the past week, it is still the most profitable form of entertainment on the planet. Some of the latest numbers of the rebate’s success below but one interesting data point is that around half of the money earmarked for the rebate has gone unclaimed. If you’re a a gaming founder reading this, maybe it’s time to see if you’re eligible.
Key GDSR 2025 data highlights:
Eligible staff numbers grew from 1,141 to 1,353, an 18.6 percent year-on-year increase. Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) roles similarly grew, up 20.5 percent from 1079 to 1300.
Average revenue per GDSR-funded employee reached approximately $525,260, up 14.8 percent from 2024 – highlighting the sector’s high-value, export-oriented output.
Overall, total eligible expenditure increased by 16 percent, with three studios more than doubling their eligible spend.
Event: Up & Comers - An Evening for Founders, Supporters, Doers & Dreamers: We love an event focused on the early stages here at Caffeine, particularly for the many spectacular founders down in Christchurch. Up & Comers fits the bill perfectly. It’s an evening for early-stage founders, entrepreneurs, and ambitious builders shaping what’s next. Whether you're launching your first idea, refining your pitch, or scaling your side hustle, this is your space to connect with others on the same path.
Join a room full of doers - founders, makers, creatives, and startup supporters - ready to share ideas, collaborate, and move forward. Real talk, real people, and connections that matter. As the saying goes, your network is your net worth.
Details:
Thu, 17 Jul, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Crisp & Vale, Christchurch, New Zealand
Get your tickets here.
Pod Pick: Business is Boring - How Polymath is reimagining maths class: As always, have to shout out the latest ep from friend and Caffeine and all around legend Simon Pound. Co-founder and CEO of Polymath Sophie Silver joins the pod to talk about building a game-based learning platform that kids actually want to use. Listen here. I’ve interviewed Sophie myself (read here) and honestly she was such a delight and Polymath are doing amazing work.
X executive steps down, Grok goes on obscene rant: As mentioned above, Elon Musk seems to be permanently having one at the moment and that extends to his increasingly vitriolic social media platform and pet A.I chatbot, Grok. The recent big move is that Linda Yaccarino, CEO at X, is stepping down after a tumultuous two years. This comes at the same time as Grok, following a recent update, went on an obscene antisemitic rant which I will not provide the details of here but safe to say it’s as bad or maybe worse than you’re imagining.
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