Unemployment hits 8 year high
Plus: Solve your startup problems live at this event
Kia ora Caffeinators,
Happy Wednesday. A real mix of things happening across the startup world this morning. Let’s get into it.
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Unemployment hits eight year high
Event: Founders’ Brains on Tap tonight - space still available
Mindhive closes Series A round
Anthropic projecting $70b revenue by 2028
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.
Nick and the CAFFEINE team
Unemployment at 8 year high, but job market news not all bad: In the last hour or so, Stats NZ has published the latest unemployment rate, and it’s the highest it’s been since December 2016.
At 5.3% unemployment, that means there were 160,000 unemployed kiwis in the September 2025 quarter. It’s highest among young people; the unemployment rate for those aged 15-24 those aged has jumped from 13.1% a year ago to 15.2% now.
It’s not great reading, but there were some positive signs earlier in the week, with news there’s been an increase in job advertisements in the last quarter. MBIE data shows the number of online job advertisements in the year to September grew by 3.5%.
So tough going, but some signs of things getting better. We mentioned last week how that was a fairly consistent theme across a bunch of economic markers…if we say it enough, it might just be true, right??
Mindhive closes Series A round to scale AI-powered leather assessment: Chalk this up as another example of how far-reaching the impacts of AI are. For many thousands of years, leather inspection has been based on the work of people who can take hours to go through the whole grading process.
Mindhive technology can do it in seconds, enabling manufacturers to optimise production, reduce waste and make strategic decisions based on verified information as opposed to a subjective assessment.
The raise was led by Cultivate Ventures and existing shareholders, and will accelerate Mindhive’s growth into global markets.
Examples like these just show me how infinite the possibilities of new tech might be if you’re innovative enough to deploy it. If you gave me 1,000 years, I don’t think I’d come up with this idea, but it does make a lot of sense. Interested to see how things grow from here.
Event: Founders’ Brains On Tap: A workshop that tackles startup challenges. Really excited for tonight’s next Caffeine event, where two of New Zealand’s top business builders will work through three real founder challenges live on stage.
Three founders will be selected from the audience, present their toughest problem, and have the KNK Consulting masterminds unpack it in real time. Who are these masterminds, you ask?
Naomi Ballantyne is one of New Zealand’s most accomplished insurance entrepreneurs. After helping to found Sovereign and later leading ING Life, she saw a gap in the market for a modern, customer-focused insurer. In 2010, she built Partners Life from the ground up, starting with just a handful of people and a bold vision to disrupt the industry.
Alongside her, Kris Ballantyne has played a pivotal role in shaping Partners Life’s brand and customer experience, helping the company connect authentically with advisers and clients. Together, they scaled Partners Life into one of New Zealand’s leading life and health insurers, known for its innovation, culture, and commitment to doing right by customers.
There are still tickets available, but you’ll need to get in quick. Register here.
Anthropic reportedly projecting US$70b in revenue by 2028: It’s like the couple smiling in the photo above know something you don’t, and this might just be it.
So this year, Anthropic is reportedly on track to make around US$9 billion in revenue. That’s a pretty great year by anyone’s standards, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to where it expects to be in just three years time.
The main reason for the spike is down to adoption of its business products. Not hugely surprising, really, but a demonstration of how rapidly we’re about to transform the way we work and live, and the extent to which the companies behind it are set to benefit. Happy for them, really.
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