Icehouse Ventures

We’re excited to launch Careers of the Future for 2025 with: Thriving in High-Growth Startups in partnership with Humankind! This event is for ambitious startup operators and professionals who want to accelerate their careers in Aotearoa’s startup scene. Whether you’re already working in a startup or curious about making the leap, join us to learn how to navigate the challenges and opportunities of high-growth tech companies. We’ll be hearing from an epic line up of founders and operators powering some of New Zealand’s most innovative tech startups: Cassie McAdams (Ideally), Sean Simpson (Ternary Kinetics/LanzaTech/Outset Ventures), Jessica Venning-Bryan (Prospero), Sophie Pinto-Raetz (Vessev), and Charlie Anderson (Watchful). Come along to hear their insights on: ▪️Navigating a dynamic career path that redefines the traditional corporate ladder. ▪️Positioning yourself for big opportunities in an ever-changing landscape. ▪️The different ways they’ve personally unlocked growth opportunities and removed barriers to build impactful startup careers. After the panel discussion, you'll have the opportunity to network with our panelists and their teams—many of which are actively hiring 👀 Wednesday 19th of March at our HQ in Parnell, Auckland. RSVP via the link in the comments 👇

An invite to all young startup founders & operators, join us for the First Cut: 2025 Kick Off! Meet and hear from Alliv Samson (Co-Founder of Kami), Max Olson (Founder of Vessev), and Sophie Cooper (Founder of Anihana)—founders leading industry-redefining startups, from edtech transforming classrooms globally to breakthrough hydrofoiling technology and sustainable body care making waves in consumer markets. Whether you’re launching your own startup or looking for inspiration to take your next big step, this is your chance to learn, connect, and get inspired by some of the best. Here are the key details: 📆 Date: Wednesday 26th March, 5:30pm - 7:30pm 📍 Location: Icehouse Ventures HQ, Parnell. 🎟 Free to attend, nibbles and drinks provided. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/guZw-pHf First Cut is Icehouse Ventures’ community for young startup founders and operators in Aotearoa—a space to learn, connect, and find inspiration to take the next step.

New month, new job opportunities! Kiwi startups are hiring across NZ, Australia, the US & beyond, looking for talent in tech, IT, engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and more. Here are a few of this month's latest listings: ▪️ Outset Ventures are hiring a Community Manager (Auckland, NZ) ▪️ Sharesies are hiring an Operations Associate (Wellington, NZ) ▪️ Re-Leased are hiring a People and Culture Business Partner (London, UK) ▪️ OpenStar Technologies are hiring an IT Systems Manager (Wellington, NZ) ▪️ Halter are hiring a  Customer Onboarding US Lead (Colorado, USA) ▪️ Onside are hiring a Graduate Software Engineer (Christchurch, NZ) Explore these 190+ roles on our jobs platform via the link in the comments! Looking for something specific? Join our talent network (takes 3 minutes), tell us what you're after, and we’ll keep you posted on jobs that match your skills, experience, and interests. Link in the comments 👇

I joined Icehouse Ventures in 2017. At that time, we were a team of four, managing an $11m seed fund and an angel network. Fast forward to December 2024—we reached $450m of funds under management, have over 2,000 investors, and a 26-person team including fully fledged product, operations, legal, and investment teams. We’ve backed many of NZ’s most successful and up-and-coming startups, including Halter, Crimson Education, Basis, Dawn Aerospace, Tracksuit, Hnry, and Sharesies, to name a few. And in 2025, our team is more aligned and fired up than ever. In large part, I put the success we’re experiencing down to the clarity of our values. They have led us to a clearer brand proposition, a definitive way of communicating who we are to founders, and a blueprint and benchmark for the type of work we engage in and how we go about doing it. Most importantly, they helps founders choose us as investors. Being an investor in a company is an intimate relationship. As investors, we become confidants, board advisors, and partners in the most critical decisions founders face. Often, this partnership lasts the entire life of a company. It’s a long-term business partnership, which is why choosing the right investors is one of the most important decisions a founder will make. I recently wrote about the ‘Value of Values’—how they shape company and brand strategy, why defining them matters, and what our values are at Icehouse Ventures, for anyone thinking about choosing us as a partner. More below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gUEiazhK

I've looked at a few thousand pitch decks over the past few years. What discerns good from great is those that understand this:    A pitch deck is a movie trailer, not the whole movie.   Often founders try to fit too much into a pitch deck—but the best ones don’t tell an investor everything. They just set up the next conversation.   And while a great pitch deck won’t guarantee you funding, a bad one could make the road a lot harder.   We’ve updated our Pitch Deck Guide—covering best practices, what to include (and in what order), design templates, extra tips, and what happens after you land the pitch.   Here are a few key principles to keep in mind: - Make it bold. If your deck doesn't stand out, it gets lost - Keep it simple. Make sure your info is easily scannable. - Tell a story. Narrative matters—don’t just throw in slides. - Less is more. One idea per slide, max two. - Design matters. A deck not redesigned with consideration is less likely to be considered. - Make it human. Use real anecdotes and insights to connect with your audience. The full guide is here: https://lnkd.in/gtPr7bTz (and also always available on the IV website)

Last week, a group of global tech leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs touched down in Aotearoa to join the 4X4 Far Out Convoy. A road trip that began as an idea between Robert Coneybeer (Shasta Ventures) and Mason Bleakley to combine the best of NZ’s natural wonders with some of its best engineered ones—driving from Auckland to Queenstown, with all major stops focused on visiting local Kiwi tech companies. Now in its second year, Far Out: The Epic New Zealand 4x4 Road Trip has grown from a 20-person group last year to 80 this year. We hosted drinks to welcome the crew before they embarked on their week-long journey across NZ. If you’re out on the road, keep an eye out as the convoy continues to make its way across the country! 🏔️🛻 Read more about the trip and some of the epic guests here: https://lnkd.in/gdaiRApJ

Despite some of the doomsday commentary about both the NZ economy and VC investing habits in 2024 compared to 2021, there is plenty of capital looking for high-quality investment opportunities. At Icehouse Ventures, we invested $100M in 2024—tied for the most capital we’ve ever deployed in a single year—backing companies like Timescapes, Extraordinary, Watchful, Basis, New + Improved Ventures, and 84 other companies (new and follow on). In 2025, we expect to invest a similar amount. If you're a founder looking to raise capital this year, how do you maximise your chances of success? Think about it just like enterprise sales, and then break your approach down into three key parts: 1. Choose your investor pipeline carefully. → You don't need 100 pitches—you need the right 10. Be strategic in who you approach. 2. Build relationships early. → Venture investment is a long-term partnership—few investors will back founders they haven't built a relationship with over an extended period. 3. Create momentum. → Momentum closes deals; a lack of it kills them. Run your raise like a focused sprint, not a drawn-out marathon. Bonus points if you also take the time to understand how an Investment Committee (IC) works, and what you can do to make it easier for them to say yes. The capital is there—the founders closing big rounds in 2025 will be those who know what they’re building and are laser-focused on securing the right partners for their growth journey. I’ve outlined more detailed thoughts on the above here: https://lnkd.in/gAz323Rs

Check out these fresh job listings from Kiwi startups — hiring across NZ, Australia, the US & more. Whether you're in tech, sales, marketing, or operations, there could be something for you 👀 Here are a few of this month's latest listings: ▪️ Alimetry are hiring a National Sales Manager (San Diego, US) ▪️ NextWork are hiring a Generalist (Wellington, NZ) ▪️ Appetise are hiring a Brand Marketing Lead (Christchurch, NZ) ▪️ Aquila are hiring a Photovoltaics Materials Engineer (Sydney, AU) ▪️ Ideally are hiring a Consumer Insights AI Specialist (Auckland, NZ) ▪️ Kwetta are hiring a Electronics Designer (Hawkes Bay, NZ) Explore these and 190+ roles on our jobs platform via the link in the comments! Looking for something specific? Join our talent network (takes 3 minutes), tell us what you're after, and we’ll keep you posted on jobs that match your skills, experience, and interests. Link in the comments 👇

Congrats to Kwetta on their $17.5M Series A raise! From their HQ in Napier, New Zealand, Kwetta are tackling one of the most pressing challenges in EV adoption: unlocking the power needed for fast charging—at scale. Traditional EV chargers depend on low-voltage grid connections, with faster charging relying on infrastructure upgrades that can take years—sometimes decades (Norway has a 12-year delay). Kwetta’s grid-first technology flips the script. Their patented technology taps into the high-voltage end of the grid, delivering 10x more power, and enabling rapid deployment of fast-charging infrastructure without waiting on costly upgrades. "The power grid, think about it like a network of pipes. Our technology can unkink the pipe upstream so we can get more power out of the grid. We would say, we are the modernisation. We are the way that the new grid needs to be.” – Mike Lazelle, Co-founder and CGO. With $10M in revenue and 39 high-power charger outlets live in New Zealand, Kwetta are scaling globally, filling orders in Australia and growing interest in Europe as the demand for smarter grid solutions soars. Their Series A will support expansion into high-capacity truck and electric bus charging and help accelerate the electrification of heavy transport and fleets worldwide. Read more via NZ Herald here (paywall): https://lnkd.in/ghxKeH6i

More companies die of indigestion than starvation—meaning they get distracted by shiny new opportunities, spreading focus too thin to be effective. For a tech startup chasing rapid global growth, saying “no” to opportunities, or distractions disguised as opportunities can feel counterintuitive, but it is often needed. I know a lot of founders and teams are going through annual planning at the moment; here are a few key things I think about and recommend to avoid the temptation of shiny new things and the trap of indigestion. 1. Know what you are—and, more importantly, what you aren’t—doing -> Get crystal clear on both your strategy and your anti-strategy, then communicate it to the whole team. 2. Don't be afraid to be excellent in a niche -> To be transformative global tech companies from NZ, we need to resist the urge to be everything to everyone. Instead, we need to be experts in our niches—and stay the course. 3. The clearer your objectives, the faster your team can evaluate opportunities and execute -> This leads to less debate, more aligned delivery, and hopefully, more revenue to double down even further. Focus can create a flywheel of positive momentum, lack of focus can create a flywheel in the reverse direction. More detailed thoughts are here: https://lnkd.in/g48VJHqZ Does anyone else have planning hacks? Please share!