Industrial waste tech company and data extractor win Entrepreneurs’ Challenge
Wed Nov 18 2015 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Industrial waste tech company and data extractor win Entrepreneurs’ Challenge
18 November 2015
Two Auckland-based companies – one dealing with turning industrial waste into valuable by-products and the other a data extractor – have won this year’s University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneurs’ Challenge.
Avertana and Data Insight were last night awarded funding from a multi-million-dollar pool set up through donations largely from ex-pat London-based financier Charles Bidwill.
They were up against some tough competition – the other finalists were Tuatara Brewing, Burger Burger, I Love Ugly, Crimson Consulting and Supreme Meats and NZ Deli.
Entrepreneurs’ Challenge investment committee chairman Greg Cross says this year’s winning companies once again showcase the depth and breadth of entrepreneurial talent in New Zealand.
“With each year, we bring together companies that have found new ways to push the business envelope with creativity, innovation and problem-solving of the highest order. Choosing finalists is never easy, and this year is no exception.”
Avertana’s technology turns industrial waste from steel foundries into a suite of valuable minerals and chemicals used in plants, paper, water treatment, plastics, fertiliser and building materials - all with no residual waste. The products are cheaper and better for the environment than existing methods, and replace existing manufacturing methods that emit chemical wastes and CO2. The company’s unique and patented process will first be commercialised with a processing plant in New Zealand, then rolled out globally.
Data Insight delivers actionable insights and game-changing value through data. The growth of the digital, social and mobile space has resulted in a growing volume of “big data” so valuable that it is often referred to as “new oil”. Data, like oil, needs to be extracted, refined, modelled and produced in order to create value. Data Insight will enable its clients to extract maximum value from data, and has innovated data through its own digital solution called Valocity.
The two companies join Area 360 (formerly known as STQRY), a winner and investee firm from 2014 which was awarded investment funding from the Challenge earlier this year to align with United States venture capital fund Madrona in supporting its growth aspirations globally.
At the awards ceremony last night, the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge also announced success payments from previous winners so future companies can benefit as they have.
Natural products and health company Manuka Health and tourism group Jucy handed over a combined total of almost $67,000, following in the footsteps of smart water metering company Outpost Central, forex payments platform Klickex and coffee roaster group Allpress Espresso, who have also made success payments.
The money will be ploughed straight back into the Business School’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Cross says: “It’s an important component of the entire programme, as this support ensures future companies can benefit as they themselves have. It’s essentially ‘paying it forward’, and we are thrilled that Manuka Health and Jucy have embraced this opportunity so enthusiastically."
For media enquiries, please contact Alison Lees - a.lees@auckland.ac.nz