Kiwi health firm inks Israeli tech deal
A Nelson skincare company that uses a unique strain of algae to stop wrinkles has become the first Kiwi company to strike a deal with the Israeli biotechnology sector.
Supreme Health New Zealand has a deal with Algatechnologies to gain access to its cutting-edge technology to make the product more readily available.
Supreme Health chief executive Kerry Paul said securing the deal placed the company at the forefront of micro-algal production.
Israel’s scientists were the world’s first to cultivate antioxidants from micro-algae, which made Algatechnologies an ideal partner, Paul said.
‘‘Micro-algae are far superior to the ingredients being used in today’s natural health products.
‘‘The key bioactives in products from micro-algae exist in far higher concentrations, enabling increased efficacy, and are produced in a sustainable system in contrast to today’s natural products.’’
Bioactives are chemicals and microbes that have some biological effect on our bodies.
The unique strain of the algae (Haematococcus pluvialis) grown by Supreme Health produces astaxanthin, a chemical compound that increases cell nutrients.
Astaxanthin was 6000 times more powerful than vitamin C, Paul said.
The algae will be grown in Nelson and then sent to Israel where Algatechnologies scales the microalgae to commercial levels before returning it to New Zealand for the extraction of astaxanthin.
Algatechnologies chief executive Hagai Stadler said the deal meant the company could scale up.
‘‘This investment is in line with our core strategy to fully exploit the potential of microalgae-derived products for commercial applications and especially natural astaxanthin, which is our key ingredient,’’ Stadler said.
In 2006 Paul founded Manuka Health New Zealand, and he expected astaxanthin to become the next manuka honey.
‘‘The popularity of astaxanthin can be paralleled to the popularity of manuka honey. When manuka honey first came on the market there was little known about its properties but now it has gained immense traction and also become popular in parts of Asia.’’
Supreme Health sells online in New Zealand and has just started shipping overseas. It hopes to become a global player in the health and skincare sector.
Peak power savings
Encouraging New Zealanders to use less power at peak times could save millions in the cost of electricity infrastructure. A report, by Concept Consulting for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, shows cutting peak demand would ease pressure on lines networks. That could be done with ‘‘time of use’’ pricing, which makes power cheaper at off-peak times. The report said greater uptake of energy efficiency measures could reduce the overall cost of supplying electricity to households by $30 million a year. It pointed to more efficient lighting, such as LED lamps, and greater uptake of heat pumps as measures that would have the biggest effect on peak residential demand.
Westpac payment outage
Westpac was hit by a payment outage that lasted much of yesterday. The bank said it had experienced delays in processing all external transfers of money. Payments made over the long weekend were delayed by the public holidays, anyway. But customers were unimpressed. Ceara Prout posted on the bank’s Facebook page: ‘‘Are you going to be compensating people for this. Also you need to be honest and say you don’t know how long it will take to fix, or at least let us know when to expect the problem sorted.’’ By 6pm, a spokeswoman for the bank said the day’s payments were being processed. She expected them to be cleared overnight.
Fight over Airbnb rates
The tourism industry says it is unfair for the Auckland Council to exempt ‘‘room only’’ Airbnb hosts from a rate paid by accommodation providers. Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) has pushed to have peer-to-peer accommodation included in the targeted rate paid by about 300 Auckland hotels and motels. The latest version of the rate proposes that online operators renting out entire homes for 28 or more nights a year will have to pay the rate to help cover the cost of tourism promotion. Business rates will also be applied on a sliding scale based on the number of nights a year a property is listed. TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said the ‘‘inefficient’’ proposal was unfair as it exempted ‘‘room only’’ lets, which made up almost half of the 12,357 Airbnb properties in Auckland.