Environmental Deep-tech gains NZ$1.2m Investment

As environmental factors, including climate change, more heavily influence global markets, technology that leverages and maintains New Zealand’s environmental advantages become particularly important building blocks for the economy. This is especially the case when those technologies are born in New Zealand and target highvalue off-shore growth.

That’s why commercialisation company Astrolab is launching and seeding $1.2m into two ventures which combine New Zealand’s depth of scientific talent with the value arising from our natural environment. Among the technologies being commercialised are bioactive ingredient production technology and

next-generation environmental monitoring solutions.

Astrolab provides commercialisation leadership alongside funding to take New Zealand’s ‘deep-tech’ intellectual property to offshore markets. “We’re helping leverage New Zealand’s environmental advantage by developing in-demand products which have significant potential for high-value offshore growth,” explains Mario Vulinovich, Astrolab Venture Partner. Cosmeceuticals are one of the fastest growing cosmetics segments, driven by consumer demand for environmentally responsible products to replace synthetic versions, reduce or eliminate side-effects, and which don’t harm animals. Plantderived ‘bioactives’ are ingredients in cosmeceutical products combining cosmetic and healthcare qualities. Vulinovich notes that this is an emerging multimillion-dollar segment in which our ventures can play a significant role. “Our science helps us produce those bioactives in a way that significantly improves margin and quality. New Zealand-sourced bioactives can provide purity benchmarks uncompromised by environmental pollutants that regularly contaminate other sources,” he explains.

Another area where Astrolab is active is environmental monitoring. As the world’s attention turns to monitoring and compliance of the environment, its strong preference is to achieve that with a productivity and efficiency lens. Astrolab’s latest venture is combining novel optical sensing with blockchain privacy management, Internet of Things communication and dynamic power management. In parallel, Astrolab has secured an industry heavyweight channel partner as part of forming this venture. The goal now is to transform how the world senses, reports and manages its environmental impacts, while increasing productivity where possible. “We’re excited to have developed this venture with its research and industry stakeholders, and now about to launch; the more efficiently we can measure in the environment, the better it can be managed,” Vulinovich says. Astrolab’s initial investment rounds are co-funded with government support, with several of our early ventures now undertaking offshore activity and in their second and third investment rounds. Astrolab is always open to hearing from innovators, research organisations, companies, and investors - particularly those keen to collaborate to solve our pressing environmental challenges.

If that’s you, don’t hesitate to get in touch.