

Heidi: the AI scribe shaking up NZ healthcare
Australian startup Heidi Health has become one of the most visible examples of AI actually shifting the dial on healthcare productivity – and New Zealand is at the forefront of that story. In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to Heidi co‑founder Yu Liu about the company’s journe…

Kiwi co-founded world‑builder hits $2.5 billion valuation
Another New Zealander has joined the global AI big league. Auckland-raised engineer Jeff Hawke is now co‑founder and chief technology officer of Odyssey, a Palo Alto‑ and London‑based frontier lab that has just raised an eye‑watering US$310 million at a US$1.45 (NZ$2.55 billion) valuation – makin…

China’s AI and robot revolution
China is racing ahead in artificial intelligence and robotics – and New Zealand risks being left on the sidelines if it doesn’t pay close attention. In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to two Kiwis who’ve just had a rare front‑row seat on China’s AI boom – Auckland-based Element…

AI vs public sector jobs
The Government’s plan to cut 8,700 public sector jobs and save $2.4 billion has been framed largely as a brutal cost‑cutting exercise. In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech podcast, Hamilton‑based technologist Brandon Hutcheson argues it could instead be the catalyst for a once‑in‑a‑gene…

From Uber to Exaba: AJ Tills takes on Big Tech storage
When it comes to scaling high‑growth tech companies, AJ Tills has been in the engine room. As one of Uber’s earliest hires in New Zealand, he helped the ride‑hailing giant push through regulatory resistance and turn the controversial startup into a default verb for getting around town, briefly se…

Is Starlink eating rural NZ?
Starlink has quickly become the hero – and potential hazard – of rural broadband in New Zealand. In a few short years, Elon Musk’s low-Earth orbit satellite service has gone from curiosity to default option for many farms, small towns and remote communities that never made it onto the fibre map. …

Space Mafia: How orbital AI changes everything
Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to the data centres of Silicon Valley or the cloud regions dotted around the world. It is heading into orbit, hitching a ride on satellites and space stations in a way that could transform defence, climate monitoring, disaster response – and the balan…

Power play: Qiulae Wong on R&D, AI, hi-tech skills and tax
The Opportunity Party is attracting growing support from young tech professionals, scientists, and startup founders, demanding bolder, more evidence‑based leadership. That’s according to Opportunity party leader Qiulae Wong, the businesswoman, climate leader and mother who will lead the party into…

The Business of Tech: AI is eating market research
Market research has long been a privilege of the big end of town. Got $50,000 and six weeks to spare? Great, you can know what your customers think. Everyone else? Good luck. That model is being dismantled, and a New Zealand startup is doing some of the dismantling. In the latest episode of The Bu…

Factories in retreat: inside NZ’s deindustrialisation crisis
New Zealand is quietly dismantling the productive base that built its prosperity – and we’re doing it without anything resembling a plan. Over the past decade, the country has shed around 20,000 manufacturing jobs while the sector’s share of GDP has steadily eroded. Factories producing everything …