New Zealand's Top Venture Studios
New Zealand only has a handful of venture studios, and they vary far more than the shared label suggests. Some are pure-play venture builders that originate companies from scratch, while others operate as design and build partners that co-invest in existing startups rather than building them from scratch.
The equity they take, the deal structures they use and the stage at which they engage all differ, even within an ecosystem as small as Aotearoa's. The useful question is not which studio is the "best", but which studio's model fits what you need from a partnership.
This article is an overview of who is who, what each does, and where each one's expertise lies. It draws on publicly available sources at the time of writing and, where possible, conversations with the studios themselves.
Edition Ventures
Focus: SaaS (sector agnostic)
Engagement stage: Pre-product to Series B
Key services: Product design (UX/UI), Branding, Websites, Pitch decks
Note: Edition Ventures can provide software development support where needed. Our core belief, though, is that successful tech companies need an in-house development team as early as possible, ideally with a founding CTO.
Equity share: 0.5-3%
Portfolio companies: Sence, Grw, Timescapes, ReluGroup
Edition Ventures is the venture studio arm of Edition, a design-led technology studio based in Auckland, working across predominantly New Zealand and Australia. We sit at the low-dilution end of the spectrum, supporting founders as a fractional design and product partner that co-invests in existing companies, rather than building them from scratch.
We introduced our venture studio model after five years running the core business: a traditional fee-for-service agency for startups. Having supported 150+ technology companies (including local heroes like Halter, Kami, EROAD, FirstAML, and Kernel) through product, brand and website services, we wanted to have some skin in the game and support early-stage founders more deeply.
We typically hold 0.5% to 3% equity. This leaves significant room for future investors and early employees, while still ensuring our incentives are aligned.
Paloma
Focus: SaaS (sector agnostic)
Engagement stage: Pre-product
Key services: Software development, product design
Equity share: Not publicly stated (typically 20-40% for this model)
Portfolio companies: Runn, Chemcloud, Authsignal, Gondola
Paloma (formerly Dovetail) was founded in 2014 by Nick Frandsen and Ash Fogelberg, and runs predominantly out of Sydney and Auckland offices. The team are highly selective, working with only a small handful of the founders they meet, and partnering from pre-product and pre-revenue.
They are best-known for their partnership with tech unicorn, Afterpay. Paloma, then Dovetail, built and scaled Afterpay's web and mobile platforms from its earliest days, before the company became one of the highest-profile names in the fintech “buy now, pay later” space. That track record anchored its pitch to non-technical, industry experts looking to build a startup.
New + Improved
Focus: Marketing technology (martech)
Engagement stage: Pre-idea
Key services: Venture ideation, MVP development, capital raise support
Equity share: Not publicly stated (typically 50-70% for this model)
Portfolio companies: Aether, Drumbeat
New + Improved formalised after several years of work between insights firm TRA (The Research Agency) and the brand design studio Previously Unavailable. Launched in 2024, it focuses exclusively on building martech companies in-house, then raising venture capital and recruiting a founding team to take each venture forward.
Its calling card is the track record behind it. The same group created Tracksuit (brand tracking, 2021) and Ideally (concept testing, 2023), two of New Zealand's fastest-growing SaaS companies.
The studio intends to build one to two new startups a year, working with venture capital from the outset. It raised $6m at launch from its founders alongside TRA, Previously Unavailable and venture capital firm Icehouse Ventures.
Ryft
Focus: AI-driven products for SMEs
Engagement stage: Pre-idea
Key services: Venture ideation, software development
Equity share: 100% until dilution
Portfolio companies: Jane, Heron
Ryft is an AI-first, pure-play venture studio, founded in Auckland in 2024 by three former executives of software agency Roam Digital (Chris Moore, Ben Morreau and Lucas Coelho).
After Roam was acquired in 2021, the founders sought to carry that product and design pedigree into building their own companies. Ryft runs the full arc itself: it explores and validates ideas, funds them through pre-seed and seed stages, and brings in founders-in-residence to operate and scale each company.
The artificial intelligence focus is central to the thesis. Ryft is explicit that it is neither a venture capital firm nor an agency, and bets that the current AI shift makes now the right time to build B2B software products from the ground up.
Alternatives to Venture Studios
Venture studios are often confused with the other organisations that fund and support early-stage companies. They are not the same thing, and knowing the difference saves founders both time and equity.
Venture capital firms
Invest money and expect you to build the company. They do not do the hands-on building. Venture capital in New Zealand (sometimes shortened to NZVC) is served by firms such as Icehouse Ventures, Altered Capital, Movac and Punakaiki Fund, which deploy a venture capital fund across Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B and later growth capital rounds. A studio may help you raise capital from firms like these, but it is not one of them. Movac, for instance, is one of the country's longer-running venture capital funds, and the studios on this list usually work alongside investors like it rather than competing with them.
Angel investors
Back companies with their own money, typically at the earliest stages before institutional venture capital arrives. Angel networks remain one of the most common sources of first cheques for kiwi founders, and many studio-built companies raise from angel investors before approaching a venture capital fund.
Government-backed capital
Sits behind much of the ecosystem. NZ Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP) is government-owned and runs the Elevate NZ Venture Fund, which co-invests alongside private venture capital funds to deepen New Zealand's early-stage capital pool. Callaghan Innovation historically ran the Technology Incubator programme and administered R&D grants, but the agency was disestablished, with its incubator and grant functions moving to MBIE and a new advanced technology institute. Founders relying on these programmes should confirm the current administering body before applying.
Incubators and startup accelerators
Offer structured support, mentorship and sometimes a small amount of capital, then step back. Creative HQ in Wellington is a well-known New Zealand startup accelerator. Deep tech founders are served by specialist incubators and venture capital firms such as Outset Ventures, which pairs investment with lab and workshop space, and WNT Ventures, a long-running deep tech investor and Technology Incubator partner. These models matter for biotech, agritech, medtech and other deep tech companies, but they are not venture studios. They invest and incubate rather than building products for equity.
FAQs
What is a venture studio?
A venture studio, sometimes called a startup studio, is an organisation that helps create companies by contributing some mix of idea, team, capital and the hands-on execution required to reach product-market fit.<br>How much it contributes, and the equity it takes in return, varies enormously. A pure-play studio may design and build the whole thing, supplying the idea and the founding team. A partner studio invests its services alongside an existing founder for a much smaller stake.
How is a venture studio different from an incubator or accelerator?
Incubators and startup accelerators give existing teams an environment, mentorship and often a small amount of capital, then step back. Programmes like Creative HQ run cohorts of founders through a structured curriculum.<br>A venture studio is far more hands-on. It contributes real execution, building product, brand and sometimes the company itself, and usually takes more equity as a result. Incubators and startup accelerators support your company; a studio helps build it.
How is a venture studio different from a VC firm?
A venture capital fund provides capital and expects you to build the company. Firms like Icehouse Ventures, Movac and Punakaiki Fund write cheques and take board seats, but they do not do the work.<br>A studio provides capital or active building, or both, and is far more involved in the work itself. Many studios will then help you raise capital from venture capital firms and angel investors once the company is ready.
How much equity does a venture studio take?
It depends entirely on the model. Pure-play studios that originate the idea and supply the founding team can take a large founding stake, often 30 percent or more.<br>Partner and co-investment studios that invest their work alongside an existing founder take much less, often under five percent. Treat any single headline number with suspicion, and ask the studio to explain how its stake maps to what it actually contributes.
How do venture studios make money?
Mostly through equity. A studio backs or builds a portfolio of companies and makes its return when those grow, raise seed funding and later rounds, and eventually exit. It is a long game, and most of the value sits years out.<br>Some also take cash, or a reduced fee alongside equity, to cover the cost of the work upfront. This is more common with partner studios doing significant design or development, where charging something keeps the model viable without pushing the equity stake too high.
What are the downsides of working with a venture studio?
The obvious one is equity. You give up a permanent slice of the company, and on a good outcome that slice can be worth far more than the work would have cost you in cash. If you can build without a venture studio, that is often the cheaper road.<br>The subtler risks are fit and dependency. A studio that builds too much of the company can leave you thin on in-house capability, especially engineering, which you will need to own sooner than you expect. The better partner studios are deliberate about handing over rather than holding on. Ask what the relationship looks like once the initial work is done.
Do I need a product or traction before approaching a studio?
It depends on where the venture studio sits. Idea-stage and pure-play studios are happy to start from a concept, sometimes before there is any product at all, since supplying the idea is part of the job.<br>Partner and co-investment studios usually want a credible founder, some early validation, and a realistic path to a pre-seed or seed funding round. Independent investor interest helps, and so does any early sign of product-market fit. The further along you are, the less equity you tend to give up, because there is less risk for the studio to carry.
Can a venture studio help me raise money from investors?
Often, yes, and for many founders it is one of the main reasons to use one. A studio that has shipped companies before usually has real relationships with angel investors and venture capitalists, and knows what a given investor wants to see before meeting.<br>Just as valuable is the readiness work. A clear product story, a brand that holds up to scrutiny, and a pitch that survives diligence all move the odds. Studios that do design and product can sharpen the things investors judge you on, and that readiness is usually worth more than the intro itself.
How long does an engagement last?
There is no fixed answer, and it tracks the model. A pure-play build can run a year or more, carrying a company through an early round and out the other side with a standalone team in place.<br>Partner engagements are usually shorter and tied to getting a company investor-ready before a seed or Series A round, shipping a first product, or repositioning ahead of a raise. Some turn into long term relationships that resurface at each new stage.
How should I choose between them?
Work out where each studio sits on the spectrum, then match that to what you need. If you have an idea and no team, a pure-play studio that builds from scratch makes sense. If you already have a company and a credible plan but need sharper product, brand or fundraising, a partner studio will cost you far less equity for the value. Then look past the model to the evidence. What have they built, and what happened to those companies afterwards? A venture studio's track record will tell you more than its pitch ever will.
