Funded Artificial Intelligence Startups in New Zealand
Disclosed round sizes in New Zealand AI skew toward a single outlier: Auror raised $49M on 2024-11-12, which dwarfs the next-largest disclosed amounts ($10…
Disclosed round sizes in New Zealand AI skew toward a single outlier: Auror raised $49M on 2024-11-12, which dwarfs the next-largest disclosed amounts ($10M for Marloo on 2026-04-28; $70M for Soul Machines on 2022-02-14 sits above it, but it is still the only other very large print). Beyond those high points, most disclosed rounds cluster between $1M and $4M, with several smaller Seed/early financings such as Green Planet Eco at $130K (2023-07-15) and Altered State Machine at $100K (2022-03-10).
Geographically, Auckland is the dominant base: Marloo, StretchSense, Watchful, Auror, Altered State Machine, Soul Machines, HeartLab, Yabble, Mooven, Aider International Ltd, and (from Wellington) Chatterize is the only non-Auckland location in the rows shown, alongside two Christchurch entries (VXT twice). Temporally, the 14 disclosed rows span 2020-07-09 (Chatterize) through 2026-04-28 (Marloo), and the “recent” window is concentrated in late 2024 and 2025: Auror (2024-11-12) plus Watchful (2024-12-03) and three 2025 rounds (StretchSense 2025-12-19; VXT 2025-05-01; plus the 2025 presence in between).
Most recent rounds
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Frequently asked
What are the biggest disclosed AI rounds in this NZ list, and how separated are they from the rest?
Soul Machines is the largest disclosed round at $70M on 2022-02-14; the next step down is Auror’s $49M on 2024-11-12, while the remaining disclosed amounts largely sit in the low single-digit range such as Marloo’s $10M (2026-04-28) and multiple $3M rounds (VXT 2025-05-01; Watchful 2024-12-03).
Which cities are over-represented, and is there any geography split across rounds?
Auckland accounts for 11 of the 14 rows (including Marloo through Aider International Ltd), while Christchurch appears twice (VXT on 2025-05-01 and VXT on 2024-04-12). Wellington appears once (Chatterize on 2020-07-09), making it a clear single-entry out-of-city datapoint versus Auckland’s concentration.
How concentrated are rounds in the most recent year of dates shown (relative to the latest row)?
Using the latest date shown (Marloo on 2026-04-28) as the reference point, only Marloo’s $10M (2026-04-28) and StretchSense’s $2M (2025-12-19) fall within roughly the last 12 months; the rest of the higher-density activity in this set clusters in late 2024 through 2025, including Auror ($49M, 2024-11-12) and Watchful ($3M, 2024-12-03).
Does stage labeling cluster around a few categories here, or is it mostly unknown?
Stage fields are frequently missing or labeled generically: five of the 14 rows have “Series Unknown”/blank stage classifications (StretchSense 2025-12-19; VXT 2025-05-01; VXT 2024-04-12; Mooven 2021-06-15; Aider International Ltd 2020-11-19; Chatterize 2020-07-09 includes an empty stage as well), while disclosed named stages include multiple Seed rounds such as Watchful ($3M, 2024-12-03) and HeartLab ($3M, 2021-09-16).
Are there unusually small disclosed rounds that act as low-end outliers within the same segment?
Yes: the lowest disclosed amount is Altered State Machine at $100K on 2022-03-10, and Green Planet Eco at $130K on 2023-07-15 is another sub-$1M outlier. In contrast, several Seed/early rounds cluster at $1M–$4M (e.g., VXT $1M on 2024-04-12; VXT $3M on 2025-05-01; HeartLab $3M on 2021-09-16), indicating a sharp low-end tail under $200K.
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