Hi everyone,
As we’re heading into the last few weeks of the year we took a moment to reflect on an incredible year 2025. So much happened, but we promise we keep it short:
Fund 2 is live
The biggest milestone of our year was undoubtedly the launch of Fund 2. We set out with a clear goal: to back the next generation of ANZ founders building globally significant companies. We wasted no time getting to work.
We have already made our first high-conviction investments from the new fund, deploying capital into category definers like Sharesies, Esper Satellites, Foundry Lab, and Herasight.
These investments reflect a shift in our worldview. We believe venture investing has fundamentally changed over the last 12-24 months. A new geopolitical reality, combined with the AI paradigm shift, has re-written the playbook. We wrote about this here.
We believe we are in a once-in-a-decade window to back founders across four key pillars:
Service as a Software (AI-elevated delivery)
The Next Automation Frontier (Robotics in the physical world)
Human Enhancement (Longevity and cognitive augmentation)
Geopolitical Sovereignty (Reshoring, deep tech, and defense)
This thesis is our North Star. You will see us leaning into it even harder in 2026.
Read more here:
Fund 1: A year of compounding
While Fund 2 grabbed the headlines, the Fund 1 portfolio has had an incredibly promising year. After the volatility of the previous market cycle, 2025 saw our early bets mature into genuine category leaders.
The “valuation winter” of previous years is thawing, and the builders have kept building. Just a few highlights from the year:
VXT closed a $2.5m round with Silicon Valley backing and is growing like crazy
Simfuni closed an oversubscribed $3m round to revolutionise the plumbing of insurance payments.
Curve Biosciences raised $40m to make critical headway in cancer detection via liquid biopsies.
Emerge launched their personal cards and is rapidly closing in on their mission to become a full-stack bank.
…and while we’re writing this, a few more of our companies are currently finalising deals and hitting milestones that will cap off the year perfectly. Stay tuned.
Going all in on Platform
Venture is all about network. In 2025, we went all-in on a platform designed to elevate and amplify our founders.
A huge part of that has been the launch of TechMates. We are 50 episodes in, and frankly, we are just getting started. It has been a privilege to sit down with the best operators in the region. from unicorn founders to those just starting their Day 1 journey, to deconstruct their playbooks. The learnings have been incredible.
🎧 If you haven’t tuned in yet, you can catch up on the latest episodes here.
We also hosted our Portfolio Day, centered on the theme “From Edge to Epicenter.” It was a massive success, bringing together our founders, LPs, and the broader ecosystem to share war stories and wins. The energy in the room confirmed what we already knew: the ambition in this part of the world is compounding.
We are going to be doing a lot more of this. Speaking of which…
📅 SAVE THE DATE: Auckland Startup Week (Oct 12-16) We are planning something (big). If you had planned a trip to NZ next year, this is the best time.
Looking ahead to 2026
We are not slowing down. Our deal flow pipeline is fuller than ever before, and we intend to carry the momentum from 2025 straight into the new year.
Whether you are heading into an Australasian summer or a Northern winter, we hope you and your families get some well-deserved rest. We look forward to building with you in 2026.
Onwards,
Mark, Hendrik and the NZVC Team