In an ecosystem abundant with deep tech innovations, Bridgewest Group’s Auckland office uses its international heft to fund and support startups whose innovative IP has the potential to make global impact.
The American–headquartered Bridgewest Group could well have opened a branch in Singapore or Brisbane – but with encouragement from ATEED, the forerunner of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, it picked Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland as its New Zealand base.
Since setting up in New Zealand in 2015, Bridgewest has been gradually establishing a growth portfolio of business units and ventures, culminating in last year’s opening of a new corporate office on the waterfront in Auckland’s Britomart quadrant.
“It’s a great gateway city,” says Rees Ward, Executive Vice President and NZ Chief Operating Officer of Bridgewest Group. “Bridgewest Group identified New Zealand as an emerging market and was also drawn to its rule of law, ease of doing business, incredible scenery and friendly people. Auckland is well placed time zone-wise also and is conveniently just a flight away from Asia, Australia and the USA.”
Bridgewest New Zealand operates four areas of activity. Its real estate portfolio focuses primarily on commercial properties in the Auckland region. Through Bridgewest Finance NZ, it specialises in non-bank lending nationwide. The company's private equity arm invests in larger companies, such as Provoke Solutions, SuiteFiles, and ProjectWorks. And through Bridgewest Ventures NZ, it offers pre-seed and seed funding to entrepreneurs with innovative and disruptive ideas in the deep tech space, with potential follow-on capital from the US parent group.
Deep tech focus
Bridgewest Ventures NZ offers pathways to markets, providing business support and advice on commercialisation and scalability, as well as connections to its advisor network and global contacts. “We will only invest,” says Kate de Ridder, Senior Portfolio Investment Manager, “if we can bring capability, not just money.”
Deep tech is a select sector, relying on significant and defensible scientific or engineering advances, which by their nature require a lot of funding, extensive research and deep expertise. Bridgewest narrows the field further by focusing mainly on high tech (AI, software, semiconducting), life sciences (biotech) and clean tech.
“We are impact-focused,” says Kate, “working with founders who can make a profound social, environmental or economic impact on the world. Innovation is key. We’ll look at a couple hundred deals a year, but only invest in up to five of them per year.”
While deep tech is a high-risk venture, Bridgewest de-risks each investment by bringing its expertise and experience. “With our global presence, we can validate the market,” says Rees. “Collectively our group has brought multi-billion-dollar ventures to fruition. When we fund a New Zealand venture, it’s because we are confident that it has world-class potential.”
Building the innovation ecosystem
To tap into the New Zealand talent pool, Bridgewest has forged strong connections with Crown Research Institutes, universities and corporations. In 2024, for instance, with support from Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, it presented an Impactful Innovation Conference at the Hilton Auckland, which drew together the research community and the wider investment community. “It has helped us grow a more cohesive ecosystem that benefits all players in this market,” says Rees.
In 2020, Bridgewest was selected as one of four partners to deliver Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator programme, which offers a minimum of $1 million funding (of which $750,000 is a repayable grant) to successful applicants, helping them commercialise and scale their New Zealand-based tech startups.
A portion of Bridgewest’s ventures have emerged through its partnership with UniServices, the commercialising arm of the University of Auckland. “They are the largest university resulting in the highest production of IP and accompanying talent,” notes Kate. “We work with all the research organisations across the country to attract investment to them. For example, Plant & Food Research partnered recently with Bridgewest in a joint venture to commercialise a bio-plastic alternative for promising market applications.”
Each year, Bridgewest hosts two or three graduates as interns: not only do they get to experience the innovation ecosystem firsthand, but the connection helps nurture the talent pipeline from lab research to commercialisation.
Finding the potential for global impact
Currently, there are 11 companies in the Bridgewest NZ portfolio – and while their IP is diverse, their common elements include the potential to significantly disrupt and advance their chosen sector through innovative, locally developed technological capability that is globally scalable.
MACSO: Sensory AI integration for hardware companies
Founded by AUT alumna Saba Samiei in Auckland in 2021 with backing from Bridgewest and Callaghan Innovation, MACSO uses AI to train sensors to analyse sensory data and use it in agtech, air quality and data collection applications. For instance, infectious diseases like African swine flu have wrought havoc on pig farming in recent years, so MACSO has developed audio monitoring technology for farms, where the distinctive sounds of sick animals can enable farmers to isolate them before infection has time to spread. Pilots have shown the tech can significantly reduce pig death rates.
Avasa: Simplifying microsurgery
Auckland-based Avasa combines medicine, design and engineering to transform reconstructive microsurgery. Its proprietary implant for coupling arteries and veins is precise, efficient, and some 80 per cent faster than hand-sewing, resulting in an improved vascular connection that reduces transplant failures and readmissions.
Dr Nandoun Abeysekera, who founded Avasa in 2018, had seen the need for such a device when working as a plastic surgeon. He secured pre-seed funding via the University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund, and $1 million VC funding from Bridgewest. While he has plans to access the US market, he intends to keep Avasa in Auckland, thanks in large part to the city’s supportive ecosystem and network of world-class clinicians.
“We saw at a very early stage that Nandoun’s idea had traction and would be disruptive,” says Kate. “We are proud to support him through animal trials and beyond. When you’re in the Bridgewest family, you get that support; the companies we invest in grow capability, and then share skills with the other incubated companies.”
DORIS™ and BioOra: Advancing cancer treatments
Project DORIS™ – Dynamic Oncology Reference Information System – is an AI-assisted, customer-centric reference tool for oncologists, keeping them up to date in real-time with diagnostic and treatment information, while protecting them from overload in a field that is constantly changing at a breakneck pace. Kate explains that the original IP came from the US and has been repatriated in Auckland, through a collaboration between Bridgewest and founder Dr Joe Monforte.
Beta-testing the technology in New Zealand will enable the team to fine-tune DORIS for wider international markets. It also supports the development of New Zealand as a centre of excellence in oncology, notes Kate, who cites the example of BioOra, a Wellington-based venture that is developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatments for cancer. In 2021 Bridgewest teamed up with Wellington’s Malaghan Institute of Medical Research to form BioOra and deliver a high-quality low-cost pathway to CAR T-cell therapy.
Bringing investment funding into the country
“We are interested in the high-impact startups,” says Rees, “with the capabilities to solve big global problems. And being connected to the world’s markets through our other Bridgewest offices, we are looking to bring in new investment, create deep tech jobs in New Zealand, and strengthen the knowledge economy here.”
Find out more
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