Sports
New Zealand has a massively strong sports following, and on 7th August we showcased some of our cool Kiwi sport-related technology. It was a relaxed evening for engineers, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and anyone interested in human performance to meet each other and celebrate what's being built. Our sponsors were Teknique and GridAKL.
Speaker 1: Daniel Thomson from Circuband
Daniel Thomson is Founder and CEO of Circuband, a company that has been changing the way athletes monitor and track performance. Daniel created Circuband out of a garage after seeing that there was a problem with people not getting out an exercising enough through resistance training. With his pro-athlete brother, Nick, he set out to build the ultimate fitness product.
Circuband has been used by some of the top exercise enthusiasts in the world including Gunnar Peterson (trainer to the Kardashians, The Rock and the LA Lakers), influencer Casey Neistat, the All Blacks, the NZ Military and many others. Furthermore, Circuband has successfully paired Virtual Reality with Resistance Training to make fitness more engaging and stimulating for both athletes and the public.
Speaker 2: Ilya Vensky from O2O2 Facewear (now Aō Air)
Ilya Vensky is Co-Founder and CMO of O2O2 Facewear (now Aō Air), a company creating anti-pollution masks for the burgeoning respirator market. Their high-tech masks will compete with more traditional respirators used by both athletes and the general population in countries like China.
O2O2 Facewear has emerged from leveraging the properties of nanofibers, recent advancements in battery technologies, and advanced computer modelling.
After investment from a joint venture between BMW and Global Venture Capital group, SOSV, the company began to be based in New York, but the R&D and innovation remains in New Zealand.
Speaker 3: Parn Jones and Kensa Randle from Avice Wearables
Parn Jones (Co-Founder and CTO) and Kensa Randle (Brand Ambassador) are from Avice Wearables, a company building wearable devices that give real-time feedback while lifting weights.
Avice competed in Callaghan Innovation's C-Prize, an incentivised technology competition which in 2017 focused on wearables. Kensa, a Youth Olympic athlete, is Product Champion for the company.
Speaker 4: Dave Stewart from One Studio
Dave Stewart is Co-Founder of One Studio, a company specializing in custom-made alpine sports clothing and ski suits for athletes at the very top of their game.
One Studio works with a number of Olympic teams both in New Zealand and around the world.
Pitches
Many members of the audience pitched for things they needed, or shared info with the audience.
Sponsors
Teknique
Teknique's imaging solutions are behind many of the world's largest consumer brands. Their products help companies who are integrating cameras into their own consumer products, all the way from drones and 360 VR cameras, to IoT and Smart Home products. Teknique are a previously showcased company, and are based in Albany.
GridAKL
GridAKL is the amazing space we are lucky to call home; a space created to bring established innovative business and start-ups together into one humming technology precinct.
Images and tweets courtesy of Jason Danner.
