Capital raised - Annual Report 2021

27 May, 2022

MacDiarmid Institute students, scientists and affiliated start-up companies achieved many notable milestones and featured in a number of awards this year. The pipeline of deep tech IP and companies that our teams work on continues to grow and many of these companies are well positioned to compete internationally. In doing so, they are following in the footsteps of our  founder Sir Paul Callaghan, whose start-up Magritek (founded in 2004) now has a product range based on 8 patents sold globally through over 20 distributors.

Litmaps recently raised a $1 million seed round to focus on expanding the user base for their graphical bibliographic analysis tool, and to refine the value their technology can deliver for high performing research teams in R&D intensive companies.

The round was led by Icehouse Ventures, with participation from Quidnet Ventures, Angel HQ, K1W1, Exponential Founders Fund, and several strategic independent angel investors.

Over 30,000 researchers from public and private institutions worldwide have already used Litmaps since their launch in November 2020. The team continues to develop new product features and have recently taken on further MacDiarmid Institute alumni through targeted advertising to our graduate pool.

“Raising capital (led by MacDiarmid Institute alumnus Kyle Webster) from the maturing start-up ecosystem locally and the growing international investors interested in New Zealand technology, means that we can tackle the global R&D intensive markets who desire our actionable research insights.” — Axton Pitt, co-founder and incoming CEO

Litmaps Co-Founders Axton Pitt CTO (left) and Dr Kyle Webster CEO

MaramaLabs raised $1.25 million in an investment round co-led by US-based venture capital firm Quidnet Ventures and New Zealand Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP). MaramaLabs provides UV-Vis Spectroscopy chemical analysis tools and a cloud-based data-analytics platform. These products provide unique chemical insights into the products of industrial customers such as wineries. The capital will help to expand the team, to grow MaramaLabs’ customer base, and to further develop the proprietary hardware and software platform. The investment will also enable MaramaLabs to continue to expand its reach to international customers and markets in the US and Europe.

The company was a finalist in the Gold Innovation category of Wellington’s annual business awards.