Bridgewest Ventures New Zealand Closes First Investment Round
Technology Incubator Bridgewest Ventures is backing two high-growth local companies that are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning technology to enhance safety and productivity in key target sectors around the world.
Automation testing company, The TestMart, and incident management software specialists, OpsCentral Limited, are Bridgewest Ventures’ first investments under the Callaghan Innovation Deep Tech Incubator programme.
Managing Partner of Bridgewest Ventures, Saum Vahdat, said the two companies had goals to build high-growth and sustainable deep technology businesses in New Zealand, while making a global impact on productivity and safety.
“The two companies are a perfect fit to receive high value from our global advisor network and both ventures align to our software sector investment portfolio. Both ventures have aspirational growth strategies and are closely aligned to our focus on AI/Machine Learning models as a disruptive technology, and they were able to demonstrate a unique approach to their specific target markets.”
Callaghan Innovation’s Technology Incubator Programme is designed for early-stage deep tech investment, and Bridgewest Ventures’ incubation model is a high-touch high-velocity partnership that is designed to work in partnership with founders to accelerate their development cycle towards MVP and revenue goals.
Bridgewest Ventures has so far reviewed more than 100 investment opportunities as part of the Programme. In addition to the successful investments, Bridgewest Ventures has three additional investments undergoing due diligence which are in the artificial intelligence and biotech sectors.
With natural disasters in the US estimated to have cost over US$95 billion in damage in 2020 – almost double the cost of disasters in 2019 – having the very latest information for first responders is essential.
For example, globally, firefighters are frequently sent to incidents with little real-time information about the incident, forcing them to make decisions based on inadequate situational awareness.
OpsCentral has a vision to improve incident outcomes by using intelligence to provide first responders with the right information in real-time and with a unique and state of the art dynamic visual interface.
Debby Murphy, OpsCentral President, said:
“OpsCentral uses Machine Learning and AI to knowledge mine and deliver previously under-utilised data to emergency responders. This ensures that critical information is displayed in a meaningful and timely way and with a key driver to reduce the loss of life,”
OpsCentral will focus on the Fire industry in the medium term, but the capabilities of the platform extend into other emergency response organisations and to be a key component of future Smart Cities.
Kate de Ridder, the Bridgewest Ventures Programme Manager, said:
“We loved the vision of the OpsCentral founding team. They presented a very compelling investment case to us around smart cities and IoT [Internet of Things] integration. These are areas where Bridgewest has considerable experience and where we can add a lot of value.”
The OpsCentral joint venture will initially focus on expanding the company’s prototype designs into a minimum marketable product, which includes an information dashboard constructed around detailed customer feedback and research with first responders on eyes-up situational awareness.
The second half of the incubation period focusses on the predictive AI training module which will leverage training scenarios and historical data to predict the information necessary to support first responders.
Post incubation, OpsCentral has the vision to become a smart city platform for all emergency responder units and further expand to industries such as construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Bridgewest Group Software Portfolio Manager Saeed Khorami said:
“The partnership with OpsCentral will provide high touch mentoring of the founding team and expert advice on the US market and big data analytics. There is strong alignment with our other portfolio companies where hardware for integration and connectivity can be leveraged.”
The market for software test automation is currently valued at US$12.6bn, making it a mature market that is ripe for disruption. The TestMart is seeking to disrupt this market by focusing on the shift to a SaaS delivery model across all major ERP vendors.
The TestMart Managing Director, Thomas Clyma, said traditional test automation vendors have done little to capitalise on the shift in software delivery towards SaaS and the uplift in demand it places on regression testing.
“We have solved this problem using AI-based Natural Language Processing and Intelligent Test Scripting and our platform makes it easy for customers to create and maintain fully automated tests.”
Mr Vahdat said Bridgewest has a growing software portfolio and considerable expertise in software development and delivery meaning the alignment with The TestMart is very strong.
“The incubation period for this new joint venture will be focused on enhancing the underlying technology and necessary supporting business infrastructure for cloud scale and global reach”
Bridgewest Ventures General Manager, John Robson, said the company is excited by the immediate global potential of the venture and pleased to be working with an experienced founder team to accelerate their growth.
“Our expertise in shaping enterprise software for the global market will see this product delivering revenue within the year and with a clear pathway for local job creation and investment in our world leading IT sector.”
Post incubation, The TestMart has a robust roadmap to implement test automation for major enterprise software systems, thereby freeing up resources for development and allowing broader feature implementation backed by a robust testing platform.
Please refer to Callaghan Innovation’s 16 December 2019 Press Release “Increased support for deep tech startups” for additional details of the Technology Incubator programme.