Punakaiki Fund leads an oversubscribed Series A of NZ$12 million in the Kiwi fruit imaging company
We are excited to announce our latest investment: a substantial stake in Hectre, the fruit imaging company that’s transforming horticulture.
We’re incredibly impressed with Hectre. What started in New Zealand orchards is becoming a global horticulture platform, with customers across major fruit-producing regions, including North America, Europe, and Latin America. They’re tackling a critical global challenge in the food system and using leading edge AI to potentially create a ‘Bloomberg terminal’ for fruit sales.
Today, it collects size, colour and quality data representing 17 billion apples and 37 billion cherries.
Hectre’s revenue is growing at about 100% annually and the company is scaling rapidly.
“As a New Zealander, I have seen how growers and producers seem to work the hardest and get paid the least. The current supply chain is asymmetric in favour of retailers. That’s largely an information and data problem. I believe we can address this for the benefit of everyone – and especially growers.” – Matty Blomfield, CEO Hectre
The round itself was an outstanding success.
“We originally set out to raise $10 million but the interest was so strong that we extended the round to over $12 million,” says chief executive and founder Matty Blomfield.
“The size of the investment and the speed with which it was completed shows how well-positioned Hectre is for growth.”
Punakaiki Fud led the investment but we’re gratified to see the existing shareholders, including Cultivate Ventures and Nuance, follow on. A sure sign of confidence.
Our investment has been enabled by a steady inflow of capital via the Government’s Active Investor Plus Visa scheme which we’ve been deploying into New Zealand technology companies, including Hectre.
We’re big fans of this scheme. It’s bringing much needed capital into the Kiwi venture sector, allowing us to back more great Kiwi companies.
Recently investments include an increased its stake in Orah (educational software) and Couchdrop (data management), taking our current portfolio to 18 New Zealand tech companies.
Read more about Hectre and the investment in the NZ Herald (pay walled) and in the media release.
To back Hectre and more companies like it, see our investment offer, live now.