Off the back of impressive growth and an extremely strong market position, Hectre, the New Zealand based orchard management and fruit sizing software company, has just completed a funding round which will see both its team and its product innovation capability expand significantly. The NZD$3.5m pre-series A funding round was heavily oversubscribed, testament to the value investors are placing on the agritech startup. “It’s a wonderful position to be in. To have that level of support and interest in what we’re achieving, our market position, and our future strategy, is both exciting and truly humbling,” says Hectre CEO and Co-founder Matty Blomfield.
On a mission to empower the planet’s growers with the world’s simplest orchard technologies and with a pre-money valuation of NZ$18.5m, Hectre’s existing investors took the opportunity to increase their share further during the raise, and a line up of new investors joined as Hectre gets set to scale up.
New investors include WM Borton Investments LLC, an investment Company for the Borton Family (of Borton Fruit), Count Maximilian Kolowrat-Krakowsky, of the noble Kolowrat family, and Ivan Seselj, founder of global success story, Promapp.
Borton Fruit has witnessed first-hand the value Hectre’s products deliver, having implemented the Hectre app to support their orchard management and fruit sizing processes across numerous fruit farms in Washington State.
“Hectre’s ability to create technology at this level, from a modest capital budget, really impressed us. The platform and tools they’ve built support fruit growers of all sizes, from small family farms, to large integrated global fruit institutions. At the farm and payroll level we know what we need today, but Hectre is building the tools and data sets that we hope to utilize on our farms tomorrow. This modernization, paired with amazing scalability, is a rare combination in the agritech space. We believe Hectre’s dedication to constant innovation provides a significant competitive advantage and aligns well with our own approach to business,” says Byron Borton, Chief Visionary Officer at Borton Fruit.
Hectre’s commitment to clever simplicity – creating meaningful technology with user simplicity at the forefront – is a strong point of difference in the agritech marketplace and has been a cornerstone to their global growth. “In an industry like horticulture, it’s not enough to just create awesome technology. You’ve got to have your eye firmly fixed on the end user, what their level of tech experience may be, what languages they use, and how they learn,” states Blomfield.
The capital raise will see Hectre expand its talent pool from a current team of 21, to 31, within the next six months and will further support their well recognised pace of innovation.
“The entirety of our development is undertaken inhouse, enabling us to carefully control and protect the quality and user simplicity of the products we offer to our customers. We’ll be adding further talent to our R&D team, assisting us to increase the speed of our innovation cycle, so we can deliver even more meaningful solutions to fruit growers and packers around the globe,” adds Blomfield.
For Seselj, who led Promapp, a NZ bred cloud-based business process management software company, from startup to eventual acquisition by software giant Nintex, it’s Hectre’s agritech roots that caught his interest. “I love that Hectre is yet another example of NZ innovators taking it to the world and revolutionising global horticultural practices. Hectre have created clever tech that challenges traditional growing approaches, improves grower yields, supports the success and sustainability of this extremely hard-working sector, and in these times of climate change, assists growers to mitigate the environmental impacts of their operations.”
The company’s technology solutions are now being used in 11 countries, including leading fruit producers, the US, Spain, and South Africa. In addition to R&D expansion, further capacity will be added to Hectre’s sales and marketing and customer success teams, as they respond to growing market demand.
The Prague-based Kolowrat family has a long history of investing in agriculture. The Kolowrat estate adopted Hectre in its orchards earlier this year, and Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky was so impressed by the product that he joined Hectre as an investor. “Mounting headwinds - greater yield variability due to climate change, rising operating costs, increasing global competition - are forcing growers and packers to maximize their operational efficiencies. Digital innovation will be the key to overcoming these challenges, and I’m incredibly excited to support Hectre in enabling that transformation.” Given Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky's extensive connections and expertise in European markets, the relationship will yield valuable insights as Hectre continues with its global expansion.
And as demand grows, so do the accolades, with Hectre recently announced as winners in the global AgTech Breakthrough Awards program. “This awards program recognizes the very best of new innovators and disruptors who are addressing the biggest challenges in the global agricultural ecosystem today,” noted Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AgTech Breakthrough. Other winners included Bayer, Semios and Benson Hill.
“Many of our existing shareholders have been with us on our journey since the outset. We would like to thank them wholeheartedly for their fantastic support and also wish to extend a warm Hectre welcome to our new shareholders, as they join us in our mission to support the success of fruit growers and packers around the globe,” adds Blomfield.
For more information, please contact: Kylie Hall Hectre Tel: +64 27419 8322 kylie@hectre.com / hectre.com
After making strong traction in the South Australian viticulture industry, Christchurch agritech scaleup Onside is now eyeing up an entry into the huge markets of California and Europe.
Onside’s digital check-in software was developed in 2016 to connect rural contractors and property managers to improve operations, communications, compliance and biosecurity, and to streamline the flow of information needed for visitor management, health and safety and biosecurity on farms, orchards, ag and horticultural facilities. Onside has now evolved into a comprehensive operations software for rural sectors globally.
Co-founder and CEO Ryan Higgs says a classic example of the type of challenge Onside can solve played out on a client’s orchard not long ago when bird control was taking place with a shotgun. Incoming staff and visitors needed to know about the danger amongst the trees ahead, and Onside was used to alert all affected parties.
Other use cases have included Hawke’s Bay winery Regional Field Technician Leigh Penman, who uses Onside to deliver uniform health and safety inductions for a busy rotation of contractors on the estate. Greystone Wines has also been using Onside, in their case employing the app to summarise risks and incidents and capture relevant information immediately when near-misses happen.
Over the ditch, Tasmania’s Redbank Farming has been using Onside to allow people to sign in anywhere on its vast properties – particularly handy for expansive farms which don’t have their office always manned, and especially relevant during a time of Covid spreading.
Patchy rural cellular networks are an obstacle Onside has learned to overcome, as the platform has been set up to operate seamlessly offline, store key information on the user’s device, and sync with the cloud when back in service.
Onside’s main vision, though, is to create a global rural network to revolutionise biosecurity because the data generated by the digital check-in app combines with network algorithms to enable entire industries to get ready for and respond to potentially catastrophic biosecurity incursions.
Onside can narrow down locations that have a high impact on spreading pests and diseases, so testing and monitoring can be taken care of proactively and so real-time responses to biosecurity predicaments can go ahead. This network science innovation won Onside a Bio-Protection Research Centre Science Award at the NZ Biosecurity Awards 2020.
The idea for Onside came from co-founders, Ryan Higgs, Juliet Maclean and Michael Falconer while they worked at Synlait Farms, a business Maclean co-founded.
Synlait had 13 farms, 13,000 cows and hundreds of people coming and going from the properties each day. “We couldn’t find a simple way to know who was on our properties, what they were there to do, how to get in touch with them and how to easily provide information about the property including hazards, so we decided to develop something that would work in the agri sector,” Higgs told NZ Entrepreneur.
The biosecurity technology has been built with US-based scientist Hautahi Kingi, who Higgs met in a very Kiwi way: while playing a game of touch rugby. This occurred while the pair were studying towards their Ph.D’s at Cornell University in New York. Kingi, whose day job is a research scientist at Facebook, continues to develop Onside’s algorithms in collaboration with Onside’s Christchurch-based R&D team.
Falconer and Maclean continue on Onside’s board of directors, alongside Neil Fletcher, CEO of Invert Robotics, plus revenue growth expert Fallon Savery, who has worked with Vend and Auror.
Today one of Onside’s most rewarding avenues of growth is the viticulture sector of South Australia – a strong result considering Onside only launched in Australia in July 2021.
After Australia, Onside will likely bring its solutions to the growing areas of inland California, from where billions of dollars of crops are produced – for example, the industry for almonds alone is worth $US6bn.
The problem Onside is solving has been validated by the recent KPMG agribusiness agenda which for the 11th year in a row, highlighted having a world-class biosecurity as the number one priority for industry leaders. “The global agricultural sector is as big as transport, it’s worth trillions, it’s massive,” Higgs says.
“There are billions of dollars of people’s livelihoods that need protecting, which is what we are inspired to do.”
Onside is finding itself warmly welcomed into the market for solving such problems, Higgs says. “We’ve been surprised how keen the Australians are to put tech into their viticulture businesses.”
Public and private supporters certainly see the merit in Onside’s business case. The company has received competitive grants from Callaghan Innovation and AgMARDT, recently raised $2.5m in investment capital, doubled its revenue in the past 12 months and now has over 12,000 properties in NZ, the UK and Australia ‘onside’ – with expansion into America and Europe the next markets after that.
Story created in partnership with NZ Growth Capital Partners.
Source: https://nzentrepreneur.co.nz/
Off the back of impressive growth and an extremely strong market position, Hectre, the New Zealand based orchard management and fruit sizing software company, has just completed a funding round which will see both its team and its product innovation capability expand significantly.
The NZD$3.5m pre-series A funding round was heavily oversubscribed, testament to the value investors are placing on the agritech startup.
“It’s a wonderful position to be in. To have that level of support and interest in what we’re achieving, our market position, and our future strategy, is both exciting and truly humbling,” says Hectre CEO and Co-founder Matty Blomfield.
On a mission to empower the planet’s growers with the world’s simplest orchard technologies and with a pre-money valuation of NZ$18.5m, Hectre’s existing investors took the opportunity to increase their share further during the raise, and a line up of new investors joined as Hectre gets set to scale up. New investors include WM Borton Investments LLC, an investment Company for the Borton Family (of Borton Fruit), Count Maximilian Kolowrat-Krakowsky, of the noble Kolowrat family, and Ivan Seselj, founder of global success story, Promapp. Borton Fruit has witnessed first-hand the value Hectre’s products deliver, having implemented the Hectre app to support their orchard management and fruit sizing processes across numerous fruit farms in Washington State. “Hectre’s ability to create technology at this level, from a modest capital budget, really impressed us. The platform and tools they’ve built support fruit growers of all sizes, from small family farms, to large integrated global fruit institutions. At the farm and payroll level we know what we need today, but Hectre is building the tools and data sets that we hope to utilize on our farms tomorrow. This modernization, paired with amazing scalability, is a rare combination in the agritech space. We believe Hectre’s dedication to constant innovation provides a significant competitive advantage and aligns well with our own approach to business,” says Byron Borton, Chief Visionary Officer at Borton Fruit. Hectre’s commitment to clever simplicity – creating meaningful technology with user simplicity at the forefront – is a strong point of difference in the agritech marketplace and has been a cornerstone to their global growth. “In an industry like horticulture, it’s not enough to just create awesome technology. You’ve got to have your eye firmly fixed on the end user, what their level of tech experience may be, what languages they use, and how they learn,” states Blomfield. The capital raise will see Hectre expand its talent pool from a current team of 21, to 31, within the next six months and will further support their well recognised pace of innovation.
“The entirety of our development is undertaken inhouse, enabling us to carefully control and protect the quality and user simplicity of the products we offer to our customers. We’ll be adding further talent to our R&D team, assisting us to increase the speed of our innovation cycle, so we can deliver even more meaningful solutions to fruit growers and packers around the globe,” adds Blomfield. For Seselj, who led Promapp, a NZ bred cloud-based business process management software company, from startup to eventual acquisition by software giant Nintex, it’s Hectre’s agritech roots that caught his interest. “I love that Hectre is yet another example of NZ innovators taking it to the world and revolutionising global horticultural practices. Hectre have created clever tech that challenges traditional growing approaches, improves grower yields, supports the success and sustainability of this extremely hard-working sector, and in these times of climate change, assists growers to mitigate the environmental impacts of their operations.” The company’s technology solutions are now being used in 11 countries, including leading fruit producers, the US, Spain, and South Africa. In addition to R&D expansion, further capacity will be added to Hectre’s sales and marketing and customer success teams, as they respond to growing market demand. The Prague-based Kolowrat family has a long history of investing in agriculture. The Kolowrat estate adopted Hectre in its orchards earlier this year, and Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky was so impressed by the product that he joined Hectre as an investor. “Mounting headwinds - greater yield variability due to climate change, rising operating costs, increasing global competition - are forcing growers and packers to maximize their operational efficiencies. Digital innovation will be the key to overcoming these challenges, and I’m incredibly excited to support Hectre in enabling that transformation.” Given Count Kolowrat-Krakowsky's extensive connections and expertise in European markets, the relationship will yield valuable insights as Hectre continues with its global expansion. And as demand grows, so do the accolades, with Hectre recently announced as winners in the global AgTech Breakthrough Awards program. “This awards program recognizes the very best of new innovators and disruptors who are addressing the biggest challenges in the global agricultural ecosystem today,” noted Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AgTech Breakthrough. Other winners included Bayer, Semios and Benson Hill. “Many of our existing shareholders have been with us on our journey since the outset. We would like to thank them wholeheartedly for their fantastic support and also wish to extend a warm Hectre welcome to our new shareholders, as they join us in our mission to support the success of fruit growers and packers around the globe,” adds Blomfield.
www.hectre.com
IP-licensing company, Hammerforce, has signed a multi-million dollar exclusive global licencing agreement with a FTSE100 company that will lead to the design and delivery of a range of fully customised end-products that use Hammerforce’s ground-breaking valve technology.
Hammerforce CEO, Andy Coster, talking from the London office, said “Securing another multi-year partnership deal with a leading global company in a completely different industry is further proof that our novel valve technology is transforming the way many industrial sectors operate.
“Hammerforce’s patented valve system has novel features which allow improved designs in two distinct types of valve application. The first is in flow control valves where the unique balancing and compact size allow cost effective applications in situations where there are ‘difficult’ constraints in controlling the flow of gasses or liquids in industrial processes. The second type is pulse flow valves where the technology allows significant performance improvements over current options within a simple, durable design. The performance benefits and high efficiency of the pulse flow valve system allows it to be paired with a very high-pressure gas source such as compressed air enabling applications into piston and launcher applications, particularly those requiring remote or portable deployments.
“As well as performance advantages, Hammerforce’s valve solutions have inherent size and cost benefits, while the ‘green’ air-powered piston and launcher devices also have compelling ESG, sustainability, safety, and supply chain benefits that ‘dirty’ legacy power sources can’t match.
“We are currently working with companies across a diverse range of industries and we’re really excited to be partnering with this company to develop a range of fully customised end-products,” said Mr Coster. https://www.hammerforce.com/
Tauranga-based company’s natural pharmaceutical products to hit shelves in all 50 US states.
Kiwi natural pharmaceutical company, TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals (formerly HoneyLab), will see its products sold across all 50 states in the US as part of its licencing deal with Taro Pharmaceuticals. This deal is a key contributor to TRG’s 10-20 fold increase in sales this year.
Launched under the brand Bee RX, the range includes topical kānuka honey based cold sore, acne, and rosacea treatments. First launched online at Target, the first drop of product sold out within hours. Bee RX will also be sold in major pharmacy chains, in total representing more than 21,000 stores and giving TRG a strong foothold across every state in the US.
The brand is being fronted by Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actress and singer, Mandy Moore, well-known for the TV show ‘This is Us,’ and Erika Thompson of Texas Bee Works is the Bee RX ambassador.
TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals CEO, Anthony Lawler, says seeing stock on international shelves is a huge achievement for the business.
“Seeing our products on shelves in the US has been a key milestone for TRG. To see Bee RX selling out within hours of going on sale has surpassed our expectations.”
Mr Lawler says the business has navigated the unique challenges of a global pandemic on supply chain management, and business development.
“We have faced our fair share of Covid-19 induced setbacks. Not only have supply chain issues impacted our manufacturing capacity and product distribution timelines, but closing deals and building important relationships with distributors such as Taro can be difficult when you can’t meet face-to-face.”
With international travel off the cards for the last 18 months, founder Dr Shaun Holt is travelling to the US in August for two months to support TRG’s rapid expansion into the market. He will also visit Europe until year end to open the door into these territories.
A medical doctor and natural health expert, Dr Holt recently featured on Netflix’s documentary (Un)Well, bringing much international attention as well as praise for his innovation in the health and wellbeing retail space. He was also a finalist in the 2019 EY New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
“While we have built strong relationships with licensing partners virtually, video calls can only get you so far. It’s vital for us to continue building relationships and meeting potential new licensing partners face-to-face,” Dr Holt says.
“TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals has ambitious plans to continue expanding globally, and I look forward to showcasing our scientifically-proven New Zealand natural healthcare products in person.”
HoneyLab has changed its name to TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals, having greatly evolved in the past decade. Starting out as HoneyLab and specialising in pharmaceutical-grade, clinically proven honey-based healthcare products, the company is currently best known for its cold sore product, Honevo.
While honey is still important for TRG, the company is now developing other natural ingredients to create clinically proven natural healthcare products.
“The name TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals comes from the airport city code for Tauranga where the company was founded. We needed a name that better aligns to our future plans.”
“The name change represents a need to convey how the company has expanded and to better reflect the pipeline of products currently in development. We look forward to sharing these in due course, Dr Holt concludes.
TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals (formerly HoneyLab) is a New Zealand pharmaceutical company developing health products from natural sources. The company has undertaken the world’s largest programme of medical honey research. Their patented topical honey formulation, Honevo, is proven in the treatment of cold sores, rosacea and acne, with clinical results published in the acclaimed British Medical Journal Open.
The licence agreement with Taro Pharmaceuticals, TRG Natural Pharmaceuticals’ first large-scale deal, covers the territories of USA, Canada and Israel and covers eight products: the topical kānuka honey range Honevo, the bee venom-based cosmetic range Kanu, and Rubeeven, a natural topical treatment for joint and muscle pain.
GMSV has revealed that Australia and New Zealand will be amongst right-hand drive markets which will receive the all-new 2023 Model Year Corvette Z06.
“It was announced this morning that the Corvette Z06 will be manufactured in both left and right-hand drive and we’re incredibly excited to confirm GMSV in Australia and New Zealand will be part of the global programme,” said Joanne Stogiannis, Director of GMSV.
“News that the C8 was available as right-hand drive was reason enough to make Corvette enthusiasts cheer, but this latest update is absolutely phenomenal.”
The 2023 MY Corvette Z06 will be manufactured at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant and left-hand drive production will commence in the North American summer of 2022, with right-hand drive production to start some months later.
The 2023 MY Corvette Z06 debuts an all-new naturally aspirated LT6 5.5L DOHC V-8 engine and features an all-new flat-plane crankshaft design which allows the engine to rev to 8,600 rpm.
The LT6 is hand assembled by master engine builders at the Performance Build Center within the Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky. Builders use precision tooling and hand fit pieces of the engine to meet Chevrolet’s exact specifications. Each engine features a plaque on the intake manifold with the signature of the technician who crafted it from start to finish.
Performance credentials of the Z06 build on the already impressive foundation laid by Stingray. For example, the Z06 delivers greater braking capability, with larger 14.6-inch-diameter (370 mm) front and 15-inch-diameter (380 mm) rear Brembo® rotors, compared with the Stingray. The Z06 also features 6-piston front calipers compared to 4-piston calipers on Stingray.
Additional highlights of the 2023 Corvette Z06 include:
"Details such as price, anticipated arrival timing and number of vehicles allocated to our market will be revealed next year,” said Ms Stogiannis.
“In the meantime, we’re looking forward to the first C8 customer cars shipping from Bowling Green to Australia and New Zealand in coming weeks and can’t wait to deliver these to their new owners.
“It is an incredibly exciting time to be a Corvette fan!”
Canned wine exporter Joiy Wines has launched a multimillion-dollar expansion into North America, after turning the head of supermarket chain Whole Foods.
The Wairarapa winemaker said it was approached by the US$16bn retail chain after a win in a major canned wine competition.
It was now launching into the retailer and expected to double its current production of 700,000 cans for five export markets this year. Long-term plans would see it increase production volumes to more than seven million units per annum.
Joiy Wines co-founder Cath Hopkin said the company’s focus from the outset has been taking premium wines into small format packaging.
“Originally we could see that the spirit and beer categories were thriving in small format and yet wine was nowhere to be found. If we ever made a 375ml bottle it was a lower volume run for a hotel group or airline. We then saw an opportunity to specialise in this category and moved our entire product range into cans.
“The domestic and export demand is now there, and we are seeing small format wines resonate strongly with millennials as well as our core target demographic aged 35+ who are choosing these products for a range of convenience and health reasons – such as portion control, lower alcohol, sugar and calories.”
The international market for canned wines was growing at a rate of 13% per annum and was projected to reach over $807m by 2028. This compares with the bottled wine category, which remained stagnant with a growth rate of 4%.
Joiy Wines exported to five markets and has found success in government-run monopoly markets like Canada and more recently Norway, where it could compete on a level playing field against much larger suppliers.
Hopkin said that in addition to providing a vessel that connects with consumers from a design perspective, development of canned wines has allowed the company to address a number of shortcomings of the bottled wine format – including the challenges around heavier shipping weight and fragility of glass.
“The technology we use has now advanced to the point that the lining of can protects the premium wine better than glass, preventing light strike and allowing us to produce a product that is shelf stable for four years – a significant competitive advantage for us on the international market.”
Co-founder and winemaker Chris Archer said that when the duo first brought forward the idea of producing canned wine, they were initially met with a lot of resistance from the local wine industry.
“When we first set out to develop a market for canned wine it was at a time when the industry had not been telling a compelling story which was able to connect with the next generation of consumers and was losing share to competing products like RTDs,” he said.
“Today there is much greater recognition that the level of innovation we are introducing is the way forward for New Zealand wine and are now spending a lot of time on the speaking circuit as a case study.”
Archer said the successful entry into the US market would put pressure on an already limited local grape supply, with projections suggesting their production volumes could increase tenfold overnight.
Joiy Wines latest innovation was a range of wine seltzers, as well as its Mimosa canned wine cocktail, which has already secured a listing with the world’s largest liquor buyer LCBO in Canada.
Source: https://www.foodticker.co.nz/
ATLANTA, GA – September 20, 2021 – Xplor Technologies, LLC (the “Company”) today announced that it has submitted a draft registration statement on a confidential basis to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) relating to its proposed initial public offering of common stock. The Company intends to commence the public offering following completion of the SEC review process, subject to market and other conditions.
This announcement is being made pursuant to and in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). As required by Rule 135, this press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act.
About Xplor Technologies
Xplor Technologies is a global platform integrating software, payments and Commerce Accelerating Technologies. Xplor provides enterprise software solutions for businesses in ‘everyday life’ industries: Childcare & Education, Fitness & Wellbeing, Field Services and Personal Services – and a global, cloud-based payment processing platform.
To learn more visit: https://www.xplortechnologies.com/
New Zealand Trade Commissioner, Los Angeles, Haylon Smith, and supermodel and actress, Rachel Hunter, recently joined T&G Global in Los Angeles to celebrate the Envy™ apple brand’s outstanding success in the North American market.
Over the past year, more than 2.1 million cartons of Envy™ apples were sold in the U.S. The in-demand premium apple brand has skyrocketed to the top of the sales charts for a branded apple, earning 18.3% dollar sales growth and 18.0% volume growth (Source: Nielsen, Total U.S., Apple Category, L 52 weeks ending September 11, 2021).
In addition, the apple was recognized as “Best in Produce” by Kitchn in its 2021 “Kitchn Essentials: Grocery Edition,” an annual selection of the must-have grocery items hand-picked by Kitchn editors.
First launched in North American produce departments in 2010, after years of extensive evaluation by New Zealand researchers and apple growers to ensure the variety meets and exceeds consumer expectations, Envy™ is an apple renowned for its beautifully balanced flavor, uplifting aroma, crisp texture, and slices that stay white for longer. These are qualities prized by consumers around the globe, including in the U.S., with T&G Global’s recent U.S. shopper study finding Envy™ outperformed popular branded and mainstream apple varieties in frequency of shopping trips, spend per trip, buy rate and average basket size.
Today, Envy™ apples are grown in 15 countries, each carefully selected for its prime growing regions to produce Envy™ apples at the quality international consumers now expect from the brand. In the U.S., Envy™ apples are grown only in Washington state’s pristine apple growing regions.
New Zealand’s Trade Commissioner in Los Angeles, Haylon Smith says “It’s great to see Envy™ supported by its hard working and dedicated apple growing community and its strong supply chain, succeeding in the U.S. market. The U.S. is crowded and competitive, so here at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise we work alongside Kiwi brands to help them grow and succeed. Envy™ has really captured and shared its New Zealand origin story and commitment to harnessing innovation and high quality as part of its premium positioning.”
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), which proactively supports the international growth and success of New Zealand products, has supported Envy™ apples in the U.S. with its “Made with Care” campaign, a global marketing initiative designed to grow awareness, preference and demand for New Zealand food and beverage products around the world.
Another proud New Zealand “export,” internationally acclaimed supermodel, actress and television host Rachel Hunter, has partnered with T&G Global to raise awareness of Envy™ apples. Rachel commented, “Coming from New Zealand, I’ve always had an appreciation for the care and dedication that our growers put into their produce. Almost every industry has faced unique COVID-19 related challenges over the last year and a half, and our community of growers have shown true New Zealand spirit in overcoming these challenges. It was great to meet with Trade Commissioner, Haylon Smith, to celebrate the 2021 season of Envy™ apples grown back home, and the continued success of these beautiful apples which are also grown here in the United States. I have long been a fan of Envy™ apples and it’s wonderful to see delicious Envy™ apples in stores worldwide.”
T&G Global’s Head of Marketing for North America, Cecilia Flores Paez was honored to accept recognition from these well-respected New Zealand representatives. “It is a joy to be a part of this beloved brand that exists today thanks to incredible dedication to innovation and commitment. New Zealand’s apple industry brought a beautiful piece of fruit to the world, truly providing the ultimate apple experience,” she said. “Envy™ continues to earn its success with every single bite, and we are introducing it to more and more consumers now that it is sold in nearly all major supermarkets in North America.”
Envy™ is marketed by CMI Orchards, Rainier Fruit Co. and Oppy. Visit envyapple.com
Source: https://www.thepacker.com/
Nelson snack food startup Little Beauties is scaling up and chasing export growth following a $2.5m capital raise earlier this year with the US the latest country in its sights.
While retail sales are the ultimate goal, Little Beauties has gained a foothold in America via New York-based e-commerce platform SnackMagic, which was launched in 2020 to deliver customised snackboxes to American office staff now working from home.
“It’s been more challenging getting into the US bricks and mortar space, however, we have been able to make some good progress with our online sales,” chief executive Rob Simcic told the Ticker.
“The appetite for risk and the sheer capacity for buyers to make time for a conversation has been reduced because there has been enormous staffing pressures in the US [due to Covid-19].”
The US is the third export market after Australia and Japan for the three-year-old company, which was founded by the Wastney family to turn third-grade fruit from their family orchard into what is now a six-product range of high-value dried fruit products.
Simcic came on as chief executive in 2019 from ANZ Bank as a food and beverage specialist. Tasked with scaling up the business and taking it on its export journey, Simcic led the Series A funding round via his network of investors earlier this year. He is also a shareholder.
“There’s been significant investment in people, a capital component in terms of our [capital expenditure], and a significant investment in building our path to market now through sales and marketing,” he said.
“When you’re growing at 100% or more and you’ve got designs on long-term export growth you’ve really got to resource that and I don’t think you can ever resource that enough.”
Now, it was about executing those plans with Simcic wanting to grow export revenue from the current 40% to 80% over the next five years. It forecast total revenue growing from less than $2m annually now to $10m within the next 3-5 years.
Australian sales – around 25% of revenue – were currently all direct through Little Beauties website but Simcic said there were some “pretty promising” negotiations underway with retail buyers and distributors on the ground.
The company also had a foot in the door in Japan, with its gold kiwifruit and boysenberry products stocked in around a dozen boutique organic foods stores around Osaka and also sold online through Japanese importer Koru Japan.
“We’re broadening our reach in Japan with some listings through three online platforms. We’re in conversations with a partner who’s looking to get us stocked on platforms Rakuten, Amazon Japan and Yahoo! as well.”
As for new markets, Simcic said he was “aiming to replicate our direct-to-consumer model in other offshore markets – that’s up the top of our list of priorities.”
The company currently processed around 150-180 tonnes of fruit at its Nelson factory annually and had expanded its team from 10 employees to between 15-20 in the past year, depending on the season.
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