Agritech Industry Convenes for the Launch of the Technology Investment Network Agritech Report
Hectre featured as one of the exciting up-and-coming agritech companies during the recent TIN 2022 Agritech Insights Report launch held at the Waikato Innovation Park in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Technology Investment Network’s (TIN) Managing Director Greg Shanahan noted that the TIN Agritech Insights Report celebrates the hard-won success and growth of this dynamic technology sector that plays to all the strengths of New Zealand’s historical reliance on farmers, horticulturalists, aquaculturists, and apiarists.
The report is a quantitative study of New Zealand’s leading agritech export businesses, including analysis of NZ company revenues, market sectors, regional growth, ownership structures, R&D, economic impacts, detailed company profiles, and more. The report is used widely as a reference by business leaders, government, researchers, and investors.
AgriTech NZ Chief Executive Brendon O’Connell commented that the sector now has revenues of $1.6 billion.
AgTech professionals, media and investors from across the industry attended the launch event, which included a panel discussion with a lively Q&A session.
Hectre’s Lead Storyteller Kylie Hall was selected as a panellist, and was joined by Michael Sievwright from Trimax Mowing Systems, Geoff Bates from Pastoral Robotics, Blair Harrison from ASX (Australian Securities Exchange), and Kahl Betham from Gallagher.
Panel discussions and Q&A included:
- The importance of building life-long customer relationships based on integrity
- New Zealand’s reputation for pragmatism—or as Kylie described it: “Getting stuff done.”
- The pathways for raising capital
- Diversity in the industry
- Talent supply
- Connectivity: How New Zealand’s relatively small size can be an advantage.
When discussing diversity in the industry, Kylie talked about the benefits of diversity, Hectre’s joy of having 14+ nationalities on their team and how more needs to be done to encourage Māori and females into the sector.
Caption: Hectre’s Kylie Hall reminds the audience about how innovative NZ’s fruit growers are, and how tech that is developed in NZ such as Hectre’s computer vision AI solution Spectre, can be scaled in large offshore markets, benefiting both the global and NZ fruit industries.
In response to questions regarding raising capital, Kylie noted that it was essential to take a considered approach with investors, to assess the broader benefits of each investor such as access to networks, business experiences, mentor opportunities, and how important it was to look beyond the funding offer.
Prior to the panel discussion, key insights of the 2022 report were outlined, such as:
- Domestic labor shortages have seen AgriTech companies look to automation and data integration to improve productivity and drive growth.
- AgriTech firms received a sharp spike in investment in 2021 as the global economy started to recover from the impact of COvid-19.
Key statistics (taken from the TIN NZ Agritech Insights Report 2022, and based on 2021 TIN Report data) from the report included:
- New Zealand’s total Agritech exports: $814.9.m (51.1% of total revenue)
- Export growth: $49.0m (up 6.4% on 2020)
- North America is the largest export market for NZ Agritech (19.6% of total export revenue)
- Investment in R&D: $115.6.m (up 6.5% on 2020)
To download a copy of the TIN NZ Agritech Insights Report 2022, click here. The report is currently free ($0.00) but you will be asked to submit your details.
