Syos invades Oz. Auckland-founded ParkHelp (former home of one Jake Bezzant) buys a German firm. Palmerston North’s Frogparking is sold offshore.
Mount Maunganui-based drone maker Syos Aerospace will set up in Australia with its uncrewed vehicles technology, which it describes as “developed in New Zealand and United Kingdom, and proven in the Ukraine conflict”.
Syos also said it was bolstering its uncrewed surface vessels (USVs or drone boats) by adding smarts from a fellow Kiwi start-up, Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
Starboard takes surveillance data from various satellite systems then feeds it to authorities on both sides of the Tasman who use it to track illegal fishing, trans-national crime and biosecurity threats.
“We are looking to establish production in Australia to support the growing demand from the Australian market for sovereign-produced uncrewed vehicles.
“Our most mature systems are in the maritime domain and our interceptor drones - this is where we expect the most interest,” founder and chief executive Sam Vye says.
Vye - an English ex-pat who lives at the Mount - recently said that over the next year or so he will triple his firm’s local workforce, which focuses on research and product development, completing a production plant at Fareham in the UK.
The transtasman push doesn’t affect those plans, he says.
“Our intention with establishing in Australia is to work closely with the Australian government customers to develop equipment that meets their specific requirements, as we are already doing with the New Zealand and UK defence forces,” Vye told Tech Insider.
“Establishing relationships with the Australian defence forces to co-create products and making sales in Australia will help to grow our research and development and production facilities in both countries.
“Setting up our Australian business is a case of ‘and, and’ for the growth of our business and employment in Mt Maunganui not 'and or‘."
Indeed, Syos has just added to its local operation by acquiring Bay Dynamics, whose dozen staff make remotely-operated vehicles for undersea work in energy, power and other sectors.
And while the first funding recipients won’t be named until at least mid-2026, Syos was also one of the featured companies as Defence Minister Judith Collins announced a new Technology Accelerator programme for the NZDF, with an indicative investment of $100m to $300m.
Syos, founded in 2021, first drew mainstream attention in April this year when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s United Kingdom visit was used to announce Syos’ £30 million ($66m) drone deal with the UK Ministry of Defence, which is in turn aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia – with strong hints that more contracts will follow. Tech Insider understands the Royal Navy is a customer to watch.
New Zealand parking management firm ParkHelp has bought German firm Cleverciti - a specialist in “AI-powered parking guidance and enforcement technologies”.
ParkHelp chief executive Poojitha Preena declined to comment on the value of the deal between the two privately-held firms, but told Tech Insider that Cleverciti is “cashflow positive with revenue that will be approaching $10 million this year, with just under half recurring”.
Cleverciti’s systems are built on Nvidia’s Jetson machine learning platform, Preena said.
ParkHelp’s major investor is New Zealand’s largest venture capital fund, Movac, which holds a 72% stake, followed by JML Capital, the family office of former Morrison & Co chief investment officer and founding partner Lib Petanga (17%).
“We have also received investment from several individuals who have come to New Zealand via the AIP [Active Investor Plus] or ‘Golden Visa’ programme,” Preena said.
According to LinkedIn Insights, ParkHelp has 31 staff and Cleverciti 16. The Munich-based Cleverciti says it has an unnamed number of clients across Europe, the US and the Middle East.
ParkHelp (formerly Parking Sense) hit the spotlight in 2021 when details emerged of a falling out between its US and global CEO, wannabe National MP Jake Bezzant, who was with the company between 2014 and 2019 and founders Paul and Jo Collins.
Movac operating partner Ed Robinson was installed as chief executive on Bezzant’s departure. Preena took the reins in mid-2023.
Bezzant also quit Invisible Urban, a maker of “smart chargers as a service” for carparks, founded in NZ but based in the US, but rejoined the startup after the controversy died down.
In April, Bezzant was sued for alleged fraud after Georgia man John Stapleton lost US$50,000 after money intended for Invisible Urban shares allegedly went into accounts controlled by broker Gary Saitowitz, who was also sued.
Stapleton’s attorney, Eric Lang, told the Herald he had no reason to question the health of Invisible Urban’s business, which seemed robust (in April 2024, it got a positive write-up from Bloomberg). Lang’s key target was Saitowitz, Tech Insider understands.
Another carpark tech deal has seen Palmerston North’s Frogparking sold to US firm Towne Park.
Neither side would comment on financials around the deal, which was somewhere south of the threshold for Overseas Investment Office approval.
The 2024 TIN200 list of New Zealand’s largest tech exporters put the privately-held Frogparking at 176 with revenue of $9.8m.
Its customers include Auckland Airport, Wellington Airport, Sky Stadium, Palmerston North Council, various local bodies and shopping centres in Australia and the University of Southern California in the US.
Frogparking says it has 30 patented technologies for its car park sensors and dynamic billing software.
Towne Park took control on October 2, said Frogparking co-founder and chief executive Shareena Sandbrook would continue to lead the Palmerston North-based operation.
LinkedIn Insights puts Frogparking staff at 23. Its new owner, based in Philadelphia, has some 13,000 staff. Towne Park began in valet parking then expanded to carparking services for hospitals and hotels. More recently, its launched its T-Park app for managing car parks and charging.
Frogparking was founded in 2009 by Don Sandbrook (who made his had earlier hits with an electronic seed metering system and a portable flight tracking device for small aviators) and Shareena Sandbrook, his daughter. Both were shareholders at the time of the sale, along with former Fonterra director turned agtech and tech investor Malcolm Bailey.
Shareena Sandbrook said, “This partnership allows us to focus on what we do best – developing cutting-edge technology and advancing our IP – while leveraging Towne Park’s size, infrastructure, resources, and exceptional talent to accelerate the scale and impact of our solutions."
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.