Icehouse Hits Capacity With Early Stage Businesses

Media Release: 2 February 2004
ICEHOUSE HITS CAPACITY WITH FAST-GROWING EARLY STAGE BUSINESSES

Five new companies have joined The ICEHOUSE, bringing the total to 16 early stage businesses in the incubation phase at the University of Auckland's Business School's business accelerator.

This now brings The ICEHOUSE to capacity, but additional space will become available as some maturing companies graduate out of the incubator over the next few months.

All of the new intake of residents are ITC businesses, ranging from financial services IT solutions to web-based property database systems.

One of the new companies is one year old Zebkey, which has developed software to manage corporate email signatures and automatically update contact details.

Zebkey Director Maurice Dubey says that whilst the company has product sales, the mentoring and global reach of The ICEHOUSE and its strategic alliances will help the company take the step from local to global.

Neil MacIntyre of func.nutrition, a recent graduate from The ICEHOUSE and responsible for the runaway success of SunLatte milk, rates the ability to access expertise and mentors of the quality of (ICEHOUSE chairman) David Irving are big plusses for ICEHOUSE residents. He also says the allied workshops and advice around capital raising issues proved helpful in growing the business.

ICEHOUSE resident companies are expected to remain in the incubator for 12 - 18 months; MacIntyre points out that developing a sustainable business takes much longer but the initial growth surge is valuable.

ICEHOUSE CEO Andy Hamilton says the growth of the organisation's business programmes, including the recently-launched 321 GoGlobal confirmed that companies not only need nurturing, but also have an urgent need for help in looking beyond the early stages and developing solid global growth strategies.

-ends

New residents:

Open Eye Displays: develops digital signage networks and content for dynamic point-of sale advertising

Zebkey: manages corporate email signatures and automatically distributes updated contact information whenever you change your details

SprayControl: winner of Spark competition, develops integrated weather monitoring solutions to reduce expenditure and legal-exposure relating to aerial spraying

Stop Thief: a web-based property register to aid in the recovery of stolen property

Fido: a provider of financial information and business analysis tools for independent financial advisors in the insurance industry

About the ICEHOUSE

The ICEHOUSE (The International Centre for Entrepreneurship) was established in 2001 by the University of Auckland Business School, alongside BNZ, Boston Consulting Group, Carter Holt Harvey, Telecom, Chapman Tripp, Deloitte, HP & Microsoft. A Business Accelerator, its sole focus is growing Kiwi companies into successful international companies.

© Scoop Media