Auckland-based NZVC has launched a new NZ$50 million Fund II to invest in 50–60 early-stage startups across Australia and New Zealand.
The fund will invest from Pre-Seed to Series A stages, starting with small initial investments but keeping larger funds for follow-on rounds.
NZVC was founded in 2021 by Mark Pavlyukovskyy, who moved to New Zealand through the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. It is the country’s first operator-led venture fund.
Mark, originally from the US, is a serial entrepreneur who was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Princeton University and featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Before NZVC, he cofounded and sold Piper, an edtech company that raised US$15 million and sold 100,000 units in 70 countries.
NZVC’s investor network includes well-known global entrepreneurs such as Neuralink cofounder Max Hodak, Techstars and Foundry Group cofounder Brad Feld, and AngelList’s Naval Ravikant.
Fund II has already invested in Puralink, an Australian company that makes autonomous robots for pipe inspection, and two New Zealand startups — Foundry Lab, which offers on-demand metal casting for fast, local manufacturing, and Wych, an open-banking platform that helps automate data-driven financial services.
NZVC Fund I invested in 53 companies and ranks among the top 5% of APAC funds for its 2021 vintage.
“Our first fund was a successful experiment that we’re now doubling down on with Fund II,” Pavlyukovskyy said.
“We’re backing the next generation of ANZ founders building globally significant companies across AI, robotics, and sovereign technology. It’s a once-in-a-decade moment for this ecosystem.”
Working with him as general partner is Hendrik Remigereau, who has spent the last 10 years working in venture capital, technology, and strategy across Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
“The NZ and Australian ecosystem shows the same momentum as Berlin or Paris a decade ago — early successes, a growing tech mafia, and international investors starting to take notice. This is the best time to make a big impact,” Remigereau said.
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