TechMates

Stefan Powell scaled a New Zealand space company to eight-figure revenue — quietly dominating 82% of a satellite propulsion market, flying a space plane 64 times, and closing a $25M Series B — all before most of the world even knew Dawn Aerospace existed.
In this episode of TechMates, Hendrik and Mark sit back down with Stefan Powell, CEO and co-founder of Dawn Aerospace — and this time, the conversation hits different. NZVC has officially joined Dawn's $25M Series B as investors, making this more than just a podcast catch-up: it's a front-row seat into a company they now have skin in the game on. Dawn builds both the propulsion systems powering hundreds of satellites in orbit and Aurora, a space plane already breaking aircraft performance records — and after a year of massive momentum, there's a lot to unpack.
Dawn has grown to over 200 propulsion systems on 50 satellites, with 52 of 63 nitrous bipropellant systems in orbit belonging to Dawn. The next unlock: in-space refueling by 2028, with defense customers already lined up. Stefan explains why refuelable satellites are becoming a non-negotiable strategic capability — and how Dawn's bottom-up approach was the only credible path to getting there.
Most striking is the business underneath the rockets. Dawn hit cash flow positive before its Series B — generating more real revenue than VC funding across its entire life. Too much capital keeps companies on bad ideas for too long, Stefan argues, pointing to Relativity Space as a cautionary tale.
🛰️ In-Space Refueling by 2028: How Dawn solved the chicken-and-egg problem every other refueling startup got wrong.
✈️ Aurora Space Plane: 64 flights in, already the highest-flying and fastest aircraft ever built off a runway — at $50K per flight.💰 More Revenue Than VC Ever Raised: How Dawn reached cash flow positive before its Series B and why Stefan wants to keep it that way.
🌍 Europe's $35B Space Awakening: Why NATO allies are urgently building sovereign space capabilities — and Dawn is already supplying them.
🚀 SpaceX IPO: What the largest IPO in history means for the rest of the space industry and how it affects Dawn's trajectory.
Stefan Powell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spowell111/
Dawn Aerospace Website: https://www.dawn.aero
https://www.nzvc.co.nz
Mark Pavlyukovskyy — https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/
Hendrik Remigereau — https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/
Timestamps:
00:00 — Building Dawn while the world wasn't watching: the update from a year later
04:11 — Aurora finds product-market fit it never set out to find
04:46 — The $25M Series B: what it unlocks and why now
05:11 — 52 of 63 nitrous systems in orbit are Dawn's — market domination explained08:11 — In-space refueling: targeting 2028 and why defense is the first customer
10:19 — The satellite arms race: bodyguard satellites, adversary maneuvers & deterrence
11:04 — Solving the chicken-and-egg problem of refueling infrastructure
14:56 — Why other thruster companies never made it to propulsion systems
17:49 — Aurora's 64 flights and the upgrade to 100km altitude
21:45 — "Rocket performance, fleet economics" — why that changes everything
22:26 — How Aurora replaces a $10M missile test with a $50K flight
25:45 — DARTY mission: helping the New Zealand Navy train for missile warfare
28:45 — Aurora vs. hypersonic threats and the limits of missile defense
30:05 — The Oklahoma Spaceport deal and 100 flights a year from Infinity One
32:09 — SpaceX IPO: what the largest IPO in history means for the space industry
33:34 — What SpaceX gets wrong (and the XAI merger debate)
36:56 — Why Europe is spending $35B on space — and why Starlink dependency is a risk
40:18 — Will Dawn ever be bigger than SpaceX? Stefan's honest answer
41:30 — Elon, Peter Beck, and what great space CEOs have in common
42:45 — More customer revenue than VC raised: why Stefan wants to keep it that way

What do you do when a foreign missile cruiser does a "hot lap" around your country? You build the manufacturing tech and deploy the VC capital needed to turn your nation into an unattackable "porcupine."
In this episode of TechMates, we dive deep into the sobering reality of national security and the tech revolution rushing to protect our future. We sit down with three heavyweights tackling defense from completely different angles: Vu Tran (Co-founder of Black Sky Industries), David Moodie (Founder of Foundry Lab), and James Pinner (Chief Investment Officer of NZGCP).
This conversation peels back the curtain on why peaceful nations must urgently wake up. Vu Tran reveals the terrifying reality of a foreign missile cruiser circling Australia and why the "porcupine strategy" is the ultimate deterrent. David Moodie breaks down how America lost its manufacturing teeth and how his microwave-casting technology is bringing sovereign capability back home to deter global conflict. Finally, James Pinner addresses how massive government-backed VC funds are adapting their strict policies to support dual-use and defense technologies in a chaotic new world order. If you want to know where the future of global security and deep tech is heading, this is a must-listen.
🦔 The Porcupine Strategy: Why deterrence—not offense—is the key to surviving the next era of geopolitical tension.
🚢 A Wake-Up Call: Vu details the chilling moment a foreign missile cruiser carried more guided weapons off the coast than the entire local army possessed.
🏭 Rebuilding the War Machine: How David's tech is solving the critical skill shortage in Western manufacturing to ensure sovereign capability.
💥 Drones vs. Goliaths: James discusses how cheap, disruptive technology is wiping out multi-million dollar military assets.
💸 Shifting VC Mandates: Why government funds and institutional investors are rapidly rewriting their rules to back dual-use defense startups.
🔥Microwave Metal: The wild origin story of a founder building a massive defense-applicable tech company starting with a household microwave.
Connect with the Guests:
Vu Tran (Black Sky Industries): https://www.linkedin.com/in/vutranau/
David Moodie (Foundry Lab): https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-moodie-b7b92ab/
James Pinner (NZGCP): https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pinner/
🔗Learn more about NZVC:
Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz
Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/
Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:43 - Vu Tran: The "Porcupine Strategy" and national defense
01:47 - The terrifying reality of the "hot lap" missile cruiser
05:11 - David Moodie: The decline of Western sovereign manufacturing
06:17 - How casting metal in a microwave is acting as a global deterrent
11:40 - James Pinner: How cheap tech is disrupting global warfare
12:22 - Why massive VC funds are shifting policies to support dual-use tech
If you enjoyed this inside look at the future of national security and deep tech, hit the Like button, drop a Comment letting us know your thoughts on the new era of defense tech, and Subscribe to TechMates for more masterclasses with world-class founders!
#defenseforce, #startups, #DeepTech, #NationalSecurity, #manufacturing, #NewZealand, #Australia, #entrepreneurship, #FoundryLab, #BlackSkyIndustries, #VC, #venturecapital, #geopolitics, #innovation, #SaaS, #techpodcast, #TechMates, #NZVC, #drones, #deterrence

She left a comfortable corporate career to build a Sensory AI startup that listens to pigs—and just secured a major global distribution deal.
In this episode of TechMates, we sit down with Saba Samiei, the visionary founder and CEO of MACSO. Named after MACS0647-JD, the furthest known galaxy, MACSO was built on a "how, not if" culture that forces the team to think outside the Milky Way. Saba shares her incredible personal journey: escaping the aftermath of war in Iran, immigrating to India as a teenager, and eventually arriving in New Zealand at 22 with the sheer determination to succeed. After climbing the corporate ladder at tech giants like IBM, Westpac, and Microsoft, she took the ultimate leap to build a deep tech startup from scratch.
While the tech industry pours billions into Large Language Models (LLMs) to automate human productivity, Saba is taking a radically different approach. She argues that current AI only replicates the logical frontal lobe, completely ignoring the sensory systems that keep us alive in the physical world. Enter MACSO’s "Physical AI": an edge-AI platform that uses audio sensors to detect respiratory illnesses in swine up to six days earlier than a trained human. By catching outbreaks at "patient zero," MACSO is saving livestock, slashing costs for farmers, and drastically reducing the global consumption of antibiotics. Saba also drops bold truths on the dangers of AGI, why she believes the LLM bubble will burst, and the cognitive risks of outsourcing our brains to machines.
🌌 Thinking Beyond the Milky Way: Why naming her startup after the furthest known galaxy drives their ambitious engineering culture.
🇮🇷 From Iran to NZ: Escaping an unfair regime, finding her footing as an immigrant, and making New Zealand her home.
🧠 The Shrinking Hippocampus: A stark warning on why outsourcing mental tasks to AI could lead to the cognitive equivalent of the industrial revolution.
🐷 Sensory Edge AI: Using audio sensors to listen to pigs and detect respiratory illnesses before a farm-wide outbreak.
💊 Reducing Global Antibiotic Use: How MACSO’s tech catches "patient zero," allowing farmers to medicate smaller groups and lower antibiotic reliance.
💥 The LLM Bubble: Why the AI industry's hyper-focus on text and human productivity is ignoring the massive potential of physical, environmental AI.
Connect with the Guest:
MACSO Website: https://www.macso.ai
Saba Samiei’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabasamiei/
Links to NZVC & Hosts:
🔗 Learn more about NZVC:
Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz
Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/
Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/
00:00 - Naming a startup after the furthest galaxy in the universe.
02:03 - Immigrating from Iran to India, and arriving in NZ at 22.
10:32 - Stephen Hawking, astrophysics, and the core of her AI ethics thesis.
21:27 - Why humans went from fearing the Terminator to embracing ChatGPT.
29:51 - The cognitive danger of AI: Is Google Maps shrinking our brains?
32:41 - Leaving Microsoft to build a Deep Tech AI startup.
43:40 - Major News: MACSO's massive distribution deal with Virbac.
46:29 - Sensory AI: How listening to pigs saves livestock and reduces antibiotics.
57:29 - The mental toll of being a founder and learning to trust yourself.
01:07:57 - Her real thoughts on AGI, P-Doom, and the LLM bubble bursting.
If you enjoyed this masterclass on deep tech, Sensory AI, and the ethical future of humanity, please hit the Like button, Comment with your thoughts on the LLM bubble, and Subscribe to TechMates for more high-impact conversations with world-class founders!
#startups, #artificialintelligence, #deeptech, #NewZealand, #founderjourney, #SensoryAI, #AgTech, #EdgeAI, #MACSO, #AIethics, #machinelearning, #entrepreneurship, #womenintech, #techpodcast, #NZVC, #TechMates, #innovation, #SaaS, #AIsensors, #futureofAI

He built a bank-grade fintech platform while his twin daughters were napping, bootstrapped it for seven years through 677 investor rejections, and is now rewiring the entire financial system.
In this episode of TechMates, we sit down with Dermot Butterfield, the Founder and CEO of Wych, the startup building the essential "pipes" for Open Banking in Australia and New Zealand. Dermot’s founder journey is the definition of grit. While acting as a stay-at-home dad, he coded the first iteration of Wych during his twin daughters' nap times. Testing it on his own finances, he immediately found $1,200 in hidden savings—a "fk it" moment that led him to empty his savings, work three jobs simultaneously, and endure 677 investor rejections to bootstrap his company over seven grueling years.
Dermot pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion-dollar Open Banking revolution that is finally wrestling data ownership away from legacy banks and handing it back to consumers. He breaks down the terrifying rise of AI-forged bank statements, the death of sketchy "screen scraping" (never give an app your bank password again!), and how Wych became the smallest accredited financial entity in Australia by automating everything. If you've ever wondered why big banks are so slow to innovate or what it really takes to survive enterprise sales, this is a masterclass in resilience and deep-tech execution.
👨‍👧‍👧 The Ultimate Bootstrap: Building a high-compliance fintech startup while raising twins and working 6 AM to 4 AM.
🔓 Open Banking 101: Why your financial data belongs to you, and how API "pipes" are killing the dangerous practice of screen scraping.
🏦 The Legacy Bank Trap: Why traditional "vault mentality" banks struggle to innovate, and how Wych helps them safely partner with nimble startups.
🤖 AI Document Fraud: How ChatGPT is being used to forge mortgage bank statements—and why Open Banking is the only secure solution.
💰 Surviving 677 "No's": The brutal reality of raising capital in New Zealand when your company size doesn't fit standard VC checkbooks.
Connect with the Guest:
Wych Website: https://www.wych.io/
Dermot Butterfield’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermotbutterfield/
Links to NZVC & Hosts:
🔗 Learn more about NZVC:
Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz
Mark Pavlyukovskyy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/
Hendrik Remigereau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction & Building Wych while the twins napped
04:11 - The "fk it" moment: Finding $1,200 in hidden subscriptions
08:06 - Open Banking Explained: Why your financial data is finally yours
12:06 - Wych’s role: The invisible pipes connecting banks to fintech apps
13:18 - Why big banks have a "vault mentality" and struggle to innovate
22:05 - Combating AI document fraud and forged bank statements
26:22 - Dermot’s origin story: Intel, global travel, and moving to NZ
33:23 - Becoming the smallest accredited bank-grade entity in Australia
35:33 - Bootstrapping for 7 years & facing 677 investor rejections
40:25 - The brutal personal cost of founding: "Startup body" and burnout
44:11 - "Don't quit on a bad day" & the power of founder resilience
57:05 - AI Data Privacy: Why Wych is a "pipe, not a reservoir"
1:00:54 - Imposter syndrome and making the transition from coder to CEO
If you loved this raw look into the grueling reality of bootstrapping and the future of open finance, hit the Like button, drop a Comment on what surprised you most, and Subscribe to TechMates for more masterclasses with world-class founders!
#startups, #fintech, #OpenBanking, #NewZealand, #bootstrapping, #venturecapital, #SaaS, #techpodcast, #DermotButterfield, #Wych, #founderjourney, #artificialintelligence, #banking, #cybersecurity, #dataownership, #TechMates, #NZVC, #entrepreneurship, #API, #innovation

She beat TikTok to #1 on the App Store with a $0 marketing budget—now this solo founder is using a consumer app as a "Trojan horse" to disrupt a multi-billion dollar legacy industry.🎧 Listen On:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gQnb_WbB
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4is21QI
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/42KZ2x1Steph went from pressing API buttons at 15 to building Bonnet, which hit #1 on the App Store and gained 30,000 users in seven days with zero marketing budget. When government data pricing increased 3000% in three months, she discovered something remarkable in the user data: businesses were hijacking her consumer app to manage entire fleets. What started as a parts catalog idea became New Zealand's fastest-growing vehicle compliance platform, with 60,000 vehicles and expansion into Australia.
This conversation reveals how childhood poverty drove entrepreneurial hunger, why nearly 50% of New Zealand cars drive illegally, and how making "billion-dollar decisions" means choosing international expansion over local optimization. Steph shares her contrarian take on technical co-founders, why AI is her secret weapon against legacy fleet software, and how she's building toward a global platform in 22 countries.
🔥 Poverty to Platform — How boning chickens at 8 and breeding pigeons built the work ethic behind a million-dollar business
🚗 Hidden Market Failure — Why half of New Zealand cars drive with expired warrants and how broken government systems create opportunity
📱 Accidental Viral Growth — From 700 downloads to 30,000 users in 7 days through one organic news story
💸 3000% Government Price Shock — When data costs jumped from 2 cents to 48 cents per query overnight
🏢 Consumer-to-B2B Pivot — How 100+ fleets demanding desktop features revealed the real business model
🤖 AI Competitive Moat — Deploying automation faster than 20-year-old legacy companies run by "big corporates, white old men"
Guest links:
Steph Kennard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephkennard/
Bonnet: https://bonnet.co.nz
NZVC links:Website: https://www.nzvc.co.nz
Mark Pavlyukovskyy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavlyukovskyy/
Hendrik Remigereau: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-remigereau-09a03067/
Chapters:
00:00 From Poverty to Platform
05:00 Uncle Dave's Automotive Empire
12:00 Corporate Learning at Fiat Chrysler
19:01 Viral Growth and App Store Success
25:00 Government Data Price Shock
30:48 B2B Pivot Discovery
35:00 Fleet Management Goldmine
41:26 AI Strategy Against Legacy Software
45:00 Global Expansion Vision
54:07 Billion Dollar Decision Framework
57:56 Co-Founder Advice and Rapid Fire
👍 Hit the Like button if you've ever turned personal frustration into a business opportunity, 💬 Comment with your favorite takeaway, 🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes
#TechMates #NZVC #StephKennard #Bonnet #VentureCapital #NewZealandTech #FleetManagement #VehicleCompliance #StartupPivot #B2BPivot #ProductMarketFit #AIStrategy #GlobalExpansion #Entrepreneurship #StartupStory #TechPodcast #VCPodcast #SaaS #Automotive