Showcase · May 2026

What New Zealand clean tech looks like, at its best.

A working selection of ten New Zealand companies whose products solve real industrial problems, are commercially successful or on the way, and leave a positive impact on the planet.

10
Featured companies
US$2B
Largest NZ climate valuation
3
Continents of deployment
NZ$390m+
Raised in 2023 alone
Why New Zealand
01
The science pipeline works
Crown Research Institutes → university spin-outs → commercial companies. LanzaTech, Hot Lime Labs, OpenStar, HTS-110 — all trace directly to publicly funded NZ research. The CRI-to-spinout pathway is one of NZ's most consistent structural advantages.
02
Pastoral agriculture as a proving ground
Half of NZ's greenhouse gas emissions come from pastoral agriculture — the same challenge facing Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia. Solutions developed here (Ruminant BioTech, AgriZeroNZ, CH4 Global) have a market of hundreds of millions of cattle globally.
03
Renewable energy as a testbed
NZ runs on 85%+ renewable electricity, anchored by geothermal, hydro, and growing wind. That grid is a live proving environment for clean energy tech — and geothermal specifically enabled Geo40's mineral recovery and HTS-110's superconducting magnets.
04
The pay-it-forward network
LanzaTech's alumni founded Mint Innovation, seeded Outset Ventures, and trained the next generation of NZ deep-tech founders. Sean Simpson now chairs Outset. Will Barker built Mint. The "school" effect compounds — and Founders Fund's conviction in Halter is its clearest external validation.
Tier 1 · Four companies

Proven at scale

Substantial revenue, multinational deployment, hard-to-argue commercial traction. The companies an international investor can credibly point to today.

LanzaTech
Green Chemistry & Process Decarbonisation
Founded 2005, Auckland Now Skokie, Illinois Nasdaq: LNZA
Uses microbes to ferment waste industrial gases from steel mills, refineries and gasified biomass into ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel, and chemicals. Commercial plants running on three continents. Spun out LanzaJet in 2020 for sustainable aviation fuel focus.
Founded to: commercialise gas fermentation for ethanol. Climate impact is now the company's largest non-financial asset.
$1.8B
Enterprise value at listing
Khosla, K1W1, NZ Super
Key investors
BASF, ArcelorMittal, Brookfield
Commercial partners
Visit website ↗
Halter
Precision Farming & AgTech
Founded 2016, Auckland HQ Auckland + Boulder, CO Unicorn · Series E
Solar-powered GPS collars for cattle that replace physical fencing with audio and vibration cues. Deployed on over a million animals across NZ, Australia and the US — with 60,000+ miles of virtual fencing built in America in under two years.
Founded to: improve farm productivity. Rotational grazing benefits (soil carbon, reduced overgrazing) are real but rarely how the company sells.
US$2B
Series E valuation
US$220m
Series E raise
Founders Fund, Blackbird, DCVC
Lead investors
Visit website ↗
Mint Innovation
E-waste & Metal Recovery
Founded 2016, Auckland Plants in Sydney, Texas, UK Private · Series C
Proprietary microbes and hydrometallurgy to extract gold, copper and 40+ metals from e-waste — PCBs, smartphones, laptops, EV batteries. Low-energy, low-carbon, city-scale. Commercial biorefinery in Sydney since 2022. Texas plant commissioning 2025. UK consortium with Jaguar Land Rover secured NZ$17.9m UK government funding.
Founded to: recover high-value metals from waste at low cost and low energy. Increasingly positions on critical minerals sovereignty rather than climate.
NZ$102m+
Total raised
HP, Jaguar Land Rover
Commercial partners
3 countries
Commercial plants
Honest note: Mint has consistently chosen offshore over NZ for commercial plants — AU/UK regulations, grants, and feedstock volumes are more favourable. That's a policy story, not a Mint story.
Visit website ↗
Geo40
Advanced Materials for Clean Tech
Founded 2010, Taupō NZ domiciled Private · Commercial
Extracts silica, lithium, boron and other minerals from geothermal fluids — simultaneously solving a scaling problem for geothermal operators and creating low-carbon products. Northern Plant near Taupō processes 6,000 tonnes of geothermal fluid per day, recovering ~3,000 tonnes/year of high-quality silica. Phase two is direct lithium extraction applicable to the lithium-rich Salton Sea in California at 10× NZ concentrations.
Founded to: solve silica scaling in geothermal plants. Low-carbon mineral recovery and the lithium thesis came later.
~US$45m
Total raised
Lowest carbon on market
Silica EPD rating
Breakthrough Energy, Pacific Channel
Key investors
Visit website ↗
Tier 2 · Six companies

Building the future

World-class technology, credible proof points, still scaling. The companies an investor backs to be the next tier-one names in 5–10 years.

Aspiring Materials
Advanced Materials for Clean Tech
Founded 2019, Christchurch NZ domiciled Seed · Pilot operating
Digests olivine — an abundant common rock — in a closed-loop reaction producing: magnesium hydroxide for permanent CO₂ mineralisation, reactive silica replacing 15–30% of Portland cement, iron oxide for steel, and nickel-cobalt-manganese for EV batteries. Carbon-negative and waste-free. In Nov 2024 completed the world's first direct carbon mineralisation pilot at a live PepsiCo production line at Wiri, Auckland.
Founded to: achieve gigatonne-scale carbon removal via mineralisation.
XPRIZE finalist
Global recognition
Breakthrough Energy Fellows
Co-founders (2023/24)
Motion Capital, Outset
Investors
Visit website ↗
Neocrete
Advanced Materials for Clean Tech
Auckland NZ domiciled Seed · Outset incubation
A volcanic ash-based cement additive that replaces a portion of Portland cement in standard concrete mixes — delivering 30%+ carbon reduction with no loss of strength or workability. Concrete is responsible for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions; Neocrete's drop-in approach requires no changes to construction workflows or equipment, making adoption unusually low-friction for a deep decarbonisation play.
Founded to: reduce global emissions by decarbonising cement.
30%+
CO₂ reduction per pour
~8% of global emissions
Concrete's climate footprint
IceHouse, Wavemaker, NZGIF
Investors
Visit website ↗
OpenStar Technologies
Renewable Generation
Founded 2021, Wellington NZ domiciled Private · ~NZ$55m raised
A levitated dipole fusion reactor — suspending a half-tonne superconducting magnet in a vacuum, recreating Earth's magnetosphere. The approach was abandoned globally in 2011. Founded by Dr Ratu Mataira (Ngāti Kahungunu o Wairoa, Ngāti Porou), who recognised that new superconducting magnets made the design viable again. Achieved first plasma at 300,000°C in Nov 2024. Levitated a magnet inside a live plasma chamber in Feb 2026.
Founded to: commercialise clean fusion power.
NZ$35m
Govt loan (Feb 2026)
~80 staff
Team size
IceHouse, Outset, GreenMount
Key investors
Visit website ↗
Ruminant BioTech
Livestock Emissions & Animal Health
Founded ~2020, Auckland NZ + Calgary base Private · NZ$132m valuation
A slow-release rumen bolus delivering bromoform over 100+ days from a single dose. Designed specifically for pasture-based grazing — the dominant model in NZ, Australia, Ireland, Brazil — where feedlot-style daily dosing isn't possible. Trials show ~75% methane reduction per animal. Target: 100 million cattle treated annually by 2035.
Founded to: reduce agricultural methane in pastoral systems.
~75%
Methane reduction per animal
NZ$27m+
Raised (incl. AgriZeroNZ)
NZ, AU, Brazil, Canada, EU
Target markets
Visit website ↗
Hot Lime Labs with commercial spinout Aplenty
Soil Health, Inputs & Crop Science
Founded 2017, Wellington NZ domiciled Private · Commercial units 2025
Burns waste wood or biomass through patented limestone pellets that absorb CO₂ like a sponge, then releases clean CO₂ on demand into greenhouses — with waste heat captured for heating. Decarbonises a $250B industry that depends on fossil-derived CO₂ enrichment for a 30% crop yield boost. First commercial unit running at Gourmet Mokai (Taupō) at ~95% uptime.
Greenhouse application commercialised through Aplenty. Hot Lime Labs continues developing the underlying platform for high-temp gas cleanup, hydrogen with CO₂ capture, and energy storage applications. Dr Vlatko Materić is Founder/CTO.
Founded to: commercialise CO₂ capture research. Pivoted from power plants to greenhouses where customer logic and climate logic align.
120Mt CO₂/yr
Stated avoidance potential
~95% uptime
First commercial unit
Pacific Channel, Motion Capital
Investors
Visit website ↗
Vessev
Electric Vehicles & Vessels
Founded 2018, Auckland NZ domiciled · US expansion Series A · Commercial
Electric hydrofoiling vessels — 90% less energy than conventional hulls. The VS-9 entered Fullers360 commercial service in January 2025, the world's first certified electric hydrofoil tourism vessel. First European order secured in Northern Ireland; Queenstown trials Feb 2026; team grew from 14 to 45 in a year.
Founded to: radically improve marine efficiency via hydrofoiling. Climate-positive, but sells on experience, performance and operator economics.
90%
Energy reduction vs conventional hulls
Red Dot 2025
Design award (VS-9)
Blackbird, K1W1, IceHouse, GD1
Investors
Visit website ↗
Honourable mentions
EV Maritime · CH4 Global · BioLumic · Cogo · Vortex Power Systems · Bspkl · Cetogenix · Zincovery · NILO
See the full ecosystem map for ~200 active entities → Companies · Ecosystem
Company figures, valuations, and funding rounds are accurate to publicly reported information as of May 2026. Selection criteria: commercial traction, climate impact significance, and international recognition. Companies are selected regardless of current NZ domicile — several have moved HQ offshore while retaining NZ operations and NZ founding teams. Quarterly review recommended. Source research compiled for cleantech.nz.
NZ Clean Tech · May 2026 · Working draft
Ecosystem map Companies