The pair led a $1.2m pre-Series A round for the start-up, which was also supported by the Crown-owned New Zealand Growth Capital Partners and ex-Reddit CEO Ellen Pao. <\/p>\n
Wang becomes a Komodo director as part of the deal.<\/p>\n
Komodo founders Jack Wood (left) and Chris Bacon.<\/p>\n
Wang and Samson are now scouting for their next investments.<\/p>\n
The pair say they are looking for New Zealand-founded companies in a range of sectors, including technology, software, fashion and film. Key evaluation criteria include demonstration of international sales activity and global market testing, they say.<\/p>\n
Investments will range from $300,000 to $1m.<\/p>\n
Outside of their new fund, Samson and Wang have earlier investments in Ice House Ventures, Tracksuit<\/a>, Halter<\/a> and Yu Mei<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bacon scores the lettuce<\/p>\n Christchurch-based Komodo, founded in 2017 by Chris Bacon and Jack Wood, has 20 staff and sells its online wellness platform to schools across the world.<\/p>\n Bacon \u2013 a Brit who formerly worked for Norwich City FC\u2019s youth academy as he completed a sport science MSc \u2013 told the Herald he came to New Zealand when the opportunity arose to study toward a PhD at Christchurch University.<\/p>\n After graduating, he took sports science and sports medicine roles with Christchurch United and the Mainland Football Federation while working on Komodo on the side.<\/p>\n Jack Wood, a fellow Canterbury grad (with a BCom) joined him to take care of things on the business side.<\/p>\n \u201cInitially, Komodo was oriented on the field of sports science, collecting data to predict and prevent injuries,\u201d Bacon said.<\/p>\n But in 2020 \u2013 the pandemic year of empty sports fields \u2013 Komodo took what Bacon says was a \u201cmajor pivot\u201d as it refocused on student mental health and wellbeing. <\/p>\n Bacon said it was a new audience, but the same principles: \u201cAn evidence-based approach, collecting data from multiple sources.\u201d<\/p>\n He and Wood collaborated with psychologists to create surveys and \u201ccheck-ins\u201d designed both to flag potential issues with individual students and identify any concerning \u201cmacro trends\u201d affecting a particular niche or demographic of students.<\/p>\n Komodo\u2019s first customer was one of New Zealand\u2019s poshest schools, King\u2019s College.<\/p>\n Today, Bacon says its software is used by schools of all varieties in \u201c34 or 35 countries\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know the exact amount of students we cover, but it\u2019s in the hundreds of thousands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnnual subscriptions are based on the size and type of school. We just work with the schools on what\u2019s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds of schools are paying for their product,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was immediately obvious that Chris and Jack are exceptional founders. Within the first 20 minutes, I actually asked them, \u2018Are you open for investment? I wanted to invest not just our money, but also my time and energy. This is why I\u2019m taking a board seat.\u201d<\/p>\n Bacon wants that fire<\/p>\n Kami, which makes tools for annotating notes and managing classrooms, was sold to a US private equity firm in a $289m deal last year, but with its founders retaining a 29% stake and Wang remaining chief executive.<\/p>\nSamson and Wang co-founded Kami with Bob Drummond (left) and Jordan Thoms. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n