Published on the 27/03/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

New Zealand technology talent was on display last night at the Hi-Tech Awards finalist event where Vend featured prominently…

Online POS software vendor and home-grown success story Vend was the toast of the new Zealand Hi-Tech Awards finalist event  in Auckland yesterday after closing a $US20 million ($NZ25 million) round of series B funding earlier in the day. The round was led by US-based early Facebook investor Peter Thiel of Valar Ventures and Australia-based Square Peg Capital, which each now hold 4.43 percent shares in Vend Limited.

CEO of Vend Vaughn Rowsell, over networking drinks, said the majority of the deal was conducted over Skype and the parties only met in person after the third round. He said Vend has been doing an increasing amount on business in North America and the new funds will be used to expand its presence there.

Rowsell’s presence at the Auckland version of the event (there were simultaneous events in Wellington and Christchurch) was highlighted by Wayne Norrie, Chair of the New Zealand Hi-Tech Trust in his announcement speech.

“I think it’s pretty impressive. Vend: well done. I don’t know if you realise but Vend raised their money in the US today. Now I don’t know what you would do with $25 million in your pocket, but the first function they came to way here tonight.”

Rowsell replied: “This is the party!”

In the official press release Rowsell added: “2014 is going to be a very big year for Vend. With the support of Peter Thiel and Square Peg Capital, the additional funding will accelerate our North American plans, allowing us to grow our major market and extend into small and independent retail shops across the continent. The last few years have seen a resurgence of independent retailers who have become more competitive against big chain stores by adopting cloud-based POS software.”

Vend went on to be named as finalist in three categories: Cisco Hi-Tech Emerging Company of the Year 2014, Grow Wellington Hi-Tech Service Product 2014, and IBM Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year under $5m 2014. Xero, VMob and Orion Health were also named as finalists in three categories.

There are close to 9000 companies operating in New Zealand’s Hi-Tech industries and they generate $7 billion in export revenue. This year the Hi-Tech Awards had a record number of entries and a record number of companies entering, breaking the 200-entry barrier on the Awards’ 20th anniversary.

Norrie said: “This year’s finalists range from companies in their infancy through to some of our biggest, most high profile hi-tech companies […] Some amazing new companies have made an appearance in the 2014 entries and we look forward to telling their stories this year.”

The awards have 40 judges including a twelve- strong line-up of international judges, including renowned American business strategist, Gary Hamel; co-founder of Wildfire, Victoria Ransom; co-founder of Massive, Claudia Batten; Director of Engineering for Google in New York, Craig Nevill-Manning; Senior Vice President for Cisco, Howard Charney and Managing Director for IDG Ventures, Pat Kenealy .

The finalists are as follows:

PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year 2014

• Fisher & Paykel Healthcare
• Orion Health
• Serko
• Xero

Cisco Hi-Tech Emerging Company of the Year 2014

• Aura Infosec
• Dairy Automation
• MarkerMetro
• Movio
• Vend

New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) Hi-Tech Start-Up Company of the Year 2014

• RedSeed
• Smart Water Technology
• StretchSense
• Timely

Callaghan Innovation Hi-Tech Pre-Commercialisation Company of the Year 2014

• Clever Medkits
• Geozone
• Hunter Safety Labs
• Mars Bioimaging
• Mobotech
• Vigil Monitoring

Duncan Cotterill Innovative Hi-Tech Software Product 2014

• Carnival Mobile
• Intranel
• Mindscape
• Orion Health
• VMob
• Wynyard Group

Grow Wellington Hi-Tech Service Product 2014

• Carnival Mobile
• MindScape
• Snapper Services
• Vend
• VMob

Endace Innovative Hi-Tech Hardware Product 2014

• Dairy Automation
• Delta Strike International
• ikeGPS
• Mars Bioimaging
• Smart Water Technology

UK Trade & Investment Innovative Hi-Tech Mobile Product 2014

• Carnival Mobile
• ikeGPS
• MEA Mobile
• MindScape
• Serato
• VMob

Fronde Hi-Tech Young Achiever 2014

• Scott Barrington (Modlar)
• Reuben Bijl (Smudge Apps)
• Hannah Gray (Xero)
• Guy Horrocks (Carnival Mobile)
• Ben O’Brien (StretchSense)

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Best Contribution to the NZ Hi-Tech Sector by an internationally headquartered Company 2014

• Cisco
• Fujitsu
• Microsoft

NZMEA Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year over $5M 2014

• Orion Health
• Vista Entertainment
• Xero

IBM Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year under $5m 2014

• Animation Research
• Movio
• Snapcomms
• Vend

Winners will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner to be held at Wigram Aircraft Museum, Christchurch on 16th May 2014.