Winner of New Zealand’s Start Up Tel Aviv contest
Rollo Wenlock, founder and CEO of Wellington company Wipster, has won a fully funded trip to Tel Aviv to present his start up business at the annual DLD Conference in September where he will be meeting with the coolest and smartest companies, techies, start-ups and investors from Israel and around the world.
Wenlock was one of four shortlisted candidates to present his start up at the Start Up Tel Aviv 2014 contest, a competition initiated by the Embassy of Israel in Wellington and in partnership with Callaghan Innovation,
Rollo Wenlock
Grow Wellington, ATEED, Creative HQ and the Wellington City Council. Following the jury’s unanimous decision to send Wenlock to Israel his first response was: “I couldn’t be more excited to be selected for Startup Tel Aviv, and to be spending time at one of the world’s tech startup capitals. This opportunity is fantastic for a high growth start up like ours, and being in the same room as some of the smartest investors on the planet will certainly be utilised. I very much look forward to connecting with the community when I arrive in September”.
Wipster was founded by Wenlock in December 2012 and is a secure review-and -approval platform for video makers to get precise feedback directly on the video from their clients, all in the cloud and all in real time. They currently have a market of over 20 million individuals and companies, which includes freelance video makers, production companies, TV studios, advertising agencies etc. and they are hoping to secure $2 million by mid-2015.
The young start-up-ist isn’t entirely new to pitching his idea to a room full of investors. Last year Wenlock was selected to participate in the Creative HQ’s Lighting Lab Accelerator Program who’s CEO Stefan Korn was amongst others on the judging panel. Korn was delighted with Wenlock going off to Israel and said: “When entrepreneurs come to Creative HQ, our goal from day one is to help them create global businesses. Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of watching Rollo build the right team, strategy and product to position him for international success. Start-up Tel Aviv is a great opportunity for him to not only showcase Wipster’s achievements to date, but to raise awareness for the vibrant start-up scene happening in New Zealand as well.”
Gerard Quinn, chief executive of Grow Wellington, said it was great to see a Wellington tech entrepreneur chosen for the start-up event. “Wenlock’s smart and innovative and his product leverages off Wellington’s leading film and digital sector. We look forward to hearing how he gets on when he returns to the high tech capital.”
Israeli Ambassador Yosef Livne was thrilled to learn a few months ago that New Zealand was one of the only twenty countries selected to send a local start-up entrepreneur to participate in the DLD Conference and is confident that Rollo will be the right person to represent New Zealand.
The DLD Start-Up Conference will be held in Tel Aviv from 13-19 September 2014.
