OrbViz
Data reports that people actually read are making an impact on business.
Not everyone is mathematically or statistically inclined or can visualise insights and solutions from static information. OrbViz is working to enable organisations and stakeholders make more informed decisions via easy-to-understand data. Their accessible, visual and interactive technology tells an impactful and comprehensive story with transparency and trust.
Meet Vanessa and Karim, fresh off their first capital raise and about to take their data visualisation platform to the world.
What is OrbViz and how does its technology help business?
Vanessa: We create reports that people actually read. We know that large organisations struggle to communicate complex information to their audiences in a meaningful way and OrbViz brings together data and stories in an interactive, compelling medium that helps anybody to understand what is happening.
Karim: It’s a data visualisation storytelling platform. Organisations spend so much money, time and effort on presenting complicated data very statically. For example, PDFs and excel sheets. We take that information and push it out in layman’s terms.
How has Christchurch’s innovation ecosystem contributed to your success so far?
Karim: The innovation ecosystem in Christchurch has been extremely helpful. Lots of network opportunities - being able to meet with like-minded individuals, companies on the same journey, facing the same challenges and talking about the same solutions. There's Ministry of Awesome that host extremely interesting and insightful events for companies to go in and learn more about the ecosystem and the Canterbury Employers Chambers of Commerce as well. We’ve also created a tech application with Canterbury Tech to be able to see how big the tech sector is in terms of employment and what it looks like.
The Startup Blink index, which is a global index that focuses on the top innovative cities in the world, put Christchurch’s ranking up 168 points which was the highest jump that they've ever seen. That puts this city in the top 250 cities globally – now that tells you a lot right there. That is not just us saying it, that's others looking in and seeing that there's a lot going on here. So we're pretty proud to be part of that ecosystem. Everyone wants you to succeed.
“The innovation ecosystem in Christchurch has been extremely helpful. Lots of network opportunities - being able to meet with like-minded individuals, companies on the same journey, facing the same challenges and talking about the same solutions. We're pretty proud to be part of that ecosystem. Everyone wants you to succeed”
The innovation ecosystem in Christchurch has been extremely helpful. Lots of network opportunities - being able to meet with like-minded individuals, companies on the same journey, facing the same challenges and talking about the same solutions. We're pretty proud to be part of that ecosystem. Everyone wants you to succeed”
OrbViz was spun out of Orbica – how did evolving from within a startup help your business?
Vanessa: Starting within Orbica, which is another startup, was extremely helpful for me. I had been with the company since its first six months, so learning from their journey was an incredible boost for us. Knowing what worked well, knowing the pitfalls to avoid. But also having the technical team on hand to help us in those tough early days when we were starting to develop a product was unbelievable. Because they are so experienced and really, really smart people. So we were incredibly lucky.
Why is sustainability reporting a big part of where you’re headed?
Karim: Sustainability reporting is something that we're really focused on this year. What we do brings the complex out in a way that everyone can digest and sustainability is something most of us want to understand. It's a really hot topic right now and a lot of people are talking about it. What can you do differently? What are companies doing around sustainability?
Sustainability reporting helps organisations position themselves in a better way, helps attract talent and helps attract investors by really connecting them to the data. If they're not reporting on it the way they should, it will just be a tick the box exercise that you may as well not do because no one understands it. So what we're trying to do is bring change and make sustainability relevant for everybody, whether its internal or external stakeholders.
What’s next for OrbViz?
Vanessa: We recently closed our first capital raise, which we are very proud of. It's very hard work closing your first raise - I'm sure the second one will be just as hard! But in the meantime, we get to now grow our team, both product-wise and also revenue-wise in terms of scaling into other markets. It's a very exciting time for our company.
Being Christchurch-backed was awesome. Our lead investor is a member of Canterbury Angels, who have been very supportive of OrbViz since the early days. It's great to have that local support as well as the backing of international investors.
What advice would you give to other startups?
Vanessa: It's a hard journey. Be ready for the hard yards but at the same time, it's incredibly rewarding and very much a learning journey.
Karim: Just don't give up. If you believe in your product and your platform and what your solution is, it will work out. And talk to people. Talk to as many people as you can, learn from their challenges, how they over overcame them and get yourself involved with others to share knowledge. The key is to remember that you are not alone and just keep learning. That's the way to do it.
Vanessa: Yes, you are constantly learning, iterating, changing and moving forward. So be ready for that and you're going to have the time of your life.
“It's a hard journey. Be ready for the hard yards but at the same time, it's incredibly rewarding and very much a learning journey. you are constantly learning, iterating, changing and moving forward. So be ready for that and you're going to have the time of your life"
