Controversial Kiwi start-up Kiki, once worth $38m, folds in New York
Kiki co-founders Jack Montgomerie (left) and Toby Thomas-Smith, pictured in New York in 2023.
Auckland-founded 'peer-to-peer subletting' start-up Kiki (formerly EasyRent) is pulling out of its only market – New York.
The firm – valued at US$23 million ($38m) during a 2023 funding round – says it's been collateral damage in the city's war on Airbnb, a service it accused of pushing up rents.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Autocar
4 hours ago
- NZ Autocar
Petrol is unlikely to spike despite increased Middle East tension
The conflict between Israel and Iran shouldn't cause a significant rise in fuel prices locally, according to the AA. Petrol at the pumps had already been purchased at a lower price, said AA principal policy advisor Terry Collins. And so far the markets had managed the risk. He continued: 'Iran produces about five per cent of the world's oil. Even though it's under sanctions, it still supplies the market. The Israelis have hit only some of the oil and gas infrastructure. More important, though, was the location of Iran next to the Strait of Hormuz, Collins said. 'About 21 per cent of the world's oil…flows through there. It's just a worry that the Iranians will try to block that strait and therefore restrict oil supplies to the international market. Collins said the price jumped almost immediately after the conflict began, to about US$75 a barrel but had since dropped back down to under US$73. 'There's plenty of oil around,' he said. 'That's one of the myths – that there's not. It's just how they supply it.' Collins said that for every dollar the price of a barrel of oil changed, it's reflected by about a 1 cent change at the pump price here. He added: 'What we've got in our tanks today was purchased back at the beginning of May, when the prices were below US$60'. 'We know the supply chain is going to take a little bit of a hit but we shouldn't be seeing big jumps in prices domestically. 'And it's only really gone up about 10 cents per litre. 'If it stays at that sustained level, we may see those prices come through in another month.
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Inside Leigh Hart's bonkers quest to hand-deliver a SnackaChangi chip to every Kiwi
Imagine one man trudging across New Zealand with a singular, absurd mission: to personally hand-deliver one SnackaChangi chip to each and every one of the country's 5.31 million residents. Not a bag, not a handful, but a singular crisp per person. That man is Leigh Hart, and his unhinged campaign for SnackaChangi is just as hilarious as it is utterly impractical. Chatting with Hart about this logistical nightmare, it's clear he's approaching it with the kind of Kiwi grit that might make Sir Edmund Hillary nod approvingly (or more likely take on Everest as the easier mountain to climb). Hart, known for his comedic antics on Sports Cafe and for spawning the SnackaChangi brand (loosely inspired by a whimsical moment in Bali), is no stranger to bold ideas. 'The chips are pretty good, you know,' he says with a grin. 'We think once you try one, you'll never go back. So why not get one to every Kiwi?' A noble sentiment perhaps, but the reality is a gloriously chaotic mess. The plan is to package each single chip in tiny individual packets and physically deliver them door-to-door. Sure enough, Hart quickly realised he'd bitten off more than he could crunch. 'I wish I never started,' he laughs. The first hurdle? Data. He tried accessing census information, only to find it less reliable than a 1987 telephone directory he scavenged from MOTAT. 'Have you ever tried to find a phone book?' he demands, exasperated. 'Took me two weeks!' Then there's the sheer scale of it. New Zealand's population is growing faster than Hart can keep up. 'Every time I deliver one, someone else is born,' he says. His initial alphabetical approach – delivering to an Auckland Smith before jetting to a Dunedin Smythe – was a disaster. 'I'd deliver two chips and spend a day travelling,' he groans. But then switching to a geographical strategy didn't help. 'People don't immigrate alphabetically, and they don't stay put like a census day.' Jolly inconsiderate of them, certainly by Hart's measure. The result? A comical inequity crisis. Some lucky Kiwis have received multiple chips, while others remain chip-less. 'I've had heated discussions at doorsteps,' Hart confesses. 'A guy wants chips for his wife and kids, but if they're not on my list, I have to plan a return in three weeks.' It's not an exact science, he concedes, and there can be collateral damage which, as in the above example, Hart has directly encountered. 'When Dad gets a chip but Mum's left in the cold… let's just say there can be familial discontent!' Hart's record-keeping is as old-school as his tattered telephone directory. He's crossing names off a list and tracking progress on an Auckland billboard that 'clicks over' with each delivery – though he suspects a disconnect between his vision and execution. 'Sometimes the number goes down,' he says, baffled. Undaunted, the quest rolls on, racking up some impressive wins. As of June 18, he'd delivered a whopping total of 17 chips. For a campaign that launched two days earlier, that's… a start. The logistics are mind-boggling. Hart's crisscrossing the country on motorbikes, steam trains, and anything else he can commandeer, meeting 'real Kiwis' along the way. 'I've been on a journey of personal discovery,' he says. 'To find myself, I need to lose myself – and maybe lose myself again.' But the physical toll is real. He's trekked kilometres into the bush only to find empty huts or, worse, learn the intended recipient has passed away. 'I have to take that chip back to the printers, repackage it, new name, reassign it,' he sighs. 'That's not really fully in my skillset.' Desperate for efficiency, drastic measures are making their way onto his personal whiteboard. 'I might get in an airplane, give a crop-dusting approach a go. Sort of a chip bomber,' he muses. Where history tells us frogs and even fish have occasionally rained down from the heavens, chips are lighter. Offering a better consistency, he nevertheless observes that wind direction could make accuracy a nightmare. 'I could drop them here, and they'll land there – probably on someone who's already had one.' Logistics may fail Hart, but optimism never does. 'We do these things not because they're easy, but because they're hard,' he says. With a 96% chance of 'something' happening (he won't specify what), Hart's pressing on, fuelled by the hope of connecting with Kiwis and maybe, just maybe, converting a nation to SnackaChangi. For now, he's back on the road, chip in hand, ready to meet the next Kiwi on his list. We suggest a chip to the moon may be easier.
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Husband of Oranga Tamariki employee gets home detention for role in defrauding agency of more than $2m
Amandeep Sharma in court in May. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown The husband of a former Oranga Tamariki employee who helped his wife defraud the agency of more than $2 million has been sentenced to 12 months' home detention. Amandeep Sharma pleaded guilty to obtaining by deception and money laundering in May after he and his wife Neha Sharma kept their marriage secret and funnelled public money through his construction company Divine Connection Ltd. Neha Sharma, who was jailed for three years in May, kept the conflict of interest concealed as she approved the company's invoices, got him jobs that could have been carried out by other companies and even carried out work for the company during office hours. Less than two weeks after the Serious Fraud Office knocked on their front door, the couple booked two one-way business class to India, after transferring just under $800,000 overseas. Justice Eaton said he seriously considered jailing Sharma but sentenced him to home detention in order for him to seek rehabilitation and support his daughter. "The attitude you have displayed is worrying. It is indicative of a lack of accountability and does in my view display a degree of entitlement, perhaps arrogance," he said. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) director Karen Chang said Sharma and his wife took advantage of her position of trust for their own financial gain. "It is critical that we disrupt behaviour of this kind, which damages the integrity of our public institutions and threatens our reputation as a safe place to invest and do business," she said. "Corrupt behaviour by public servants is a key focus for the SFO, and we are currently advancing initiatives that will strengthen the New Zealand public sector's overall resilience to fraud and corruption." The SFO filed charges against the couple in 2023 alleging Neha Sharma had provided false references to secure her role at Oranga Tamariki where she managed aspects of properties in the Canterbury region, including maintenance, upkeep, and modifications. Neha Sharma set up her husband's company as a contractor without declaring a conflict of interest and then assigned work to this company over others suppliers, at a cost of $2.1 million to Oranga Tamariki. She then applied for a role at the transport agency, for which she also provided a false reference. The SFO said police seized the funds the couple had transferred. It said proceedings to return them to New Zealand were underway, while the High Court had issued a restraining order over the couple's properties in New Zealand. Chang thanked the police and Indian authorities for their swift action and the co-operation of Oranga Tamariki and the transport agency in the investigation.
