Latest news with #Zuru
NZ Herald
18-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Zuru's Nick Mowbray says mass-market construction company building towards launch
Mowbray said it was completely revolutionising the way houses were built from start to finish. 'We're optimising everything from design, compliance, manufacturing, all the way through to assembly. 'And we're building the world's first factory that has a fully customised input in terms of design and a fully automated output.' Zuru's Dreamcatcher software allows users to create buildings to meet their specifications, which can then be turned into real-life buildings through automated manufacturing. Mowbray said Zuru had invested heavily in the new venture. While he wouldn't confirm the specific figure, he said the company had invested more into the venture than it had into its consumer packaged goods division. Zuru was developing full-scale test houses using its Dreamcatcher software every one to two weeks out of its Chinese test factory. It had purchased a 10ha factory in China, which Mowbray confirmed will be the first commercial factory for the construction business. He didn't confirm if this is Zuru's proposed mega-factory, which he has claimed will be the second or third biggest in the world. That size is necessary because it will aim to produce the equivalent of a 10,000sq m house every day. Zuru Tech has 600 hardware and software engineers working full-time on the development of its factory. Mowbray said one of the first projects will be building 12 properties to redevelop the beachfront of Malibu destroyed by wildfires last year. Software meets hardware Key to the construction is Dreamcatcher, Zuru's in-house building information modelling (BIM) software. Acquired from an Italian architectural start-up roughly six years ago, Dreamcatcher runs on Unreal Engine 5, a highly advanced computer graphics engine. Through the free platform, users can design buildings to meet their specifications, and as Mowbray explained, Zuru has embedded almost every building code in the world into it. 'You can drop a pin anywhere in the world, and it will work out the building codes for that location. It filters in all of the terrain data, and so as you're building, it adjusts automatically for hills or for flat land. 'Effectively, when you've designed your building in Dreamcatcher, it then precisely gives instructions to the factory and creates digital twins for every single part, and it's looking at those parts and calculating whether they have the right structural integrity as well.' It can simulate lighting to optimise the use of natural sunlight, as well as calculate the optimal positions for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and ventilation requirements. Pairing that software with the physical manufacturing capability has been the biggest challenge for the business. It began with a prototype factory that could create houses at a quarter of the scale in an effort to debug software and test its performance. Made up of 16 modules, including for rebar, windows, and walls, each module is designed and built from the ground up by Zuru. The business then built a full-scale test factory roughly 3ha in size, which is building a full-size building using its software every one to two weeks in China. As to why Mowbray and Zuru were so invested in China, he explained that the country has an 'immense scale of skill'. 'I think China has more engineers that graduate every year than the whole of the US. There's nowhere else in the world where you have just the sheer scale skill, particularly when it comes to manufacturing and automation and the ecosystem. 'We moved to China for manufacturing initially, but now it's incredible to watch China really innovate in so many categories and lead so many categories around the world.' The building technology will be targeted towards the mass-market, with Mowbray explaining they haven't confirmed their pricing plan, but suggested it could work based on some kind of supply and demand algorithm. Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
The 2025 NBR Rich List: Listers Crack $100 Billion, NBR Launches First Women's List
The overall theme of the 2025 NBR Rich List, meanwhile, is Elevating NZ Inc. We asked each of the Rich Listers what one thing we could do to make New Zealand a better place for doing business. 09 June New Zealand's leading wealth creators are now collectively worth more than $100 billion, the 2025 NBR Rich List reveals. The latest NBR Rich List, published today, profiles 119 Kiwi individuals and families who are building enterprises, growing the country's fortunes, creating jobs, and giving back. That includes a dozen Newcomers to the 2025 Rich List, collectively worth $4.3b. The addition of those Newcomers, as well as growth among some of the country's wealthiest, has pushed the total valuation of this year's Rich List to $102.1b, up from $95.55b last year. The Newcomers include names like Jamie Beaton – who becomes a Rich Lister after the company he co-founded, Crimson Education, was valued at more than $1b in a capital raise last November – alongside several families who have been operating and building enormously successful businesses for decades. Two women also feature in our Newcomers this year, becoming the only two women to feature on the Rich List in their own right since 2019. They are Anna Mowbray, who has moved on from Zuru to build a wide-ranging portfolio of investments, and Lucy Liu, a New Zealand citizen whose company was valued at more than $10b in a capital raise just last month. Their success has been the catalyst for a new feature we've introduced as part of this year's coverage: the Women's List. Zuru founders Nick and Mat Mowbray, meanwhile, retain the top spot with a $20b valuation. Overall, New Zealand now also has 18 billionaires, up from 16 last year. 'The country's Rich Listers together employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars of economic activity,' NBR Rich List editor Hamish McNicol says. 'The Rich List celebrates those individuals and families, telling in-depth stories of how they have built their enterprises, how they are tackling global economic volatility, and what they are investing back into their communities.' The Women's List The 2025 Rich List also sees the launch of the inaugural Women's List, which is a series of interviews and profiles with 14 of the country's leading, and most successful, businesswomen. We are not publishing assessments of their net worth, although generally estimate them to each be worth between at least $20m and $100m (Mowbray and Liu excluding). Each have built businesses which collectively have employed thousands and contributed greatly to the domestic economy: they are true wealth creators worthy of recognition and celebration alongside the Rich List. They also have different perspectives and each tell a story we believe invaluable to those looking for the keys to business success. That list includes the likes of Naomi Ballantyne, who built life insurer Partners Life into what she says is the country's first female-business to sell for $1b. There's also Carmen Vicelich, the founder of Valocity, a fintech that streamlines property valuation and real estate processes and is now used in more than 3500 cities around the world. 'We've got lots of families and couples on the Rich List but this year we have two female Newcomers in Anna Mowbray and Lucy Liu,' McNicol says. 'They, along with some encouragement from local women in business, prompted us to consider what we could do as part of our coverage to highlight the success of our leading businesswomen.' 'They've each built large and impressive businesses and share fascinating insights into the unique challenges they have faced in doing so.' Elevating NZ Inc The overall theme of the 2025 NBR Rich List, meanwhile, is Elevating NZ Inc. We asked each of the Rich Listers what one thing we could do to make New Zealand a better place for doing business. Several key themes emerged from the many responses we got. Overall, there is optimism about New Zealand's place in the world, particularly in the context of an increasingly volatile global environment. 'Opening the country up to more foreign investment and drastically improving the education system were the most common areas cited for change,' McNicol says. 'But there were some other really interesting ideas in there as well, particularly around things like tax and regulation.' 'They have no shortage of ideas.'
Scoop
10-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
The 2025 NBR Rich List: Listers Crack $100 Billion, NBR Launches First Women's List
09 June New Zealand's leading wealth creators are now collectively worth more than $100 billion, the 2025 NBR Rich List reveals. The latest NBR Rich List, published today, profiles 119 Kiwi individuals and families who are building enterprises, growing the country's fortunes, creating jobs, and giving back. That includes a dozen Newcomers to the 2025 Rich List, collectively worth $4.3b. The addition of those Newcomers, as well as growth among some of the country's wealthiest, has pushed the total valuation of this year's Rich List to $102.1b, up from $95.55b last year. The Newcomers include names like Jamie Beaton – who becomes a Rich Lister after the company he co-founded, Crimson Education, was valued at more than $1b in a capital raise last November – alongside several families who have been operating and building enormously successful businesses for decades. Two women also feature in our Newcomers this year, becoming the only two women to feature on the Rich List in their own right since 2019. They are Anna Mowbray, who has moved on from Zuru to build a wide-ranging portfolio of investments, and Lucy Liu, a New Zealand citizen whose company was valued at more than $10b in a capital raise just last month. Their success has been the catalyst for a new feature we've introduced as part of this year's coverage: the Women's List. Zuru founders Nick and Mat Mowbray, meanwhile, retain the top spot with a $20b valuation. Overall, New Zealand now also has 18 billionaires, up from 16 last year. 'The country's Rich Listers together employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars of economic activity,' NBR Rich List editor Hamish McNicol says. 'The Rich List celebrates those individuals and families, telling in-depth stories of how they have built their enterprises, how they are tackling global economic volatility, and what they are investing back into their communities.' The Women's List The 2025 Rich List also sees the launch of the inaugural Women's List, which is a series of interviews and profiles with 14 of the country's leading, and most successful, businesswomen. We are not publishing assessments of their net worth, although generally estimate them to each be worth between at least $20m and $100m (Mowbray and Liu excluding). Each have built businesses which collectively have employed thousands and contributed greatly to the domestic economy: they are true wealth creators worthy of recognition and celebration alongside the Rich List. They also have different perspectives and each tell a story we believe invaluable to those looking for the keys to business success. That list includes the likes of Naomi Ballantyne, who built life insurer Partners Life into what she says is the country's first female-business to sell for $1b. There's also Carmen Vicelich, the founder of Valocity, a fintech that streamlines property valuation and real estate processes and is now used in more than 3500 cities around the world. 'We've got lots of families and couples on the Rich List but this year we have two female Newcomers in Anna Mowbray and Lucy Liu,' McNicol says. 'They, along with some encouragement from local women in business, prompted us to consider what we could do as part of our coverage to highlight the success of our leading businesswomen.' 'They've each built large and impressive businesses and share fascinating insights into the unique challenges they have faced in doing so.' Elevating NZ Inc The overall theme of the 2025 NBR Rich List, meanwhile, is Elevating NZ Inc. We asked each of the Rich Listers what one thing we could do to make New Zealand a better place for doing business. Several key themes emerged from the many responses we got. Overall, there is optimism about New Zealand's place in the world, particularly in the context of an increasingly volatile global environment. 'Opening the country up to more foreign investment and drastically improving the education system were the most common areas cited for change,' McNicol says. 'But there were some other really interesting ideas in there as well, particularly around things like tax and regulation.' 'They have no shortage of ideas.'
NZ Herald
08-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
NBR Rich List: Who are the wealthiest people in New Zealand?
Zuru founders Nick and Mat Mowbray have retained their spot as the richest New Zealanders, according to the National Business Review's Rich List. The latest NBR Rich List, published today, estimated the Mowbrays' net worth at $20 billion. The Mowbrays founded the toy manufacturing company in 2003, along with sister
NZ Herald
05-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Inside Zuru's US empire: Nick Mowbray talks tariffs and toy trademarks
Toy and consumer goods empire Zuru has found a means to reduce the tariff it pays on Chinese goods imported into the US to around 15% as it continues to navigate the volatility surrounding global trade. Using a process called a first cost model could reduce the total tax
