Hillfarrance Venture Capital

Hillfarrance Venture Capital

Hillfarrance Venture Capital started in 2018 when Rob Vickery, a British-born investor who had been running a Los Angeles growth-equity firm, relocated to New Zealand with a thesis: the country's engineering talent was undercapitalized at the earliest stages. He brought on Jonathan Bell as co-founder, and the firm began deploying from its Auckland base. Vickery had previously backed companies like Dollar Shave Club and SpaceX through earlier roles, and Hillfarrance imported that networks-first approach into a market where local seed capital was historically thin. The firm targets pre-seed and seed rounds, typically writing initial checks of NZ$500,000 to NZ$2 million, with reserves for follow-on into Series A. Its portfolio spans enterprise SaaS, AI/ML, fintech, digital health, climate technology, and agritech — sectors where New Zealand startups can build locally but sell globally. Known portfolio companies include Auror, an Auckland-based retail crime intelligence platform that has raised over NZ$80 million and expanded into the US and UK, and Partly, a Christchurch auto-parts data startup that has attracted funding from Octopus Ventures and Blackbird. Hillfarrance also invested in Mint Innovation, a cleantech company recovering metals from electronic waste. The firm co-invests alongside Australian VCs like Blackbird and US funds seeking exposure to New Zealand deal flow, and it structures itself to help founders incorporate in Delaware and raise their Series A from Silicon Valley or Sand Hill Road investors. Hillfarrance operates as a tight team from its Auckland headquarters and has been publicly described as raising a NZ$40 million Fund I and targeting a NZ$100 million Fund II in 2021 and 2022. In April 2022, Vickery opened a small Austin, Texas office to shorten the distance between portfolio companies and US customers and follow-on investors. The firm does not operate adjacent philanthropic vehicles or multifamily structures, though Vickery is active in the New Zealand startup policy conversation and has pushed publicly for visa and tax reforms to attract more venture talent to the country. What distinguishes Hillfarrance is its deliberate dual-hemisphere architecture: an Auckland-based early-stage fund that operates with a US-caliber fund formation and LP reporting standard, built by a GP who had already spent a decade in the US venture ecosystem. Most New Zealand seed funds are locally rooted; Hillfarrance from day one was structured to bridge to Sand Hill Road, giving its founders a capital path that doesn't dead-end at a New Zealand Series A. That design choice reflects Vickery's stated view that the best New Zealand companies should stay independent longer, funded by global investors, rather than exiting early to Australian or US acquirers.