Two well established Wellington region IT companies have joined forces to export their unique software to the global market.
Infogeni and SIL have both worked in the Capital since the early 1990s. Now they have merged to sell their exclusive products world-wide, under the name Infogeni.
“We want to follow in Xero’s footsteps,” says Infogeni chief executive, Mike Sheedy.
“We are a Kiwi-owned IT company which intends to become a multi- million dollar global entity based in Wellington, boosting not only the Capital’s economy but New Zealand’s as well.”
Mr Sheedy says Kāpiti is also a keen market.
“Yes, one of our customers is Enliven (Presbyterian Support Central), and they use our software to look after aged folk on the coast.”
Both companies are combining a staff of 14 but intend to double that within a year, and eventually create dozens more jobs in Wellington as the business takes off overseas.
Infogeni provides operations management software for the aged care sector and already has 40 per cent of the New Zealand home care market. Infogeni now wants to sell its leading edge product to Australia and the rest of the world.
“There is a grey tsunami about to hit the world and there is huge growth potential in the business of taking care of the elderly.” Mr Sheedy says. “Using technology, Governments are seeking solutions that provide cost savings while increasing the quality of care for the elderly.
“When we look around internationally we see no one else is doing what we are building functionality that appears to be unique and will seriously reduce costs for our customers looking after the elderly still living in their homes. We’re very keen for our merged Wellington companies to exploit what we see as a huge gap in the global market.”
Infogeni’s new partner, SIL, has created software that is used by NZ government ministries to investigate potential crimes and security breaches. It also has a product that dynamically translates complex data patterns into pictures.
Director, Ted Thomas, has grown Kiwi IT companies and taken them offshore before, recently selling a company to Optimized Systems and Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rolls Royce.
“This merger is bringing together a couple of well-established Wellington IT businesses, giving us the critical mass to build products and take them overseas,” he says.
Infogeni is now raising capital to help it go global within the next 12 months.
