Serial Founder | Applied AI in Financial Services | Computer Vision
Pioneer
Professional Summary
Serial founder with a proven record of technical innovation and
market creation in digital technology. Built New Zealand's first
mobile 3D body-scanning system and New Zealand's first open-banking
investing platform, combining deep capability in computer vision
and AI with commercial leadership in product, fundraising, and
regulated-market execution under uncertainty. Now building Sugar
AI in London, applying that experience to a new category of
AI-native household finance.
Key Achievements
Created New Zealand's first open banking investing platform
and scaled it to 240,000 users across India, New Zealand, and
Turkey.
Reached #1 in the App Store Finance category within 24 hours of
launch and achieved 85% 90-day retention.
Raised $1.5M with support from operators and backers from
Robinhood, Wise, Canva, NZVC, and Phase One Ventures.
Built New Zealand's first mobile 3D body scanning system, scaled
it to $500k annual revenue, and exited successfully in 2021.
Highlights
First in NZFounded New Zealand's first open banking investing platform.240,000 UsersScaled consumer fintech across India, New Zealand, and Turkey.$1.5M RaisedBacked by operators and investors from Robinhood, Wise, Canva, NZVC, and Phase One Ventures.First in NZCreated New Zealand's first mobile 3D body scanning system.Successful ExitSold a previous venture after reaching $500k annual revenue.AI-Native FinanceBuilding Sugar AI: whole-household buyer's agent across debt, insurance, and utilities.
Professional Experience
Founder | Sugar AI
2025 - Present
London, United Kingdom
AI-native buyer's agent for recurring household money,
combining whole-household savings execution with software-backed
workflow productization
Building Sugar AI as an AI-native household finance operator,
extending an active gold auto-investing product into
whole-household savings across debt, insurance, and utilities.
Combining AI with human accountability to execute financial
decisions for customers, rather than optimize a single bill or
offer another comparison tool.
Designed a policy-based delegation framework with household
guardrails, approval thresholds, provider exclusions, and
pre-authorized actions so customers can delegate financial
admin without losing control.
Architected the internal operator system as the first product,
covering intake and case assembly, household policy object,
opportunity ranking, one-click approvals, savings ledger, and
renewal monitoring.
Defined a one-market-first launch model centered on time to
meaningful relief, event-driven monitoring, and reducing human
minutes per household as repeated service work is absorbed into
software.
Founder & CEO | Sugar Wallet
2021 - Present
Auckland, New Zealand (Global reach)
New Zealand's first open banking investing platform
Market Creation & Leadership
Founded NZ's first open banking investing app and built
infrastructure before a formal regulatory framework existed.
Built and launched a licensed investing app without prior
category background.
Pioneered the "set and forget" paycheck investing category in
New Zealand.
Featured on NewstalkZB Mike Hosking Breakfast as "New Zealand's
first set-and-forget paycheck investment app."
Earned national press coverage across Scoop.co.nz, Stuff.co.nz,
Startup Daily, and the University of Auckland CIE.
Commercial Traction
Scaled to 240,000 registered users with
130,000 transacting users across India, New
Zealand, and Turkey.
Achieved 85% 90-day retention, around 2.5x the
industry benchmark.
Reached #1 in the App Store Finance category
within 24 hours of launch.
Delivered 300% month-over-month growth from
November 2022 to February 2023.
Fundraising & Validation
Raised $1.5M with support from operators and
backers from
Robinhood, Wise, Canva, NZVC, and Phase One Ventures.
Mentored by Mahesh Muralidhar, Canva co-founder,
via Phase One Ventures.
Led a cross-functional team of 8 across engineering, product,
and operations.
Founder | Devonche
November 2016 - April 2021
Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand's first 3D scanning and computer vision measuring
system for custom clothing
Technical Innovation
Designed and built a mobile 3D body scanning system using
computer vision and photogrammetry.
Developed proprietary algorithms enabling tailoring-grade
measurement accuracy via smartphone.
Led R&D from 2015 to 2016 through production deployment,
predating Apple ARKit and depth sensors.
Commercial Success
Achieved $500,000 annual revenue and
successfully exited in 2021.
Became the largest bespoke suit retailer in New Zealand by
volume.