Listed in: Staff & people

Hard work pays off for fast-growing New Zealand technology company

While it may not be a household name, Invenco’s self-service payment technology is used by thousands of New Zealanders, and millions globally, every day as they fuel up their vehicles.

4 minute read

Pull in to the forecourt of a typical Kiwi petrol station and it’s likely there’s only the choice of a handful of pumps from which to get gas. Pull in for fuel at some stops in the US, however, and the choice might stretch to 100. That difference in scale illustrates an opportunity that fast-growing New Zealand tech firm Invenco is grabbing with both hands.

Auckland-headquartered firm has racked up incredible growth, particularly in the past couple of years, thanks largely to the impressive inroads it has made into the US market, which now accounts for more than 80 percent of its $100 million-plus annual revenue.

From Kiwi origins 

The business was founded by Dave Ritten and Matthew Gibson – who both have backgrounds as executives in the payments technology industry – alongside technology entrepreneur and investor Sir Peter Maire – the legendary founder of Navman. Together the trio spied an opportunity in the self-service payments technology space: incumbents, they noted, tended to be large corporates with expensive products, and the Kiwi thought they could design lower-cost devices with greater flexibility to meet customers’ needs.

But Invenco didn’t have the rocket boosters on from the start. In its early stages, the business was centred around its core New Zealand customers, as well as some in South East Asia, but given the relatively small size of its home market, the founders realised they needed to seek growth further afield.

Seizing the US opportunity

It was a regulatory change in the US that helped fuel the firm’s focus on that market. To meet new security standards for credit card payments, it was mandated that all petroleum retailers replace their outdoor payments hardware. And with the US home to around two-thirds of the world’s outdoor payment terminals, explains Gibson, “we saw a massive opportunity”.

As a small Kiwi company, they couldn’t summon a salesforce army, so instead Invenco’s strategy has been to partner with a large player with established channels to market. In 2016 Invenco partnered with NCR, one of the world’s leading transactions technology firms, to supply their payment terminals and software solutions to one of NCR’s major fuel and convenience store clients in a contract that proved to be a game changer for the company’s growth.

Key to getting their foot in the door of such a large player, says Gibson, has been investing in high-calibre people with established industry connections. The company initially recruited a highly respected business development officer with years of industry experience, who in turn attracted other top talent.

Crucially, Invenco has made the most of its opportunities by introducing disruptive concepts in its industry, such as open architecture that allows customers to develop their own software on its applications. 

Keeping challenges in check

As always with a fast-growing company, however, there are challenges, says Gibson, such as ‘lumpy’ sales cycles. In its early days the company funded itself through working capital, and it later took on external investment from respected husband-and-wife investors and directors Paul Lockey and Justine Smyth. As it evolved its strategy to target the US, Invenco moved its banking to BNZ and Gibson says the bank’s support at critical times with credit facilities has been crucial.

Managing a complex supply chain is another challenge. Initially manufacturing using a partner in Christchurch, Invenco has since moved manufacturing offshore, firstly to Thailand and now Malaysia, as the size and complexity of the business has grown. With the bill of materials for one of its products alone stretching to more than 500 components, some of which have lead times of 40 weeks, accurately forecasting customer demand is key.

Future focused

Having recently been named New Zealand Hi-Tech Company of the Year, and ranked number five in the Deloitte Fast 50 Master of Growth index of New Zealand’s fastest growing companies, the future looks bright.

While globally, the company’s products are sold largely in the petroleum space, their technology could be equally applied to other verticals, says Gibson, such as self-service checkouts, parking vending and drive-thrus.

“Our R&D team are always developing the next generation of products associated with new and evolving technologies, so new products and new verticals are definitely in our future”.

Related articles

Managing your international business

Find out more