Team Korawai
Korawai is a New Zealand wearable technology start-up with a vision of providing comfort through connectivity for those who can’t seek help themselves.
Established in 2020, we have spent the last few years validating our first pet-care product - a dog garment using leading edge embedded technology to calm companion dogs. We are continually working with our customers and are currently conducting research on distressed animals in a variety of anxiety settings using our initial prototype.
Our initial findings are very positive and we are now seeking early stage seed funding to finalise our first minimum viable product.
We are a Māori Enterprise, our vision stems from a multi-dimensional perspective which comes from the Māori kaupapa led approach – the spirit, the whanau, the relationships, the care.
“Aotearoa and Māori is all about being authentic and the kaitiakitanga around protecting our place. We wish to create an international connectedness with Korawai.”
At Korawai our people are the difference. We are driven to provide real world solutions to underlying issues around pet care, aged care and healthcare in New Zealand and around the world.
Please contact us if you would like to know more.
Fiona Taimana
CEO - Strategy & Marketing
I am passionate about bringing new technology from New Zealand into the global market. To lead, incredible talent to commercialise their research and/or inventions. Through our success inspiring other New Zealanders to take a similar journey.
At the heart of our innovation is customer validation to ensure product/market fit for our product and/or services.
John Taimana
People & Business Development
Nga Puhi, Te Kawerau-a-Maki
I have over twenty years experience finding talent for diverse technology environments with a key focus on software, architecture and embedded systems engineers. I find the right people to fit the culture of our team.
In the technology space regardless of whether it is an embedded tech garment, a SaaS solution or a mobile based marketplace everything still comes down to the team, the team, the team!
“He tangata, he tangata, he tangagta”.
Juan Pablo Forero Cortes
Electronics Engineer & Computer Scientist
I am an electronics engineer and computer scientist with nine years of experience developing in-whole high-fidelity integrated solutions.
My professional career has provided me with ample exposure to industry, academia, and entrepreneurship. Through learning, creating, and innovating, my focus is to open up avenues to enhance peoples’ lives.
Dr Sachith Muthukumarana
Electronics Engineer & Computer Scientist
I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Augmented Human Lab of Auckland Bioengineering Institute at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. My research interests lie in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Assistive Augmentation, and Haptic Interfaces. I am highly passionate about creating new ideas and coming up with feasible solutions to relevant problems.
Our Advisors & partners:
Dr Elsa Flint
Vet Behaviourist,
Animals with Attitude
Dr Flint has been working as a veterinarian for over 20 years and is one of the most qualified animal behaviour experts in New Zealand. She has postgraduate qualifications in behavioural medicine and has published several scientific papers. Working as a veterinarian, Dr Flint is well qualified to detect any underlying medical problems that may be contributing to problem behaviour. She is also qualified to prescribe medication that may be required to treat anxiety-based disorders and aggression.
Dr Flint is currently conducting early stage research on the effectiveness of Korawai’s dog comfort device in a few different anxiety settings.
Mark Robinson,
Business Innovation Advisor, Health, Callaghan Innovation
Callaghan Innovation
Mark is an expert in B2B sales & marketing and product commercialisation with strategic and operational competencies within senior leadership roles working across multinationals, SMEs, not for profit and start-ups. His career has been in the human and animal healthcare sector with experience across pharmaceuticals, medical devices, clinical trials and medical software. Mark’s expertise lies at the intersection of health, business, and innovation. As a Business Innovation Advisor Mark’s focus is helping Korawai build and manage key relationships and partnerships across a variety of sectors and accelerate our commercialisation to generate growth.
Kōkiri Cohort 2021,
Te Wananga O Aotearoa, Hamilton
We were proud to be part of Kōkiri 2021. Kōkiri is a Māori business acceleration programme, based on kaupapa Māori values, focused on accelerating early-stage Māori led start-ups who have bold ambitions and are impact positive. Kōkiri supports Māori-led start-ups that have high-growth potential to develop their business capability and wellbeing, through tailored experiential-based learning, supported by mentors, coaches, and experts in a safe and culturally responsive learning environment.
Korawai was selected as one of seven early stage tech startups for the 2021 cohort.