Introducing NEW Selaks Origins Breeze 5%

Selaks, a pioneer in New Zealand’s wine industry, proudly unveils Selaks Origins Breeze 5%, a revolutionary addition to its portfolio.

Launching this August, Selaks Origins Breeze 5% makes its timely debut following Dry July, pioneering Selak’s first ever 5% alcohol offering in New Zealand. Each bottle promises an easy-drinking experience with just 3 standard drinks per 750ml bottle at 5% ABV.

Research consistently indicates a growing demand for lower-alcohol beverages. Consumers are increasingly mindful of their alcohol intake and are actively seeking options that allow them to enjoy wine in moderation. This shift reflects a broader cultural movement in New Zealand towards more responsible drinking habits.

The Origins Breeze range uses the Piquette method, a traditional technique originating from France. Piquette is made by rescuing already pressed winemaking grapes and giving them a second squeeze, resulting in a refreshing range that includes a crisp Piquette from Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a summer berry-infused Piquette Rosé, and a vibrant Piquette from Pinot Gris.

“Utilizing the traditional Piquette method, we’ve crafted fruit wines that not only minimize waste but also maximize the vibrant fruit flavors that define our fruit wines.” said David Edmonds, Chief Winemaker at Selaks. 

Crafted with innovation and waste reduction in mind, this range caters to wine enthusiasts and health-conscious consumers alike, seeking a flavourful, lighter option without compromising on taste.

“At Selaks, we’re excited to introduce the Origins Breeze 5% range, a testament to our commitment to quality and innovation,” added Edmonds.

“We’ve focused on creating a product that captures the bright, fresh characteristics of our fruit, appealing to a broad spectrum of consumers,”

Selaks Origins Breeze 5% is poised to redefine expectations of lower-alcohol fruit wines, offering a delicious choice for any occasion.

About Selaks: 90 Years of Winemaking

Founded with a rich heritage, Selaks is celebrated for crafting exceptional New Zealand wines that honor tradition while embracing innovation. Since Marino Selak arrived from Croatia in 1906, he and his nephew began creating wines that have become favorites across New Zealand, marking the start of Selaks’ legacy of excellence in winemaking.

From their humble beginnings in West Auckland to their current home in the Hawke’s Bay, they’ve built a legacy steeped in tradition and passion. Each bottle carries the essence of those who have shaped its creation, preserving the spirit of their winemaking family through the generations. Selaks’ commitment to quality and excellence has traveled far beyond borders, embraced by wine lovers across the globe.

For more information about Selaks Origins Breeze 5% visit www.selaks.co.nz 

Alimetry Leaves Stealth Mode to Announce CE Mark on New Wearable Medical Device for Gastric Diseases and Investment

Alimetry, a digital healthcare and diagnostic devices start-up, announced today that it has achieved CE Mark for its first product, a pioneering medical device for enabling diagnosis of gastric diseases.

The new wearable product, called Gastric Alimetry, is positioned to transform the diagnostic pathway for millions of patients worldwide suffering from diseases such as functional dyspepsia, gastroparesis and chronic nausea and vomiting. Gastric symptoms are extremely prevalent and impart a vast burden, affecting around 10% of the global population. The Gastric Alimetry device collects data by non-invasively sensing the activity of the stomach from the body surface. The data is sent to the cloud for analysis, and is used by clinicians to determine the causes of gastric symptoms and direct treatment.

Co-Founder and CEO Professor Greg O’Grady said “As clinicians, we lack the tools we need to reliably diagnose gastric disorders.  This contributes greatly to the frustration and suffering of our patients.  I was driven to this cause by seeing too many patients go through laborious, invasive and expensive rounds of repeat diagnostic testing, only to end up with inconclusive results and confusion. We invented Gastric Alimetry to help address this need. I am immensely proud of our hard-working team who have delivered an incredibly creative solution with outstanding potential to impact patient care.”

In addition to successfully achieving CE mark for the Gastric Alimetry product, enabling the company to start commercializing the medical device in European countries, Alimetry also announced today that it had achieved the ISO 13485 international quality management system accreditation. As it grows global operations, the company has enhanced its executive team with new appointments. Hanie Yee joined the company as Chief Operating Officer, from her previous role as Clinical Business Lead at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, and Professor Chris Andrews, a leading gastroenterologist from Canada, has joined Alimetry as Chief Medical Officer.

Alimetry has been the culmination of over a decade of award-winning scientific research out of The University of Auckland, backed by scientific grants from the New Zealand Health Research Council and the US National Institutes of Health, followed by Callaghan Innovation funding. To support the next phase of growth, the company completed its first institutional investment round, led by IP Group, a leading international intellectual property commercialisation company. The investment round was supported by UniServices Ltd (via the University of Auckland’s Inventors’ Fund), and Matū, a New Zealand early-stage science and deep-tech venture capital fund.  The capital raised by Alimetry will be used to advance the company’s clinical trials, enter the market, and progress regulatory approval in the United States.

The Managing Director of IP Group Australia, Dr Michael Molinari, said “We are excited to be working with Professor O’Grady and the world-class team at Alimetry to provide a step change in the quality of life for millions of patients with gastric disorders. This technology, at the intersection of multiple exponentially growing fields such as wearable medical devices, digital health, and machine-learning assisted diagnostics, is another great example of the breakthrough innovations coming from our partners at the University of Auckland”.

About Alimetry

Alimetry was founded in 2019 as a spin-out company from the University of Auckland’s Bioengineering Institute and Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. The company was founded on a background of world-leading science in gastrointestinal diseases.  Alimetry is dedicated to improving the lives of patients by delivering innovative medical solutions to advance GI diagnostics and enable targeted therapies. www.alimetry.com

About IP Group

IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company focused on evolving great ideas from its partner universities into world-changing businesses. The Group pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital, scientific insight, and the supporting infrastructure. In Australia and New Zealand, IP Group works in close partnership with the Go8 Universities and the University of Auckland to identify ground-breaking technologies, rooted in hard science, which have the most promising commercial potential. IP Group, which is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol IPO, has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in early stage to mature businesses across life sciences and technology.

Discover more at www.ipgroupanz.com

About The University of Auckland Inventors’ Fund.  The University of Auckland Inventors Fund is an evergreen, open-ended $20 million investment fund owned and managed by Auckland UniServices Limited, the commercial company for The University of Auckland.  The Inventors’ Fund provides seed-capital for ventures started out of the University of Auckland.  www.uniservices.co.nz

About Matū Fund. Matū is a venture capital fund investing in early-stage science and deep technology commercialisation from education and research institutions and the private sector. As an open and evergreen fund, Matū takes a long-term investment view and is aimed at turning ground-breaking ideas into globally focused, IP-rich companies. Matū provides intelligent capital with active governance, executive management, operational support, and mentorship for founding and executive teams.  www.matu.co.nz

Released images (png format):

Alimetry Reader

Alimetry System Light

Alimetry System on Body

Contact Information:

Hanie Yee, Chief Operating Officer

E: hanie@alimetry.com

M: +64 (0) 21 651 226

Social Media:

Twitter: @alimetry_ltd

PIONEERING DECENTRALISED SECURE MESSAGING PLATFORM MANYONE ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP WITH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON CENTRE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Vancouver, Canada – February 25th, 2021 – Manyone Inc., a pioneering technology venture in decentralization and digital identity, is delighted to announce that it has entered into a new strategic relationship with the globally renowned University College London (UCL) Centre Blockchain Technology (CBT).

This partnership will support research conducted by UCL CBT’s Senior Research Associate, Dr Geoffrey Goodell, to explore and evaluate end-user technology systems, infrastructure, business imperatives, and regulatory policy to support the privacy, dignity, and market power of individual persons in the emerging digital economy. The research is aimed at identifying the requirements and approaches for systems whose features specifically support the advancement of truly consensual trust relationships, the empowerment of local communities, and the public interest.

Vancouver-based Manyone believes in empowering solutions and technologies with the potential to produce a new, distributed internet where everyone can feel safe, secure and in control of their digital identity.

Dr Paolo Tasca, Founder and Executive Director of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, notes that, “On behalf of UCL and the Centre for Blockchain Technologies, I am delighted to begin our new partnership with international industry partners Peer Social Foundation and Manyone. We are grateful for their support and recognition of the impactful research being done to meet our shared ambitions. Thanks to their generosity we will continue our proud tradition of enabling academic research with real-world application.”

Michael Cholod CEO at Manyone and Executive Director of The Peer Social Foundation comments, “As a dedicated group of decentralists, our teams look to find ways to free communication from manipulation and control by protecting individual, business or governmental digital identities. Part of that mission is to work with the most respected and knowledgeable people in the field. The team at UCL represent some of the best thinkers in the area and we’re honoured to work with them.”

Dr Geoffrey Goodell, Senior Research Associate at UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, specifically ads that, “The funding from The Peer Social Foundation and Manyone will provide vital resource to explore and evaluate user-controlled identity management, decentralised social networks, and tokenisation as vehicle for authorisation without identification. Our partnership will support the advancement of trusted relationships in the digital economy, the empowerment of local communities for the benefit of public interest. I am excited to deepen our collaboration and share our insights.”

Manyone, with offices in Vancouver, Canada and Stockholm, Sweden are looking to launch the first decentralised secure messaging solution by Mid-2021.

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Manyone is a pioneering technology venture that aims to deliver private secure networks and private digital identities, to increase personal and enterprise productivity and digital security. Manyone actively works with The Peer Social Foundation on education and research into topics of interest to consumers and enterprise. The Peer Social Foundation and Manyone believe in empowering a distributed internet where everyone can feel in control of their digital identity. They do this by delivering a self-sovereign digital identity and decentralized communication and sharing platform for enterprise and consumers. A critical component of this is to work beside and support vital education, R&D and the open-source community to connect people, business.

Find out more here: www.manyone.one  http://blockchain.cs.ucl.ac.uk/

Exciting New Zealand-Based Freelance Website Answers Roaring Freelance Economy

SkillConnect connects businesses and freelancers in an erupting remote work environment

New Zealand, (February 5, 2021) ​— ​SkillConnect is an exciting new freelance website that was created to answer the incredible demand for remote work opportunities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the website is operated in New Zealand, it presents businesses and freelancers with an opportunity to work with each other from virtually anywhere around the world. Account registration is free for both businesses and freelancers.

Officially launched in late 2020, SkillConnect was built from the ground-up as an innovative freelancer platform that is easy to use for both businesses and freelancers.

The site actively evolves and adapts to changes in demand, services, and feedback from its users. As the site continues to grow, more features will be added to better serve its users.

The hiring process for a freelancer is notably simple, and can be broken down into four steps:

  1. Post a job or project
  2. Connect with freelancers
  3. Chat and share files
  4. Pay only after the project is completed or upon mutual agreement

With the demand for freelance work on the rise, SkillConnect seeks to supply the demand for freelancers, both in New Zealand and abroad, “More people than ever are looking for opportunities to use their skills to make money online,” says the founder of SkillConnect, Sathya Parlapothula.

“There is also a huge demand for freelance work, particularly from small businesses who want more economical options to hiring full-time employees. The fit and the opportunity were both there to make this successful,” Sathya Parlapothula says.

About ​SkillConnect

SkillConnect is a New Zealand-based online freelancing site that connects businesses and freelancers all around the world. It was launched in November 2020 and continues to see a growing number of registered freelancers and businesses.

For more about SkillConnect, visit:

www.​skillconnect.co.nz
For more information, please contact:

Name: Sathya Parlapothula

Email: hello@skillconnect.co.nz

New Zealand’s Newest Online Job Portal Goes Live

Recruit.nz launches innovative employment site that connects local job seekers and employers

New Zealand, (December 01, 2020) Recruit.nz, New Zealand’s newest and most innovative online job portal has just launched and is already connecting job seekers and employers.

What makes Recruit.nz attractive is It is smarter, easier and affordable for everyone to use for both job seekers and employers. Recruit.nz set out to deliver a premium service that is accessible to job seekers and businesses of all sizes.

Premium features come standard for employers on the site.

These features include:

  • Custom hiring teams, where an employer can create approval systems to evaluate applicants.
  • An integrated To-Do List, which is an innovative feature where your hiring team can keep track of the team’s tasks and recruitment operations all within the site.

Supporting local businesses in an atypical way is one of Recruit’s goals, “We wanted a way to support people who were looking for jobs, and also the businesses that were hiring them,” says Recruit’s founder, Sathya Parlapothula.

“By giving local businesses a site where they can post their jobs for free, and take advantage of enhanced features like custom branding, manage hiring teams & applicant management tools if they so choose, we feel we are able to help our economy move forward from what was a very difficult year for many,” says Sathya Parlapothula.

About Recruit.nz

Recruit.nz is an all-inclusive online job portal based in New Zealand that launched in November 2020. They believe in working smarter, not harder. That’s why they created a portal like no other. No matter if you are looking for a job or looking to fill a job, they help make the process easier and faster than any other local job site around.

Facing pandemic lockdown challenges, entrepreneurs find new opportunities

Founder of ‘Inka Bands™’ in Auckland recently launched a new online store featuring stylish exercise accessories to meet rising demand for at-home fitness gear

Auckland, New Zealand — Oct. 12th, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a mountain of challenges to entrepreneurs everywhere.

But any ambitious visionary knows in challenges there are often opportunities.

Many entrepreneurs have used the pandemic as a chance to rebrand, pivot, and activate new ideas for these new and unusual times.

For Auckland entrepreneur Wayne Bowater, the pandemic presented him with an opportunity to launch a new brand to meet a new need.

Bowater is the managing director of McKenzie Group, a global distributor of quality health and wellness products sourced in New Zealand, and Mckenzie Distribution for its New Zealand distribution requirements. Recognizing a spike in at-home fitness due to the pandemic, he launched Inka Bands™ to introduce stylish and fashionable wrist weights and ankle weights for fitness enthusiasts in New Zealand and Australia.

“Though many entrepreneurs have taken a big hit during the pandemic, some of us have tried to stay alive by looking for new opportunities during the coronavirus lockdown,” Bowater said. “With so many people now working out at home, I came up with a fun new idea to power their workouts with great-looking hands-free weights to go along with their great-looking workout gear.”

The name INKA is a nod to a slang term referring to “the best friend you could ever ask for.” Inka Bands offer a comfortable way to add resistance to a home workout with attractive wrist and ankle weights manufactured from the highest quality fitness materials. Every Inka Band is waterproof. They come in a range of contemporary colours.

“Whether exercising along with a virtual workout at home, running, biking, hiking, rehab, yoga outdoors, or heading back to the gym for a Pilates session, we’ve got you covered with Inka Bands,” Bowater said. “Our beautiful weighted bands are perfect for boosting the muscle-building and fat-burning power of any workout. Best of all, you can wear them down to the cafe afterwards due to their stylish design sensibility.”

Learn more about Inka Bands and shop online at https://inkabands.co.nz.

World cup for rural connectivity

Saturday’s Rugby World Cup experience shows that New Zealand deserves a Broadband World Cup for getting broadband to its rural communities.

That’s the view of WISPA.NZ, the industry group supporting 28 Wireless Internet Service Providers who collectively provide broadband to an estimated 70,000 mostly rural customers.

“The great news is that WISPs dealt with the surge in traffic almost faultlessly,” WISPA Chairman Mike Smith said. “The problems were with the international link, and with some customer devices. But the part in between worked to perfection.

“WISPs can claim a lot of credit for bringing rural Kiwis in from the broadband boondocks. Tens of thousands of rural homes and businesses now have broadband at city speeds and city prices, with the number increasing daily.

“That’s something we wouldn’t have dreamed of a decade ago. Rural communities in New Zealand have far better broadband than most other Rugby World Cup countries, notably Australia.

“WISPs are committed to finishing the job, with government support, so every rural home and business can enjoy the benefits for social inclusion, entertainment and business. Connectivity to 100% of the community is within our sights.”

ENDS

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BACKGROUND NOTES

·         – Most WISPs, or regional telecommunications companies, are locally owned businesses founded in the early 2000s.

·        –  Initially they used their own capital, but in recent times 17 of them have received government funding through the Rural Broadband Initiative to expand their networks into remote areas that would otherwise be uneconomic.

·         – About half WISP connections use “WISP Wireless” – a series of hilltop towers with radios that bounce the Internet signal from one to another, then down to the homes below. The other half are re-sold services from other telcos.

·        – WISP wireless requires line of sight visibility. Hence it requires many more towers than cellular services, but these are much lower cost.