We back founders early, and build alongside them.

Decoded Ventures is a pre-seed investor and venture builder in Auckland, New Zealand. We put in capital and a build team at the same time.

Raise capital Become an investor

What we do

Most pre-seed companies do not need advice. They need someone to build with.

A traditional fund writes a cheque and waits. We invest, then put our own engineers, designers and operators onto the problem until the company has a product and paying customers.

That means we take a position earlier than most, at a lower cost, and we carry more of the execution risk ourselves. It suits founders who want to move now, and investors who want to see progress rather than hear about it.

Portfolio

Companies we are building

Pitch us your company

Construction

3PM

An agentic assistant for construction teams, handling the coordination work that currently runs on phone calls and spreadsheets.

3pm.app →

Tech Developer

Decoded Studios

Custom software, built in 14 days from $7,000. We replace it with custom software, built by real engineers at a fixed price from $7,000.

decoded.digital →

Business

Rilo

RILO is the end-to-end business builder. From a single prompt, turn ideas into real, production-ready businesses, faster than ever.

rilo.studio →

Gaming

Furbrains

A connected toy and app for children, where the physical character and its on-screen counterpart share the same memory.

furbrains.ai →

Consumer Collectables

Stamps of Approval

Identification and valuation for stamp collectors, trained on catalogue data covering more than two million collectors worldwide.

stampsofapproval.ai →

Catchbag

Catchbag aims to help fishing, hunting adn pest control management through competitive gaming.

catchbag.co.nz →

For founders

Capital and a build team, from the first cheque

Pre-seed investment, with the engineering to go with it.
Pilots with real customers, funded by us, before you raise again.
Partners who hold equity in the outcome and work on the company, not just the board.

Apply for investment

For investors

Early exposure, without a decade of silence

We take our position at pre-seed prices, so entry cost is a fraction of a seed round.
Partial secondaries are planned into the fund, not left to a single exit event.
Quarterly reporting on every company in the fund, including the ones going badly.

See our funds

Funds

Invest alongside us

Our funds are open to wholesale investors under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. Each has its own terms, timetable and investment committee.

Ignition Fund

Open for subscription

Pre-seed capital paired with an in-house build team, so a company can reach its first customers on a low burn rate.

Fund size: NZD 30M
Stage: Pre-seed
Closes: 30 November 2026

Fund details →

Catalyst Fund

Closed

Pre-seed capital and operational support for New Zealand technology companies building for markets beyond New Zealand.

Fund size: NZD 11M
Stage: Pre-seed
Closes: 30 May 2026

NZD 5.5M subscribed50%

Fund details →

This page is information only. It is not an offer of financial products and it is not financial advice. Investing in early-stage companies carries a real risk of total loss.

Building something? Tell us about it.

Send us a short pitch with a deck and a 90-second video. We read everything that comes in and reply either way.

Get in touch About us