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A New Zealand-based startup is making a worldwide impact in the area of education, thanks to the winning combination of a great idea, a dedicated team and an extra springboard – the University of Auckland's Velocity programme.

Kami (meaning paper in Japanese) is a software company offering cloud-based tools which allow teachers and students to annotate, edit and collaborate on digital documents.  Founded in 2013, Kami has now reached eight million subscribers throughout the world. The company has received many accolades, most recently winning the Company-X Best Emerging Business at the ExportNZ Awards 2019. 

"And we're continuing to grow," says co-founder Alliv Samson. "We're going really well in North America, which is our biggest market at the moment. We're also starting to look into Europe and South America, as there's a lot of interest coming from there right now."

Velocity is the student entrepreneurship development programme delivered by the University of Auckland's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Velocity $100k challenge is the culmination of the year-long Velocity programme, with a prize pool valued at $100,000 available to successful participants. In its 16-year history, the competition has produced more than 120 ventures, which have created at least 700 jobs with products and services in 35 countries. Velocity ventures have attracted over $258 million in investment.

"The Velocity competition really helped propel us forward," says Samson.  

CEO and co-founder Hengjie Wang, now Samson's husband, was responsible for signing up the Kami team for the competition.  He and co-founder Jordan Thoms were finishing their fourth year of software engineering and had originally developed Kami to improve their own study techniques by using collaborative notetaking.

"He applied at the last minute," says Samson. "Ten minutes before the deadline, he messaged me and Jordan and said, 'I'm applying for this competition, have a quick look at the application. You've got ten minutes. It was a very rushed, very last-minute thing that he did but we got in and it was great."

They made into the finals and were given three mentors, one of whom was Bob Drummond, who became Kami's Chairman of the Board and chief revenue officer.  

They were also introduced to Rudi Bublitz of investment group Flying Kiwi Angels, who was one of the judges at the competition.

"It was the network effect," says Samson. "As we went through the competition, we learned so much about setting up a company and things we wouldn't have thought of.  But the most important aspect of it was meeting all these people who helped us get started after the competition. Bob became part of the team, Rudy became one of our first investors and some of our initial investors came from within that circle of people as well."

An already busy Samson and Wang have now added a baby to the mix, with the recent arrival of their first child. They're proving that it's possible to make an impact with hard work and innovation while balancing a family life.

"I think the advantage is that I have really good co-founders with me," says Samson. "We have worked together for eight years so I trust they can take over my work easily while I'm on maternity leave. We always make sure everyone is up to date. Everyone was happy for me to take leave and the company won't be affected by it, as we know that each of us can do a good job in each other's roles.

For more information about the University of Auckland visit www.auckland.ac.nz and for more information about the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship visit www.cie.auckland.ac.nz.