Carnival Labs Secures Impressive US Investment

Kiwi Tech firm Carnival Labs has secured major US investment.

Kiwi Tech firm Carnival Labs, founded by Guy Horrocks and Cody Bunea in 2008, has secured major US investment through, according to Horrocks, "some of the most experienced brand, agency and technology partners:” US company Lerer Ventures, investor Gary Vaynerchuk, Flybridge Capital Partners, Bowery Capital, Google Ventures, David Tisch of BoxGroup, Jos White and Michael Lazerow.

This funding – about US$2.4 million – will allow Carnival Labs to expand its work with many Fortune 500 companies. The investment will also help Carnival Labs to scale its sales, account management and engineering teams in both New Zealand and New York City: Carnival Labs plans to grow its presence in the US market, but also maintain and develop its Kiwi base.

Investors such as Vaynerchuk – an early-stage investor in NZ company Willdfire (sold to Google for $US250 million), are looking forward to working with Carnival Labs. According to Vaynerchuck’s release, his investment in Carnival Labs is his biggest yet and he believes the company will have a “huge impact on the future.”

In addition to the impressive list of investors, New York-based ex-pat Kiwi Jonty Kelt has also joined Carnival Labs’ advisory board.

“We’re extremely excited and very humbled to have what could be classified as the ’dream team’ of investors and advisors from our industry,” Horrocks told NBR ONLINE.

“This is a major milestone for a young Kiwi technology company and we hope that it helps pave the way for more young entrepreneurs to succeed in the US market. This also hopefully builds upon the US perception of New Zealand as a creative technology hot spot.”