ITP Techblog

Our tech start-up scene is thriving, attracting more talent and capital than ever before.

But where are the best places to work? How do you find a company that has a meaningful mission and will help you gain incredible experience and develop new skills?

There's no one easy answer to this. But it starts with knowing what our rapidly changing tech start-up ecosystem looks like and the key players in it. In that sense, the top 100 list was just published by talent and recruitment advisor Matchstiq. 

It has put together a list of what it considers to be the top 100 emerging and high growth Kiwi start-ups to work at. It's a list with many names that will be familiar, but also a good number that have been below the radar to date.

How does Matchstiq come up with its list?

"To be considered for the list, the nominated companies needed to be New Zealand-owned and operated, and building an innovative product disrupting a global industry," Matchstiq explains.

The list indicates where job positions are open

"One change from last year's list was a lesser focus on the larger and more established publicly listed entities, as the list is designed to raise the profile of the companies that you don't often see in the media."

Ultimately, the selected companies were scored based on three key attributes - their growth potential, work culture and contribution to the broader talent ecoystem in New Zealand.

A nomination process yielded the names of 450 start-ups, which were then voted on by "a selection of top venture capital firms and investors operating in New Zealand, as well as ecosystem partners that have a broad view of the market," Matchstiq said.

The resulting list is alphabetical, rather than ranking them 1 to 100. The list also helpfully points out where job positions are open at a start-up.

Getting a steer on growth potential

Matchstiq's co-founder Greg Denton told Stuff earlier this week that start-ups still weren't the first choice for people leaving school or university, despite them paying decent salaries and allowing people to get into high growth ventures at an early stage.

"I think there is a problem in regards to the education opportunities that are preparing people for this industry. I believe there's a lot of organisations as well as the Government as well as higher education starting to look to address that, but there's a big gap still to close," he said.

Matchstiq also has a directory of Kiwi tech start-ups beyond its top 100 list that is a useful guide for anyone looking to take their tech career into the start-up world, which is now much bigger than you might have thought.