Meet the team behind Cultivate Ventures

Advisory Panel

Pratibha Vuppuluri

Investment Committee Member

Richard Green

Investment Committee Chair

  • Richard is an agri-businessman, investor and adviser for large-scale farming operations who will be joining the Cultivate Ventures Investment Committee to independently govern the investment decisions of the fund. He brings a wealth of experience gained through various directorship roles including AGMARDT Chairman, Headwaters NZ Chairman and other positions at Foundation for Arable Research, Rural Leadership Consortium and Nuffield New Zealand. Richard spent 11 years in the seed industry and was previously international business manager for PGG Wrightson Seeds and sales and marketing director for AGRICOM. Before that he was an agricultural consultant in Otago.

  • Pratibha Vuppuluri is the Managing Partner at Unreasonable Collective, an investment syndicate with a mandate to invest in Series A & B Stage Climate Tech ventures with a portfolio that includes Air Protein, Wild Earth, Blocpower among others. She brings 22+ years of capital raising and investing experience across industrial and clean technology sectors and has executed more than $7.5bn in transaction value at bulge bracket investment banks including Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Barclays. Pratibha graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelors in Applied Economics and Management and an academic publication. She also completed her Masters in International Affairs (International Finance and Economic Policy) at Columbia University. She is a frequent writer and speaker on the role of private capital in tackling societal challenges, impact investing, and diversity & inclusion.

Anthony Edmonds

Investment Committee Member

  • Anthony is the founder of Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) and InvestNow, which grew to managing over $6 billion of Kiwi’s assets, before being acquired by Apex Group in late 2022. He has significant experience across the investment industry, including establishing investment funds, being a member of investment different committees, and working with some of New Zealand’s largest investors. Prior to setting up Implemented Investment Solutions and InvestNow, Anthony spent 11 years at AMP Capital Investors including roles as a Director and Head of Sales & Marketing. He is also currently Chairperson of Trails Wellington, a non-for-profit group working to renew and create exciting new bike trails in the Wellington region.

Fund Manager

Jonathon Burke

Investment Director

  • Jonathan is a director of Northington Partners, having joined the business in 2016 after more than 10 years in investment banking with Forsyth Barr in Auckland and a year in the UK. Jonathan has worked on a wide range of advisory and capital market roles including a number of recent IPO’s, complex M&A transactions, strategic assistance and valuation roles within various sectors including agriculture, horticulture, health and aged care, technology and software, and industrial.

Mathew Rooza

Associate

  • Mathew joined Northington Partners in September 2019 after more than 4 years experience with the KPMG NZ Financial Services Audit & Assurance team. He was responsible for leading multiple engagement teams, predominantly engagements within the leasing and wealth management industry, through their statutory reporting assurance requirements. Mathew holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland.

Toby Martin

Associate Director

  • Toby is an Associate Director at Northington Partners. Toby joined Northington Partners in 2021 after more than five years at Genesis Energy in energy trading, treasury, and corporate finance. Toby has worked across a range of M&A and advisory roles, with a focus on sectors including mining, oil and gas, electricity, agriculture, and construction. Toby’s areas of expertise include financial modelling, asset valuation, derivative valuation, energy pricing and modelling, and strategy analysis. Toby has a keen interest for innovative on-farm energy solutions and carbon reduction strategies.

Nick Barr

Analyst

  • Nick joined Northington Partners in November 2023 from KPMG NZ where he had previously completed two internships in the Tax Advisory team and a further internship in the Corporate Finance team before joining the Corporate Finance team full time as a Graduate in 2022. He was responsible for assisting on a wide number of engagements including valuations, financial modelling, impairment testing and cost of capital estimates. Nick completed a conjoint degree in Commerce and Property at the University of Auckland. Nick has a deep interest in the financial world, particularly the equity capital markets.

Investment Committee

  • Lisbeth is the Chief Executive for Animal Management at Gallagher Group. Through this leadership role she has oversight of the strategic direction of the Animal Management business which aims to deliver smarter solutions to make farm life easier, more sustainable and more profitable and leads the expansion and operation of the company in its key markets throughout Australasia, the Americas, Europe and Asia. Lisbeth was previously General Manager of Innovation and Sustainability at Fletcher Building. She has had governance roles with Goodnature, BRANZ, Northpower, Wellington Drive, and Return on Science and executive roles with Uniservices, The Icehouse, and Bekaert across Europe, China and New Zealand. Lisbeth holds a PhD of Engineering from the University of Auckland, a Master of Engineering from the KU Leuven in Belgium and completed the General Management Programme at CEDEP-INSEAD in Paris.

  • Hew and his brother Roger are the owners and directors of Waitatapia Station in the Manawatu, which is a 2200-hectare fifth generation farming business incorporating cropping, livestock and forestry enterprises. He is a keen adopter of new technologies, advanced farming systems and provides support for multiple on-farm research programs and commercial tests. Hew also actively invests in several high-growth agri-tech and agri-food businesses including recent investment in BioLumic, a New Zealand based agritech company developing UV technology to seeds and seedlings.

Marcus Henderson

Investment Director

Greg Anderson

Fund Principal

  • Greg has been a Director at Northington Partners for over 20 years, where he has led the firm’s advisory and M&A activities across a wide range of sectors. That includes acting for many large businesses operating in the agriculture and horticulture sectors such as Fonterra, Synlait, Farmlands, The New Zealand Merino Company, Eastpack, Seeka and a number of large-scale irrigation schemes. Greg is also actively involved in the early-stage tech sector, both as an investor and adviser. He has managed numerous expansion capital rounds on behalf of high growth companies, assisting clients to tell their investment stories in the most effective way and connecting those companies with investors who will help create value. More of those companies are now focused on tech-enabled solutions for the Agri sector, looking to address the efficiency and sustainability challenges for primary producers. Greg is also increasingly involved in governance, both for companies in which he has an ownership stake and as an independent director.

  • Marcus Henderson is a director of Northington Partners with a family background in NZ farming and agriculture. He is passionate about working with high-growth NZ agri-tech and agri-foods companies that deliver positive impacts as well as commercial returns. Prior to joining Cultivate Ventures and Northington Partners, he established a successful track record investing in disruptive and scalable tech businesses operating in the UK, European, North American and APAC markets. Examples of high-growth companies he has previously invested in and helped to grow successfully include Current Health, Optoscribe, Symphonic Software and DeltaDNA. Prior to this, Marcus began his career working in consultancy and corporate finance with Deloitte UK, where he worked on several large M&A transactions and advisory projects for multinational corporations, government entities and private equity firms.

Hew Dalrymple

Lisbeth Jacobs

Mike Riley

Maury Leyland

  • Mike is a seasoned CEO and Founder of business consultancy Cress Global. Prior to Cress, he was CEO of Compac Sorting and has more than 25 years of experience in leadership, business operations, product management, sales and marketing across listed and private high-tech manufacturers in the UK, USA and New Zealand. Mike is Executive Chairman at FrameCad, RedShield Security, Pingar, StretchSense and Flow Software, and a non exec Director at New Zealand Frost Fans. He is a Board member of EMA and Convenor of Judges for the NZ HiTech Awards program.”

  • Maury is a Co-Founder of Leaft Foods. Prior to co-founding Leaft Foods she has held several senior leadership and governance roles in prominent NZ businesses including Fonterra, The Boston Consulting Group, Genesis Energy, Spark New Zealand and Transpower New Zealand. With her husband, John, she has investments in, and is actively involved with, several privately held primary sector start-up businesses in areas including horticulture, agritech and nutrition. They also have a farming business in North Canterbury where they are growing hops as well as more traditional sheep and beef. Maury holds BE (Hons) in Engineering Science from University of Auckland, is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.

Caroline Saunders

  • Distinguished Professor Caroline Saunders has over 40 years research expertise in the United Kingdom and New Zealand with over 200 publications specialising on economic development. Caroline also specializes in increasing returns from our markets based on the social, environmental and cultural attributes of our products. Caroline has a wealth of consulting and directorship experience including current and past roles on the Board of Landcare Research, AERU Lincoln University and is also a member of the Reserve bank Monetary Policy Committee. She was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009 and the NZIER Economist of the Year in 2007.

Ryan Barnes

Analyst

  • Ryan joined Northington Partners in February 2024 from PwC, where he was part of the Market Value Direct team. There, he specialised in valuation of derivatives and other complex securities. His recent experience includes analysis for Cultivate Ventures’ investments in Leaft Foods and Ruminant BioTech. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Lincoln University, with a double major in Finance and Economics, and has passed Level 3 of the CFA Program.