Accelerated growth over the last three years has been the springboard for The Instillery to shift gears from a start-up to a scale-up in 2022, as it moves into a new transition phase, with the launch of a new division, personnel changes and a move to new architecturally-designed premises.
“Having achieved the highest growth rate amongst privately owned companies in last year’s TIN report, we’ve increased employee numbers by 25% since March and are due to hit 200 total employees in November,” Managing Director Michael Russell said.
“Along with our recent acquisition of TwoBlackLabs and an increased Wellington presence, we’ve also brought on new customers such as NZ Rugby, Earthquake Commission, Fonterra and BNZ as well as continued valued partnerships with long term customers Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), Milford Asset Management, Loyalty NZ and Hamilton City Council.”
New premises
Over the last year, The Instillery has been working with Industry Architects on a custom fit-out for their new premises. This has been designed specifically to provide a more productive, collaborative and functional workspace supporting hybrid working-styles where offices are used as hubs for creativity.
“The collaborative design process has provided a valuable insight into how The Instillery team functions. This has enabled us to collectively infuse and embody this way of working into the design of the new workplace, further facilitating collaboration and human interaction,” says Director of Industry Architects, Adam Taylor.
Future House will also be home to The Instillery customer, Modica, along with other tech companies such as Outset Ventures. Our new premises will be located at Future House in Parnell, close to where The Instillery was originally founded, and will be our first custom designed workspace, signalling a major long-term investment in the future of the business.
“While flexible work arrangements remain for our team, The Instillery has always been built upon the energy and passion of our people. We wanted to keep the option of a physical space where our team can bring all of this together,” says Michael Russell.
In addition to the new Auckland premises, The Instillery will also be opening a new Wellington office in the same building as AWS and Microsoft to cater for their growing presence in the capital with space to house more than double the current number of staff.
Changes to leadership team and new talent
As part of the transition to “scale-up,” the Instillery will also be making changes to the leadership team while bringing on new talent. Notably, Founder and CEO Mike Jenkins (MJ), will be moving to a non-executive Director role, with Michael Russell assuming the responsibilities of CEO.
“From day one, we felt duty bound to help unlock Kiwi businesses and government agencies from legacy, expensive and inflexible IT supplier arrangements and instead empower our clients through a value and outcome based approach,” says Mike Jenkins.
“I’m proud to say that we’ve achieved that and so much more! Building on our people and culture and working inside some of our country’s largest and most innovative organisations. The Instillery has never been in a stronger position and I know I’m leaving our whanau, customers and partners in great hands with Mike Russell at the helm.”
“From the bottom of my heart, I want to say a massive thank you to all our customers and staff who chose and believed in us and I look forward to what comes next; an extended summer vacation with my tamariki; Kobe, T and Sash.”
Having held a number of governance positions (including as a member of the D&I sub-board of NZTech and a board member of a number of other startups) and recently completing a Company Directors’ course with the Institute of Directors, Mike Jenkins is turning his focus to opportunities for pursuing progress in the education, health and public sectors.
“MJ has done an amazing job at growing The Instillery through his tireless energy, passion and commitment,” Mr Russell said. “Having guided the business from a start-up through to where it is today, MJ’s continuing contribution on the board reflects his focus on further governance roles and will be invaluable as we enter the next phase of our business.”
Jeremy Nees will continue to support me in his role as COO; driving key elements of the company’s strategy and vision.”
Recent growth in the Security Intelligence division will also see Steve Martin (ex-Datacom, Vodafone) joining The Instillery to lead their Security Operations Team.
Launch of new Development arm
Following last year’s launch of their Security Intelligence division, The Instillery will also be launching a new Development arm to support the growing demand for outcome-based, digital transformation leveraging for the vast suite of public cloud services.
“As public cloud adoption continues to increase, the burning platform for lift-and-shift migrations is shifting towards a focus on true application transformation. Our new Development arm will be applying our expertise in cloud services to help Kiwi businesses realise the full potential of their own products and services to deliver value for their own customers,” says Jeremy Nees.
The Development arm is currently in incubation phase with foundation client Earthquake Commission and a full launch is planned for the New Year.
Start-up to Scale-up
“This exciting new phase of The Instillery’s development looks set to entrench the company as a major force in the industry,” Mr Russell said, “The formal launch of our brand in the New Year, once we shift into our premises, will give customers and others from the industry the chance to visit us in our new Parnell offices. Come visit!”
For more information and any media enquiries, please contact:
Ryan Joe
ryan.joe@theinstillery.com
+64272087807
