TINWire Tech News Roundup: 8 April 19

The tech sector never sits still, and this past week in tech land has been anything but quiet.

First off the block was news that fast food giant McDonald’s is taking a 9.9 per cent stake in Plexure for $5.4 million. It’s their first-ever investment in a mobile app vendor and further evidence of how they’re using technology to transform the customer experience at McDonald’s. Exciting news for NZX-listed Plexure and although their technology is now spread across 50 countries, they say they’ll remain firmly rooted in New Zealand.

A big shout-out was given to Rocket Lab from Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas who called them a “disruptive front runner” in the space industry and among “the best positioned to take advantage of the smaller private satellite launch market.”

Hot on the heels of this came the news of Simon Moutter’s resignation as CEO of Spark, and the appointment of customer director Jolie Hodson as his successor – the second woman to lead the company, formerly known as Telecom. The 5G mobile upgrade will be one of her priorities when she takes up her role mid-year, along with Spark Sport.

Finally, a new feature launching this week, we look at our Spark Early Stage Companies from 2018 and how they’ve progressed over the past year. First up is AI start-up FaceMe, who have come a long way in the last 12 months.

Happy reading,

Greg & the TIN Team