Timescapes, which now has 40 staff and is on track to hit annual revenue of $10 million within the next 12 months, started with Chester Boyes scratching around a Rotorua roundabout.
As with many successful start-ups, it was part happenstance, part addressing a problem needing to be solved.
University of Canterbury geology graduate Boyes did contract work on large-scale mining and infrastructure projects in Australia before travelling around the United States and Europe: “Doing a lot of climbing, snowboarding, taking photos. I really got into the photography. After moving back to New Zealand, I attempted to do adventure photography as a job, unsuccessfully.”
To make ends meet, he took on a more meat-and-potatoes job in 2017: a timelapse video of a roading construction project, the Hemo Rd Intersection upgrade in Rotorua (see the clip below).
Hi wasn’t impressed with the type of gear available for such a project. He ended up putting a camera on a pole, storing photos to a USB card, then attaching his laptop to a cable dangling down the pole once a month, “just hoping everything would be there”.
He set about putting together his own, all-in-one hardware and software solution and, around 12 months later, landed his first big client: Icon Construction, to compile a timelapse of construction of The Pacifica in Auckland.
Fast forward to today and Timescapes now has more than 100 customers including a who’s who of top-tier New Zealand construction, with Fulton Hogan, HEB, Fletcher, Downer, and Hawkins on its books.
While timelapse clips are a dime a dozen, Timescapes uses machine-learning technology – which Boyes says was developed in-house – for real-time tracking of assets around the site, using Nikon mirrorless cameras and Tokina lenses housed in custom-built aluminium and polycarbonate camera rugged enclosures with solar power and 4G.
“We’ve got a really reliable, fully integrated system that we can just ship directly to projects. They self-install; they scan a little QR code on the back, go through a number of steps. Takes like, 10 to 15 minutes to install the camera, and they’re away.
“AI [artificial intelligence] has been a big focus for the past two-and-a-half years,” Boyes says.
Timescapes offers AI-driven analytics for project management tracking, and matching if what’s happening on-site matches an architect’s 3D “bim” (building information model).
The video above of a construction site in Albany, Auckland “shows a series of construction project images that were captured by a Timescapes smart construction camera and how we use AI to track asset activity – personnel and equipment – across those images”, Boyes says.
“We’re measuring things like equipment utilisation, how many different ... pieces of equipment are on-site, different projects, how many people are on-site, and the implications of weather delays on projects.”
Boyes says no one was offering the same service here and his firm has encountered only legacy systems built before the cloud and AI eras as they push into North America.
Timescapes was initially bootstrapped from Boyes’ savings and his parents remortgaging their home.
The firm recently wrapped up a Series A round – which the Herald understands was in the high single-digit millions – led by Icehouse Ventures. The firm also also been backed by three early Pushpay investors, the Huljich family, the Bhatnagar family and Bruce Gordon.
Boyes says the funds will go toward his firm’s offshore push, plus developing new AI features – particularly around workplace health and safety, such as tracking who’s wearing a hard hat.
“We’ve taken on 20 staff in the past year. We’re pushing toward our next annual revenue milestone, $10 million, which we’re expecting to hit over the next 12 to 18 months. We’ve been growing around 70% to 80% per year since the company’s inception.”
More will be taken on.
Recession hasn’t slowed the firm, the founder says, now that it’s in several markets. He’s also seen a phenomenon where civil works and infrastructure products pick up during commercial downturns.
“We started getting dragged into Australia by existing contractors because there’s a lot who work in both markets,” Boyes says. “So we established an office in Australia and that’s growing incredibly well.” The Aussie operation is based in Melbourne but the firm has business up and down the eastern seaboard, plus Perth.
Timescapes also has shops in Canada, with a dozen staff in Hamilton, Ontario, near the border with New York, after landing a contract with Mattamy Homes, billed as the largest privately owned home-builder in North America and based in nearby Ottawa. Timescapes also formed a strategic partnership with EllisDon – the second largest construction company in Canada – which is also headquartered in Ontario. Timescapes technology is currently being used across 17 EllisDon construction sites.
The firm is also in Britain and is in the process of pushing into the United States, “starting with Texas, where we’ve got some beach-head projects with some large-scale contractors and big opportunities”.
Boyes says the business “has always been cashflow-positive. That’s been our mindset continuously. I like to build up little revenue hubs. We validate ourselves in a region, then we land more people and expand. We didn’t necessarily need the [Series A] money, but it was a way to accelerate.”
He sees North America as the firm’s main source of growth in the year ahead but says product development will remain in Christchurch, with a few in Parnell, Auckland.
“Timescapes is an impressive and understated New Zealand software success story in the making,” says Icehouse Ventures partner Barnaby Marshall.
“Chester is the kind of guy to lead from the front – a humble person who holds himself to world-class standards and expects the same of his team.
“Timescapes has effectively solved a pressing challenge in the construction industry, attracting a global customer base that includes top-tier firms. This is a company that sets ambitious goals and consistently delivers on them.”
Icehouse Ventures invested in Timescapes through its Growth Fund II.
This week, the venture capital firm said the $100m-plus GFII had been bolstered by a $10m commitment from Pie Funds’ KiwiSaver Growth Fund.
Icehouse Ventures has raked in money from KiwiSaver operators.
Generate KiwiSaver chipped in $20m as a cornerstone investor for GFII, while Sam Stubbs’ Simplicity put $10m into the fund. Simplicity has invested $35m with Icehouse Ventures since 2020.
But it’s also been the exception to the rule, with KiwiSaver investments in venture capital scarce.
Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly says he has been meeting KiwiSaver providers to understand the barriers they face when investing in unlisted New Zealand businesses.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
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