Hamilton-based software and technology services firm Dynamo6 recently celebrated its tenth year in business, announcing plans to scale up with a recruitment drive and future overseas expansion.
The firm was recently listed by the Financial Times as a 2022 APAC 500 high-growth company, reporting an absolute growth rate of 155% during the last three years.
Known for their cloud partnerships, expertise in supporting work-from-anywhere projects and for building a range of apps, including Te Aka Māori Dictionary, Dynamo6 has developed a strong reputation and customer base
Founder and executive director Igor Matich says the company is still in growth phase with more and more Kiwi organisations understanding the strategic importance of digital transformation services in streamlining their operations, customer experience and growing their revenues
“We’ve delivered lots of big projects these last few years, notably building Hamilton City Council’s new website platform and delivering Callaghan Innovation’s modern workplace transformation.
“We’re in growth mode, over the next few years. We’re looking to double the size of our team and venture out overseas and do more great things.”
Data from the Technology Investment Network shows that the technology sector in the Waikato region represents $973m and saw growth of 4.6% in 2020. Prior to COVID, Hamilton’s tech sector was the fastest growing in the country with MBIE reporting growth of 16.3% for 2019.
When it launched in 2012, the company started as a team of two. Its current team sits at 22 people. The team includes cloud engineers, software developers and testers, UX designers, business analysts and support engineers and is currently actively recruiting for roles.
“Recruitment at the moment is challenging for us and many businesses. But Hamilton is a thriving city with lots going for it. It’s more affordable and offers a great work-life balance. That’s really appealing as people look for new roles.”
Initiatives such as the newly launched ‘Tech in the Tron’ are aimed at attracting further talent into the region to fuel growth.
Most of Dynamo6’s team lives in the Waikato region, mixing a city commute with days working from home. The firm has embraced flexible and remote working, with some employees working overseas from the UK and Canada and some from other regions within New Zealand.
An immigrant success story, Matich grew up in war-torn Zagreb in Croatia and came with his family to Aotearoa in 1995 as a 15-year-old.
After studying for a Diploma in Business Computing at the AUT, he worked his way up into leadership roles before embarking on the Dynamo6 journey.
“I was at the point where I could have just gone to work somewhere else and done the same thing. I saw the opportunity to get amongst the changes in the industry around the cloud.”
Setting up Dynamo6, Matich saw the future of the business delivering projects in the burgeoning cloud computing world.
With a young family and a Hamilton-born wife, the move to the Waikato made sense.
Having quickly built a reputation in the industry, Matich says, being based in Hamilton hasn’t been a barrier to Dynamo6’s growth.
“As a company, we punch above our weight in terms of the t Ludo Maignot, Celeste Thornley and Jasper Maignot
ypes of projects we work on, the customers we work with and the size of the projects now. Most of those customers are based in Auckland, Wellington and even some international players.”
Although, Matich says, in the early days it was harder for Waikato businesses like Dynamo6 to be taken seriously but in the past few years Hamilton has built a formidable reputation in the IT space.
“In the past if you were to say you were from Wellington or Auckland, you would get more kudos. Some of that perception has been challenging at times. But there are quite a few tech companies in Hamilton now doing really well and the perception of the region is slowly changing as well. The reality is a lot of Aucklanders are moving down here. And we have a growing, strong economy in Hamilton.”
Like many businesses operating in the digital space, Covid has contributed positively to the Dynamo6’s success.
Matich says doing business digitally has become the norm and it was less common for tech companies these days to visit customer sites.
Dynamo6’s mission, after all, is to ‘empower organisations to innovate in the digital world’ by designing collaborative, connected and productive workplaces.
“Part of the work we do is helping clients modernise their workplace around the technology they use and how they work together.”
Walking the talk when it comes to a digital workspace is important to Matich and with the headcount growth and expansion ambitions, the company is currently working on a new custom-designed office space for the team in a central Hamilton development.
“The newly designed space will be a flagship location and made for modern hybrid work,” It’s already promising some cool features,” Matich says.
