Trent Mankelow

Founder x2 · ex-Trade Me CPO/CCO · Board director, advisor, occasional MC.

📍 New Zealand🔄 Updated September 2026💼 17 investments📅 13 years investing🗓 Last invested Feb 2024
VC🌍 New Zealand
17
Total investments
4
Early stage
5
Mid stage
3
Late stage
13y
Years active

Portfolio

16 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Investor
Jan 2024
Shellworks is a design-led techbio company that creates uncompromising, compostable packaging solutions made from naturally-derived materials. Our first material is called Vivomer, a bio-based, vegan and home compostable alternative to plastic. Working in collaboration with nature, Vivomer is made and unmade by microbes.
Investor
Sep 2023
Waste-to-X. We control bacteria to create power from waste. We believe in a world that uses all of its resources to achieve 100% renewable energy, which includes our waste. Our first 2 technologies have revolutionised the way the world is able to transform waste into energy.
mid stageOil and Gas
Investor
Jun 2023
Did you know that employees with coach-like managers are eight times more likely to be highly engaged? (Source: Forrester) RunYourself is a pioneering prompt-driven, AI-assisted platform making it easy for managers to have effective coaching conversations. We blend expert coaching prompts on a spectrum of crucial topics with AI-powered support. This enables managers to have productive peer coaching conversations with other managers and more effective coaching, feedback, performance and career development conversations with their team members.
early stageEducation
Investor
Jun 2023
⬇️ A bit about us ⬇️ 🌏 At Basis, we work tremendously hard to radically accelerate the clean-energy revolution. We want to create an enduring positive impact for the planet, the people who inhabit it, and the future generations who will depend on it. 🚀 Our first leap towards fulfilling this purpose is redesigning the electrical infrastructure that homes depend on. Its a small step in our master plan but an important one if society is to accelerate efforts to combat climate change and dampen rising household costs simultaneously. 🌈 To get there, we are developing highly desirable hardware products by applying systems-level thinking to solve complex, multidimensional, and human-centered problems. So far, it has been an enjoyable but extremely challenging journey. 🤗 But innovative hardware will not be our only trick. Basis will redefine the homes interface, sit at the forefront of ambient computing, and effortlessly bring human warmth to tepid technology. ⬇️ Come and join an awesome team, solving challenging problems! ⬇️ 🌚 We are hiring rapidly in Operations, Engineering, Embedded Development, System Architecture, Software Architecture, and Data Science. To learn more, check out our careers page: https://careers.wearebasis.com/
Investor
May 2023
The future of fertility care is here. Affordable, at-home ICI-based fertility treatment designed to help you get you pregnant.
Investor
Mar 2023
Launched in 2017 by childhood friends Farah Kabir and Dr Sarah Welsh, HANX is revolutionising the world of sexual and intimate care. From ultra-thin, vegan, biodegradable condoms to water-based, latex-friendly lubricant, our signature sexual wellness essentials are natural, gynae-backed and have received global coverage in titles including Vogue, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Forbes. In 2021, we launched a pioneering same-day-dispatch hormonal contraceptive pill service, including the morning after pill, joining a range of intimate health treatments. Aimed to tackle COVID-induced sexual health and GP appointment backlogs, it offers a convenient, accessible solution alongside trustworthy resources for their 65,000 community. We offer discreet, same-day-dispatch shipping in the UK and US. HANX condoms and lubricant is stocked in 2000+ retail sites with leading retailers including Boots, Tesco, Sainsburys, WHSmith and Superdrug.
Investor
Nov 2022
Mevo is Australasias first free-floating and the worlds first climate positive car share company, born in Wellington. We are on a mission to create beautiful and liveable cities by giving people a better alternative to owning a car. Via our smartphone app, our members can unlock any of our cars, located throughout the city, and simply pay for the time which they use the vehicles. With it, our city and us can live with reduced traffic, pollution, and less need for car parks. Visit www.mevo.co.nz to learn more.
Investor
Sep 2022
Every year, in New Zealand alone, we dump over 750,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste. Most of this is waste rubble concrete. Some waste concrete is down-cycled into a lesser value product such as filler or base course. Taurus is the only technology available in New Zealand that takes waste concrete destined for landfill and processes it back into its original components enabling a fully circular concrete product.
Investor
Aug 2022
At UBCO we believe in creating products that enable people to do inspiring things, whether thats exploring our planet, creating a better world, or working smarter. Since its inception in 2015, UBCO has evolved into a digitally connected EV platform including on- and off-road transport (2X2), accessories, and cloud-based software. Founded in New Zealand, UBCO can now be found in the United States, Europe/UK, and Australia. We are passionate about providing a complete solution to our customers, from individual users to fleet managers, and have developed our product range to support a wide range of applications. The 2X2 is an all-wheel-drive electric motorbike that can go both on-road and off-road. Ultra-quiet, lightweight, and low maintenance, it can go through mud, up hills, over asphalt, and across streams without a second thought. The UBCO 2X2 - All-terrain, all-utility, and all-fun! 
Investor
May 2022
Food & beverage buyers and suppliers use Upstock to automatically manage all their wholesale orders, payments and logistics. https://www.upstock.app/ Made by the creators of Xero, Upstock automates and digitises wholesale transactions currently handled with scraps of paper, texts, emails, and phone calls. • Best selection of top quality suppliers • Fast, reliable orders every time • One click invoicing, accounting & inventory • Buyers find new suppliers, suppliers win new customers • Real time order status and delivery notifications • Cut costs, eliminate waste & reduce stress Upstock has over + 1,000 FMCG food & beverage suppliers + 30,000 cafes, restaurants, bars, groceries, retailers, supermarkets + 100,000 products Why do people love Upstock? Just ask some of our customers… ✶ Market Lane Coffee, 10 locations “Upstock is built to a really high quality and processing time has been cut in half.” ✶ Prana Chai “Upstock stood out as the obvious choice. Their team truly listened and ‘got us’. Customers are telling us they want Upstock.” ✶ Mojo Coffee, 34 locations “Ever since weve started using Upstock we cant live without it! Its made things run so much faster and smoother for all our cafes. When you add it all up, the time and cost savings have been exponential.” ✶ Best Ugly Bagels, 7 locations “It’s given staff complete visibility of whats been ordered which has had a big improvement on staff relationships." ✶ Grey Roasting Co. “With Upstock, I dont need to do paperwork any more. My invoicing is automatic and I’m getting paid faster. Upstock just does it all for me – I cant imagine life without it.” ✶ Plant Projects “I view Upstock as the future of distribution. Having the ability for people to trial our product through Upstock without having to send a rep in, that saves days, even weeks.” ✶ Grater Goods “Automated sales and invoicing has been a big game-changer. Its been wonderful to free up my time to focus on our expansion.”
Investor
May 2022
Excellent is the first global platform focused on connecting and supporting Employee Experience leaders and home to the worlds first Employee Experience certification. The future of work is EX. Every organisation is facing new and challenging problems where there is no playbook. EX Design School provides a great way forward. Become a certified EX Designer to build your career and improve the experience for employees in your organisation.
Investor
Nov 2014
Publons enables researchers to track and demonstrate a more complete record of their impact as a cited author, journal editor, and peer reviewer, in one place Join over 530,000 experts and create a free Publons profile to get: - All your publications, easily imported from Web of Science, ORCID, or your bibliographic reference managers (e.g. EndNote or Mendeley) - Trusted citation metrics, automatically imported from the Web of Science - Your verified peer review and journal editing history, powered by partnerships with thousands of scholarly journals - Downloadable record summarising your scholarly impact as an author, editor and peer reviewer - Choose to display or hide your h-index Populating your profile is as simple as a few clicks. We then verify your work and update your profile for you. Publons also provides: - Tools for publishers to find, screen, contact, and motivate peer reviewers; - Data and publications about global peer review behaviour; - Peer review training for early-career researchers; and - Features for academics to discuss and evaluate published research. Official partners include: Springer Nature, Wiley, Sage, Cambridge University Press, The Royal Society, Victoria University of Wellington, The University of Queensland and many more. For more info, see: https://publons.com/in/researcher
Investor
May 2014
Spotlight Reporting provides leading accountants with a great range of reporting and forecasting options that save time and effort while delivering clarity for decision making. We have five cloud-based business intelligence tools, designed specifically for accountants looking to transform the way they deliver advisory services to their clients. We import data from leading financial and non-financial software products - including Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and MYOB - to automatically create powerful dashboards, reports, three-way forecasts and multi-entity consolidations. Transform your business today by starting a free 14-day trial at https://www.spotlightreporting.com/free-trial Follow us on: X - https://twitter.com/spotlightrep; Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Spotlight-Reporting-380174365420847/
Early-stage investor
May 2014
This is a catchall company for the doers, the thinkers, and the innovators.
Show all 16 investments ↓
Experience · 19 entries
All (19)
Investments (17)
Founder (2)
2024
Investor
Jan 2024
Shellworks is a design-led techbio company that creates uncompromising, compostable packaging solutions made from naturally-derived materials. Our first material is called Vivomer, a bio-based, vegan and home compostable alternative to plastic. Working in collaboration with nature, Vivomer is made and unmade by microbes.
2023
Investor
Sep 2023
Waste-to-X. We control bacteria to create power from waste. We believe in a world that uses all of its resources to achieve 100% renewable energy, which includes our waste. Our first 2 technologies have revolutionised the way the world is able to transform waste into energy.
mid stageOil and Gas
Investor
Jun 2023
Did you know that employees with coach-like managers are eight times more likely to be highly engaged? (Source: Forrester) RunYourself is a pioneering prompt-driven, AI-assisted platform making it easy for managers to have effective coaching conversations. We blend expert coaching prompts on a spectrum of crucial topics with AI-powered support. This enables managers to have productive peer coaching conversations with other managers and more effective coaching, feedback, performance and career development conversations with their team members.
early stageEducation
Investor
Jun 2023
⬇️ A bit about us ⬇️ 🌏 At Basis, we work tremendously hard to radically accelerate the clean-energy revolution. We want to create an enduring positive impact for the planet, the people who inhabit it, and the future generations who will depend on it. 🚀 Our first leap towards fulfilling this purpose is redesigning the electrical infrastructure that homes depend on. Its a small step in our master plan but an important one if society is to accelerate efforts to combat climate change and dampen rising household costs simultaneously. 🌈 To get there, we are developing highly desirable hardware products by applying systems-level thinking to solve complex, multidimensional, and human-centered problems. So far, it has been an enjoyable but extremely challenging journey. 🤗 But innovative hardware will not be our only trick. Basis will redefine the homes interface, sit at the forefront of ambient computing, and effortlessly bring human warmth to tepid technology. ⬇️ Come and join an awesome team, solving challenging problems! ⬇️ 🌚 We are hiring rapidly in Operations, Engineering, Embedded Development, System Architecture, Software Architecture, and Data Science. To learn more, check out our careers page: https://careers.wearebasis.com/
Show all 19 entries ↓
Investment activity
2013–2024 · 17 investments
2013120143202262023520242
Recent (last 2 years)Earlier