StaplesVR
StaplesVR is a pioneering immersive technology company developing advanced VR/AR training solutions across aviation, defence, healthcare, emergency response, and high-risk industries.
Fund: Te Pae ki te Rangi
Transaction Summary
Fund: Te Pae ki te Rangi
Date Invested: December 2025 (Seed)
Instrument: Equity Investment
IRIS+ Category: Gender Lens | Women’s Health and Agency + Health | Access to Quality Healthcare
Why We Invested
The best training in the world has always required the real thing nearby: a cockpit, an operating theatre, a burning building close enough to feel the heat. StaplesVR removes that dependency. Their VR and AR simulations replicate high-stakes conditions with enough fidelity that trainees in aviation, defence, healthcare, and emergency response build genuine competency before they encounter the actual stakes. That the training works was clear from the beginning. What really got us looking closer was the workforce behind the technology. StaplesVR is built by creatives from diverse backgrounds in a genuinely inclusive company. That is the operating model: how they recruit, how they build, how the work gets made. The creative output is the better for it.
Industries that have historically lacked workforce diversity are now buying a product shaped by the people those industries ignored. That's the position StaplesVR occupies, and it compounds.
Measuring What Matters
Problem:
Gender diverse and neurodiverse creatives face systemic exclusion across a range of industries, including tech and immersive media sectors, limiting both their employment opportunities and the industry's creative output.
What:
Increased inclusion and visibility of gender diverse and neurodiverse creatives in VR tech development. Improved access to high-quality immersive training for aviation, defence, and other safety-critical industries.
Who:
Diverse creatives building careers in VR technology. Workers in safety-critical sectors who benefit from more effective, accessible training tools.
How Much:
Scale: StaplesVR employees and client base across Aotearoa and international markets.
Depth: material employment and career outcomes for underrepresented talent; improved training conditions and outcomes for trainees.
Duration: long-term career progression for people who would otherwise be excluded; sustained learning outcomes through the VR platform.
Contribution: StaplesVR is an example of inclusivity embedded in core business practice. The investment enables further scale and hiring, directly benefiting priority communities.
Impact Risk:
Endurance risk: if the founders' commitment to an inclusive workplace isn't codified as the company scales, it risks dilution. The culture that makes StaplesVR distinctive needs to be built into the structure, not held in place by individuals.
Impact Measures:
Number of diverse employees. Client base growth. Training outcomes for end users in safety-critical sectors.
