Meet the team behind Cultivate Ventures

Advisory Panel

Pratibha Vuppuluri

Investment Committee Member

Richard Green

Investment Committee Chair

  • Richard is an agri-businessman, investor and adviser for large-scale farming operations who will be joining the Cultivate Ventures Investment Committee to independently govern the investment decisions of the fund. He brings a wealth of experience gained through various directorship roles including AGMARDT Chairman, Headwaters NZ Chairman and other positions at Foundation for Arable Research, Rural Leadership Consortium and Nuffield New Zealand. Richard spent 11 years in the seed industry and was previously international business manager for PGG Wrightson Seeds and sales and marketing director for AGRICOM. Before that he was an agricultural consultant in Otago.

  • Pratibha Vuppuluri is the Managing Partner at Unreasonable Collective, an investment syndicate with a mandate to invest in Series A & B Stage Climate Tech ventures with a portfolio that includes Air Protein, Wild Earth, Blocpower among others. She brings 22+ years of capital raising and investing experience across industrial and clean technology sectors and has executed more than $7.5bn in transaction value at bulge bracket investment banks including Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Barclays. Pratibha graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelors in Applied Economics and Management and an academic publication. She also completed her Masters in International Affairs (International Finance and Economic Policy) at Columbia University. She is a frequent writer and speaker on the role of private capital in tackling societal challenges, impact investing, and diversity & inclusion.

Anthony Edmonds

Investment Committee Member

  • Anthony is the founder of Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) and InvestNow, which grew to managing over $6 billion of Kiwi’s assets, before being acquired by Apex Group in late 2022. He has significant experience across the investment industry, including establishing investment funds, being a member of investment different committees, and working with some of New Zealand’s largest investors. Prior to setting up Implemented Investment Solutions and InvestNow, Anthony spent 11 years at AMP Capital Investors including roles as a Director and Head of Sales & Marketing. He is also currently Chairperson of Trails Wellington, a non-for-profit group working to renew and create exciting new bike trails in the Wellington region.

Fund Manager

Jonathan Burke

Investment Director

  • Jonathan is a director of Northington Partners, having joined the business in 2016 after more than 10 years in investment banking with Forsyth Barr in Auckland and a year in the UK. Jonathan has worked on a wide range of advisory and capital market roles including a number of recent IPO’s, complex M&A transactions, strategic assistance and valuation roles within various sectors including agriculture, horticulture, health and aged care, technology and software, and industrial.

Toby Martin

Associate Director

  • Toby is an Associate Director at Northington Partners. Toby joined Northington Partners in 2021 after more than five years at Genesis Energy in energy trading, treasury, and corporate finance. Toby has worked across a range of M&A and advisory roles, with a focus on sectors including mining, oil and gas, electricity, agriculture, and construction. Toby’s areas of expertise include financial modelling, asset valuation, derivative valuation, energy pricing and modelling, and strategy analysis. Toby has a keen interest for innovative on-farm energy solutions and carbon reduction strategies.

Sheryl Tan

Analyst

  • Sheryl joined Northington Partners in February 2026, where she supports the firm’s advisory and investment activities through research, analysis, and execution support.

    Prior to joining Northington, Sheryl was a Senior Investment and Operations Associate at Pacific Channel, a venture capital firm focused on deep technology investments across the health, food, and climate sectors. In this role, she conducted scientific, technical, and financial due diligence on prospective investments, supported transaction execution, and worked closely with portfolio companies as they progressed through de-risking research, product development, and commercialisation. She also contributed to capital raising initiatives, investor relations, and broader fund operations.

    Earlier in her career, Sheryl held research fellowships at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Germany and then at the University of Auckland, where her work spanned neurodegeneration, neurotrauma, and implantable medical devices.

Maia Trevelyan

Analyst

  • Maia joined Northington Partners as an Analyst in February 2026. Prior to this, she completed internships with Murray & Co as an Investment Banking Intern and with Deloitte as a Consulting Intern. She brings experience in equity research, financial modelling, and financial econometrics. Maia holds a Bachelor of Business (Economics and Strategic Management) and a Master of Applied Finance from the University of Waikato. She also completed a one‑year exchange at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), ranked #12 globally, fully funded by a Prime Minister’s Scholarship.

Tom Rance

Analyst

  • Tom joined Northington Partners in 2026, having previously spent three years at ASB Bank across the asset management and corporate banking teams, most recently as a Senior Analyst. Tom has experience in financial modelling, company valuation, and credit and investment analysis, and has worked on transactions and portfolios across a range of industries including horticultural, manufacturing and infrastructure.

Ariel Bing

Intern Analyst

  • Ariel joined Northington Partners in November 2025 as an intern, working across the firm’s investment banking and private capital divisions. He has a background in venture due diligence and transaction support, with recent experience including analysis for Cultivate Ventures’ investment into Scentian Bio.

    Ariel is currently completing conjoint degrees in Law and Finance at the University of Auckland.

Investment Committee

  • Lee Matheson is the Managing Director of Perrin Ag, one of New Zealand’s leading agribusiness consultancies. In this role, he provides strategic leadership across the firm’s advisory services, with expertise spanning farm business strategy, whole-farm systems innovation, corporate governance, investment analysis and economic research. He has particular experience in Māori agribusiness, managing environmental externalities, and supporting farmers to adapt to both local and international market dynamics.

    Before joining Perrin Ag in 2006, Lee worked for nearly six years in New Zealand’s financial markets, trading interest rates and foreign exchange for the country’s largest bank. He holds a Bachelor of Plant Science in Rural Valuation and Management and an Honours degree in Pastoral Science from Massey University. He is also a Registered Fellow of the Instititue of Rural Professionals.

  • Hew and his brother Roger are the owners and directors of Waitatapia Station in the Manawatu, which is a 2200-hectare fifth generation farming business incorporating cropping, livestock and forestry enterprises. He is a keen adopter of new technologies, advanced farming systems and provides support for multiple on-farm research programs and commercial tests. Hew also actively invests in several high-growth agri-tech and agri-food businesses including recent investment in BioLumic, a New Zealand based agritech company developing UV technology to seeds and seedlings.

Maury Leyland

  • Maury is a Co-Founder of Leaft Foods. Prior to co-founding Leaft Foods she has held several senior leadership and governance roles in prominent NZ businesses including Fonterra, The Boston Consulting Group, Genesis Energy, Spark New Zealand and Transpower New Zealand. With her husband, John, she has investments in, and is actively involved with, several privately held primary sector start-up businesses in areas including horticulture, agritech and nutrition. They also have a farming business in North Canterbury where they are growing hops as well as more traditional sheep and beef. Maury holds BE (Hons) in Engineering Science from University of Auckland, is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.

Marcus Henderson

Investment Director

Greg Anderson

Fund Principal

  • Greg has been a Director at Northington Partners for over 20 years, where he has led the firm’s advisory and M&A activities across a wide range of sectors. That includes acting for many large businesses operating in the agriculture and horticulture sectors such as Fonterra, Synlait, Farmlands, The New Zealand Merino Company, Eastpack, Seeka and a number of large-scale irrigation schemes. Greg is also actively involved in the early-stage tech sector, both as an investor and adviser. He has managed numerous expansion capital rounds on behalf of high growth companies, assisting clients to tell their investment stories in the most effective way and connecting those companies with investors who will help create value. More of those companies are now focused on tech-enabled solutions for the Agri sector, looking to address the efficiency and sustainability challenges for primary producers. Greg is also increasingly involved in governance, both for companies in which he has an ownership stake and as an independent director.

  • Marcus Henderson is a director of Northington Partners with a family background in NZ farming and agriculture. He is passionate about working with high-growth NZ agri-tech and agri-foods companies that deliver positive impacts as well as commercial returns. Prior to joining Cultivate Ventures and Northington Partners, he established a successful track record investing in disruptive and scalable tech businesses operating in the UK, European, North American and APAC markets. Examples of high-growth companies he has previously invested in and helped to grow successfully include Current Health, Optoscribe, Symphonic Software and DeltaDNA. Prior to this, Marcus began his career working in consultancy and corporate finance with Deloitte UK, where he worked on several large M&A transactions and advisory projects for multinational corporations, government entities and private equity firms.

Joshua Russell

Associate

Mathew Rooza

Associate

  • Mathew joined Northington Partners in September 2019 after more than 4 years experience with the KPMG NZ Financial Services Audit & Assurance team. He was responsible for leading multiple engagement teams, predominantly engagements within the leasing and wealth management industry, through their statutory reporting assurance requirements. Mathew holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Auckland.

  • Josh joined Northington Partners in January 2026, having previously spent three years in the Corporate Development and Investment team at IWG Plc in London. At IWG, he supported global expansion initiatives, investment committee decision-making, and live M&A transactions across multiple jurisdictions. Prior to this, Josh held strategy and finance roles at T&G Global and Delegat Group, advising on transactions, valuation, and long-term strategic planning initiatives. He began his career at KPMG New Zealand, where he spent over five years in the audit and assurance team and developed strong technical expertise across financial reporting, valuation, and complex analysis. Josh is a Chartered Accountant and has passed Level II of the CFA Program.

Hew Dalrymple

Lee Matheson