AI start-up RosterLab showcases University innovation ecosystem

From their home in the Newmarket Innovation Precinct, RosterLab are solving one of Healthcare’s biggest headaches with cutting-edge AI technology.

Manual rostering has long been a time-consuming task for healthcare professionals, whose time is better spent on the frontlines tending to patients; RosterLab leverages AI and algorithmic optimisation to generate complex rosters in minutes, not days.

RosterLab began as a PhD project for co-founder Isaac Cleland, alongside Associate Professor Andrew Mason and Dr Michael O’Sullivan. Seeing an opportunity to bring this research to market, Cleland proceeded through the University of Auckland’s Velocity 100K challenge and VentureLab programme, and saw his research spin off into a promising venture.

Having won the Velocity 100K challenge, Cleland and co-founders Sunny Feng and Daniel Ge proceeded through UniServices, the University of Auckland’s Commercialisation arm.

This helped them to effectively commercialise their IP and secure VC funding. The funding allowed the co-founders to go full-time, and 2024 saw them secure their place as Newmarket Innovation Precinct co-locators.

“The University has been instrumental in supporting our start-up from the very beginning, and moving to the NIP space has been a key part of that support," noted co-founder Sunny Feng.

“NIP provides a nurturing environment for University spin-out companies, offering affordable workspaces that significantly ease early-stage companies’ financial burden. This enables us to allocate more resources toward innovation, team growth, and scaling our solutions.”

Whilst co-located at NIP, RosterLab has gone from strength to strength, recently completing a $1.75m seed funding round including venture capital stalwarts Movac and Pacific Capital. The team has been busy expanding into domestic and overseas clinical markets, and is even expanding into adjacent markets, securing non-clinical clients such as Sealink.

When determined, technical founders have access to an ecosystem that supports them through the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey; the opportunities are endless. The University of Auckland has developed a world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem that facilitates global commercialisation of local research, connecting knowledge with opportunity.