Beanbags to fishes: ZealaFoam prepares to scale up

Scion scientist Kate Parker, ZealaFoam CEO Sarah Heine and Scion scientist Stephanie Weal. (Image: ZealaFoam)

Wed, 23 Oct 2024

A deceptively simple technology used for stuffing beanbags was a winner at this year’s KiwiNet science commercialisation awards.Startup company ZealaFoam picked up the PwC Breakthrough Project this month for its plant-based polystyrene substitute. That win came as a surprise to its CEO Sarah Heine, given the company was up against some stiff competition including Kitea Health for a world-first implantable brain sensor.“What we do, I think, is relatively simple but one it’s incredibly difficult for us to get right.”It rai...

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