What Springload does

Springload Te Pipītanga is a Wellington-headquartered digital agency that designs, builds, and maintains digital products and experiences for New Zealand government agencies, large enterprises, and purpose-driven organisations. Founded in 2001 by Bron Thomson and operating under a co-CEO model (Emily Vaka'uta and Jodi Willocks) since the 2018 merger with Touchtech, the firm employs approximately 75 staff and offers six integrated practice areas: Strategy, Design, Create, Develop, Optimise, and Maintain. Core technology stack spans Django, React, React Native, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Wagtail CMS, Contentful, and AWS infrastructure (Terraform/CloudFormation), with notable open-source contributions including Wagtail (since 2014) and the React Accessible Accordion (1M+ downloads). Notable proprietary work includes the Tahatū Career Navigator bilingual careers platform and the Zealandia digital sanctuary experience.

The agency monetises via project-based professional services engagements (strategy, UX/design, development, content, analytics) sold directly to enterprise and government clients, augmented by ongoing 'Maintain' programmes with SLAs. Average client and project size more than doubled following the Touchtech merger, and the firm reports 40% revenue growth in the year post-merger with a further 15-20% planned. Distribution is reputation- and referral-led with named clients including the Department of Internal Affairs, Kiwibank, Te Whatu Ora, MBIE, Ministry of Education, Xero, Meridian Energy, and Wellington Airport. Springload is AWS Select Tier Consulting Partner, B Corp certified since 2019, and has begun layering AI Readiness Assessment and generative engine optimisation services onto its core offering.

Name

Springload

Legal name

Springload Te Pipītanga

Website

https://springload.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Springload Te Pipītanga is a Wellington-based digital agency of ~75 staff that designs, builds, and maintains digital products for New Zealand government agencies, enterprises (e.g., Kiwibank, Xero, Meridian), and purpose-driven organisations across six integrated practice areas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Digital Agency Services: Professional services revenue from strategy, UX/design, development, content, and analytics engagements. Project-based work for enterprise and government clients with ongoing programmes of work. Average project size has more than doubled post-merger.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Springload is a Wellington-based digital agency that builds websites, web applications, and mobile apps for enterprise, government, and purpose-driven organisations. It offers a full suite of professional services spanning strategy, experience design, content creation, software development, optimisation, and ongoing maintenance. Its work combines human-centred design with deep accessibility expertise, te ao Māori cultural integration, and emerging AI capabilities.

Product overview

Springload Te Pipītanga is a digital agency offering a comprehensive suite of services across six core practice areas: Strategy (digital strategy, service design, AI integration), Design (experience design, brand systems, UI/UX), Create (content strategy, information architecture, data visualisation), Develop (web/mobile development, CMS implementation, e-commerce), Optimise (analytics, SEO, CRO, content marketing), and Maintain (infrastructure, accessibility, DevOps). They operate as a platform-plus-services model with specialised sub-products including Wagtail CMS expertise (with open-source contributions since 2014), React Accessible Accordion open-source component (1M+ downloads), Mobile Apps (native and cross-platform), AWS infrastructure services (Select Tier Partner), and AI Readiness Assessment consulting. Their work spans across major New Zealand clients including government agencies, banks, and purpose-driven organisations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Digital Strategy Strategy consulting organised around three practice areas: human spark (user research, brand strategy), connected system design (service design, ecosystem mapping), and smart technology application (AI integration and Generative Engine Optimisation). Targeted at organisations undertaking digital transformation.
• Experience Design Experience design, brand and design systems, responsive web design, mobile app design, UI and interaction design, and motion design based on empathy and human-centred principles.
• Content Creation Content strategy and creation service focused on people-centred content for all channels using words, images, animation, and visualisations. Includes writing, information architecture, data visualisations, style guides, and in-house content training.
• Web and Mobile Development Development services for web and mobile applications, responsive websites, CMS implementations (Wagtail, SilverStripe, Contentful), e-commerce platforms, integrations and API builds, and QA/testing using Django, React, React Native, Ruby on Rails, and Node.js.
• Performance Optimisation Continuous improvement services including analytics audit and setup, performance dashboards, SEO, paid search advertising, conversion rate optimisation, content marketing, and digital marketing strategy.
• Maintenance and Support Ongoing digital support and infrastructure services covering SLAs, AWS infrastructure management, performance consulting, accessibility audits, scalability and availability, pattern libraries, and DevOps automation.
• React Accessible Accordion Open-source accessible accordion component for React, fully compliant with WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices. Free for developers to use in any project.
• AI Readiness Assessment Proprietary consulting framework evaluating organisational AI readiness across data maturity, technical infrastructure, team skills, and operational readiness, including identification of realistic AI use cases.

Quantifiable outcome

• 53% reduction in callers to MPI saying they couldn't find what they needed on the website
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability11 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 May 2019Official AWS Select tier Consulting Partner since 2019. Team of certified engineers providing public cloud architecture, build, and migration services. Operating a public cloud practice since 2013 with extensive AWS experience across government and financial services clients.
• Wagtail (Torchbox)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2014Extensive experience building beautiful websites on Wagtail CMS. Contributing to and supporting Wagtail since 2014 with significant contributions to the project. Built their own website with Wagtail.
• Indigenous Design & Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEqual partnership on Tahatū Career Navigator project. IDIA established the cultural narrative, naming, and visual identity anchored in te ao Māori principles for the careers planning platform.
• Nicholson ConsultingminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerData science consultancy partner for Tahatū Career Navigator platform. Part of 48-person multicultural team including experience/content design, te ao Māori design, development, DevOps, testing, and data science.
• Indigenous Design & Innovation Aotearoa (IDIA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on Alcohol Journeys project for Te Hiringa Hauora. IDIA co-created te ao Māori visual designs and provided cultural frameworks for the audio storytelling experience.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ustwo: London-headquartered product studio with a similar 'people-driven' positioning, building digital products and services end-to-end. Comparable service mix (strategy, design, engineering) and premium, mission-aligned client base.
• Gladeye: Auckland-based digital product studio offering strategy, design, and custom web/mobile development for enterprise and government clients across NZ and Australia. Closest like-for-like peer to Springload in size, service mix, and human-centred approach.
• Work & Co: Product design and engineering agency building digital products for major brands. Directly comparable in product-led model, end-to-end capabilities, and award-winning creative output for enterprise clients.
• Huge: Global digital experience agency offering strategy, design, marketing, and technology. Overlaps heavily with Springload's six-pillar model and government/enterprise client mix, but at materially larger scale.
• Pentagram: Independent design consultancy renowned for design-led digital and brand work. Comparable in human-centred, award-winning creative output and senior-led model, though brand-heavy rather than product-engineering focused.
• IDEO: Pioneering global design consultancy applying human-centred design to digital products, services, and organisational transformation. Comparable human-centred methodology and premium positioning, with a much broader geographic footprint.
• R/GA: Global digital product and experience agency combining strategy, design, and technology to build digital products for major brands. Directly comparable in offering scope (strategy, design, build, optimise) and human-centred methodology, though materially larger.

Emerging players

• Optimal Workshop: Wellington-based UX research platform company with shared origins in the NZ digital ecosystem. Adjacent rather than direct — a tooling peer serving overlapping user-research and design communities rather than competing for the same project work.

Broad incumbents

• Thoughtworks: Global technology consultancy that designs and builds digital platforms and products, with overlap in custom software, cloud (AWS), and data work. Much larger and more IT-engineering heavy, but competes for the same enterprise digital transformation mandates.
• Deloitte Digital: The digital agency arm of a Big Four firm, delivering strategy, design, and technology for enterprise and public sector clients at global scale. Direct overlap in government digital transformation work, but with a vastly broader portfolio and resources.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/springloadnz
• GitHubgithub.com/springload
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/springload
• Facebookfacebook.com/springload

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Springload