#startup: Small Change, Big Ambition: KiwiSaver App Feijoa Earns Shot at Startup World Cup

A New Zealand fintech turning everyday purchases into automatic KiwiSaver contributions has earned a place on one of the world’s biggest startup stages, with Feijoa named among the finalists for the 2026 Startup World Cup New Zealand regional final.

Feijoa co-founder Mark White-Robinson says the idea behind the platform is deliberately simple — make building long-term savings something that happens in the background of everyday life rather than requiring people to constantly make another financial decision.

The app connects everyday spending with KiwiSaver by rounding purchases up to the nearest dollar and directing the difference into a nominated KiwiSaver account. It can also be used to contribute to another person’s account, allowing parents, grandparents and other whānau to help build savings for people they care about.

Turning spending into saving

Buy something for $5.50 and the remaining 50 cents to the next dollar can become a KiwiSaver contribution.

Individually those amounts can appear insignificant.

Repeated hundreds of times over months and years, however, they can become meaningful additional savings — particularly once investment returns and compounding are taken into account.

Feijoa says its users have been contributing an average of about $2.60 a day, equivalent to close to $1,000 in additional KiwiSaver contributions each year. Earlier this year the company said its users collectively were contributing at a rate equivalent to around $2 million annually.

The company has since reported passing $1 million actually added to New Zealanders’ KiwiSaver accounts, estimating that continued contributions by its current users could potentially add substantially more to their balances over coming decades.

Removing the friction from building wealth

White-Robinson’s argument is that one of the barriers to saving is behavioural.

Spending happens naturally.

Saving usually requires a deliberate decision.

Feijoa attempts to reverse that equation by making small contributions automatic.

That approach could be particularly relevant for people whose KiwiSaver contributions are less predictable, including some self-employed workers, contractors and people working part-time who do not necessarily have the same regular contribution patterns as full-time PAYE employees.

It also provides another option for whānau wanting to contribute towards the future of tamariki and mokopuna without needing large amounts of money upfront.

From Wellington fintech to Startup World Cup

The concept is now attracting attention well beyond its growing customer base.

Feijoa participated in Creative HQ’s Fintech Lab 2026, where it developed its business alongside 11 other fintech companies.

During the programme it won the Audience Choice award at the Kiwibank Start Up Pitch Breakfast and was subsequently named an innovation finalist in the INFINZ Awards.

Now Feijoa has been selected alongside other New Zealand technology and innovation businesses for the Startup World Cup New Zealand Final.

The regional winner gets the opportunity to represent Aotearoa within the international Startup World Cup ecosystem, with the global competition offering an investment prize of US$1 million.

Could small contributions help close bigger wealth gaps?

There is also a broader conversation sitting behind the technology.

KiwiSaver has become an increasingly important component of household wealth in Aotearoa, supporting both retirement savings and, for eligible members, first-home ownership.

But people’s ability to contribute is not equal.

Households facing higher living costs or irregular income can find it considerably harder to put additional money aside.

For Māori whānau, that matters within the wider conversation about financial capability, home ownership, intergenerational wealth and the Māori economy.

An app cannot eliminate structural wealth inequality or create income that a household does not have.

But tools that make small-scale saving easier can potentially help more whānau turn whatever spare capacity they do have into a longer-term asset.

Kiwi innovation tackling an everyday problem

Feijoa’s success also demonstrates the growing role of New Zealand’s fintech sector in developing products around everyday financial behaviour.

The company does not operate a KiwiSaver scheme itself and says it does not directly access or manage users’ KiwiSaver investments. Its platform is designed to work across New Zealand KiwiSaver providers.

For White-Robinson, the proposition remains straightforward.

Make saving easier.

Automate it.

Allow small amounts to accumulate.

And give everyday spending a second purpose.

A few cents left over from a coffee or grocery shop may not look like an investment strategy. But repeated thousands of times — and given decades to compound — Feijoa is betting that small change today can become something considerably bigger tomorrow.

And with a place secured in the Startup World Cup New Zealand final, that very Kiwi idea is now getting a chance to prove itself on a much bigger stage.

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