A Summer of Tech at Cogo

Cogo is the Wellington financial tech company tackling the big issues. Its goal is to empower hundreds of millions of individuals and businesses worldwide to measure, understand, and reduce their impact on the climate. CEO and co-founder Ben Gleisner is determined to be the world’s first gigacorn. That’s a company that’s successfully lowered or sequestered CO2 emissions by one gigaton a year while staying commercially viable.

Head of Technology Mog Nesbitt explains the approach is three-pronged. Cogo’s first product is designed for banks. It integrates seamlessly with banking apps so users can see how each transaction contributes to their carbon footprint. “[The second] is for small to medium enterprises who want to understand their carbon usage, especially when they’re regulated to report it.” The third product is a consumer app.

Mog says being carbon-literate is key to reducing your footprint. “A lot of change has to start with people understanding why they should change.” By working directly with banks, Cogo gains access to millions of customers. “It’s the idea that everyone needs to chip in. When everyone does chip in and it becomes a cultural normal, real change happens.” With some of the largest banks in Asia and Europe as clients, Cogo’s impact is significant and only getting bigger.

Back in Wellington where Cogo started, the company has partnered with Summer of Tech; a programme that aims to foster the next generation of tech workers. Ben describes the program as a win-win. “Cogo gets to work with some of the brightest young minds, and these students get to experience working in a real company, on world-changing ideas.”

Luna Wilkes was an intern at Cogo. Her Summer of Tech experience involved working on an AI-driven project that sought to categorise business expenses to calculate the carbon footprint. Luna’s skill set fits the bill perfectly. “I love solving problems and fixing broken things,” says Luna. “The more difficult part was coming at it from a business perspective... Going through the whole process of researching, designing, planning, and implementing something for a business use case.” Since finishing her internship, Luna’s work has been integrated into Cogo’s code base and is working away behind the scenes.

“It’s such a good programme,” says Mog. “You’ve got access to thousands of students and you find the one that works perfectly for you, not what some other person thinks will work well for you. It’s a really fair and fun process.”

Cogo is based at Taiawa Wellington Tech Hub, which is home to a range of innovative high-growth Wellington businesses. This vibrant co-working space is hosted by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in conjunction with the Wellington City Council.

WellingtonNZ has also had a long-standing relationship with Cogo and has provided support via Innovation Services administered by MBIE for the Summer of Tech internship and the Research & Development Tax Incentive. These initiatives align with the REDP and nurture Wellington as a hub for technology. “Wellington is definitely the most progressive in terms of small startups,” says Mog. “There’s risky ideas and crazy software projects. A lot happens in Wellington.”