Rabid Technologies renames to Ackama

Rabid Technologies renames to Ackama and buys second Australian business

10 September 2018

Rabid Technologies is rebranding with a new name, look and website. Ackama, a software development company, will offer the same digital strategy, design and development services as before, as well as expanding its offering to include a new consulting service.

Ackama was started by New Zealand entrepreneurs Breccan McLeod-Lundy and Josh Forde, who are excited about the change and the opportunity it represents.

Breccan, who was nominated for the Hi-Tech Young Achiever of the Year and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards this year, says, “the name Rabid was perfect for our early days, where we did a lot of short, sharp bursts of work. Now that we are building longer term relationships with our clients as a full technology partner, we need a brand that reflects that as we expand into South-East Asia and across the Pacific.”

Ackama, which is pronounced to rhyme with “llama”, is a small native New Zealand tree with white flowers and red seeds. It’s found on the New Zealand coast from Whangarei north. Breccan chose a name based in nature to reflect that fact that Ackama work on large digital ecosystems, and nature is the biggest ecosystem of them all.

The name change comes as Ackama has expanded its business into Australia, by buying two Melbourne-based companies, Squareweave and Plot Digital, in the last three months.

“We’ve always done work overseas and now with a permanent base in Australia we can leverage our experience of working for government and commercial clients here, and an established team there, to create a trans-Tasman company with the scale to make a huge difference.” says co-founder Josh.

The new consulting arm of the business will be run by Head of Consulting, Kimberly Brabazon.

“The aim of the consulting service is to enhance the customer experience through providing wrap-around services. We’re not just building clients a tool, we’re looking at the whole ecosystem to achieve sustainable business outcomes”, says Kimberly.

Ackama is celebrating the new look with a launch party in Wellington, attended by clients, staff, friends and whānau. It is a milestone for the company, which is also celebrating a strong years of growth in 2017 and 2018, recently coming 25th in the Deloitte Fast 50.

Breccan says, “we’ve had a really successful year, with lots of new hires to our team, two new big Government clients in New Zealand and two new businesses in Australia. This rebrand puts us on the right track to continue that growth both at home and overseas.” ENDS

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