Bonnet
Bonnet is a New Zealand vehicle and fleet management app that keeps WOF, COF, registration, road user charges and servicing in one place, with reminders and data drawn directly from NZTA.
- Category
- Consumer and Marketplace
- Fund
- NZVC II
- Website
- bonnet.co.nz
- On TechMates
- 2 episodes
What Bonnet does
Bonnet serves both individual drivers managing the family car and businesses running full fleets, adding GPS tracking, digital inspection checklists and set-and-forget RUC and rego payments. Steph Kennard and Dave Webb launched it in March 2023, and it now oversees more than 75,000 vehicles.
The secret
Plugging into NZTA data means a driver types a plate and the app already knows everything. That removes the setup step that kills most compliance tools, which is how Bonnet registered 20,000 vehicles in its first fortnight and reached number one on the New Zealand App Store within three weeks.
Why NZVC invested in Bonnet
NZVC invested in Bonnet from NZVC Fund II. We file the company under Consumer and Marketplace on the portfolio wall.
We backed Bonnet because vehicle compliance is a universal, recurring chore in New Zealand and no one owned the consumer-friendly way to manage it. The team started with a free app people genuinely wanted, then grew it into a fleet platform that businesses pay for, building one of the country's larger vehicle databases along the way. Its direct NZTA integration and automated payments give it a real edge, and we saw a clear path from household use to commercial fleets.
Bonnet in the press
- RNZ covered Bonnet's growth from a consumer app into fleet managementRNZ · 25 September 2024
- Electric vehicle owners turned to Bonnet when road user charges arrivedNZ Herald · 25 April 2024
- Motoring app proving a hitSunLive · 16 October 2023
- BonnetNZ Entrepreneur · 1 October 2023
- Bonnet launched an app that reads WOF, rego and road user charges from a plate number1News · 21 March 2023
Bonnet on TechMates
How to Hit #1 on the App Store with a $0 Marketing Budget
You hear Steph Kennard describe hitting number one on the New Zealand App Store in week three with zero marketing budget, then building a B2B fleet business once companies started managing their vehicles on the consumer app. She covers OEM Connect for BYD, Tesla and Mercedes, the road user charges opportunity, and the NZTA price hike that nearly killed the company. It is the story of topping the App Store with nothing but product and word of mouth.
“I would refresh and there would be a thousand more people signed up.”Steph Kennard
- Bonnet reached number one on the App Store in week three on near-zero marketing, with organic coverage driving 30,000 vehicles in about a week.
- The consumer app became a B2B fleet platform once businesses asked for a desktop version to manage fleets, most converting to paid.
- OEM Connect links directly into a vehicle by number plate for BYD, Tesla and Mercedes, pulling diagnostics with no hardware needed.
Bonnet on TechMates
Born Global: Founding from New Zealand to the World | NZVC Portfolio Day
You hear three founders explain why they looked offshore from day one and what US investors do to Kiwi projections. You get culture lessons from Rocket Lab and Les Mills, the trade-offs of moving to the US versus building remotely, and how having kids made them more ambitious. You leave with their advice for early-stage founders.
A joint episode, alongside Stickybeak.