Can AI Really Fix Academic Research?
Mark Pavlyukovskyy and Hendrik Remigereau host TechMates, the NZVC podcast. The guest on this episode is Axton Pitt, Founder of Litmaps, and it went out on 13 May 2025.
Axton Pitt went from severe childhood asthma and remote-controlled aircraft to founding Litmaps, which uses AI-powered citation mapping to change how academic research is done. He describes scaling to 400,000 users and $1M ARR, a co-founder departure, and an acquisition. The episode covers the struggles of academia, competing with ChatGPT, and building a global product from New Zealand.
- Building a deep tech startup from scratch.
- Why academic research needs innovation.
- Growing from prototype to $1M ARR.
- Handling co-founder exits and team building.
Litmaps, academic research, AI, deep tech, citation mapping, scaling from New Zealand