In their initial report, liquidators Stephanie Jeffries and Adele Hicks (both of Grant Thornton) said the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT had “frozen” Ambit’s business.
Warren said that, rightly or not, many customers now believe they can get comparable products for free or cheaper. This is the same phenomenon that caused Soul Machines, a much larger customer service chatbot company founded in New Zealand, to go bankrupt with $19.6 million in debt earlier this year.
Ambit AI ceased trading in May 2024.
Its intellectual property (IP) was disposed of in two transactions.
Warren said he was frustrated that he and other shareholders were unable to fund either.
Chairman Mark Bregman told Tech Insider that in exchange for about $300,000 in unpaid salaries and holiday pay, the company gave a group of staff some intellectual property to help them start their own AI consultancy, SupaHuman.
Another part of the intellectual property was sold to veterinary entrepreneur Stephen Merchant (an Ambit customer of his veterinary business), who founded Ambit AI Powered and took over the remaining three staff from the original Ambit.
Merchant told Tech Insider that the company has since tripled in size, continuing to serve Ambit’s existing customers such as Southern Cross Travel Insurance and Webjet, and generating global sales by incorporating Ambit’s technology into ClinicWise, an AI-powered virtual assistant designed specifically for veterinary clinics.
Mr Merchant, a qualified veterinarian, was co-founder, director and chief executive officer of Pet Doctors NZ, New Zealand’s largest veterinary umbrella organization with 33 participating clinics. In 2018, Queensland’s National Veterinary Care acquired Pet Doctors in a deal worth A$27 million ($32.98 million), including an earn-out of A$4 million.
Merchant then founded ClinicWise, an AI-powered digital front desk assistant for veterinary hospitals. It worked with software from ezyVet, another local product for managing veterinary clinics and hospitals.
After the sale, Merchant pursued multiple projects, including serving as director and troubleshooter for Oakland student radio station bFM, forming IndieVets, a collective of community clinics, and founding ClinicWise.
“We loved Ambit and their team. Naturally, as clients we were concerned when we heard Ambit was ‘looking for a new home,’ but since then we have done our best to secure and develop the technology, the team, and the rest of our clients.”
“As one of NZ’s first AI pioneers and experts, Tim Warren will remain a friend and a valued advisor to us.”
Merchant did not want to say how much he paid for Ambit’s IP.
Bregman also declined to disclose the amount, but said that after clearing debts, including outstanding payments to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), there was not enough money to clear Callahan’s debts, let alone pay shareholders.
As a shareholder himself, he said he was in the same losing boat as Warren through Quidnet Ventures, of which he is the sole shareholder. He said he lost about $500,000.
Other investors in Ambit AI (now renamed Bambi Tech) include Avinesh Krishnan and Warren’s former chief executive Josh Cromley, who stepped back from the company’s day-to-day operations in 2020.
Both companies held 22 per cent of the plot, with Mr Warren holding 19 per cent, Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 holding 4 per cent and Crown Agency NZ Growth Capital Partners’ Aspire Fund holding 2 per cent.
Mr Hicks said that if there were surplus funds from a liquidation, Schedule 7 of the Companies Act would put shareholders “at the bottom” of staff, the IRD, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, legal costs and the costs of the liquidation process itself.
Can I sell the same intellectual property twice?
Bregman said merchants created the IP “before ChatGPT was released in November 2022 and the market disappeared.”
At the time, he and Warren clashed over product direction and funding strategy. Warren thought he could sell the business for about $10 million, but Bregman thought that was a pipe dream and wanted to pursue VC funding. The board fired Warren.
Subsequent attempts were made to adapt Ambit’s product to the new world of mass-market LLMs, but ChatGPT’s next major upgrade removed the other feature, Bregman said.
The company has thrown in the towel to settle arrears with the staff who founded SupaHuman with its post-ChatGPT IP.
Merchant said he was initially concerned that some of Ambit’s technology would make its way to spahumans.
But he said SpaHuman pursued its own niche market (marketing itself as a provider of “AI solutions for complex and regulated industries”), while his ClinicWise was white-labeling Ambit’s technology for the veterinary industry. At a time when ChatGPT and its peers dominated general business, specializing in verticals was the way to survive and thrive, he said.
Jump before you get hit
Callaghan Innovation was defunded in last year’s budget, its research role moved to a new Institute for Advanced Study due to become operational later this year, and grant and loan responsibility transferred to a team at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) late last year.
Mr. Bregman said that prior to the transition to MBIE, he had negotiated a verbal agreement to reduce the amount paid to Mr. Callahan.
However, MBIE took a tougher stance on the loan after the staff who made the deal were fired.
Legal action was being prepared to force liquidation through the High Court. It would have been cheaper and easier to take the route of voluntarily convening a liquidator through a special shareholder resolution.
last name change
The purchase agreement Merchant negotiated in 2024 included a provision for the original Ambit to change its name, allowing Ambit to potentially go into liquidation under a different name and allowing Ambit to sail safely by continuing to use the brand name.
But if that happens, it will take another two years and it will only happen at the last moment.
According to the Official Gazette, the liquidation of Ambit AI and its wholly-owned subsidiary Ambit AI Nominees began on June 8th.
According to the liquidator’s first report dated June 12, Ambit AI changed its name to Bambi Tech on June 10, and on the same day Ambit AI Nominees also changed its name to Bambi Tech Nominees.
Hicks told Tech Insider that he has not yet been able to obtain logins to the bankrupt company’s accounts. The initial report lists only one debt, Callahan’s (after MBIE came forward), and one asset. $200,000 in cash held in the bank.
bambi in the headlights
“Bambi Tech operated in New Zealand for over seven years as a business developing and commercializing conversational artificial intelligence technology,” the liquidator’s initial report said.
“After OpenAI announced ChatGPT in 2022, Bambi Tech’s product market was effectively frozen.
“Bambi Tech sought to transform to a new model and in mid-2024, as a result of an internal strategic decision, Bambi Tech’s assets relating solely to business operations were sold and certain specified liabilities were transferred to another entity.”
67 loan companies in liquidation
Callahan was best known for his direct grants that did not need to be repaid. In Budget 2020, the then Labor-led government provided $150 million in start-up loans (3% over 10 years) to companies whose “research and development programs have been adversely affected by COVID-19”.
The loans currently on MBIE’s books were issued by Callahan between July 2020 and June 2021.
As of June 8 of this year, a total of 456 companies have received loans, and repayment is expected within 10 years.
To date, 50 companies have repaid their loans in full and 67 companies that received loans have entered liquidation, Diana Loughnan, head of innovation and business capabilities at MBIE, told Tech Insider.
Late last year, when Mr. Callahan moved to liquidate ConnectX Holdings over $451,000 in unpaid loans, a Callahan spokesperson said nothing should be read into the increased legal action, calling it “all business as usual.”
There’s now a new sheriff in town.
“Since taking over responsibility from Callahan Innovation, [in November 2025]MBIE has a clearer view and has strengthened the way it manages its remaining loans,” Ronan said.
“This includes introducing a stronger debt management framework, clearer accountability for monitoring and escalation, risk identification, impairment provisioning and a more systematic approach to fund recovery.
“These improvements will help the Department proactively manage risk and ensure value for money as the loan portfolio is paid off. Meanwhile, borrowers are expected to continue repaying their loans with interest in accordance with their original agreements.”
Current loan balances and default data required an ongoing Public Information Act request.
Callahan’s 2025 annual report says it issued $148.97 million in loans.
As of June 30, 2025, $32.86 million of principal had been repaid, resulting in an active loan portfolio size of $116.2 million.
Chris Keall is based in Auckland herald’s business team. he herald In 2018, he served as technology editor and senior business writer.
