STARTUP STORY
HOW FRONTIER IS REVOLUTIONISING RURAL PROPERTY ANALYSIS
Cam Walker, a Registered Valuer at Arotahi Agribusiness, has spent a decade helping New Zealand landowners, banks, and consultants understand the value of rural land.
But over time, he saw the cracks in the system: rural property analysis is manual, repetitive, and fragmented across several pieces of software, none of which talk to one another.
“There was a lot of manual repetition and disjointed workflows with our valuation process.”
Professionals are spending more time on data collection and collation than using their professional judgement, manually copying data across systems and performing spatial analyses. Cam envisions a sector where every investment and lending decision made about rural land is grounded in the best available data.
So he decided to do something about it. The result is Frontier Property Insights, a rural property analysis platform built for valuers, lenders and other professionals to take the pain out of analysis and reporting – freeing up people to use their professional judgement.
Why is property analysis still so complicated?
Professionals navigate field notes, council records, sales data, and spatial analysis, then manually pull it all together into a report. It’s time-consuming and prone to human error. Frontier consolidates data capture, market analysis, and reporting into a single platform – compatible on both mobile and desktop.
It’s not just about speed. Standardising objective measures and making data easily available shifts professionals’ focus to the nuanced determinations that really add value.
What problem does Frontier solve?
Frontier is an all-in-one platform designed for rural property analysis. Professionals can capture field data on-site, and by the time they return to the office, much of the report is already generated.
“This saves time, improves accuracy, and lets professionals such as valuers focus on the critical part of their job: determining value. Beyond efficiency, Frontier ensures consistency across analyses, drawing from both public datasets and proprietary sources.”
We have created new datasets purpose-built for rural property analysis, built automated pipelines to run GIS analyses, and integrated AI into reporting to replace hours of manual typing.
Who is using Frontier, and how was it built?
Frontier was founded by Cam and is backed by Arotahi Agribusiness, one of New Zealand’s leading boutique agribusiness firms. Frontier has been under development for the past two years. The process combined external developers with in-house expertise, allowing the team to learn new skills along the way - from understanding code and architecture to UX design and security.
Frontier has an MVP that Arotahi has been using internally for the past ten months. A soft launch at a valuation seminar last year drew strong interest, and Frontier is actively searching for banking and valuation pilot partners.
“Reports that once would have taken hours now take minutes. Geospatial tasks that took years of training to master can now be done in seconds by someone with no GIS background.”
How do you leverage the startup ecosystem to build a high-tech tool if you’re not a tech person?
This story really starts on an Auckland bus. A chance conversation with an AWS representative led to a review of Frontier’s architecture - and from there, the connections multiplied. AWS referred Cam and his team to Zach Warder Gabaldon at Ministry of Awesome, who then introduced them to Startup Aotearoa and CreativeHQ. Chris O’Neill, a coach at CreativeHQ, saw the potential and encouraged them to join the FinTech Lab to tap into dedicated support.
What began as a simple bus trip to work became a chain of ecosystem support that has helped shape Frontier. The team combined external developers with in-house expertise, covering GIS, UX design, software architecture, and security. Every referral and connection added a critical piece to the puzzle, proving how a collaborative startup ecosystem can fast-track founders to the right support.
Chris ONeill - Startup Aotearoa Coach
What’s the team learning along the way?
Frontier’s journey has pushed the team beyond their comfort zones. Cam himself had never looked at a line of code before, but now he understands system architecture and how different components communicate. Team members have stepped into roles in branding, UX, and product testing, building skills they wouldn’t typically use in their day jobs.
What’s the big-picture vision for Frontier?
Cam’s ambition extends beyond efficiency. “I’d love for Frontier to become the benchmark for rural property analysis in New Zealand. My goal is to create the best possible product for rural property professionals.”
By modernising a traditional industry, attracting a new generation of tech-savvy users, and improving data-driven decision-making, Frontier is set to make property markets more informed, accurate, and sustainable.
“I’d love for Frontier to become the benchmark for rural property analysis in New Zealand. My goal is to create the best possible product for rural property professionals.”
What does Frontier need from the ecosystem?
For now, Cam says the big ask is connection. “We’d love to hear from people who can see a use for Frontier in their workplace, and are especially interested to connect with people who can open doors to possibilities we may not yet have considered.”