Fulton described the targets as “very achievable” for her firm, which offers software for career coaching for people – these days involving AI agents – and tools for companies to identify skills and create career pathways for staff.
“We’ve created a great stable of AI scientists and psychologists,” Fulton said.
“AI is disrupting every job. Our mission is to support people to be resilient and see AI as an amplification opportunity and keep people at the forefront.”
Fulton founded Fuel50 in 2012 with Jo Mills.
After three rounds of venture capital (VC) raising, the pair held a minority stake in the business.
Venture capital investors included New Zealand’s Icehouse Ventures and the Crown (via the Aspire fund today managed by New Zealand Growth Capital Partners), Australia’s Shearwater Capital and California-based VCs Bonfire Ventures and PeakSpan Capital.
The latter led a $21m raise in 2019, by which point Fuel50 had raised more than $30m.
Fuel50 has 65 staff, with around 40 in New Zealand and the balance in the US.
The company made a net profit of $2.95m on revenue of $22.8m in the year to December 30, 2025, according to a Companies Office filing.
The prior year, it made $1.0m on $20m turnover.
“It [the sale] is a significant milestone that we’ve been working toward for years, and I’ve chosen this moment to exit the business,” she said.
Mills has taken over as chief executive and plans to head the business long term.
“It will continue as a standalone entity. It’s a really good outcome,” Fulton said.
Fulton became a registered psychologist after completing a degree at Massey University.
She became an “IO” or “industrial and organisational” psychologist, assessing individual and group dynamics in the workplace.
Big names come on board
In the mid-2000s, Fulton founded Career Analysts, which focused more on face-to-face career coaching and consulting.
Clients included flight attendant Carrie Hurihanganui, who could go on to become chief operating officer of Air New Zealand then CEO of Auckland International Airport.
who would go on to lead a major aviation company. She was joined after a couple of years by Mills. The duo then took a more tech-focused turn with its successor, Fuel50.
Westpac was landed as their first client. Other big names, including Z Energy and Fonterra, followed.
A focus on organisations with more than 5000 staff saw most sales made overseas in the following years. Today, 90% of Fuel50’s earnings are offshore, with around 75% in the US. Hero clients include Roche, NetApp, EA.
Fulton gave a shout-out to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise export customer manager Ross Turner, who helped to crack offshore markets.
AI before AI
By 2017 and 2018, Fuel50 was already using algorithms to help identify and shape career pathways.
Fulton described it as “predictive psychometrics to identify future talent; the marriage between IO psychology and AI engineers”.
More recently, the rise of the large language models has enabled Fuel50 to develop a set of AI agents.
What’s next?
Mills will now take charge of a three-year growth plan.
Fulton said, “I want to contribute to the entrepreneurial community”.
She has already been involved via her work with the student-focused MyMahi, her work as a start-up mentor for the Ministry of Awesome and her role as “SheEO” of Activator, a “global community of radically generous women and non-binary folks” that has loaned more than $7m.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
