VXT Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Lucy Turner has been named the 2026 Xero Hi-Tech Young Achiever of the Year at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards.
The award recognises her technical leadership, judgement under pressure, and the part she has played in building one of the country's fastest-growing tech companies from Christchurch.
As Co-Founder and CTO of VXT, Lucy leads the engineering behind a phone system that has now processed more than 20 million calls with 99.99% reliability.
Over the past year she has overseen the team's most significant product upgrades to date, helping scale VXT from 18 to 28 staff and from $2.5M to $7M NZD in annual recurring revenue.
Lucy's recognition caps a standout year. In 2025, she was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia – AI list and selected as a Semi-Finalist for New Zealand Innovator of the Year at the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards.
Behind the recognition is a year of disciplined technical leadership. Lucy oversaw major releases and led the technical strategy behind VXT Meet — an AI notetaker for video and in-person meetings.
Beyond the product, Lucy has built an engineering culture where young developers take ownership early.
Several team members have stepped into senior responsibility faster than is typical in early-stage companies, and VXT has been named one of Matchstiq's Top 50 NZ businesses to work for three years running.
The Hi-Tech Award judges praised Lucy's ability to combine technical depth with people leadership.
As one of a small number of female CTOs scaling a global SaaS platform from New Zealand, Lucy actively widens the pathway behind her.
She mentors early-career engineers and continues to engage with the University of Canterbury's Women in Tech Society, where she previously served as Vice President.
In her acceptance speech, Lucy thanked those who had supported her along the way.
"Thank you to everyone, thank you to my parents, to my team, to my partner…thank you," she said.
She closed with a thoughtful message for other founders.
"If I had one small piece of advice to someone starting a company: ask for more help than you want to.”
It's the second year in a row VXT has taken home the Young Achiever award, after CEO and co-founder Luke Campbell won the same category in 2025.
VXT a finalist for Innovative Software Solution Award
VXT was also a finalist for the Duncan Cotterill Most Innovative Hi-Tech Software Solution at the 2026 awards — a testament to the company's growing impact on the global legal tech stage.
Today, VXT serves more than 1,700 firms and 11,000 users worldwide across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. With features like AI call transcripts and summaries, contact syncing, an AI meeting notetaker, and deep integrations with the legal software lawyers use every day, VXT is helping law firms save time, mitigate risk and increase revenue.
VXT now has 28 staff and is continuing to grow and hire.
Follow VXT on LinkedIn to keep up with the latest milestones and announcements.
About the NZ Hi-Tech Awards
The New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards celebrate innovation and excellence across software, electronics, telecommunications, mobile, agritech, creative tech and beyond.
Organised by the NZ Hi-Tech Trust, the awards showcase the boldest minds and businesses pushing Aotearoa forward. Learn more at www.hitech.org.nz.
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