Who are we?
Arcanum AI is a New Zealand–born AI company, founded in 2016, on a mission to help small and medium businesses grow more profitably with secure, private, and user-friendly AI tools.
We build automation and productivity solutions through our platform, Numa, removing repetitive work so teams can focus on higher-value tasks. From day one, we work alongside your team to make your AI journey clear and achievable.
We take the time to understand your challenges and deliver practical solutions that lift productivity and support long-term growth.
Meet our team
We’re a tight-knit group of AI builders, engineers, and business operators passionate about making advanced AI simple, accessible, and impactful for growing teams.
Fuelled by curiosity and plenty of coffee, coca-cola & M&Ms, we combine deep technical expertise with real-world business insight to create tools that improve efficiency and return valuable time to your day.
Asa Cox
CEO
Asa leads Arcanum with over 15 years in business development and a deep dive into applied AI solutions for the past 7 years. His vision for AI is not just technological advancement but its potential for global betterment. He is passionate about supporting companies to see how AI can drive real business value without requiring technical expertise. He works closely with AWS and industry partners to build an ecosystem that helps SMBs grow profitably through practical AI implementation. Outside of work, Asa enjoys football, squash, and experimenting with ChatGPT-created recipes for his family.
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Connor Nickel
Business Development & Sales Officer
Connor is a Business Development and Sales Officer at Arcanum, working with customers to identify practical, high-impact ways AI can deliver real business outcomes. With a background in sales, partnerships, and technology-led solutions, he specializes in translating complex AI into clear, commercially valuable opportunities across a range of industries.
A high-energy relationship builder and problem-solver, Connor is passionate about helping non-technical teams adopt AI with confidence and simplicity. He plays a key role in Arcanum’s customer engagement and market growth initiatives, ensuring solutions are grounded in real-world value rather than hype. Outside of work, Connor enjoys fishing, running, and spending time on the family farm.
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Ian Dougherty
COO
Ian is our Chief Operations Officer, bringing over 35 years of leadership experience across diverse industry sectors including government agencies, healthcare, education, finance, sports technology, and small businesses. His varied background gives him good insight into the operational challenges facing different types of organisations, helping him quickly understand and relate to your specific business needs. Ian has consistently delivered results turning complex challenges into practical solutions. He is passionate about helping customers achieve their AI outcomes and witnessing firsthand how Numa delivers real productivity gains for businesses. Outside of work, Ian enjoys the outdoors and some serious DIY!
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Jayson Satya
CRO
Jayson is our CRO armed with over 15 years of leadership experience that spans the SaaS, Fintech, and startup sectors. Having worked with prominent brands, Jayson has a proven track record of driving growth and innovation. Jayson is deeply committed to leveraging AI to automate processes, freeing humans from mundane tasks, and assisting accountants on their journey to embrace AI. Outside of work, Jayson is a keen traveler, avid hiker, and enjoys spending quality time with his dog, Nova.
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Nathan Douglas
Senior AI Engineer
Nathan, an Australia-based data science wizard and a key player in our team as an AI engineer. His drive in the field of AI is centered around leveraging its capabilities to bring about a genuine positive impact in people's lives. Outside of data and algorithms, Nathan is a sports fanatic, always ready to dive deep into game strategies and stats. Nathan's blend of technical expertise and down-to-earth personality makes him not just an asset to our team but also a great person to bounce ideas with and have a yarn.
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Prasanna Ramachandran
Customer Success
Pras is our Sales and Customer Success Coordinator, utilizing his rich background in IT and customer engagement. With over seven years of experience in customer-facing roles at leading companies such as Freshworks and Infosys in India, Pras has honed his skills in navigating complex IT environments and enhancing customer experiences. Pras is passionate about applying his expertise and witnessing the growth and evolution of the company firsthand. His enthusiasm for the dynamic world of startups is matched by his passion for soccer, being an avid supporter of Arsenal Football Club.
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Scott Houston
Chairman
Scott is our venerable Chairman. A renowned New Zealand-based technology entrepreneur, author and digital expert in AI, product development and cloud platforms. Best known for founding cloud orchestration company GreenButton, which was acquired by Microsoft, and for helping build Weta Digital’s supercomputing platform for “The Lord of the Rings.” He was also the CTO at ARANZ Geo (now Seequent - which sold for $1.2bn), and serves on boards and advisory groups in the New Zealand innovation ecosystem, where he supports the responsible commercialization of advanced AI and high-performance computing technologies.
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Tom Wiltshire
Junior AI Engineer
Tom is a Junior Software Engineer at Arcanum, working on Numa. With a background in Data Science, he enjoys building practical, AI-powered features that solve real business problems.
Tom has grown into his role through hands-on project work and continuous learning, building experience across software development, AI integration, and automation. He enjoys working across the full stack and exploring new tools, technologies, and ideas to improve how products are built and used.
Outside of work, Tom enjoys going to the gym, PC building, gaming, and D&D.
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Tony Gurlick
Engineering Lead
Tony brings over 25 years of experience across software development, infrastructure, and systems leadership. He spent more than a decade in London and Europe during the Web 2.0 boom, working with global brands and consultancies including EMC Consulting, Nokia, BSkyB, and Visa as the web and cloud ecosystems rapidly evolved.
Returning home in 2015, Tony has since worked across startups and growing companies of all sizes, spanning a wide range of industries. His strength lies in bridging deep technical understanding with practical, real-world problem solving—designing systems that are robust, scalable, and fit for purpose. With extensive experience across both development and infrastructure, Tony brings a grounded, end-to-end perspective to building modern AI-enabled platforms.
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