Vanaheim Labs · Vanaheim Investments · Vanaheim Partners
Vanaheim is a Melbourne-based group that builds, invests, and advises — a small team using modern tooling to ship real software backed by genuine technical R&D, not slide decks.
Structure
Vanaheim operates as three related entities with distinct mandates. Product development surfaces patterns that shape investment decisions; investment decisions open advisory work; advisory work feeds real-world constraints back into what we build. The through-line is a preference for building and testing over theorising.
Product & R&D
Where the group's technical R&D actually happens. Labs designs, builds, and ships working software — evaluating novel architectures, engineering approaches to hard integration problems, and iterating in public against real users. The projects below are shipped outcomes of that R&D activity, not concept mockups.
Investment vehicle
The capital arm of the group, deploying into early-stage technology opportunities that align with our operating expertise. Investment theses are shaped by patterns observed first-hand in advisory and product work, not by second-hand market reports.
Consulting & advisory
Strategic and technical advisory for founders and operators navigating product, engineering, and go-to-market decisions. Engagements are grounded in direct build experience rather than slide-deck theory — the same team runs the Labs projects above.
How we build
Every Labs project below started from an unresolved technical problem — not a template. Each involved systematic experimentation: evaluating alternative architectures, testing integration approaches against real constraints, and iterating through multiple working versions before reaching a shipped state. That process — hypothesis, build, test, revise — is documented in version control, not retrofitted after the fact.
Featured projects
Four live products spanning document automation, consumer mobile, developer tooling, and smart-display automation — each solving a real, previously-unsolved problem for its users.
Document automation · DevOps for documents
A multi-brand document production system that treats professional documents like code: version-controlled Markdown source, rendered to polished PDF and DOCX output via WeasyPrint, with an agent CLI and web studio for structured authoring, review, and revision.
Visit docgent.ioConsumer mobile · Personal cataloguing
A private digital library app for book lovers: scan a barcode and Shelfie instantly fetches cover art, edition, and metadata, then renders your collection as a proportional 3D shelf. Privacy-first — no reselling, no tracking, full export at any time.
Visit shelfie.siteDeveloper tooling · Installer & onboarding UX
A polished native macOS installer and onboarding experience for OpenClaw, an AI agent framework. LobKit turns a typically bare command-line setup into a guided, well-designed first-run experience, plus companion power tools for agent operators.
Visit lobkit.comNative macOS & iOS · Smart-display automation
A native app that makes Samsung Frame TV art effortless — automated rotation, curated collections, and a fair-blend scheduling engine for shared households, spanning desktop and a TestFlight-distributed iOS companion.
Visit framepilot.appIndustry focus
Advisory and investment work at Vanaheim Partners and Vanaheim Investments concentrates on three areas where product thinking, data, and privacy intersect.
The innovative use of digital platforms to facilitate the creation, distribution, and monetization of diverse content, delivering a clutter-free, real-time, and on-demand media experience to audiences worldwide.
Leveraging cutting-edge statistical techniques and advanced digital tools to systematically investigate market trends, providing a transparent, data-driven approach that assists businesses in understanding, engaging, and profiling their audiences effectively.
The pivotal role of reliable data solutions and secure software platforms in facilitating robust identity verification, credit application processes, and health management systems, all while safeguarding data rights and upholding the principles of privacy.