# Hengjie Wang

> Hengjie Wang is Kami’s co-founder and CEO, a University of Auckland software engineering graduate who helped turn a student note-taking project into a global education platform. He and fellow co-founder Alliv Samson jointly won New Zealand’s 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. Through Hiraya Ventures, they also back New Zealand businesses and contributed $30,000 to establish the University’s CIE Alumni Fund in 2026.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Kami
- **Organizations:** Kami, Hiraya Ventures
- **Education:** Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering, University of Auckland
- **Known for:** Joint winner with Alliv Samson of New Zealand’s 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year., Led Kami as it expanded internationally; its product portfolio was reported to support over 70 million users across 180 countries in April 2026., Kami was named New Zealand’s fastest-growing company in the 2021 Deloitte Fast 50, with 1,177% revenue growth over three years.

## Career timeline

- **2011-2012** — Software engineering internship at Quid; chaired the University of Auckland IEEE Student Branch during 2011-2012.
- **2012** — Developed the student note-taking project that preceded Kami and entered the University of Auckland’s $100k Challenge.
- **2013** — Co-founded the company that became Kami with Alliv Samson, Jordan Thoms and Bob Drummond.
- **2021** — Kami ranked first in the Deloitte Fast 50 in New Zealand.
- **2022** — Kami appeared in TIME100 Most Influential Companies.
- **2024** — BV Investment Partners announced a strategic investment in Kami in August.
- **2025** — Announced Book Creator joining Kami in September; jointly won New Zealand’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year with Alliv Samson.
- **2026** — Samson and Wang gifted $30,000 through Hiraya Ventures to establish the CIE Alumni Fund.

## Achievements

- Joint winner with Alliv Samson of New Zealand’s 2025 EY Entrepreneur of the Year.
- Led Kami as it expanded internationally; its product portfolio was reported to support over 70 million users across 180 countries in April 2026.
- Kami was named New Zealand’s fastest-growing company in the 2021 Deloitte Fast 50, with 1,177% revenue growth over three years.
- Kami was included in TIME100 Most Influential Companies in 2022.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — The University of Auckland announced Samson and Wang’s $30,000 gift through Hiraya Ventures to establish the CIE Alumni Fund, distributed over three years.
- **2025-11** — Wang and Samson jointly won New Zealand’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year.
- **2025-09** — Wang announced that Book Creator had joined the Kami family.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hengjie
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Hengjiew
- GitHub: https://github.com/Hengjie

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/hengjie-wang
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26