Dunedin company Timely was highly commended in the start up company of the year category at the New Zealand Hi Tech Awards.
Timely offers a cloud based appointment management system for businesses requiring scheduling of their staff and services.
More than 700 people attended Friday night's awards in Wellington, seeing cloud accounting company Xero claim the top award when it was named hi tech company of the year.
A record number of entries were received, with more than 150 organisations entering. Judges reported the calibre of entries was at an ''all time high''.
In selecting Xero as the overall winner, the judges said it took continuity of performance over more than a single year to earn the award.
''The company evidences superb operational efficiency, planning a new version of its software each week, with 400 releases in 2014.
''Development of new features follows a tried and true winning behaviour: give your customers what they request.
''Lastly, the open API's (application programme interface) for go to market through the accountancy channel is brilliant,'' Hi Tech Trust chairman Wayne Norrie said.
It was pleasing to see so many new faces among the winners, including companies such as Foster Moore, GeoZone, Network for Learning, Phitek, Snapit HD, Straker Translations and Volpara Solutions, Mr Norrie said.
