4 Dec 2025

Custom D, a New Zealand-founded software consultancy with deep expertise in cloud and AI infrastructure, today announced a Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The agreement, announced at AWS re:Invent 2025, will help fast-track the global rollout of Caitlyn, its embedded generative AI (GenAI) platform, built with Amazon Bedrock, that's already being used across agriculture, finance, media, and research sectors, including Kiwa Digital, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, and New Zealand Geographic. 

The agreement highlights the commitment both companies have to helping organisations adopt GenAI, by combining advanced cloud and Gen AI capabilities from AWS with technical expertise and experience from Custom, D to enable faster deployments, stronger compliance, and more confidence in GenAI applications.

What This Means for Business

Caitlyn is designed for data-heavy, knowledge-rich environments, it can process and reason thousands of documents, multimedia files, and complex datasets without losing accuracy, something generic AI tools can’t reliably handle at scale. 

This new agreement gives Caitlyn and Custom D access to dedicated AWS resources, co-selling support, and deeper alignment with AWS architecture and security best practices. 

The strategic collaboration will focus on:

• Expediting the rollout of Caitlyn across Australia, ASEAN, Canada and United States, with help from AWS programs (including the AWS Generative AI Competency), credits, and technical support

• Driving real-world implementations of Gen AI that deliver business value— not just pilots, but scalable deployments across industries that need accuracy and trust

• Solving sector-specific problems — starting with agriculture, compliance, and culture, where generic AI tools may not meet specific needs

• Making it easier for customers to say yes — by reducing risk, speeding up procurement, and aligning with AWS infrastructure they already use

• Bringing more visibility to local innovation — through case studies, events, and content that showcase what's working across New Zealand, Australia and beyond

"This agreement supercharges everything we've built with Caitlyn," said Julie Ryan, Co-founder of Custom D. "It gives us the resources, support and credibility to deliver secure, embedded AI faster, and help more organisations make GenAI work in the real world."

“Custom D exemplifies what Gen AI deployment with precision and effectiveness looks like, helping customers navigate the complexity of AI to drive real impact. As one of the first AWS Partners in APJ to achieve our Generative AI Competency, they've proven their ability to drive meaningful outcomes in industries where accuracy, security and regulatory compliance are mission-critical requirements. This agreement will accelerate that impact across more sectors where local innovation matters most,” said Chris Casey, Director of AWS Partnerships, Asia Pacific and Japan.

Built for the Real-World, Not the Lab

Caitlyn combines generative language models with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to unlock insights from a customer’s own data sources, including customer interactions, domain knowledge bases, or internal documentation. The embedded AI intelligence layer fits seamlessly into existing platforms — tuned to each client's language, domain, and data. It is secure by design, context-aware, and runs entirely within the customer's AWS environment to ensure full control over IP and privacy.

So far, Caitlyn has powered several customers’ AI applications, including:

Kiwa Digital, a New Zealand-based Indigenous technology company, worked with Custom D to embed Caitlyn into CultureQ™, its Software Platform for Indigenous communities. The culmination of more than 20 years of development at the intersection of technology and culture, CultureQ enables Indigenous groups worldwide to store, protect, and revitalise their culture and language. The inclusion of a foundational AI feature in CultureQ signals KIWA’s commitment to supporting safe and responsible AI for Indigenous groups, enabling the introduction of AI  features only at the pace at which community trust develops. Through this work, Kiwa Digital was recognised with the Te Ao Māori & Pasifika AI Award and Outstanding AI Implementation Award at the Aotearoa AI Awards 2025 for its innovation with and for communities across Aotearoa and the Pacific.

"Ask Bella" for Beef + Lamb New Zealand. Ask Bella helps how farmers access off-the-shelf research, unlocking around $100 million worth of investment from B+LNZ, and turning it into answers. It has access to around 4,600 pages of information and more than 220 hours of podcasts and videos in the Knowledge Hub. “We are putting Bella out there and it is being used in ways we never imagined,” said Aaron Meikle, Product & Development Manager at Beef + Lamb New Zealand.

This SCA builds on a wave of recognition for both Custom D and Caitlyn, including:

• Achieving the AWS Generative AI Software Competency

• Named a Top 5 AWS GenAI Partner in ANZ

• Delivering RAPID GenAI Pilot Programs for public and private sector clients

• Selection for AWS Cloud Day Keynote and upcoming showcase at AWS re:Invent

  
  

About Custom D and Caitlyn

Custom D is a New Zealand-based software team with over 20 years of experience solving complex, business-critical problems. With offices in Christchurch and Sydney, they're behind Caitlyn — a trusted GenAI platform that helps organisations unlock insights, reduce manual burden, and surface what matters most.