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A Love For The Ocean
Built To Protect It

Parlaras was founded by Mirjam and Andy, a dedicated team based in Auckland, New Zealand — the same mind power behind IT Net World's Voice AI and enterprise IT infrastructure.

The People
Andy diving Co-Founder — Voice AI & Systems

Andy

Andy has spent years building voice AI and IT infrastructure for New Zealand businesses through IT Net World. Outside of work, he's usually in the water — diving, sailing, or fixing whatever piece of boat equipment broke this week. Parlaras grew out of the same instinct that drives both: build the thing that removes the friction between a person and the answer they're looking for.

Mirjam at the coast Co-Founder — Creative Mind & Social Butterfly

Mirjam

Mirjam brings the product and people side — the questions Mia and Finn actually ask, the way a curator thinks about accuracy, and the patience to sit with an idea until it's honest rather than just impressive. She spends as much time as possible on or near the water, and most of Parlaras's best "why didn't this exist already" moments started as a conversation on a boat.

Our story didn't start in a boardroom; it started on the open water. As avid sailors, divers, and outdoors lovers, we have spent countless hours immersed in the marine world. But the true spark for Parlaras came through the eyes of our children, Mia and Finn.

Whether we were sailing offshore or exploring local coastlines, Mia and Finn would ask an endless stream of curious, insightful questions about the life beneath our hull. Time and again — both on our own boat and through youth ocean-conservation programmes — we noticed a profound pattern: young people don't truly connect with static placards or generic signboards. Their faces light up, however, the moment an expert gives a direct, dynamic answer to their specific question.

That realisation changed everything for us.

We realised that to foster true empathy for nature, we needed to replace passive observation with active dialogue. By merging our technical expertise in Voice AI, IoT, and IT architecture with our lifelong passion for marine life, we set out to bridge the gap between humans and the underwater world.

Backed By

IT Net World

Parlaras is a product of IT Net World, an Auckland-based voice AI and IT infrastructure company. That background is why the underlying system is built the way it is — grounded, curator-controlled, and designed to run reliably in a public, noisy, high-traffic environment rather than a lab demo.