Kia ora,

Here we go again. Covid is disrupting our lives and businesses. It’s beginning to seem like the new normal.

Notwithstanding this, locally and internationally the tech start-up world is going gangbusters with unprecedented levels of investment. As part of this, the new investment trend that has emerged is for VCs to now be engaging with companies at the seed stage, effectively competing with Angel investors.

To respond to this Angel groups like ours need to engage early and effectively around our areas of strengths – we’re local, we interested in their development and are prepared to help. A strength we need to add is to be more nimble in our dealings with start-ups. Sometimes it can take many months to get a deal over the line leading to frustration and some start-ups looking for other options.

Having more resources with Matt Wiles on board helps, so too will all of us being nimble in our approach to investing and being prepared to get involved in helping the companies we invest in.

As you will be aware we are wrestling with Covid to land our AGM and next pitch evening. We hope to host these events live in the last week in September otherwise virtual events will be held. More on this in the coming days.

Ngā mihi

Paul Claridge
Chair

Interesting Stuff

These two articles provide useful insight into the future of work and the value that Angel Investors can add over and above a financial commitment.

• Technology and the future of work: A lot more than just Zoom calls
• When Money is Not Enough: Angel Roles & Human Capital

Dealflow & Investments

It’s been a busy few months with an excellent pipeline of founders hoping to pitch for investment. This shows the health of the startup ecosystem both here in Christchurch and across New Zealand and also makes deciding who can get a slot at each event even harder.

While we have had to delay the September Investor Evening, recent events have led to plenty of interest by CA members. These include:

 Icehouse’s latest fund

  Triathlon officiating technology

Plus, our investment in Happy Moose is nearly done and dusted so great to get that over the line, and we can’t wait to see the results that Alex and the team achieve.

Events

Our September Investor evening was unfortunately impacted by the recent COVID lockdown and the uncertainty that this brings, but we are hopeful that we can reschedule for a date later in the month. Watch this space for updates plus we are also looking for ways to optimise a virtual Investor Evening to ensure that we are future-proofed against any further lockdowns and still enable founders to pitch for investment.

On the topic of virtual pitch nights, Icehouse held their most recent showcase at the end of August. This was supposed to be an in-person event but had to be adapted to be a virtual one. Anyone who attended will no doubt be as impressed as we were as to how smoothly it went while also seeing some amazing pitches by eleven amazing founders. If you didn’t manage to make it you can check out how it went here.



Electrify Aotearoa – Unfortunately and after much consideration due to the unfolding impact of COVID the decision has been made to reschedule Electrify Aotearoa to a full in-person event on Thursday 17 February 2022 at the same venue – Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch. We are looking forward to an amazing event next year and can’t wait to be there in person for the full experience!