New Zealand's Enterprise Angels launches third fund
Enterprise Angels, a New Zealand angel investor network that focuses on domestic IT, agriculture, food, horticulture, life science and biotech companies, has launched its third early-stage VC fund.
The vehicle will initially seek contributions from the group’s approximately 200 investor members before a public launch next month. It is targeting up to NZ$6 million ($4.1 million), with up to 30% of the committed capital to be reserved for follow-on rounds in existing portfolio companies. It will back about 20 companies and may make deployments as large as NZ$1.2 million.
Fund II raised NZ$2.6 million in 2016 and is currently tracking a net IRR of 9%. Exits include SwipedOn, a local corporate IT services company with operations in South Africa and Pakistan; and OneSixOne, a hardware and software specialist for the music and entertainment industry. Fund I raised NZ$2.4 million in 2014 and is said to be tracking a net IRR of 11.6%.
Previous activity also includes a partnership with the government-sponsored New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) in 2016, which aimed to invest about NZ$20 million in local start-ups by 2020. This renewed a co-investment agreement between NZVIF and Enterprise Angels signed in 2011 that focused largely on agricultural technology segments.
New Zealand’s angel market is considered a critical part of the local venture ecosystem, which is often characterized as being highly reliant on high net worth individuals. Last year, the Angel Association of New Zealand (AANZ) tallied a record NZ$86 million of investment in local early-stage businesses during 2017, compared to NZ$69 million for the prior year.
AANZ membership has grown from about 200 investors across four networks in 2008, when Enterprise Angels was established, to more than 650 investors across 12 networks as of last year. Among the more recent launches is Angel Investors Marlborough, which was set up in 2017 with 30 members, including Richard Coon, a director and co-founder at PE-backed insurance provider Partners Life.
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