New Zealand, Taiwan cross-border fund ups target to $70m

The Pan Pacific Capital Fund, which is operated by Auckland venture capitalist Tony Bishop, has received $12 million commitments from the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZIF) and its Taiwanese counterpart, the National Development Fund (NDF).

The fund - which has already received other commitments from Asian institutional investors - is said to be nearing the $40 million that was announced in August as its full target. As a result, the bar has been raised to $70 million.

"With New Zealand and Taiwan recently concluding a trade agreement, a joint New Zealand-Taiwan venture capital fund will be attractive for growth companies looking to expand into Taiwan, and from there into Asia," said NZVIF chief executive Franceska Banga, in a statement. She added that it will be the fourth VC fund to be established in New Zealand in the last two years.

The vehicle will focus on nurturing Taiwanese digital content start-ups, such as animation companies, and turning them into global players.

Pan Pacific Capital, which has offices located in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and New Zealand, is the first fund to win a commitment from NZVIF and Taiwan's NDF through a NZ$200 million ($165 million) co-investment partnership established last year.

Over past 30 years, Taiwan has backed 14,000 venture investment projects, committing more than NT$260 billion ($8.66 billion), according to information previously released by the Taiwan Industrial Development Bureau, part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The bureau wants to attract NT$100 billion of new investment in Taiwan's digital content industry in 2013, taking revenues to NT$780 billion.

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