Category Archives: NZ Business

For a society that provides a full range of services aren’t we remarkably low-taxed in New Zealand? I was comparing notes with my Australian-based brother this week, and the differences are stark. Our top income tax rate is 33%, and we have no capital gains tax, while property rates (for me in Auckland) are just 0.29% of …

Continue reading “Do we live in a tax paradise?”

Crosspost from Punakaiki Fund. New Investment: NZ Artesian Water We’ve seen plenty of headlines recently about offshore companies bottling our water and making fortunes. So when I met Nelson-based Kiwis Andrew Strang and Wayne Herring through a Better by Capital engagement, I was eager to see how their New Zealand Artesian Water business (NZAW) was progressing. The answer was “very well”, …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund invests in NZ Artesian Water”

At Punakaiki Fund we like to keep things simple, and we encourage other investors and all founders to do the same. However in past years the contracts used for many NZ-VIF/SCIF deals have been arguably quite toxic against founders, and these can make it very hard for investors, founders and the next round investors. But things …

Continue reading “The latest SCIF term sheets – the Punakaiki Fund mark-up”

New Zealand’s traditional leadership in agriculture is due to our land, climate, hard work and invention from generations of farmers, and our universities and business that have supported them with increasingly valuable technology. But our position is under threat, not today, but in the medium term certainly. The threat is that high quality food will be grown essentially anywhere for lower cost …

Continue reading “Is there a future in food for New Zealand?”

The New Zealand Venture Investment Fund was set up 14 years ago with the best intentions – to foster an early stage investment sector in New Zealand by being a fund of funds. It’s has $250 million for VC and PE funds, but only $129.7 million of that had been invested to June 2015 and $100 million of …

Continue reading “Is NZVIF Directionally Correct?”

Chris Humphreys and I will be presenting about Punakaiki Fund tomorrow, Thursday, 6pm at Deloitte Auckland, 80 Queen St. Many thanks to Deloitte NZ for providing the space and to Snowball Effect for arranging this. Signup here – space is limited. The presentation is targeted at eligible investors who are interested in our latest offer. You can read …

Continue reading “Auckland Punakaiki Fund Presentation: Thursday 28th”

New Investment: Mindfull Group At the end of last year we invested into Mindfull Group, and Punakaiki Fund now holds 20% of the shares. I have joined the owners Belinda Johnson and Richard Johnson on the board of directors. CEO Belinda Johnson and CTO Richard Johnson are a high energy duo, and I have been very …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund: Mindfull Group and Melon Health”

At the end of last year we extended our wholesale fundraising offer until 31 January. While that was a bit over five weeks in time, in our summer season it’s really only a couple of weeks of business time.  Meanwhile however most of the companies we have invested are continuing strongly, most with steadily growing recurring revenue, and many …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund: Fundraising update”

Trade Me has announced that it is changing its auction fees from February 1 – and quite a big change at that. Let’s look at the changes from the old fees to the new. Listing (Upfront) Fees Here is Trade Me’s page on the change. The first change is important – making extra photos free. That’s a …

Continue reading “Simplified pricing may significantly boost Trade Me’s revenue”

Solid progress continues We have now received over $1 million in applications for the the December 2015 Offer, with over $800,000 received directly and $231,000 via the Snowball Effect Wholesale Platform. Offer Extended until 31 January We had a good number of investors and financial advisors, along with Snowball Effect, ask us for more time. …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund Update: new investment, extended offer”

We’ve just launched a new wholesale offer to investors for Punakaiki Fund. It’s available only to Exempt investors, as we hit the legal limit of $2 million for crowd-funding investors back in June. There are two ways to invest. The easiest for new investors is through Snowball Effect’s wholesale platform, or you can download the Information …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund – new offer for exempt investors”

Christchurch is a hive of activity at the moment, a combination of the old, the destroyed, the temporary and the new. It’s a place that will energise photographers – so much is going on that it is hard to know where to look. Definitely worth a visit, and the accommodation shortage issues seem to be …

Continue reading “Pictures of Christchurch December 2015”

In the last 50 years New Zealand has done a wonderful job of diversifying our export markets for food and beverages, a process somewhat forced by the UK joining the EU in 1973. We are in a strong position. China is the biggest growth market for us – in both dollar and in percentage terms. That’s been …

Continue reading “The future of food exports from NZ”

An update from Punakaiki Fund. At our September 30th AGM we elected three new directors – Mike Bennetts, Bryan Hutchins and John Berry. We held our first board meeting earlier this month. It’s a great board, and we continue to be also inspired by the founders and staff from the companies we have invested into. Chris and I have also moved into an office …

Continue reading “Punakaiki Fund Update – Mike Bennetts is Chair”

Flounders Club is a periodic gathering of Auckland-based founders of companies, generally very high growth and relatively early stage. It’s not actually a club – but simply an event focused on learning from other founders (rather than advisors or other boring speakers), and on meeting other people like yourself who are going through the start-up …

Continue reading “Flounders Meetings – for founders only”