It is now several months since the effective conclusion of the NZ$6 Million Investment Challenge, organised jointly by UK Trade & Invest and Unlimited Magazine.
I do not know the outcome for some of the other companies that took part and believe lessons can be learnt from this first format.
For Pingar however, the Challenge achieved its objective. It has certainly made the company more 'investment-ready' and this is paying off. Not perhaps though as the organisers intended.
A number of NZ-based angel and VC investors were lined up to assess the finalists' business plans. It would be unfair to identify them in this blog. Harsh call perhaps, but I wonder just how 'investment ready' some of these funds are, or were? Given my experience of similar UK players, there appeared to be a much more 'domestic' approach to 'global' thinking. It was almost as though global aspirations were outside the scope of the funding available.
I guess this view has been reinforced by my recent visits to the UK. The UK Technology, Innovation & Growth Forum in March supported the theory. Investor engagement was much more familiar to me and the outcomes more positive. More about that later. Those lips remain zipped!
What also struck me, particularly on this last visit, was the presence of other NZ ICT businesses in London seeking to raise finance. Their take on the current NZ investment environment mapped mine. I met them through different channels.
NZ innovation compares with the best in the world. Unless more significant opportunities to raise capital locally are put in place however, the exodus of companies seeking offshore investment can only increase. Time I think for the other side of the NZ$6 million Investment Challenge coin to look at their own 'investment readiness'. The expected 2008 version of the Challenge can only benefit.
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