Too early to predict returns from NZVIF's seed fund, CEO Banga says
By Paul McBeth
July 28 (BusinessDesk) - The government-backed New Zealand Venture Investment Fund says it's still too early to judge
the performance of the Seed Co-Investment Fund, which backs early-stage firms alongside angel investors.
The NZVIF invested $5.4 million in the seed fund in the 12 months ended June 30, up from $5.2 million a year earlier, it
said in a statement. That takes its cumulative investment to $29.93 million in 115 companies since the fund was set up
in 2006. Some $61.5 million has been co-invested in the fund by 14 angel partners.
The fund's most recent success was the sale of local cloud-based computing firm GreenButton to Microsoft in May, which
NZVIF chief executive Franceska Banga said at the time that it offered a "very healthy return" without being more
specific. In the 12 months ended June 30, 2013, NZVIF sold investments worth about $207,000 through the seed fund, down
from $989,000 a year earlier, according to its 2013 annual report. It sold seed fund investments worth $294,000 in the
2011 financial year.
Banga last week said it was too early to predict the fund's overall performance, with most of the companies at the early
stage of their development.
"We have, however, seen some healthy returns from exits from HaloIPT and GreenButton," she said. "The rule of thumb is
that most companies will fail, but a few very good performers will bring positive returns overall across a portfolio."
In May, Angel Association chairman Marcel van den Assum, who was also part of the successful sale of local software firm
GreenButton, urged angel investors to broaden their portfolios if they wanted to improve their chances of a return, with
too many backers relying overly on a small number of ventures.
NZVIF valued its seed fund investment at $19.39 million as at June 30, 2013, including $4.55 million impairment charges,
according to its 2013 annual report. Of the 96 firms it had backed at the time, 26 were fully impaired.
The government has budgeted some $5.25 million for NZVIF to invest via the seed fund in the year ending June 30, 2015. A
further $2.33 million was set aside to manage the operational costs of the venture investment and seed funds.
(BusinessDesk)