Marko Bogoievski, the former chief executive of New Zealand-based infrastructure fund manager HRL Morrison & Co, has joined with New Zealand technology investors and entrepreneurs to set up early-stage venture capital firm Maker.
Bogoievski left Morrison & Co after 13 years at the end of 2021. He had stepped down as chief executive of Morrison & Co managed listed fund Infratil (ASX/NZX: IFT) earlier in 2021.
The other partners in Maker, which will focus on Australia and New Zealand, are: former executive of telecommunications company Spark (ASX/NZX: SPK) and founder/chief executive of Spark Ventures, Rod Snodgrass; serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor Jonathan Reid; and entrepreneur and software developer Hemant Walter-Rao.
Maker is currently seeking to raise an initial fund to invest in purpose-driven entrepreneurs with product and/or platform ideas. The fund will lead pre-seed and seed stage investment rounds.
Maker is associated with Walter-Rao’s established software development company Maker Tech.
The Maker partners have already directly invested $NZ1.5 million in Auckland-based home services online platform NexDo.
Snodgrass, Reid and Walter-Rao were existing investors in NexDo.
NexDo founder Sakshin Niranjan said the new funding valued the business at $NZ8 million and would be used to grow the company’s customer base.
NexDo’s platform enables customers to book fixed-price services such as lawn mowing and home cleaning from approved service providers. The company charges providers a fee before remitting payment on each job completed.
Prior to launching NexDo, Niranjan had worked with rideshare company Ola and food delivery business Zomato.
Image: NexDo provides a booking channel for fixed-price home cleaning and other services.