New Zealand government-funded NZ Growth Capital Partners has made its largest allocation to date from its $NZ300 million Elevate fund-of-funds.
A commitment of $NZ45 million has been made to Global from Day 1 (GD1) which is currently raising its third technology venture capital fund.
The new GD1 fund has a target of $NZ140 million, more than twice the size of its prior fund (APE&VCJ, Jun 2021). Companies in which GD1 has invested include electric bike company UBCO, hand motion capture technology company StretchSense, business performance forecaster Spotlight Reporting and digital video advertising company Shuttlerock.
The GD1 commitment takes total conditional commitments from Elevate to date to $NZ139 million.
Other commitments include $NZ21 million to agritech fund Finistere Aotearoa, $20 million to life sciences fund Pacific Channel, $NZ30 million to Movac Fund 5 and $NZ22.75 to Blackbird Ventures’ New Zealand Fund.
According to NZ Growth Capital Partners, since Elevate was launched last year its support is “helping to catalyse” over $NZ600 million in funding to invest in New Zealand start-ups at the Series A and Series B fundraising stages.
GD1 was founded in 2012 by managing partner Chintaka Ranatunga. The firm raised $NZ4.6 million for its first fund which provided seed funding and then $NZ60 million in 2016 for its second fund which has focused on pre-Series A and Series A round funding.
The third fund will continue to finance a range of New Zealand technology fast growth B2B businesses targeting global markets. These are expected to include enterprise software and internet through to connected hardware, deep-tech and health-tech.
Partner Vignesh Kumar said to date the fund had achieved exceptional uptake from existing and new investors and he expected a first close to be announced soon.
He said one of GD1’s driving values had been preparedness to dive in deep to support portfolio companies and, as a result, it had developed a deep level of operational insight into helping teams unstick problems and maximise growth.
“As we move to Fund 3, we’re adding new top-tier talent to the team that covers both investment and operating expertise to continue to support our founders and management teams in their growth journeys,” he added.
Elevate investment director James Pinner said NZ Growth Capital Partners had been impressed with how GD1 had matured into an institutional grade venture capital manager with the launch of fundraising for Fund 3 including the addition of two investment partners (Kumar and John Kells) as well as operating and venture partners and the setting up of local and international advisory boards.
Elevate’s investments are conditional on funds raising matching capital and other customary conditions.
Image: StretchSense hand motion capture technology.