Funding for startup businesses
Startup businesses start your pitching; a new investment network has been set up in Southland and Otago.
The new Southland and Otago funding and support collective, Mainland Angel Investors (MAI), was launched in Invercargill on Wednesday night.
It is in place to bring startup business founders and potential investors together.
Startup Dunedin, COIN South, and Startup Queenstown Lakes have founded the organisation.
COIN South’s Prue Halstead was excited by the development and said it would be a boost for startups in the south and also provide investors with opportunities.
‘‘This has been part of the broader vision that we have had for COIN South from the beginning. In Southland and Otago, we’ve proven it’s possible to ‘bootstrap’ a startup to a few staff, but scaling a company is different.
‘‘Our size and isolation can make it inefficient and cost-prohibitive for startups to raise capital locally,’’ Halstead said.
Halstead said Mainland Angel Investors would streamline the process of raising capital and allow founders to spend more time on their business.
COIN South has worked with over 100 founders since it started in August last year and Mainland Angel Investors was viewed as a a further evolution of the Southland startup system.
The investors who joined the network will be provided with investment opportunities, but they also would support innovative businesses in the regions, Halstead said.